I had one a few years ago. Imagine my disappointment when I discovered that driving it onto the beach nearly got me drowned. See that (late) Colin Chapman? He lied about the whole submarine thing.
Seriously though but; I have had one and it was truly epic on the few days in the month when it worked. The rest of the time it leaked (oil, fuel and coolant), it overheated if I dared to push it along a bit on a suitably unrestricted road, it smelt bad, its chassis rotted away before my eyes as a result of poor pickling during build, it eventually redeemed itself by bursting into flames in a restaurant car park and taking a couple of expensive cars with it (

) and in spite of that I still loved it. How? Simple; it was insured for well above its book value as it was previously owned by some minor royal and my key policy carries a protected bonus that allows me to
burn sorry,
lose in tragic circumstances the occasional car once in a while.
Oh the irony of it; my recently bought MK7 Golf Diesel is quicker to 100mph and back to rest than the Lotus was and the VW uses about a fifth as much fuel.