Thursday 24th January 2002

340R with a Roof?!

Reverie set out to make the 340R a tad more practical

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[guysh]

How that looks quite funky sort of beach buggy like.

[castex]

It looks bloody silly.
What with this, and news they're kow-towing to the US with soft suspension...Lotus needs above all to stay true to its roots; its primary, driving ethos. Let the poor dears make their own rooves. If you bought a Renault Spider you had to fix a hairdryer on the dash to have heat.
I love Lotus, and Lotuses (Lotae?); I'm worried.

[PetrolTed]

quote:Let the poor dears make their own rooves.

If you read the article that's exactly what they're doing, it's nothing to do with Lotus!

[Roadrunner]

It's a good idea if we see more 340's on the road in this grey country.

[fanjules]

After initial reservations, (and reading the article!) I can see that it may be of interest to some owners doing long distance touring, and though nearly £4k for a hardtop makes it pretty expensive, the funky doors sound amusing and probably make up for this.

If it were a conversion (which is what I thought it was initially), then I would have been shocked. It makes it look like an Elise MkII test mule!

[Nightmare]

am amazed..I personally think it looks brilliant - what a superb bit of engineering....

[tuffer]

Goes aginst the whole idea of the original project and looks like a VW Baja Buggy into the bargain. If you want to go touring in a two seater with an optional hardtop buy an MR2 or something equally as boring. If you own a 340R you should be having too much fun to worry about the weather!!!

[Grant Tuscan]

I may be wrong but the CAD image seems to have squashed the length of the car, so it's perhaps not showing the hardtop in it's best light. Hopefully it would look a little more sleek in the flesh.

On a safety note, if the car ever ended up on it's roof in an accident it's occupants would be trapped inside (windows wouldn't wind down either). Maybe the windows could be engineered to be pushed out in an emergancy.

Anything which makes the 340R more useable is a great idea. Tuffer you can always take the roof off for the pure/lightweight trackday experience - it just means you might not get soaked to the skin on the 2 hour drive home! It does seem rather expensive though.

[hungryjim]

I like it but what is the point? The exige is a hardtop why not just get one.The 340R with doors it just dosent seem right.Although i would like to see more about and in scotland that is very unlikely without a roof.