Elite/Eclat press coverage

[simonelite501]

There have been a few articles published about the Elite/Eclat recently, the latest in "Classic Cars" was by far the most complimentary. The Jounalist, Mr Dixon, went out of his way to research the model, find specialists and owners to ask their opinions, and it would seem, actually drove the car. This is a marked contrast to the earlier article in "Classic & Sports Car" which tried to compare the Elan plus 2 to the Elite, and seemed to follow the now all too familiar trend of knocking the 1970's cars, even the specifications given were inacurate. The thing that I was most amused by was a quote given by Graham Arnold, ex employee of Lotus and now of Club Lotus, in which he said whilst driving an Elite hard around a bend he was warned that although the Lotus would always make it around, you may meet a TVR coming the other way, and that would always be out of shape!

[sjm]

I had an Elite 503 and it was a good car, especially the handling, but could do with a bit more power. One problem I never solved was that on track days petrol would come out of the petrol filler caps in long bends and then I'd get black flagged. I tried new seals etc, but found the petrol only stayed in if I ran the car very low, and then it would suffer petrol starvation in long bends. It was the only car I ever sold at a profit after running for a year. I now have an Elan +2. I can understand why magazines compare the cars, as one would seem to be the natural successor to the other, but they are quite different.

It's hard to say which is the better car (better at what?) but my +2 is definately faster than my Elite was.

The best thing about owning an Elite is the mixed views on it's looks. Some people love it (me) and some think it's a hideous sight.