Turboadacious: 1989 Lotus Esprit SE
The Lotus Esprit (es-spree) enjoyed a remarkably long life with only minor changes in its 28 year lifespan. Somehow, the little UK based car builder managed to produce over 10,000 examples from 1976-2004 Find this 1989 Lotus Esprit SE here on eBay bidding for $8,100 with 3 days to go, located in Orlando, FL.
The Lotus Esprit looks the part of supercar in any
generation, but the Peter Stevens redesign (1987-1993) is my favorite,
because it maintains some of the crispness of the earlier design and
doesn’t quite become a study in scoops that is the 1994-2004 Julian
Thompson redesign.
Behind the driver’s seat is a 2.2 liter Lotus type 910 inline-4,
turbocharged and intercooled, good for 264 horsepower and 261 ft-lbs of
torque. Zero to 60 is obliterated in 4.9 seconds and a top speed of
159 mph is impressive for 1989.
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I don't know what kind of headaches these things cause on a daily basis but they're hellaciously fun to drive. The boost comes on so hard then things happen very quickly.
I had a friend who owned an Esprit.
He absolutely loved it.
When it worked.
-Stan (who loves the body and the suspension, but would want to replace pretty much anything else mechanical…)
Must-Gut-Interior!
Fixed Sparco seats and make some Porsche RS style door panels.
I have never driven one of these but I bet the engine feels a lot like a 944 turbo.
Replaced timing belt. Doesn't run. I'd wanna know that belt was put on correctly.