(first posted 12/8/2017) Every time I visit a Classic Park event I also stroll around in their showroom. Early September I faced an automotive legend: a Lotus Omega, among the right-hand drive crowd known as the Lotus Carlton. In its days, the early nineties, it degraded other power sedans to Little Rascals.
The starting point for this mean machine was the Opel Omega A 3000 24v. The rear wheel drive Opel Omega A -aka Vauxhall Carlton Mk2- was introduced in 1986, when it replaced the Opel Rekord E.
In those days almost all automakers offered a model in this segment of executive cars, also known as the E-segment. Some examples of Opel Omega-competitors were the Ford Scorpio, Renault 25 and Alfa Romeo 164.
The Omega 3000 24v was powered by Opel’s C30SE inline-six 3.0 liter DOHC 24v engine, good for 204 DIN-hp.
Lotus enlarged the engine to a displacement of 3.6 liter and added two Garrett T25 turbochargers and a Behr intercooler. And those were only the main modifications. The end result was a brute of an engine with a maximum power output of 382 DIN-hp @ 5,200 rpm and a maximum torque output of 568 Nm (419 ft lb) @ 4,200 rpm.
Naturally the brakes and suspension were also seriously upgraded to keep things in control.
The only color available was Imperial Green. A shade of green close to black.
The limited-slip differential was sourced from the V8 Holden Commodore.
A typical late eighties~early nineties executive sedan interior. So far business as usual.
The manual six speed ZF S6-40 transmission was also used in the contemporary Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1.
The 300 km/h speedometer wasn’t a blatant exaggeration, given the car’s top speed of around 283 km/h (177 mph), which raised many eyebrows; should a creature like this really be street legal? It doesn’t come as a surprise that joy-riders and gangsters really loved (adored?) this ultimate power sedan!
This came close -never mind the Concorde- but alas, no cigar. The BMW E34-based Alpina B10 BiTurbo from the early nineties had a slightly higher top speed, yet the Lotus out-accelerated the Alpina in all possible ways.
A downright supercar, that’s what it was. The standard 0-100 km/h (62 mph) sprint was done in 5.4 seconds.
That’s nice, but the Lotus Omega’s real strength was getting way beyond 100 km/h in no time, quite literally. From 0-200 km/h (124 mph) the Lotus Omega outran a Ferrari Testarossa, to give you an impression.
Lotus Hocus Pocus – House of Speed. And owned by GM back then.
Lotus built 950 of these Omegas/Carltons, so the chance of ever facing one again isn’t that big.
When first looking at the picture, my reaction was “yawn, another 90s Opel sedan.” But there were some cool surprises lurking under that generic exterior. Was there anyone better at hiding really great hardware in a plain brown paper bag than GM in the 90s?
BTW, the comments had been disabled for the first hour or so of this piece. I enabled them.
Thanks for the repair!
Regarding “hiding really great hardware in a plain brown paper bag in the 90s” then the all wheel drive Renault Safrane 3.0 V6 Biturbo comes to mind. Nothing to see here folks, just a hatchback for the whole family…
Then you’ve also got the Ford Sierra RS Cosworth 4×4 from the early 90s (the sedan).
That is a really attractive vehicle! Yet another cool car, never sold here.
The Japanese were pretty good at it too….. Nissan Laurel and Stagea with the RB25DET, The plethora of plain-looking Toyota sedans and wagons packing the JZ engines. Ever things like the Toyota Blade Master G, Nissan Primeras with SR20VE, or probably the most unlikely the NIssan X-Trail GT, with it’s 206kW SR20VET…….
It makes me sad that we didn’t get these kind of beasts in the USA.
I think it’s part of the weird bias we have in the USA, that if it has more than 2 doors, it just can’t be cool. (Which I don’t agree with) I see it all the time here, 4-doors=family hauler and/or, old man car. And hatchback=dorky economy car. Everywhere else in the world, a cool car is cool no matter what form factor it’s in, but not here…
Agreed, cool -combined with performance- comes in many forms. From a small hatchback to a big 4-door sedan, or even a 5-door wagon.
A small “cool” Opel from that era (around 1990) was the Corsa A GSi.
Yeah we could have. The Carlton would have made a spectacular Cadillac Catera V-Series.
WOW. Between its sheer performance potential and its quiet, “sleeper” appearance that will lure drivers of the Ultimate Driving Machine into complacency, I want one.
At least vicariously…!
Not much to look at, IMHO. That front air dam looks like a character in the old L’ll Abner comic strip called Fearless Fosdick (look it up!) But, that 177 MPH top speed is very impressive. To bad there is nowhere in USA or Canada to legally hit that number.
Kind of a natural successor to the Lotus Cortina (Ford by then having the Cosworth Sierra, of course). There was nowhere off a race track for a Lotus Carlton to hit that top speed in the UK either – in fact you could do more than a ‘ton’ (100mph) over the legal speed limit.
Hit the front page of British tabloid papers at the time … family car that does 170mph endangering their kids. Should be band.As if a “family man” could afford one.Just showed the stupidity of the papers as they didnt bitch about Ferraris!.
I love the Lotus Omega just as much as any other petrolhead, which does mean something from somebody who finds almost anything else badged „Opel“ since around the mid-1970s either supremely uninspired or plain repulsive.
However: to call the Omega A an „executive sedan“ really is a stretch, and a big one at that. I cannot imagine any European „executive“ with self-esteem and/or anything to say in their choice of their corporate car would haver ever chosen an Omega – of all cars! The Omega A’s descendant, the Senator B, maybe, but that car was a total market failure for exactly that reason (and the last car coming from Opel built with the clear purpose of trying to compete with Mercedes/Audi/BMW/ et.al. in their game).
Adding to this, I really doubt that anyone ever considered cross-shopping an Alfa 164 over an Omega. So no, the 164 clearly was not a competitor to the Omega. The Ford Scorpio, yes – but anyone in the market for a Scorpio at the time would never have thought of buying a sharp Italian with a shaky reputation just as well.
“Executive car” is the UK-expression (since we’re talking Lotus) for any E-segment car, as far as I know.
Opel Omega, Ford Scorpio, Alfa Romeo 164, Renault 25, Lancia Thema, Saab 9000, Peugeot 605, Citroën XM, etc.etc., they were all in the E-segment.
Nice!
I have a question about the European letter class system. We Americans aren’t so advanced in regards to class… Why is this called the E-class? Is the Mercedes E-class leading or following? I know the Benz E originally signified fuel injection before morphing into signifying the midsize series. It can’t be a coincidence that Mercedes has a C-series in the C class and an A-series in the A class, but which came first?
Just some examples to clarify things:
A-segment: VW Up, Ford Ka, Toyota Aygo
B-segment: VW Polo, Ford Fiesta, Opel Corsa, Toyota Yaris
C-segment: VW Golf, Ford Focus, Mercedes-Benz A-Class, Audi A3
D-segment: VW Passat, Ford Mondeo, Audi A4, BMW 3-series, Mercedes-Benz C-Class
E-segment: Audi A6, BMW 5-series, Mercedes-Benz E-Class, Volvo S90
F-segment: Audi A8, BMW 7-series, Mercedes-Benz S-Class, Lexus LS
Then there are also letters for SUVs and CUVs, I found out the other day.
Hmm, okay thanks. It seems Mercedes naming scheme is about as clear as mud!
Dumb question: are these official designations (much like in the US the EPA has official definitions for “mid-size” or “full-size”) or just a loosely accepted manufacturer designation?
Have a look here:
https://www.autoindustriya.com/features/car-classes-simplified-the-euro-standard-car-segments.html
Informally standardised,
Also everything written above as a segment actually referred (at least in UK) as sub B.
I think a segment were proper micro cars, Ka, up etc filled a gap between a and b hence sub B
Thanks for that clarification, I was always curious about it myself. I always thought the Lotus Carlton/Omega was black! It makes sense to have letter classifications for SUVs as well given how many different types there are now.
I have always loved these. To me, they look just right.
The transmissions and rear axles were from the Corvette via GMH in Melbourne same as fitted to the far less powerfull and much slower Group A Commodores of the time.
I didn’t knew the Opels have such bad reputation in Europe. The Chevrolet Omega A and the Chevrolet Suprema (Omega Caravan) was (and still is) one of the most beloved GM in Brazil. It is so long lasting that many of them are still running in the hands of teenagers and collectors. The bad part is the gas guzzling 4.1 block with 4.5km/liter. Here the “Executive sedan” at that time used to be Vectra and the Chrysler Cirrus Stratus, Omega belonged to an upper class segment here.
Opels got a somewhat “bad reputation” in the early eighties, especially due to substantial cost cutting measures, with deteriorating overall quality as a result.
Nevertheless, the brand was still very successful during that decade with cars like the Opel Corsa A, Kadett E, Ascona C and also the Omega A.
The Omega A was built from 1986 to 1993. According to a German car website more than 961,000 of them.
Meanwhile the newest Opel models, like the Crossland X and Grandland X, are based on PSA platforms.
A lengthy article about ‘José Ignacio López’s’ (very!) ‘ lean production system’ would be nice for another day.
Strange that Opel didn’t use the Senator as a basis; almost same weight, much improved looks. I very much prefer the previous Rekord over the Omega 1.
Great find Johannes. These and the Lancia Theme 8.32 are mythical beasts to us in oz. The British classic car mags woke me up to these not too long after they had been released and I am still yet to see one in the metal. Of course we had our HDT/HSV-souped Holdens, so the sedan-rocket genus did have some footprint here.
I nearly died something like 3 years ago while living in Chicago. Late at night, walking along to the train, I stumbled across a European Repair Garage. There it sat; a Thema 8.32, inside a gated parking lot. I may or may not have had my boyfriend help me hop the fence to take pictures:
Cjiguy, do you remember where the garage was? I might need to do some… research.
The corner of N Lincolin and W Lill Ave if Google maps are to be trusted. European Auto Ltd. it appears to be. You can see the lot from the Red Line if you try to between Fullerton and Belmont stops. They nearly always had something noteworthy parked once I knew to look out for it. I just Goolgled their website and it appears they are a very reputable, high class affair.
Remember being driven around Lotus’ test track by ace test driver Alistair McQueen in pouring rain completely sideways in one of these, me giggling hysterically all the while. BTW, the Omega 3000 24v was a really fine machine and it’s limited slip diff. made it a very entertaining company car back in the day….There was also an Evo version of the 3000 with wide arches and a wing, but no turbo for DTM homologation.
Below is an original pencil sketch used (reversed – white on green) for the Lotus Omega press pack, which I found last week going through old drawings…”CC effect” at work!
It’s the CC effect in motion tonight! I was looking at these photos earlier. Someone previously made a hybrid of the Senator and the Lotus Carlton which I hadn’t seen until today…
https://www.flickr.com/photos/triggerscarstuff/5909138208/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/triggerscarstuff/5909137580/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/triggerscarstuff/5908579333/
Interesting project.
There was an Irmscher high-performance version of the Opel Senator B (the Senator B was based on the Omega A) with a 272 DIN-hp naturally aspirated 4.0 liter 24v engine.
Also using the inline-six 3.0 liter Opel engine as a starting point.
When I was stationed in Germany (02-04) a friend of mine bought an 87 Opel Omega.
It was pretty base model. 4 cylinder 5 speed. It cruised nicely on the autobahn got decent gas mileage and was a lot of fun to drive. A bit floaty on curves and not the best steering but it was 15 years old. I wish they had been sold here. I would love another one
Spent a couple of years driving a base Vauxhall Carlton. The halo effect of the Lotus was pretty important to me!
I remember the incomprehension when Ford canned the Scorpio and exited the E-segment. All those Zodiacs and Granadas in all those cop shows, but now no more “big Ford”. Now, the only ones you get are in the executive luxury category – the Germans, Jaguar, Lexus and Volvo. Extraordinary.
+ Maserati Ghibli, Infiniti Q70, Cadillac CTS, and Tesla Model S.
Fair point, though that’s a pretty niche group! I see Teslas and the occasional Maserati on UK roads, but Infinitis and Cadillacs would be like hens’ teeth.
It has certainly become an exclusive club of suppliers…
Just like in the UK, I assume, the “Big Three” from Germany have pretty much confiscated the E-segment here (sedans / wagons / coupes).
Amazing dark green but not-quite-black finish but the rest of the car leaves me cold.
Did anyone notice the Amphicar in the background?
As an American, I have legitimately lusted for this big Lotus since seeing one in a book at least twenty years ago. It has the look and pedigree of the quintessential late-80s/early-90s European super saloon, and is just so right to me.
An Omega or Carlton in nearly any form may be quite pedestrian to anyone in Europe. But in the US it would be unique, and only a few would know what it is. An Opel Lotus Omega, I WILL own one!
One of my favorite Forza game cars!
That’s as close as I’ll ever get to a real one, but it’s something.
The color looks even blacker than Black Forest Green.
It’s a shame Cadillac brought over the jelly bean Omega B (with a problematic V6) instead of this one, with or without the turbos.
Worked on this program – remember one of my sketches (see above from 2017 comment) being used for the press pack in color reversed form….
Wonderful car to drive – was really impressive for the time for its performance over 100mph on the Autobahn. Out M5’d the M5 for a while. Handled well and had a relatively supple ride – Lotus did a great job!
Theres a video somewhere on the web of one of these Lotus Carltons taking on a M5 and the BMW just gets smoked, the British govt demanded these cars to be speed limited so 177mph is what they limited it to.
I remember that! No way a goverment could allow a plebian in his Vauxhall to pass the elites in their supercars!
Seems so quaint now that even SUVs are faster than that….