Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

billwill wrote:I owned a Scimitar for a few years, but I'd never buy another.

It's big, yet it has less room in the back than an Elan; huge wheel arches intrude into the rear floor space.

The engine is massive and very difficult to work on.

It was very good at pulling a boat trailer though and being an automatic with that powerful engine was easy to drive (if you could afford all that petrol!)

I don't know which version of Scimitar you had, but my Scimi, a 1970 SE5 GTE, has quite a large carrying capacity for a car if its size, which is not large compared with modern cars (no larger than a Ford Focus), especially with the rear seats folded down. I'm always struck how small it is when parked next to a modern car. The wheel arches do NOT intrude into the rear floor space. The suspension and steering are derived from the same origins as the Elan, i.e. Triumph TR etc so the road holding is good. The engine is a Ford Essex V6 and is very easy to work on and parts easy and cheap to source. I love mine, not as much as the Lotus, but love it all the same. I moved from a Plus 2 to this same GTE in 1972 and I was not disappointed. There's a very healthy owners club, the RSSOC, with lots of advice and help much the same as on here. Have said all that, everyone's experience is different I suppose.

Galwaylotus wrote:Chevrolet Corvette!!

Do you one better: Saab Sonnet.

Welcome from USA Wickey!

Good to see interest in Plus 2s. Back in December I bought one that had been neglected in a friend's garage, the plan at the time being to do some mild fixing-up and keep the projects going between drives...and which has turned into a much more thorough resto as every step reveals more which needs doing, especially if I don't want to take it apart again!

So buying a nice car, you'll be driving yours before I'll be driving mine. I envy you that, as well as retirement, as I doubt I'll ever be able to retire but that's another discussion. Have fun shopping, let us know what you bring home, and post some pictures of it!