[alfa] Re: BRM and my teen-aged heroes

[Joe Elliott <jee@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 11:19 PM +0000 5/21/04, alfa-digest wrote:
> Oh, and the new Elise has a friggin' Toyota motor and trans. 
> Ewwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!!!
Why is this such a big deal to everybody?  I dislike Japanese cars as 
much as anybody, and sure as hell wouldn't want to see a Toyota motor 
in an Alfa or Ferrari, but have we forgotten that affordable Lotuses 
have always had mainstream engines and gearboxes, be they Rover, 
Ford, Renault, Isuzu, Toyota, or whatever?  Didn't the Excel have a 
Toyota gearbox and final drive two decades ago?  At least Toyota has 
a history of building high quality cars and even winning some 
rallies, something that can't be said for Isuzu, who supplied the 
engine for the FWD Elan.  While it'd be marvelous if the $40k Elise 
had a Lotus engine, the US-spec Toyota unit is certainly more 
sophisticated than the Rover lump used in Euro-spec Elises.  As 
someone who is indifferent to many British cars for their lack of 
sophistication, I won't be complaining about the 16V DOHC Toyota 
motor in the USA Elise.

Joe Elliott
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