Cars - Lotus Esprit

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	Cars - Lotus Esprit

The Lotus Esprit was a sports car built by Lotus from 1976 to 2004. It was unveiled as the Silver Car concept at the Turin motor show in 1972 and was based on a reinforced Lotus Europa chassis. Originally, the name Kiwi was proposed, but in keeping with the E naming format of Lotus tradition, the name was changed to Esprit.

It was an example of Giorgetto Giugiaro's "folded paper" design ideas of the early 1970s.

The car gained some fame through its appearance in the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me (1977). In the film, Bond's Esprit converts into a submarine. In 1981 another Esprit was used in the Bond film For Your Eyes Only. Because of the 007 films, those who pre-ordered Esprits were placed on three year waiting lists. Esprits also were seen in the films Basic Instinct and Pretty Woman.

As with many Lotus cars it used parts from other cars to cut down development costs. Esprits before 1993 have many British Leyland parts and after 1993 they have many GM (Vauxhall, Opel) parts. G Esprit have Citroen gearboxes and S Esprits have Renault gearboxes. The door handles come from Morris Marina and was kept until the S4 model in 1994 when instead GM Calibra door handles were used.. Early models used a Nardi steering wheel, later had the same as Pontiac Trans Am. Until 2002 it had rectangular Toyota rear lights from the 1985 Toyota Trueno/Sprinter and RWD Toyota Corolla Coupe, later replaced with the same round light as the Lotus Elise II. The aerial mount and whip on the S4 and V8 is the same as the GM Calibra and Tigra. The side mirrors are from Citroën CX. Non SE foglamps from about 1989 are GM Astra mk1. The fan motors come from Ford Fiesta mk2. The alternator on the V8 models is a standard GM unit also found in the V6 GM Omega. The front suspension came from Opel Ascona.

The Esprit was launched with a 2.0 L engine giving 160 hp. An upgrade to a 2.2 L engine followed in 1980 and a turbocharged version (boosting power to 210 hp) joined the range a year later. By the time it reached its final form in the S4s, the legendary 2.2 L turbocharged inline-four reached an impressive 300hp - some 135+hp per liter. Acceleration was very brisk - 0-60 times in the 4.6-5.0 sec range and a 0-100 in the low 12s. The car also had a top speed of 266 km/h (165 mph). In 1987, Peter Stevens redesigned the Esprit, keeping the same proportions for engineering reasons. Giugiaro felt it was a fine design, if a little too close to his original. The Stevens silhouette has largely been kept as the Esprit evolved into the 21st century. The biggest change for the Esprit was in the engine bay. Instead of the 2.2 L Inline-4 a 350hp 3.5 L V-8 was swapped in. At almost the same weight, the V8 added one more surge to the Esprit's prowess. 0-60 times were in the low to mid 4 second range, 0-100 was now under 11sec and the 1/4 mile was right around 13 seconds at almost 177 km/h (110 mph). The top speed was almost 282 km/h (175 mph) as well. The Esprit's packaging does, however, reflect its 1970s origins — it was a living, though dated, legend. The Esprit has been discontinued but a completely new version of the Esprit is set to debut in 2007. The new design is targeted to compete with cars such as the Ferrari F430 and the Lamborghini Gallardo.

Giorgetto Giugiaro designed

Esprit - 1976–1977
Esprit S2 - 1978–1981
Esprit JPS (John Player Special) - 1978–1979
Esprit S2.2 - 1980–1981
Esprit Essex - 1980
Esprit S3 - 1981–1987
Turbo Esprit - 1981–1986
Turbo Esprit HC - 1987

Stevens Designed

Esprit - 1987–1990
Esprit Turbo - 1987–1990
Esprit SE - 1989–1991
Esprit S - 1991
Esprit SE HighWing - 1992–1993

Thomson Designed

Esprit S4 - 1993–1996
Esprit 300 Sport - 1993
Esprit S4s - 1995–1996
Esprit GT3 - 1996–1998
Esprit V8 - 1996–1998
Esprit V8 GT - 1998–2001

Carr Designed

Esprit - 2002–2003
Esprit - 2002–2004

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Lotus Esprit ]

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Cars - Lotus Esprit

Giorgetto Giugiaro designed

Stevens Designed

Thomson Designed

Carr Designed

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