Such a fun little car and any trouble hasn't been serious...so far

I had my M100 for 7 years until the head gasket went at 115000 miles and I needed to sell it. I loved that car and felt special driving it as it was a Lotus. My car was chipped and it would see off anything up to 60 and many cars beyond that. I love Lotus content and especially M100. Thank you for sharing this video

Great video, always like seeing how owners are getting on keeping theirs on the road and still looking great. I believe Lotus at the time made a conscious decision to go FWD as they wanted to tempt hot hatch owners who already owned FWD Golfs and Peugeots into a sports car. It was also an opportunity to showcase how Lotus Engineering could make FWD work really well in what was then quite a powerful car. When launched it was widely accepted as being brilliantly executed. They are incredibly reliable if looked after, yes some of the trim and seals are fragile but the important bits last really well. I think many at Lotus had a soft spot for the M100 and were proud of what they achieved. Certainly when a whole bunch of us turned up at the factory in our M100s many years ago for a factory tour, we were warmly greeted. Lotus even surprised us by assembling some of the original design team including Roger Becker in the board room for a question and answer session! It was a day to remember. Like you I shall not be parting with mine anytime soon.

Ah, your vid brings back good memories! I had a blue US-spec 1991 Elan (the S2 did’t ever make it here to the USA) that I drove for over 23,000 miles between my purchasing it in 2004 and trading it in on a Tesla in 2016. One winter I fitted Blizzack snow tires and had way too much fun driving in snow. The Elan was not as nimble as my 1996 Caterham SuperSprint, nor as comfortable as my 1999 SL500, but on some roads in rural Pennsylvania it was epic to drive, a true sports car. Fun story: I bought it in November 2004 in Iowa, so ended up driving over 1,000 miles to get home to Pennsylvania, including through a snowstorm (and the car had summer tires!) I was talking on the phone with a friend when the trip odometer flipped 1,000 miles, and I said out loud, “well, a thousand miles and no problems!” I should not have temped the car gods, on literally the next bump the climate control knob fell off. Easily reattached, no consequence, but don’t ever tell anyone that your Lotus is reliable, at least not if the car is in earshot 😉 (I first saw the Elan at the 1991 Philadelphia car show, I was still in college so it was out of the question, but I did buy a 1991 Isuzu Stylus XS with the “handling by Lotus” suspension that summer after I graduated. The Isuzu was a great car, Lotus did a fantastic job with the suspension on that car, and with the badging, clueless people sometimes thought I was driving a Lotus)

Great video. More m100 content please.

Thanks for the video, this is the first time I've watched any content from your channel and will be now subscribing to watch more. To answer your question, yes - please create more content on the Lotus :-)

The M100 is indeed an astonishing little gem ! Love to drive and own it. Like you said in your video, it's a really reliable thing, with a great road feeling and lots of thumbs up. I love it even more then my Exige, which is indeed more driver focused but also often too noisy and cramped. The M100 on the other hand has a really relaxing drive and is up with traffic when it needs to. Love to see your videos about it again, it deserves some positive attention. Thx

A NICE HONEST review Beautiful car and colour

Im currently on my second m100 and i love it

thanks for the video, Ive had my m100 for a round a year, bought it as a bit of a project but love it.

Lovely lotus Central are fans ,it's a great lotus.

Great update, thanks. Yours is identical to mine. I've only recently bought it and love it so far. Your experience has been really valuable. Tip on the hood duly noted too ! Look forward to hearing more in future.

I love my M100, it's a forgotten car from a mostly unknown car company outside of automotive enthusiasts here in the states. I originally got mine when the Elise was first being sold in the states because I'd drive by the dealership to look at them and I saw a couple M100s in the lot and loved the design of them. The $13k price was more within my budget than the $45k of the Elise.

I have had mine for over 20 years the car has been shunned more by lotus enthusiasts then anyone else i stopped bothering to take it to shows because of it

Great video and car.

Youre A post seals have crumbled in the same spot as mine. Ive yet to fit it, but i have bought a new A post and header rail seal off a guy called Jamie on the LEC forum. It will look and seal perfect when on. I believe he is manufacturing them to order and its not even expensive.

Put 100,000 miles on mine. Change the brake fluid! When driven hard it takes a pounding, also it absorbs water just sitting.

i want see that lotus with modern wheels

Miss more Elan videos

Can you please get back to me! I have a kia spectra that has the same engine and drive train, where do you buy the rear disk breaks/whole system for rear disk breaks. Do miatas work?

What are they like to drive considering that they are front wheel drive dose that make a difference compered to say a mx5?

I have 2 spare corner caps for your windscreen if you want them

Use super glue to stick the rear mirror. But first, sand the surface of the rear mirror's stick side.