Anibal5 said:
1995-1996
A workmate had a 1992? (I think) twin turbo model with little modification and we did 130mph (~200km.hr) easily. The chassis never felt like it buckled/bent and it cornered very nicely (no small part due to the low centre of gravity and fairly wide base of support. Many of the esprit standard features took others another 5-10 years to make standard on cheaper cars.
Good work.
I personally have always felt this model a bridge between standard sports cars and high performance sports cars (i.e. $150,000 AU and above).
Twin turbo only came out in '96. All previous Esprits were single turbo chargecooled. Previous to '89 they were only single turbo.
Top speed on all was 265kph (165mph) and the S4s could do 305kph (185mph), all limited by the gearing not the engine.
The quicker you go the more it will suck to the road and it will NEVER feel like the chassis can buckle/bend at any speed or cornering force.
The Esprit was always a high performance sports car or supercar. It eats Ferrari's for breakfast and I can do things in my Esprit that I can't do in my Diablo.
And an Esprit never had a new price of AU$150k or less. Cheapest was AU$199k with the S4s/Sports300 at AU$261k and the last Esprits at AU$280k + options.
To put it in perspective, when a Sport300 cost AU$261k, the Ferrari F355 cost AU$266k
The Esprit was never a 'bridge' car.
And yes, many features that Lotus's had, many years later would finally make to production cars. Lotus has had more innovative automotive patents than any other manufacturer out there. Lambo and the dancing donkey could never compare.
Think about this: my Esprit S4s has only a 2.2litre 4 cylinder engine. Yet it produces 361horses, it does 0-100kph(60mph) in 4 seconds flat and the quarter mile in 12.2seconds. The Esprit has no electronics but it's so perfectly made and balanced, on the track Murcielagos with a 6.2litre V12, 4WD, all the technical gizmos and 6 year in 'advancement' can't shake it.
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