Saw this engineless Esprit on Sunday. Thinking about writing it up for Hooniverse. Aside from our Swiss reader, does anyone else have any first-hand knowledge about this car? TIA.
The Esprit initially came with a normally aspirated 4 cylinder engine. Lotus then switched to a Dodge sourced turbocharged 4 cylinder and finally an aluminum V8 engine. Ironically, the V8 had too much torque for the fragile gearbox so they had limit the power of those motors.
I had limited seat time in a later V8 powered version around the late 1990's (not mine but a friend of my wife's family) and I remember it was very quick. I still think it is a beautifully styled car. Not much help, I know but that is my only experience with the Esprit.
By the way, congratulations on writing for Hooniverse. I have been away for a week.
I bought this Turbo Esprit and am currently rebuilding the engine to get it back on the road. I just happened upon this picture and thought I'd check in. I'm a DeLorean owner and fan, which naturally got me interested in the Esprits which I've come to learn a great deal about so far during this project.
The Esprit initially came with a normally aspirated 4 cylinder engine. Lotus then switched to a Dodge sourced turbocharged 4 cylinder and finally an aluminum V8 engine. Ironically, the V8 had too much torque for the fragile gearbox so they had limit the power of those motors.
ReplyDeleteI had limited seat time in a later V8 powered version around the late 1990's (not mine but a friend of my wife's family) and I remember it was very quick. I still think it is a beautifully styled car. Not much help, I know but that is my only experience with the Esprit.
By the way, congratulations on writing for Hooniverse. I have been away for a week.
Self-editing here:
ReplyDeleteThe Turbo was inhouse design not Dodge designed. I have been wrong about that for years (compliments of Wikipedia)
I bought this Turbo Esprit and am currently rebuilding the engine to get it back on the road. I just happened upon this picture and thought I'd check in. I'm a DeLorean owner and fan, which naturally got me interested in the Esprits which I've come to learn a great deal about so far during this project.
ReplyDelete@delorenz: Welcome and congrats!
ReplyDeleteI wrote more about your car here:
http://hooniverse.com/2011/12/28/lotus-esprit-s3-turbo/
Please keep us posted on the progress of your Lotus.
Hi again. Just the other day I started it up and took it for a quick test drive. You can check out my progress on this Lotus Talk forum thread.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.lotustalk.com/forums/f164/rebirth-84-turbo-esprit-110123/