So I am at a stop light and up next to me pulls a white....well..lets just say car for now. On the side it had "Handling by lotus" decals. I could hear his aftermarket exhaust system gurgling. The light turns green and I ease the clutch out and I'm on my way. I didn't know this joker was gonna race. So he gets a car length in front of me and I notice Impreza RS emblems as well as some japaneese decals.

So about this time I floor it in 1st and catch up to him, a nice shift to 2nd and I blow by him. I put about 2 car lengths on him and he gets behind me. We come to a stop light and he is behind me. I notice an Isuzu emblem on the front.

So it was a "Japaneese Spec Isuzu Impreza 2.5 with handling by Lotus" At least I think he was trying to pass it off as that. He could have at least got Subaru badges to go with the Impreza badges.

Oh well I was content as I havn't raced anyone yet since I moved to Bend.

 

Back in 1987 I worked at a Honda/Isuzu dealership as a salesperson. I think what you actually saw was a Isuzu Impluse. They had a model which may have been introduced in 1987 or 88 with the handling by Lotus badges you noticed. I did get a chance to drive one new, it was pretty quick in its day. In the early 90s the body style changed. If I remember correctly, that generation looked more like a current day Subaru Impreza. One other thing I remember was the headlights had covers that lifted up a few inches to fully expose the round lamps.

Greg O.

 

It's possible that car may have been the mate to one of the Asuna cars. Don't know if you recall but Asuna was a GM brand that died. Asuna was a partnership with Isuzu. It was a partnership much like GM's current one with suzuki, producing CAMI cars. eg. Chevy Tracker and Suzuki vitara, Geo Metro/chevy firefly and suzuki swift. Same car different company selling it. GM owns lotus so that's how the suspension gets in there. I really wish GM would return lotus to their old form, but there seems to be no interest in it. If it's not an asuna I imagine it still got its lotus suspension from the GM partnership.

 

yep Isuzu Impluse. I see those all the time up here. they have the Handling by lotus decals on the side. I think they are turbo.

 

Suzi! I used to have an Impulse... it was a '85 Turbo, first year they made 'em... that was the JR body, the JI body was sort-of shared with the Geo Storm. The JR was so sweet, it was kinda like a cross between an FC and a Starion. Only the later models had Lotus-tuned handling. All JR's also had mono wipers!