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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 มิ.ย. 2024
- Of all the cool '70s and '80s sportscars, there's one model, that despite lacking cylinders, power, and badge prestige, remains the coolest - the Lotus Esprit.
But in its original form, the Esprit was always a shadow of the car it should have been - until 1980 - when the car received a turbocharger and immersed itself in the world of the big boys.
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One of the most iconic shapes ever made
true that
the true Wedge car!!
I was 18 when I sat in the Esprit at the sales centre a long time ago. The whole experience of being elated to be in a marvellous British sports car turned nightmarish as soon as I got in the car. Being 6 feet 8 inches tall, I didn't realise that I had no wriggling room left when my right leg got stuck between the steering wheel and centre console. The steering wheel was locked, and the seat had been moved as far back as it could. The sales representative didn't believe me until he saw the unique problem and laughed. The only way to free me was to unlock the steering wheel, but my leg more or less covered the ignition lock. A technician was called to remove the steering wheel as to free my leg up. Pity, I couldn't get to drive Esprit...
How embarrassing 🤣😂🙆
Most cars are not made for 6 foot 8 people, as there aren't many that tall.
Yeah man everyone else your size drives trucks.
@@nigelb6262 in other breaking news ,salt is salty,and suger is sweet,tune in tomorrow for more fun facts 😆
I'm sure there must be a few sportscars you could fit in and be comfortable...Not the Lotus Esprit though...
My Dad had an early Turbo Esprit in white with red stripes and it was awesome! A little unreliable, but so much fun and as a 15 year old I loved it, as did he. He followed it with an S2 naturally aspirated Esprit in red, which while fantastic, just not as cool as the Turbo. Loved the interior too!
These cars have such a unique sound for a 4 cylinder. The design is also iconic, so 80's but so amazing as well. These cars look even better in person.
I was lucky enough to work in powetrain engineering at Lotus and worked on the prototype Essex cars in 1980. Even got to take them to Monaco GP and the Le Mans 24 hours to show off the car. Well someone had to do it ! Great days fondly remembered. Good honest review.
Ah fantastic! You must have some amazing stories!
@@TwinCam I could write a book ! Great days.
One thing about the Esprit - you KNOW what it is when you see it, unlike most cars today. Awesome styling!
Always wanted one. Never been brave enough. Still one of the best looking British cars ever. Great video Ed.
These were very exciting to see in the 80's. A real 'wow' car. Great review as always Ed! 🙂
This was a great video, impressed. Beautiful example of the Turbo Esprit! Great job.
Such a beautiful car is timeless.
Another great video. Great dialogue. I really enjoyed that. The Esprit was always my childhood poster car.
My absolute dream car ! The one from the bond movie with the skis on the back .. I remember as a kid watching the movie over and over because of the car 😊 maybe one day .. Never say Never 😊
I bought one of these cars a month ago. It really is an incredible car. Surprisingly fast, even by today's standards. Mine has ashtrays in each door, so not sure why this example doesn't. As with all low production cars, each one tends to be different somehow.
After I filmed the video, I found that only certain model years were given the ash trays!
Don't park it outside on a frosty night, else you'll snap the door handles in half in the morning! 😄
@@phuketexplorer Thanks for the warning, although my car will NEVER be parked outside at night, LOL.
@@jackthehatphoto what year is it? My 81 has the ashtrays on the seals not the doors, let's keep these things going 💪
@@ryszardwitek2563 Mine's an 84. And yes, this car is going to survive longer then me (which is quite a sobering thought)
Beautiful. Great video as usual!
Tv companies should really pick you up.you would make a great car show presenter .
Another excellent video Ed, what a lovely interior the Turbo Esprit has, a great looking car and looks amazing in that colour
I'm resident in Norfolk around 20 miles away from the Lotus factory. I actually did a bit of temp work for Lotus in the summer. Based at a satellite location but I had to visit Hethel frequently. There is an early 1980s Esprit (series 1?) on display at one of their buildings which looks great.
My favourite Lotus is the wedge-tastic Elite "Estate" but I love this Esprit Turbo in all it's angular glory.
I fell in love with the Lotus Esprit when I first saw the S1 in the James Bond movie The Spy Who Loved Me. A few years later I purchased a white Esprit S2 and it was such an amazing car to drive. I even remember the reg number of EBO 307V as the car is on the cover of the book Lotus Esprit The Complete Story by Jeremy Walton. Certainly wish I owed it now.
Thank you for your excellent video. I have been an Esprit fan for decades and finally bought an '86 Turbo HCI last summer. Blue on blue like your video. What an absolute thrill to drive!
Fantastic video, one of my favourite cars ever. Thankyou.
Great video Ed- thanks.
Absolutely fabulous review Ed. So well researched, presented, filmed and edited...great stuff.
And the car itself, nothing more to be said except I wish you'd got to drive this stunningly beautiful beast. Chapman really was an automotive genius, wasn't he.
Yes, driving the car would really have completed the video.
Very professional video. Calm positive attitude
Superb, detailed review. Fantastic car, lovely colour.
Just class what a great review on this very special car. 👍
First class review of a fabulous car that gives me goosebumps just looking at it. What a lovely way to start my weekend. Very well done!
Brilliant info and delivery, thanks for your time .
The most balanced review of the Esprit I've ever watched.
I fell in love with these cars back in the 90's being tall i don't fit into them, but still love them all the same. Great work Ed
Yes. What an absolute beauty. Sophisticated lamborghini
Great video to enjoy with my morning cuppa 👍.
Great video, these are my favourite Loti, together with the first X180 by Peter Stevens. Well done, Ed.
Great video, you UNDERSTAND these cars
Nice vid about my favourite ever car. Thank you ❤
Well done review. The presenter has a good feel for these types of cars. Hopefully he can gain the cred to start getting these cars on the road.
great video and I like your presentation.
Ed, that car is a rolling piece of art in every way. At 4:10 the cam belt looks like a fun job to change. A good aftermarket up-date for the car would be a backup cam and a forward cam for parking lot concrete stops. "Just thinking here, "Maybe shoehorn in a Chevy LS3 or LS4. Back then, a open window was your ashtray. The Esprit looks a little like a larger version of the Fiat X1/9. Ed, your channel has come a long way, but your early work is still a joy to watch.
Great review of a great and iconic car, best wishes.
Nice, still looks good 40years later
Cars like this are what makes me envious of Europe. You guys have all sorts of cara with style and beauty. They were all so unique MGs, TVR, Mini, Fiat, Renault, Caterham, Peugeot Lotus and Vauxhall to the major companies like BMW Porshe Lamborghini and Ferrari. All so unique and producing so many quirky and beautiful vehicles. From the 60s and all the way to 80s and 90s so many cool vehicles. Here in America pretty much after the 70’s everything is the same booring copy paste shared parts bin blandness. Booring 4 cylinders to whimpy pedestrian 6 cylinders in everything. Nothing handled great nothing great. We had to turn to Japan to get exciting cars as most european manufacturers had left the market due to insane safety and fuel economy regulations. I had a 76MGB that i bought when i got in the ARMY and it was one of the few cars i was ever excited to just get in and drive.
Wundervolle Dokumentation des Lotus Esprit. Es ist in der Geschichte des Automobiles und der Sportwagen nicht Wegzudenken. Ein sehr faszinierendes Auto. 👍👍👍😊
Liked 👍
Haven't been able to watch the video, though, I'm sat here, staring at that GORGEOUS thumbnail !
What a beauty !
This is Grand Tour material !!
I love this car. It's a shame we don't get to hear these cars running.
You're going to have a great future in Automotive journalism. Your videos are well done and you are very good at what you do. Thank you for sharing
Thanks mate, very kind of you, but watch to the end… 😉
Such a lovely design. I like the colour as well. I'm a sucker for cars like this.
Had a poster of it on my bedroom wall in 84. Love it! Want it!
Excellent presentation for this car, which I knew little about. There were not many of these in the US, but nowI wish there were.
You know, you are a proper journalist and presenter, with a level of professionalism that is rare on TH-cam. You're up there with Harry.
Thanks Adrian, that's very kind of you to say :)
In the early '80s I worked for the UK's premier dynamometer manufacturer and was sent to Hethel to fix a problem and calibrate one of the many dynos used in their engine development group. The project manager was pleased that I stayed the weekend to complete the work so gave me a spin in their Esprit development car on their test track. Sliding around a bumpy corner he commented that the chassis was twisting so much such that the steering linkage had locked up! I also got a tour of their engine assembly area and a quick peek at their V8 under development. It was one of my most memorable auto maker visits. They even sent a letter afterwards to my employer praising my good performance.
Great video again. The Lotus Esprit costing around 90% of the Ferrari.
I remember Ed China working on an Esprit, and it was rather a struggle for him to fit into!
What a supreme example of this lovely car - and a story well told
Really interesting video, Ed. Beautiful car to be sure. Here in Ontario, anything with a Turbo badge carries a 100% price surcharge on the insurance. Years back a friend had a Porsche 924 Turbo. It had the same power output as a 944, but the 944 was much cheaper than a 924.
Great. A real 70s/ 80s icon.
.... the Lamborghini Countach just looks scruffy - love this channel 🙂
I remember when these first came out joining the Elite (with all the F1 winners badges in no particular order if I recall) and Eclat. Seeing its starring role in "The Spy Who Loved Me" was the icing on the cake. Another cracking video Ed, once again well done.
Hence the ..Lots Of Trouble Usually Serious . LOTUS name😄
The Spy who loved me had an S1 Esprit, For your eyes only had the S3 Turbo
@@davidgibson4840 I prefer Lots Of Thrills Usually Stellar when referring to my 1985 Esprit
Terrific video Ed. Back then I seem to remember we had a long wait for the Turbo Esprit, and it was a beauty. I'm glad you pointed out that it wasn't only Lotus that used the parts bins. Yes the V8 arrived too late, although the restyle was nice the engine was a disappointment. Did you get to drive it?
I still remember the first picture of a turbo. It was the dark blue Essex in Car magazine. Been in love ever since.
Great video. I'm an Evora owner and people will complain how the car uses Ford and GM switchgear and not as plush as a Porsche. But people forget this sort of switchgear stealing was common place when companies like Lamborghini were small companies. Lotus is still small (for now, we shall see what Geely does). But I appreciate how Lotus didn't sell out and continued to make small batch cars for drivers
the colour combo of this car is amazing!
I love the Esprit. For my 13th birthday I asked my dad to drive hundreds of miles to Hethel to do a factory tour in the mid 80s and I saw them being made by hand there. One day I would love to do a performance electric restomod Esprit. One can dream!
9:17 the iconic Morris Marina door handle.
I've always been a Jag man and I've always liked the looks of the Lotus, one day a mate of mine turned up with a newly bought Esprit and gave me the keys for a spin! These babies really stick to the road, it's like you're travelling on a pair of rails!
As a wedge that thing puts my 91 Prelude to shame. You do great reviews, merci.
Test Drive (the game) made me fall in love with the Esprit
I love how young you ste, yet you love the cars I grew up with!!
You should do a qa or something, I'd love to see you engage with us more :)
You have great taste - Lambo Espada followed by Lotus Esprit - keep up the brilliant work!!
It's lovely seeing parts that are the same in my 2011 Land Rover :D
I lived next door to a pub in Wymondham, Norfolk (very near hethel) in the 70s , the lotus engineers would come in on Friday evening for a few wobbly pops, they often had a prototype vehicle or test mule with them, I went on to work on them at dealership level in north America, no 2 were the same and reliability wasn't high but I still like them
I remember when I was a kid, one of our neighbours, a market trader, bought exactly this car - a brand new Esprit Turbo in silver blue - it looked amazing - I remember seeing his hot wife driving around in it - they both looked amazing - they complimented each other perfectly 😊
In 1983 i used to get a lift home in a white and red turbo with the pioneer roof stereo uber cool when your 16
Beautiful in that colour wow
Another excellent video. Just don't know where you are finding these classics.
Even if I won the lottery for a billion, the esprit is top of my list. I'd like the V8. I'd rather have this than any other supercar at any price. Love it 💓💓💓💓
You are indeed correct. The series 1 was aesthetically stunning.
Love the Lotus Esprit. All models and especially the V8s
What a way to start a Saturday morning.
It was the early 90s when I first encountered one of these cars in a parking lot. That was when I first realized that super cars were super tiny.
Small cars are always faster!
Considering it came out in the mid 70s and was probably designed in the late 60s, it’s aged remarkably well.
I personally feel these were a their peak in 1992 with the 264 hp. They looked the best and the sound they made I dont think could ever be duplicated. Movies like Pretty Woman and Basic Instict did these cars justice .
I have to agree and this is the year I will be going and looking for next year
It lost all its cool, identity and relevance with the chamfering of the lines and overall softening.
*This* is the epitome.
I always wanted one
What an amazing machine 🤘😎👍
I like this car so much
What I most certainly do not like are the haphazard pleats in the leather-clad console. It gives the impression that the assembly line was in a hurry and couldn't be bothered to stretch it out neatly.
It's hardly haphazard. It's ruched. That was the style in that period.
AND nowadays , restoring esprits..... it was a hell to recostruct that strange style in my car, drove the interior-specialist crazy ;)
Great car. Great 80's arcade game, too.
My boss in the 80s had a gold turbo esprit. Awesome car.
This driveway just keeps giving.
I remember for a while Citroen for a rally championship across their on the Continent had an AX with an engine that featured both supercharging and turbocharging to boost the power of the modest 1.2 capacity.
Wow when it came out of the water in the film Spy who loved me memories that don’t fade 😊
Yup the best looking lotus
According to an old (May 1985) edition of ‘car magazine’, the Esprit Turbo cost £22,760.
The Ferrari 308 GTB (no fuel injection in 1985 I suppose) cost £29,100.
Their summary on the Lotus - “Showing age but still the supercar bargain”.
Sum-up on the 308 was “poetry in motion”.
I don’t recall the Esprit being directly compared with TVR’s of the time, which were half the price and rarely mistaken for a supercar.
The Lotus however (despite it’s lack of cylinders) was, still is and will always be a genuine supercar, if a bit of a bargain back in the day ;-)
Excellent video of an outstanding car - love it!
Beautiful.
Soooo 80's 😍 it's beautiful
All one ever needs to say when it comes to turbos, is Garrett...whether it be a Lotus or an aircraft, Garrett means terrifying power and sound!
In the 80’s I had a picture of one of these on my transformers wallpaper. Pre teen dreams were made
The worst part was the hand brake, next to your right foot! I had a Turbo HC and was very passionate about it, but after 5 years I couldn’t live with it any more. I purchased one of the first Honda NSX’s imported into Britain and that love affair endured from 1992 - 2020!
I remember sitting in an S1 Esprit at the London motor show on its release and trying to convince my dad to get one. Sadly it never happened.☹️
Super cool cars. A bit tight to get in but fits like a glove when in the seat. (At least for a man of my size) No way to get out of it with any dignaty though. Loads of turbolag so keep the revs up and it´s a shitload of fun, specially around corners. But be carefull as it will fight you and you might end up rear end first somewhere you dont want to be.
Can be a bit of challange to work on but if you know your way around it, it´s fairly simple. Electrics are a bit of a mess though but with propper maintainance and care it´wont take much to keep those propperly up and running.
One of the most fun cars I´ve driven. Absolutely love it.
As a Turbo Esprit owner since 1985 cant fault this video. Very accurate and full marks for pointing out that Lotus engineers time was far better spent optimising the engine and suspension rather than designing switches!
The chassis of the Esprit is far far better than the F308 which flexes all over the place especially in GTS form.
I owned a 1981 308 GTSi and a 1985 Turbo Esprit. The 308 chassis isn't any more flexy than the Esprit.
amazing car- just saw the 2 james bond movies they where in- one white one brown(?) with skirack🤩
The Lotus backbone chassis was a great idea. I remember a friend who owned an Elan telling me so, most enthusiastically. I think he may have instantly changed his mind a few months later but couldn't tell me about it. A Rover 90 T-Boned his Elan and while the sills and doors were like a quaile's egg wrapped in baco-foil the chassis was unyieldingly strong and he ended up as thin as Steak Canadienne squashed between it and the tank-like Auntie Rover. I wasn't a fan of the Elan etc, especially as I did recovery work for a local garage and had to retrieve the wreck.
The Esprit has a steel beam in front & behind the passengers. In the doors, there are substantial side intrusion beams that link them together.
@@GSimpsonOAM That's progress for you. Lotus must have seen photos of what reamined of the Elan!
well done.