The first stage was the four-seater Elite, launched in Thanks to its hefty price and the Energy Crisis, the Elite was never a great showroom success.
The changeover from being the maker of cheap sports cars to makers of prestige cars was never going to be easy but in reality it was more difficult than Chapman ever imagined. He knew the Esprit would help. The car was to be a spiritual successor to the Europa Twin-Cam, even though both its price and equipment levels were to be higher, but this was because the Esprit was really intended to be the car to lift Lotus into the Ferrari league. The idea was to use as many parts from the yet-to-be-released Elite as possible, including the valve four-cylinder engine then being developed, and a futuristic wedge-shaped body.
Chapman must have been wondering who was the best person to design that futuristic body for the M70 when, at the Geneva Motor Show, he was approached by Giorgetto Giugiaro. The master Italian stylist told Chapman that he wanted to do a showcar design based on a Lotus. Lotus was enthusiastic about the shape, but also bemused by what would be its inherent production problems. The Esprit theme had been set, but the productionising of the car had yet to begin.
He wanted a car capable of being produced in glassfibre in line with Lotus tradition rather than one merely to be ogled at. Long hours and late nights followed. Some of the important Lotus executives moved to Turin to work close to Giugiaro, including stylist Oliver Winterbottom, who supervised the construction of the Esprit and who also designed the Elite. Tests there confirmed what Chapman had suspected — there were bad lift problems, which were undesirable in a high-speed sports car.
The changes during this period of development included decreasing the rake of the windscreen by three degrees to comply with US rollover strength legislation and reducing the size of the rear opening door, which had been a full-length hatchback on early designs. There were also numerous subtle styling differences, both to help Lotus build the body and to enable the car to penetrate the air with less drag and lift.
The second prototype below was finished in Two years before the Esprit was due to be launched, the new four-cylinder valve engine intended for it made was introduced. This engine produced bhp from cc in standard form, and was the first all-Lotus-designed production power unit. Surprisingly, it had been used first in the Jensen-Healey sports car, a move which cynics said allowed the bugs to be ironed out before it found its way under the bonnet of a Lotus.
The high-revving and powerful all-alloy unit soon earned a reputation for a terrible thirst for oil — a trait that went down well neither with Jensen nor its customers — and it took Lotus some time to sort out this problem. The Engineers had always anticipated that one of the most difficult problems with its new mid-engined car would be where to locate the rear-mounted transaxle.
Fitting the transaxle was not an easy task — it was mated to the engine via a Lotus-designed bellhousing which joined the centre-line of the differential.
Nevertheless, it worked. One of the priorities had been to give the Esprit a good gearchange, particularly after the atrocious cog-selection problems which had blighted the Europa fitted with its Renault gearbox. On Christmas Eve, one day ahead of the deadline, the team had a car to show the boss, although it was not a runner. Chapman drove it part of the way back to Hethel before a hub carrier broke. This would prove to be just enough to see Lotus through to the launch of the new Esprit at the Paris Motor Show in The Lotus twin-cam 2.
Cavalier front discs were also borrowed, and the steering rack was from the Elite. At the back, the suspension was simple, unusual and flawed. The Esprit used its fixed-length driveshafts to form what was, in effect, its upper suspension links Elite driveshafts and hubs were used.
The rear discs were inboard. Inside, the Esprit was a mixture of good news and bad. The dash consisted of a futuristic wraparound facia which contained the main gauges which were hard to read and the switchgear while, in between this and the driver, was a cheap plastic two-spoke steering wheel.
The interior ventilation was terrible and rear three-quarter vision was almost non-existent, but all these problems notwithstanding, the Esprit received a great reception at its world debut and, when it went on sale in June , it looked like Lotus had built a winner. Its success came not a moment too soon. The Series 1 was in production for two years before being superseded by the Series 2 in May Some of the S1 problems were solved with the new S2; many were not.
Lotus already knew its rear suspension layout was inadequate for a car of this performance even though it had worked well on the Elite , and knew that the chassis had to be made stiffer. It reworked neither, however, for the S2.
What they did do was improve the valve engine and give it more mid-range pull an improvement effected on some late S1 models, too and better economy. New alloy wheels, made specially for Lotus by the Italian makers Speedline, replaced the off-the-shelf Wolfrace wheels which had looked so prosaic on the S1.
A front wraparound spoiler was used, as were wider Rover SD1 tail lamps subsequently used on all Lotuses. The Veglia instruments were replaced by Smiths ones, and the standard of interior trim was massively improved. In , the Esprit Turbo was launched in limited edition Essex Turbo form. It marked the long-awaited turning point for Lotus. At last, here was a car that was potentially good enough to take on — and beat — a Ferrari GTB.
But fashions come and go and it seemed the Esprit styling fashion was become a thing of the past. With the money supply being somewhat constrained the job of giving the existing Esprit a bit of a make-over was entrusted to established designer Peter Stevens who would later go on to design the gorgeous McLaren F1.
Underneath the new more rounded body style the X was by and large mechanically the same as the Series 3. What was new in the technology was the method of producing the body. In this process vacuum is used to assist the resin flow into the mold. This change necessitated that the rear disc brakes be moved from the inboard position to outboard, increasing unsprung weight: so this was not necessarily an improvement.
This new engine version was designated the S and it delivered a healthy hp PS with hp PS on over-boost. This brought the standing to 60 mph time down to a crisp 4. During this period up to Lotus also offered a more affordable version of the Esprit Turbo fitted with a less powerful hp version of the S engine and with less luxurious fittings. This car was also offered with a slightly less powerful hp version of the engine.
These cars should have provided slightly better fuel consumption and satisfactory performance for most customers. For the Italian market in Lotus introduced a version of the Esprit with a smaller Type 1, cc version of the turbocharged engine to fit under the Italian two litre tax threshold. Despite having a smaller capacity the hot little four cylinder churned out an entirely sufficient hp PS 6, rpm making it very quick and economical for customers on a budget.
For those looking for even more power and speed from the four cylinder engine twenty Lotus Esprit Turbo XR were made. These cars were based on the Type racing cars and fitted with a high performance Type S engine which featured larger fuel injectors and a revised engine management system which brought the power up to hp PS.
More was to come however when the Lotus Esprit Sport was created. This car was treated to a Garret T4 turbocharger with an up-rated Chargecooler and larger inlet valves along with the necessary engine management system revisions. It would be the Series 4 that would finally fulfill the ambitions held for the Esprit from its very beginnings. So the stage was set for the creation of a Lotus Esprit V8 and great would be the rejoicing of Mr.
Hydes all over the world. The styling of the Esprit was face-lifted by Julian Thomson who would go on to become the Creative Design Director of Jaguar Range Rover but under the fibreglass this was every bit an X The main mechanical difference between the first of the Series 4 cars and its predecessors was its being fitted with power steering.
The following year, , the S4 Sport made its debut. Also in keeping with the previous model a 1, cc Type engined model like the previous one for the Italian market was created and named the Esprit GT3. The big change came in when Lotus announced they were finally going to make a Type series engine that was a V8 and shoehorn it into the diminutive Esprit.
The Type V8 had a capacity of 3, cc This was an engine that had been designed to produce up to hp but had Lotus installed it in that form in the Esprit we can expect that it would deposit bits of shattered transaxle in an oily mess on the bitumen the first time the new owner decided to drag off a Ferrari. So the V8 was tuned to produce a mere hp PS and the Renault transaxle was modified with the fitting of a new thicker input shaft to enable the gearbox to cope with the extra horses.
The performance of the V8 Esprit was better than its four cylinder predecessors but the increase from hp to hp kept that increase from being too big. Standing to 60 mph now took 4. The revision of this car was the Lotus Esprit Sport which was fitted with a large carbon fiber rear wing on aluminum supports and had AP racing brakes and other chassis and suspension tweaks. Sources say that about fifty of these were made although we should remember that Lotus production statistics have acquired a reputation for being a bit less than exact over the years.
The Lotus Esprit received its final facelift at the hands of Russel Carr in although the mechanicals of the car remained unchanged. Over time, models changed and the Esprit got more powerful. Displacement grew to 2. Below is a list of all the Lotus Esprit variants over its illustrious life. In all there, were over 24 variants and derivatives of the Eprit between and The list below shows the production models excluding the GT1 and GT2 cars. Below is a list of the Esprit models including production date, engine power, top speed, acceleration and production numbers and other distinguishable features.
The first Esprit had a Type inline-4 which produced bhp in European markets and bhp in America. The engine was supported by a steel chassis and covered in a sleek fiberglass body. Despite modest power, the styling and handling of the car kept it selling. Learn more. By , the Esprit was upgraded Series Two specification including a new front spoiler and rear valance. There were also new alloy wheels, wider seats and new instrument cluster.
The S2. It was rare with only 88 units made. February to April The intro of this model elevated the Esprit into the supercar league. April to October Turbo shared common chassis and body with S3. October to October High-compression version up from 7.
October to September The cars were virtually identical visually. The S3 received an upgraded 2. The S3 gained the new larger bumpers but kept the simpler sill line. The SE had a 2. Thus the XR was born. It was based on the the Type having hp. Twenty of these replicas were produced and sold as race-ready, road-going cars. With power steering, ABS as standard and an updated roomier cabin, the S4 was the first Esprit that could really be used everyday. Performance was on a par with the outgoing SE but the styling had been updated for the 90s with a sleeker front spoiler and more aero rear wing.
For customers that missed out on the very limited production run of XRs, the Sport was offered in It essentially offered the same package as the XR racecar. It got a full roll cage, harness and fire extinguisher as well as more power and better handling.
The Esprit S4S combined the best parts of the comfortable S4 and the rapid Sport to produce a very attractive package. Power fell between the two others at bhp with a short overboost facility to bhp. The S4S was widely acclaimed as an amazing car. The last iteration of the four-cylinder Esprit was the GT3, a turbocharged, charge cooled variant with the 2.
The GT3 was produced alongside the Esprit V8. Got some updates for MY The exterior was left pretty much alone except for some bigger wheels. The addition the twin-turbo V8 saw a big increase in performance. Launched in December Unfortunately there aren't any figures to how many of the 10, Esprit stayed in the UK.
A high percentage where shipped to the US and some ended up in Europe. So we are unable to work out if this number is realistic or not. But just think of your Esprit as a little rarer than you thought! So it seems the figures could be more accurate than we first thought. If it's different from what it should be, please email LEW.
It has the majority of the 92MY changes but also included the following changes:. It included the following changes:. Window controls mounted on the center console. The 93 runs straight back the driver's side. Esprit Production Figures. Lotus Esprit Models. Esprit Total.
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