GTP Cool Wall: 1996-2004 Lotus Esprit V8

1996-2004 Lotus Esprit V8

  • Total voters
    130
  • Poll closed .
GranTurismo916

GranTurismo916

15,465
United States
Orange County, NY
GTP_GT916
Nii916
1996-2004 Lotus Esprit V8 nominated by @All Your Base
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Engines: 3.5L Turbo V8 (Lotus Type 918)
Power: 350 hp
Torque: 295 lb-ft.
Weight: Sport 350: 1300 kg; base, SE, GT; 1380 kg
Transmission: 5-speed manual
Drivetrain: Mid engine, rear wheel drive
Body Styles: 2-door coupe
Additional Info: "Was supposed to have a potential 500 horsepower, but detuned to 350 due to the fragility of the Renault transmission. The V8 range was split in 1998 into the SE and GT. The ultimate incarnation, the Sport 350 was introduced in 1999. Only 50 were made. Thereafter, Lotus made little development aside from minor cosmetic changes including a switch to four round tail lights for the 2002 model year. Esprit production ceased in February 2004 after a 28 year production run."​
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Easily one of my favorite cars of all time and it's one of the best looking and performing British cars out there. Sub-Zero.
 
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I've been looking for these for about 6 months now, even though I'd need an extra 45k € to buy one. Love them.

Doesn't change the fact they're very uncool.
 
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Don't think it's sub-zero, but I have such a soft spot for them. Love the looks, esp. from the rear. Drove a Lotus club member's a year back, fun car to drive, but not sure I would take on the expense of owning one (his spent more time having electrical issues than he did actually driving it). Cool for me.
 
Easily sub zero. Isn't ridiculously overpriced or flashy like some supercars, has a timeless, good looking design, makes a lovely noise and is a bit of an oddball choice these days. Also, pop-up headlights.
 
Easy SZ from me. Looks like a fine wine, and was a true supercar at the time in a budget package. Late models made 60 in about 4 seconds if I remember correctly, which at the time was very fast (still is).
 
This skirts pretty much the upper reaches of what genpop would consider cool. It straddles the boundary between standing out from the crowd and overt, in-your-face plaything of the wealthy. It's a properly gorgeous shape too thanks to Guigiaro a prial of decades earlier - and while some enthusiasts might like the old wedges, the softer lines are easier on the eye for the masses. And it has pop-up headlights. Also no-one hates the word "Lotus", because they're not expensive enough to be bought by proper... merchants.

A mid-engined V8 it may be - and a traditionally fragile one at that - but it's shy of outright supercar performance, price and shouty, ridiculous styling. Just about the only performance car that carries it off better is the MVS Venturi Atlantique 300 Biturbo - and since no-one but car enthusiasts and the terminally French have ever heard of that, it doesn't score the same cool points.


It's the almost-supercar that no-one can hate and everyone can love.
 
The best sports car Lotus has ever created in my opinion. I dig the styling, both exterior and interior. I do wish Lotus gave it the 500 horsepower engine, but 350 horsepower is still enough.

Sub Zero
 
Not so much a classic wedge by this point. But the softened exterior really made it one of the more attractive '90s sports cars.

The highest Cool I've bestowed on any car without going SZ thus far.
 
The87Dodge
The best sports car Lotus has ever created in my opinion. I dig the styling, both exterior and interior. I do wish Lotus gave it the 500 horsepower engine, but 350 horsepower is still enough.

Sub Zero
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Be glad that they didn't because it already overheats with 'just' 350hp.
 
No one who has voted less than Meh has said why they think it's uncool or SU, and I'd like to read reasons as I don't see a reason why anyone would vote less.
 
GranTurismo916
No one who has voted less than Meh has said why they think it's uncool or SU, and I'd like to read reasons as I don't see a reason why anyone would vote less.
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I voted it a high Uncool. It's a 90s wedge with a wing on the back, it's renowned for breaking down - whether it actually does so or not is a moot point - and this generation of Esprit has never looked quite right to me. The best way I can think of describing it is it's like an 80s Esprit has had an allergic reaction, got puffy and grown a load of skin flaps all around the bottom of the car. Pop-up headlights mitigate this a bit.
 
GranTurismo916
No one who has voted less than Meh has said why they think it's uncool or SU, and I'd like to read reasons as I don't see a reason why anyone would vote less.
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Despite the fact I love the car, I still find it looking slightly too much like a generic late 80s/early 90s mid engined supercar, something that'd make people mistake it as a Ferrari too often for it to be cool.
 
A good shape with exceptionally bad detailing. The front of the V8 always bothered me. Grafting a 90s nose onto a 70s body just doesn't work. Since I vote cool mostly on style, I give it an uncool.
 
These with pop-up headlights and the slat brake lights are the best looking Espirts and some of the best looking sport coupes ever. Absolutely marvellous.

Cool. Very, very, very cool.
 

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