One of my personal favorite sedans of all time. It may not be very Lotus-y but I've always wanted them to do a new Lotus-modified sedan, and there was even that concept from once upon a time that unsurprisingly never went into production.
Fun fact, these were so fast that there was a campaign to ban them in the UK. As wikipedia puts it:
\>The Lotus Carlton was a frequent target for thieves and joyriders in the UK. On 26 November 1993, a Lotus Carlton registered "40 RA" was reported stolen from a home in the West Midlands.\[10\] In the following months, a gang of thieves used the car to conduct midnight ram raids, stealing around £20,000 worth of cigarettes and alcohol. A West Midlands Police officer said, "We simply haven't been able to get near the thing and it looks unlikely that we ever will", as their police cars were incapable of safely pursuing the stolen Lotus Carlton.\[11\] The stolen car was later found dumped in a canal, having been damaged beyond repair by a large object, and was subsequently scrapped.\[12\]\[13\]\[14\]
>A campaign by the Daily Mail and the Association of Chief Police Officers was launched to have the Lotus Carlton banned in the UK.\[citation needed\] The car's advertising was also condemned in Parliament.\[15\] Despite gaining traction, the campaign to ban the Lotus Carlton ultimately failed.
Hot take but they kinda had a point with the whole "this thing is way too fast and accessible" considering safety in the 90s. To use a modern equivalent, 296 might be faster, but there's a lot more Model 3's in the world to steal and they're still fast enough to make chasing them incredibly unsafe. In the modern era you can just track the car because it's always online, but that's not exactly an option in the 90s.
wRoNg
The Carlton or the Vauxhall Carlton/Open Omega it was based off was never sold in the US, so it lacks sense to compare it to a USDM 348 in terms of price.
In 1991, a UK market 348 would cost £80,000
A 1991 Lotus Carlton was £48,000, almost half the price with more performance.
Again, cheap compared to the car it beat out in performance.
I took one of those on a [short road trip](https://doubleclutch.ca/2025/08/08/enthusiasts-corner-1990-lotus-omega-part-one/) last year. It was quite memorable.
The biggest takeaway was how accomplished it was; like when you think of old turbocharged performance car, you think of a temperamental, unrefined mess, and it was about as far away from that as could be. Power delivery felt almost modern, with a pronounced whoosh in the mid-range, but no scary whack of power, not peaky at all. Good bottom end with a fairly linear build of relentless shove.
And it was quiet, exceptionally comfortable, generally quite reliable, it handled brilliantly, and it was beautifully made... it's almost unbelievable that a relatively tiny company that was (and is) more or less always on the brink of disaster, was able to build a car that could outrun a Ferrari and be just as usable as a BMW.
19 Comments
IAmWellBehaved@reddit
TheRealKeenanWynn@reddit
Fit_Equivalent3610@reddit
asamson23@reddit
Thomas_633_Mk2@reddit
thisisjustascreename@reddit
SirLoremIpsum@reddit
AdventurousDress576@reddit
HillarysFloppyChode@reddit
Mitchlowe@reddit
HillarysFloppyChode@reddit
V8-Turbo-Hybrid@reddit
badpuffthaikitty@reddit
turboevoluzione@reddit
Thomas_633_Mk2@reddit
thisisjustascreename@reddit
CorneliusVan@reddit
Santa_Hates_You@reddit
BurninCoco@reddit