Autocar heroes: Lotus Carlton video review

We look back at the performance four-door saloon

[Nation]

Raced one in my 325i back in the days, we both took off at the lights, 1...2... and woooph it was over like a flash, took off like a scalded cat. Incredible car

[mistamontiel]

What a hero. I remember first stumbling into the Lotus Carlton, thanks to Gran Turismo 4. What a cute looking beast.

[gunnerhoward]

Think this was the fastest 4 door production car in the world for a while.

[WE_OF_THE_NOV]

an absolute forgotten Beasty car. it's hard to understand how cars like this slip between the cracks, and even become unheard of, literally, high performance car circles...how does this happen to such a brilliant piece of kickassery!?

[hayksamvelyan]

It looks like it's straight out of Ronin, I love those classic mid-90s sports sedans.

[freebirdh]

My friend used to have one of these. It was absolutely incredible performance. He took me out in the beastie several times for a blast and play with the traffic.... yeah I know irresponsible, etc, etc. However, he was an amateur race driver and could handle the car. Scary, blasting down a motorway doing a ton more than the other cars that you were overtaking, scary but exhilarating. It used to surprise unsuspecting motorbikes when a car kept up with them accelerating away from traffic lights. Very fond memories of those times. It was a lovely luxury car to sit in as well.❤️👍☮️

[Guy_de_Loimbard]

"These days?" You're talking like GM's acquisition of Opel is some kind of recent event. GM has owned Opel for almost a century now.

[massive]

Had the privilege too drive a few of them in my 20, s now in my 40, s I still rate them very highly top car, wolf in sheep's clothing ; )

[dowahdiddyman]

But why would you want a Mitsibushi, there`s an evo on every street corner, when was the last time you saw a Lotus Carlton.

[thebigbowler]

Back in the day when high performance cars still had nice interiors, Wood and Leather, none of that Bucket seat nonsense.

[SARCASM_IS_MY_FIRST_NAME]

To bad that the Carlton didn't came to Brasil, we have just the regular Ômega CD 3.0 165hp and 4.1 liter 168 HP, but still kicked some ass.

[CobraAce]

it looks understated and somber, and goes like the clappers. I cant imagine a more charming car :D

[thegreat]

this holds the record for the fastest 4 door saloon

[redactedcomment]

I have seen this exact lotus carlton in countless videos and magazines. Im guessing this is one of the very few left on the uk's roads. Such an amazing machine aswell.

[Cupid_Stunt]

I had the pleasure of driving one of these back in the day, used to go out in it daily, it's still one of my favourite cars to this day, fuck ya scoobys & skylines & ya evos, the lotus carlton is a real RAW POWER!

[kirbyd]

My dad had one when I was young, it wasn't a Lotus though it was a base spec K reg carlton 1.8 petrol in white, plastic hub caps, manual sunroof and an elecric ariel - good times!

[NATEZPLAZE]

I have this car in Gran Turismo 5. I drift in it and its beast! i got like 565hp in the game with this car.its beast. I love this car..idk why o.o

[supercar]

a big step up in the quality of the acual video, fantastic intro really good job

[gregaperkin]

Much better production Autocar well done!!

[fsaeduardo]

@Ricardo1e93 Omega is actually the MODEL of the Opel original car (Opel Omega, first released in 1986). Vauxhall just took Opel's original car and change the steering side (and velocimeter to MPH), "creating" the Vauxhall Carlton. Back in 1989, Opel, Vauxhall & Lotus belong to General Motors and they decided to send Omegas and Carltons to Lotus to "see what they could do". Lotus made the project, and in 1991 two models were released: the Opel Lotus Omega and the Vauxhall Lotus Carlton...