Lotus Espirit
Member
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 35
just thought i'd post here- i live about 25 miles from the lotus factory just outside norwich, in norfolk england. As dj rotor says^^ there have been loads of variations of the esprit. I didnt even know you had lotus over there... do you have the elise and exige too?? 
Senior Member
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 2,930
From: IL
Originally Posted by BigTurbo74' date='Apr 18 2003, 08:01 AM
if honda used a v12 or even an eight they would gain some respect in my opinion. i always thought that they needed to expand away from them damn four bangers
Senior Member
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 3,269
From: NC
Well I read the article a long time ago. I think last year. And they estimated the cost to be over 120k. But I havent heard anything lately about it.
Senior Member
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 1,030
From: teh frozen nort
Originally Posted by charlie boy' date='May 2 2003, 06:32 PM
just thought i'd post here- i live about 25 miles from the lotus factory just outside norwich, in norfolk england. As dj rotor says^^ there have been loads of variations of the esprit. I didnt even know you had lotus over there... do you have the elise and exige too??
J
Senior Member
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 8,079
From: union, new jersey
I think they have this company who puts a v-tech engine in a elise and fixes up everything to be street leagal, i think i saw it in motortrend or car and driver... one of them. Anyways, i was also thinking, they should just put a 20b on that sucka and literally fly
Junior Member
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 1
couple quick bits & more setting the record straight (for anyone who's *really* interested)...
the Esprit has been in violation of a few DOT regulations for a while now but Lotus has claimed a "financial hardship" exemption so that they can continue to sell their cars here (for the last few years). This is the last year of the Esprit, but that only comes as a coincidence - the main reason being that Renault no longer makes the gear box that the Esprit has used for the past 20 or so years. There are still plenty of operating Lotus dealerships in the country - 74 at last count.
Top Gear segment on the Esprit - 49Mb - from http://www.espritfactfile.com/Videos.html
The Exige was a limited run car and is not scheduled to be produced again in the UK or anywhere else for that matter. I suppose it's possible they could make another run of them based on an S2 Elise chassis, but not even a hint of that happening has come from Lotus.
The Elise goes on sale in the states starting sometime in the middle of next year (April to June of '04). MSRP is estimated at $38,500... it will probably be powered by the 2ZZ-GE from the Celica GTS, and will hopefully remain under 2000 lbs. It is said that only 2500 will be produced in the first year.
The company that does the current US conversion is Sunspeed ( www.sunspeed.com ) - they put the B18C from the ITR in it and call it legal. It actually is not fully legal and could be deported if the DOT or NHTSA came looking for it. Because of that and the fact that the Elise is officially heading this way, I believe Sun has stopped doing their Elise conversion. That said, the guy who fabricated the engine conversion for sunspeed is Joe Garthy at Prototype Racing ( www.prototyperacing.com ), and he is still making & improving the conversion.... He now uses the K20A from the JDM RSX Type-R which makes close to 260 hp (with Hondata ECU, intake, and exhaust) - that engine in his Exige does 0-60 in 3.7 and 0-100 in 8.8 seconds. It is currently being used in race cars but he hopes to have the K20A type certified for the US Spec Elise when it comes to the states so it can be used as an engine upgrade... Not bad considering $38,500 for the Elise + $15,000 for turn-key conversion will have you out-performing any Ferrari short of the Enzo and still pulling close to 30 mpg on the freeway.
the Esprit has been in violation of a few DOT regulations for a while now but Lotus has claimed a "financial hardship" exemption so that they can continue to sell their cars here (for the last few years). This is the last year of the Esprit, but that only comes as a coincidence - the main reason being that Renault no longer makes the gear box that the Esprit has used for the past 20 or so years. There are still plenty of operating Lotus dealerships in the country - 74 at last count.
Top Gear segment on the Esprit - 49Mb - from http://www.espritfactfile.com/Videos.html
The Exige was a limited run car and is not scheduled to be produced again in the UK or anywhere else for that matter. I suppose it's possible they could make another run of them based on an S2 Elise chassis, but not even a hint of that happening has come from Lotus.
The Elise goes on sale in the states starting sometime in the middle of next year (April to June of '04). MSRP is estimated at $38,500... it will probably be powered by the 2ZZ-GE from the Celica GTS, and will hopefully remain under 2000 lbs. It is said that only 2500 will be produced in the first year.
The company that does the current US conversion is Sunspeed ( www.sunspeed.com ) - they put the B18C from the ITR in it and call it legal. It actually is not fully legal and could be deported if the DOT or NHTSA came looking for it. Because of that and the fact that the Elise is officially heading this way, I believe Sun has stopped doing their Elise conversion. That said, the guy who fabricated the engine conversion for sunspeed is Joe Garthy at Prototype Racing ( www.prototyperacing.com ), and he is still making & improving the conversion.... He now uses the K20A from the JDM RSX Type-R which makes close to 260 hp (with Hondata ECU, intake, and exhaust) - that engine in his Exige does 0-60 in 3.7 and 0-100 in 8.8 seconds.