Quotes about the 340r by owners

Bob, Essex (former 340r owner, sadly had to sell as he was leaving the country)

" I've just taken a big hit on disposing of my 340-R after 10 months, and whilst it smarts a bit,
I really wouldn't have missed the driving experience at any price. Cadwell, Goodwood and Brands were all 'the stuff that dreams are made of'. You can't put a price on that! ....... The enjoyment I got from the 340 was almost,--well, spiritual, (honest). Maximum respect to owners or 340's, Atoms, Rocket and R500's and their ilk. They are no compromise, take-no-prisoners, ar*e-kicking cars! IMHO."

 

Quotes from magazines

"Even the Ferrari 360 and Porsche 911 felt somehow ponderous when driven back to back with the 340."

"To drive a 340R as fast as you can on a dry circuit is one of the most absorbing things you can ever do."

"Unlike the Caterham, there's almost no understeer, at least, not this side of ridiculous velocities"

"you trust the Lotus and you feel that it trusts you; a symbiotic driving relationship."

"most surprising thing was the speed with which anybody could get in and drive the car immediately, instincively, right up to a very close proximity with the limits"

"Im on a mission to prove a pet theory - that the Lotus 340R could just be the hottest road-going hillclimb car ever made."

"The level of grip the 340R develops is beyond excellent - surreal is more like it - and you have to force yourself to push past normal road car limits and up to almost single-seater levels of grip,"

"the satisfaction from the precision and ease of it all never ends"

"the Lotus was far quicker through the twisty bits (than the Caterham R500). Take it from us, that's a mind-boggling notion."

"the 340R just refuses to understeer through any corner,"

"bags of controllable oversteer if you want it, all of which is underlined by a level of grip that, initially seems faintly comical"

"The 340R feels much more responsive than the Elise on the road, with an ability to change direction that borders on the psycho-kinetic"

"The fact that the 340R is just a fag-paper behind the 650bhp road-racer on a hot lap (Not to mention quicker than the Skyline and Caterham Blackbird) proves that Lotus can still achieve something exceptional."

"the little Lotus promised to be one of the stars of this year's show. It didn't disappoint. In fact, it exceeded all expectations."

15 boring things you probably didn't know about the 340R:

1. its the quickest production car ever to make it from concept to showroom
2. its (probably) the wildest ever car to pass type approval
3. its bottomost lamps in its headlight clusters are dummys and do nothing
4. it supports its own range of heated clothing, which plugs in behind the seats
5. its inlet has a valve which is there just for type approval & should be sealed
6. around half the 340 produced are located in the UK
7. most of them were delivered with the wrong wheels and faulty mudflap fittings
8. some owners have sprayed the upper body a colour of their choice
9. the first reported 340R mishap was a spin at Donnington and F355 shunt
10.the 340R chassis are finished to a higher spec than the elise, particularly the glue lines
11. a job lot of 60 340's went to Japan, dont ask me who the purchaser was !
13. the original single nut wheel design was canned as the necessary x10 force needed
to tighten it was deemed a possible problem for garages without the correct tools or knowledge.
14. the 340 on one of the first publicity leaflets has a single nut wheel at the rear and 4-bolt
front wheels (the photo was digitally edited but they forgot to change the rear wheel as well)
15. some of the early cars (<50) had the original carbon fibre mud flaps fitted

thats it for the time being