**Hope you USA guys haven't just bought a Lotus?**
- Thread starter alex_gt
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- WFG9
Low for Britain? Regulation laws vary. So do safety standards.
They're actually not all that bad. Lotus would have no problem passing them. The reason that they are "illegal" is because they haven't been tested at all. There's a company in California that has tested a few, but that's with a Honda B18C engine. (I don't know why they used that one; they claim reliability, but the engine is the last thing you're worried about in a Lotus.
) These are probably "pure" Elise's, and thus have no rating -- good or bad -- in the US.IMO, it's understandable that the cars aren't road-worthy, but you can't confiscate them. Just revoke the license & registration. And if the US DMV had more than half a clue (and their fingers out of their butts) they'd have realised just which car this was and not given a registration in the first place. Aside from the street racer (which is iffy, at best), there is no justification to be seizing anyone's car.
Originally posted by M5Power
What troubles me most is the US is just finding out about this now, when Elises have probably been imported unofficially for several years now.
The DMV couldn't tell an Elise from an Escort. I'm sure there's cars of all types around here. In NYC, I've seen quite a few "unusual" cars along CPW (ambassador central): Fiat Coupes, Alfa's, Peugot 406...all sorts of stuff never sold in the US, about half with domestic/New York plates. None of that qualifies as road legal any more than the Elise. But since this one guy was racing, the transportation department decided to make an example of him. It's totally absurd.
Right; they'd be given replacement diplomat plates. So how does that explain the Citroen with NY/Liberty plates? I'm just saying that the Transportation Dept. is playing favorites, and is trying to crack down on "potential road racers". If they're not going to be consistent in enforcement, then they're not doing their job. Period.
Well, in this country, diplomat license plates are viewed as a huge threat to national security (right on the actual plate it says "Property of the US State Department") so diplomats are urged to not use them. Also, there was the whole thing recently in New York City with the diplos trying to get out of thousands of dollars in parking tickets, so some repeat offendors may just not be recognized for their 'special' status by being given the plates.
I don't know if they're playing favourites - they allow the diplomats to bring over whatever they please because they have immunity from the law, and the largest penalty for any crime is deportation. No one else does.
That said, the DMV/DOT (here it's a Secretary of State branch) is totally incompetent. They wonder why they have national security leaks when even a relatively simple agency like the DMV doesn't know what's going on just about all the time.
I don't know if they're playing favourites - they allow the diplomats to bring over whatever they please because they have immunity from the law, and the largest penalty for any crime is deportation. No one else does.
That said, the DMV/DOT (here it's a Secretary of State branch) is totally incompetent. They wonder why they have national security leaks when even a relatively simple agency like the DMV doesn't know what's going on just about all the time.
