Vehicle
Lotus Esprit
The mid-engined car that ran for nearly thirty years, and the generation decides the engine entirely. Most are the turbocharged 2.2 four-cylinder — Lotus's own sixteen-valve unit, aluminium and with a well-known appetite for head-gasket work if the cooling system is neglected, which on a mid-engined car with long coolant runs and multiple bleed points is easy to do. The twin-turbo 3.5 V8 from 1996 is a different proposition and its early cars are known for clutch and gearbox trouble rather than engine trouble, the Renault-sourced transaxle behind it being the limiting component. Chassis-wise it is a steel backbone with a glassfibre body, so corrosion hides where no panel shows it.
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Generations
-
S3 1981–1987
The Giugiaro-bodied car on the 2.2 four, turbocharged on the Turbo Esprit; pre-dates any diagnostic connector worth the name.
- Body styles
- Coupé
- Platform
- Lotus backbone chassis
- Engines
-
- 2.2 four-cylinder — 912 · petrol
- 2.2 turbo four-cylinder — 910S · petrol · 910
- Transmissions
- 5-speed Citroën C35 manual
- Drivetrain
- Rear-wheel drive
-
X180 1987–1993
The Stevens rebody, still on the 2.2 turbo; the long coolant runs to a front radiator are what makes cooling neglect expensive here.
- Body styles
- Coupé
- Platform
- Lotus backbone chassis
- Engines
-
- 2.2 turbo four-cylinder — 910S · petrol · 910
- 2.0 turbo — petrol · Italy only
- 2.2 — petrol
- Transmissions
- 5-speed Citroën C35 manual · 5-speed Renault UN-1 manual
- Drivetrain
- Rear-wheel drive
-
V8 1996–2004
The twin-turbo 3.5 V8, whose limiting component is the Renault-sourced transaxle behind it rather than the engine.
- Body styles
- Coupé
- Platform
- Lotus backbone chassis
- Engines
-
- 3.5 twin-turbo V8 — petrol · 918
- 2.0 turbo four-cylinder GT3 — petrol
- 2.2 turbo — 910S · petrol
- Transmissions
- 5-speed manual · 6-speed manual
- Drivetrain
- Rear-wheel drive
Information, not instruction
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