My love affair with the Lotus Esprit
As with most people, my first encounter with a Lotus Espirt was in the James Bond movie, The Spy Who Loved Me. However, although the gadgets were cool, it was the shape of the car that really caught my attention.
I love Giorgetto Giugiaro's design... look closely, its not just a wedge! I also liked the futuristic design of the "boomerang" instrument pod and yes, even the burble of that 4 cylinder engine is music to my ears.
So, quite simply, since 1977 the Esprit has been the car of my dreams. I've owned many different cars over the years, but the Esprit was always the one that I really wanted. This is my story of how I finally fullfilled that dream... only to discover, this was just the beginning of an addiction.
With burnt out wrecks requiring full restoration costing anything from £2K - £7K and running cars going up to £40K, its not a cheap habit!
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I hope that these pages might inspire you to care for a Lotus Esprit of your own, or restore one and thus perhaps save it from being scrapped.
This is a non-profit making page, purely maintained as a hobby. As such, I appologise for any adverts which may be placed here by the free web hosting service provider.
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Although I like the newer Stevens re-shape, it had been the original Giugiaro design that first caught my attention and in my eyes, it's still the most pleasing.
Before buying my first Esprit, I did some research and discovered that the early Esprits were plagued with some problems and poor build-quality. I didn't like the bumpers introduced on the S3, so I decided to go for the S2 as a good compromise. It had some minor improvements over the S1, but retained much of the original look.
If I could turn back time and was looking for my first Esprit again, I think I'd stick to my original dream of an S1. The S1 is just that little bit closer to Giugiaro's original vision and in my opinion the "improvements" of the S2 are just not worth worrying about.
That said, those S3 bumpers look right on the Turbo Esprit, so I could have been pulled towards one of those as a close second. However, if you happen to like the S3 bumpers, then the S3 does make a lot of sense - it's the most reliable and problem free of the Giugiaro models.
One Is Never Enough!
So I fullfilled my dream in April 2001, when I purchased my red 1978 S2. I could never part with my S2 now, so I keep it as a weekend show car. However, it gave me a taste for Lotus driving, so much so I decided to buy a younger Esprit that would be more suitable for everyday use. The 1989 Turbo fits this requirement perfectly, it benefits from having a galvanised chassis and many more upgrades that are important improvements over the earlier Giugiaro cars.
From the beginning, I ruled out the V8's. Although the V8 engine obviously took Esprit performance to another level, they take a lot more looking after and more frequent servicing. I wanted to use my Esprit every day, so the running costs just wouldn't have been practical either. I also decided not to go for the chargecooler versions of the 4 cylinder cars, such as SE, S4 or S4S. The chargecooler came with a plastic impeller which has a tendancy to self-destruct, these cars also added the Exhaust Back Pressure Valve (EBPV), Electronic Control Unit (ECU), Cat and fuel injection. The additional performance that these features bring, over the standard Turbo car, just weren't worth it - most of the theoretical gains were soaked up by the Cat. The EBPV has a tendancy to stick, which can be a pain. ECU's add lots of sensors which can go wrong, but also provides engine management which can hide a problem with the engine, allowing it to become more serious. Basically, the 1989 Turbo has less that can go wrong, its as simple as that!
So in December 2006 I added to my Esprit fleet, by buying a white 1989 Esprit Turbo. I'm still very pleased with it, so far it has been very reliable and has never let me down. However, I intend to continue a program of gradual improvement, replacing parts before they fail. Where better quality alternatives are now available, I shall use such upgrades to further enhance the reliability of the car.
So far, I've put on the following new parts/upgrades:
- EBC rear brake discs (Turbo Groove) and Green Stuff pads.
- Bendix rear brake calipers fully refurbished - better than new!
- Goodridge stainless steel braided (race spec) brake hoses.
- Stainless steel braided clutch hose, new clutch master and slave cylinders.
- Stainless steel gear transfer rod ends (with rubber boots) and pivot bearings.
- Stainless steel sports exhaust, with twin active (both are used) pipes.
- 4 new tyres (Kumho).
- New Starter Motor.
- Refurbished water Expansion tank.
- New coil.
As for my S2, it's a similar story. The car had received a lot of work just prior to my purchase, including a new respray and some professional rebuild work to the carbs, clutch and brakes. Since my purchase, I've done the following:
- New chrome rims to the instrument dials.
- Seats and interior retrimmed in cream leather.
- New high-torque starter motor.
- Replacement badges - nose, "Champions" and side "Esprit" and "Designed by Giugiaro"
- Silican water hoses.
- Stainless steel sill protectors.
- New Suspension all around (dampers and springs).
These pages were last added to on: 27 September 2007
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