The Lotus Esprit premiered in 1976 as a replacement for Lotus’s mid-engined Europa, and was a significant step forward in design for the company, becoming their new flagship. The sleek, wedge shaped body was designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro and powered by the Lotus designed 4 cylinder engine. The car remained true to Lotus’s design ethos in keeping weight to a minimum, allowing a sporting car with a smaller displacement engine. Larger than its predecessor, it still weighed in at just over 2200 pounds. The Esprit remained in production until 2004, with significant updates and upgrades, both cosmetically and mechanically, through that 28 year period. The first and most defining upgrade was the introduction of a turbocharged version, which premiered in 1980, pushing horsepower and torque both over 200 BHP and lb-ft, putting the lightweight car in line to compete with many supercars of the era as far as performance. In 1987, the body of the 3rd series of the Esprit was restyled by Peter Stevens to update the look as well as introducing kevlar in the fiberglass to add rigidity and improve rollover safety. Engine upgrades pushed output to a constant 264 horsepower, with up to 280 horsepower available on a short 15 second overboost. This let the car be able to accelerate 0-60 MPH in 4.7 seconds. In 1994 the car was cosmetically redesigned again, horsepower rose to just break 300 BHP, and finally in 1996 the car received a Lotus designed 3.5 liter V8 engine, fitted with twin turbochargers and putting out 350 HP. The final cosmetic redesign came in 2002, but had little in the way of further mechanical updates. This car is from the very end of the Series 3 facelifted design and is from around the middle of the production of the Esprit. A previous owner had made some performance upgrades but the car is essentially stock in appearance. Fitted with the 4 cylinder 2.2 liter engine and the chargecooled turbo, it truly is a fast car, even by modern sports car standards. As can be expected for a Lotus, handling is exceptionally good and the car feels very light and nimble on the road. Rear visibility is poor, as is typical of mid-engined designs, but the interior, once you get in, is comfortable. The car is low so entry and exit is a bit tricky and with the mid-engined design the pedals are offset, but the cockpit is roomier than the Europa. Also unlike earlier Lotus models, this car has a lot more creature comfort features than all its predecessors, which purchasers were expecting from the competition of the era, having things like air conditioning fitted and the interior is completely trimmed in leather. The biggest difficulty with owning high performance cars of this era is finding appropriate tires. The front wheels are 15 inch diameter while the rears are 16 inch, making it difficult to find tires of suitably high performance that are available in both tire sizes.
