I got to put a lot of miles on the three development cars during 1990 and 1991 and from the first turn behind the wheel, it was clear this was no ordinary front-drive car. I've long believed that performance cars should split the workload between the front and rear wheels. That's especially true today as cars have been much more powerful than they were in 1990.

The turbocharged Isuzu four cylinder in the Elan only produced 160 hp so it was relatively manageable for front drive. More importantly, the chassis wizards at Lotus led by Roger Becker and Ken Miles did some really neat stuff with the suspension geometry to make this machine behave like a proper rear drive Lotus. Under lateral loads, the outside rear wheel would toe out to help counter the inherent understeer. The bottom line was remarkably neutral handling and the rear end could even be kicked out when pushed hard. 

As it happened, at the time this Top Gear was filmed the ABS was under development. Unfortunately, the high cost of producing the Elan meant heavy losses for Lotus and in mid-1991, the car was discontinued, just 6 weeks before the ABS was due to start production. 

As fun as the Elan was to drive, the build quality wasn't nearly as good as Goffey described it. Each of the three cars we had had leaky tops other fit and finish problems. They also had a nasty tendency to overheat in hot weather unless you kept them moving to maintain airflow through the radiator. Before long, Lotus changed direction and started development of the Elise.

via: http://jalopnik.com/can-a-legit-sports-car-ever-be-front-wheel-drive-464786742