A friend of mine has had one from new, its ony done 20 odd thousand miles even now. It had to have a new head at about 7k miles as it cracked & kept overheating. Probably not common but his car won't start very well if its on a slope ! (to do with petrol) i remember pushing it to get it going at my sisters wedding ! Parts are very expensive & some are hard to come by. Like you i have always liked them ,but i couldn't afford to run one if it went wrong. It is defintely not an everyday car. Personally i'd rather have the modern day E39 M5 for the same money. The Lotus needs to be kept in a garage & pampered.

If you swap your evo for a Lotus carlton it could end up in tears

Check this website it has some usefull info.
http://www.lotus-carlton.co.uk/

Simon