New V-8 Lotus Esprit surfaces:

[Brock Samson]

http://www.driver.ie/forum/showthread.php?t=52439
i know i'm probably the only one that cares... 





ive been tracking the mules online for about six mos..
it's using a BMW non turbo engine... for now... 400 HP... but you know they'll introduce first one turbo,.. then two.. 

[Charger74]

It's kind of cool looking but maybe with a v8 in it, it will actually be fast....   

About time they did this.

[Brock Samson]

actually the esprit has had a v-8 for about 11 years now..



from wikipeidia
"The Esprit V8 used Lotus' self developed type 918 3.5 L twin turbo engine, in front of the same Renault transmission as before. Derek Bell developed an uprated gearbox that overcomes a lot of the gearbox problems with a much thicker single piece input shaft Power was up to 355 bhp (265 kW), however the capability of the 918 engine was limited by the fragility of the Renault transmission. Zero to sixty miles per hour came in under 5 seconds. Some examples of the engine are noted however to suffer from a leaking cylinder liner problem.

Alongside V8 models was produced the GT3, a turbocharged 4 cylinder car with a 2.0 L chargecooled, turbocharged engine as used in Italian market cars previously.

In 1998 the V8 range was split into SE and GT specifications, both cars with a much changed interior configuration, both offering similar performance with the SE being the more luxurious of the two.

The ultimate incarnation of the Esprit came in 1999 with the Sport 350. Only 50 were made [5], each offering 350 horsepower (as per the name) and various chassis and braking improvements. By this time the Esprit could reach 60 mph (100 km/h) in well under 5 seconds, and weighed 1300 kg as a result of their hand laid fibreglass bodies.

Esprit production continued on until 2004, Lotus content on producing the Esprit with little development aside from minor cosmetic changes including a switch to 4 round tail lights in 2002. Over 28 years a total of 10675 Esprits were produced."

and they are plenty fast, even the ealier turboed fours...

[miller]

http://www.driver.ie/forum/showthread.php?t=52439
i know i'm probably the only one that cares... 





ive been tracking the mules online for about six mos..
it's using a BMW non turbo engine... for now... 400 HP... but you know they'll introduce first one turbo,.. then two.. 

now that is cool... maybe its because i have yet to have my dreams crushed... but i have always loved exotics

[1FastCharger]

Looks really cool. Quite a nice update to a classic exotic. I always loved the old body style. It really looks dated now but I still like it.

[NYCMille]

Looks just a Lamborghini Gallardo IMHO.

[Brock Samson]

Bet ya wouldn't kick it out of bed for eatin crackers.. 

[Ghoste]

I know I am likely the odd man out on this one, but I find myself MUCH less enthused about any of the exotic supercars than I am about domestic American supercars of the 60's. 

[89MOPAR]

  Hmmn, those front cut lines at the leading edge , for brake cooling [?] are pretty radical. Not sure about the area behind the doors, but a good way to disguise the air inlets I suppose.
  That is one steeply raked windshield + a small window !

[1FastCharger]

I found a few more versions of this car. Looks pretty cool either way.

[Brock Samson]

yep that first one was done right after the elise and was sent back to the drawing board,..
the second is a photoshop baised on the heavily camoed prototypes,..

I like all cars myself from whereever or whatever era.. the older i get the more i appreciate and less i remember.. 

[DukesofHoward]

I like the photo-shopped version the best. If they'd put a HEMI in it it might be worth the 100G.

No matter. I'd drive the hell out of it!

[Ghoste]

I like all cars myself from whereever or whatever era.. the older i get the more i appreciate and less i remember.. 

Oh don't misunderstand me at all Brock.  I'm with you on the whole appreciate them all thing, I'll even find an excuse to crawl around an AMC Pacer in a wrecking yard.  I only mean that the cars that really get me excited still seem to be primarily of one type and era.  I truly do get goofy for any of them, it's just that there are far too many to look at for my little brain.

[RT DAVE]

Looks just a Lamborghini Gallardo IMHO.

It's almost a carbon copy.  If they did one like that they'd get sued.  Does lambo own them?

[Brock Samson]

the gallardo for comparo purposes..

[Fitz73Chrgr]

Looks just a Lamborghini Gallardo IMHO.

Thats what I was thinking.

[miller]

the gallardo for comparo purposes..

you know... it actually does... but thats not a bad thing

[1FastCharger]

Kind of some similarities here too. And Audi still owns Lambo don't they?

[Badbob]

Looks to me like the sport version of the pontiac aztec.