The Motor Report Auto News Blog

One of CarUpdates favourite Aussie made cars is heading for the UK. The Elfin Clubman and Streamliner will go on sale in the next few months where they will be sold through two specialist Vauxhall dealers who are currently gearing up for the arrival of the Vauxhall VXR8 (E-Series HSV).

It is a logical move given Tom Walkinshaw’s recent purchase of Elfin and close ties with Holden Special Vehicles. We have previously covered the Elfin Streamliner price reduction and 50th Anniversary super-charged Streamliner and you can check out these articles by clicking the links.

The Elfin Clubman is expected to sell for £39,990 and the Streamliner £48,000. We do not know what spec the UK delivered Elfins will be in. Elfin have recently removed some of the more hardcore kit like adjustable suspension on their ‘base’ Australian cars in order to facilitate a decrease in price. When specs are known it will be interesting to see how the UK Elfins compare price wise with our Aussie spec cars.

Change has been in the air at Elfin since its purchase in late 2006 by the Tom Walkinshaw group. The new owners have reacted quickly to requests from potential owners for a less expensive Elfin MS8 sportscar range.

Elfin MS8 Streamliner - Can now be yours for $99,990

This has led to a recent review of the pricing and options structure for the Elfin MS8 range, that now sees the Elfin MS8 Streamliner starting at $99,990 (down from $119,990) plus onroads and the Elfin MS8 Clubman at $84,990 (down from $98,990) plus onroads.

Each models specification has been simplified somewhat with the base cars making do without the fully race adjustable suspension and brakes. Instead items such as these can be optioned if required. According to Elfin’s website the base cars are still very capable;

At the same time the base car will lose none of its high performance appeal and now with the revised pricing it will be within reach for more potential Elfin owners.

According to Elfin, the Elfin MS8 Clubman will do 0-100km/h in 4.4 secs, dispatch the standing 400m in 12.5 seconds and continue on to a top speed of 300km/h. It weighs in at 925kg and uses the 5.7-litre Gen III V8 and 6-speed gearbox seen in the VZ Commodores, before they moved to the L76 6.0-litre in 2006. The Gen III V8 is rated at 245kW’s which explains the Super-car like performance times.

It is definitely a car for the serious enthusiast. I haven’t driven one but reasonably small two seaters built with racing in mind generally don’t lend themselves to the daily commute. Mind you, I am also the sort of person who would be silly enough to give it go.

Reading between the lines it looks as though Elfin has had trouble turning potential buyers into actual buyers. Hopefully now that the car is a little less hard core and the pricing is under the second hand price of a good Porsche 996 it will find some new homes.

I think it’s a stunner in both Clubman and Streamliner body styles. Given that the Gen III is now yesterdays hero in the Commodore range there has got to be a chance that we will see an L76 6.0-litre 270Kw MS8 in the near future…