Lotus Esprit V8 GT
Simplify, then add lightness,’ was the central tenet to Colin Chapman’s philosophy. Well, the
Esprit V8 obliterated that; instead, it was another four cylinders and a veritable torrent of grunt that was added. It’d been a long time coming, too. The Esprit project originally had two strands, the four-cylinder (M70) and the V8 (M71), but a lack of development funds saw the latter canned. The idea raised its head several more times over the intervening decades, but it wouldn’t be until 1996 that the eight-cylinder car finally arrived.
And what a handsome brute this V8 GT is. Wheelarch extensions, monobloc alloys shod with wide rubber boots, and a rear wing on stilts – standard on later V8s but a bespoke factory fit on this early one – lends it a malevolent presence in today’s company. This is the seriously serious Esprit.
Slip inside and that sentiment is backed-up by man-sized controls, with a hefty, thick leather-rimmed Momo steering wheel and even bulkier alloy gearknob. Like the GT3, the V8 GT pared back specification to knock 40kg off the standard V8’s 1365kg kerb weight, yet it’s still luxuriously finished in leather and Alcantara.
Andy Buik’s restored car has an upgraded gearbox with straight-cut first and second gears that communicate to you with a low toned whine. That is, until you obliterate all other noise by nailing the throttle. The all-alloy 32-valve V8 has one raison d’être, and that’s torque production. As the twin turbochargers kick in you’re rewarded with a thunderous wellspring, and what sounds like an ebullient rhinoceros unloading its sinuses just behind your head. It’s bloody addictive – shift, bang, sneeze, repeat.
On a long straight it’s brutal, but as matters tighten it’s clear a little of the four-cylinder cars’ delicacy of movement has been sacrificed; it still handles excellently but, where you instinctively guide a four-cylinder through, here you’re manhandling in the mould of Desperate Dan. It’s a big character, like a dog that wants to prove its cojones are bigger than its owner’s, and it shifts that essential Esprit essence somewhat. You no longer lust after the corners – pesky, speed-sapping obstacles that they are – but the long straights, where you can get the power down.
Just like the GT3, its braking capabilities are of a different standard, the large Abs-endowed discs more than capable of reining in high speeds just as fast as the V8 can make them. There’s only a 0.3sec difference between the GT3 and V8 GT in a sprint from 0-60mph; beyond that the former wouldn’t see the latter for dust, but get tight and twisty and you know that fortunes would be reversed, the GT3 showing the V8 a pair of Day-glo heels.
Says Gerald Turner, ‘The V8’s reputation for poor reliability isn’t warranted. There were some early issues with clutch problems, but the switch to a dual plate unit cured these. Look into condition of the pipework for the turbos – it’s quite visible in the rear wheelarch areas. They hang in fresh air, running red-hot and getting splashed with cold water. A leaky pipe needs the engine and exhaust manifolds removed for access, belts and clutch may need doing and if a stud shears it can quickly go horribly wrong. On a V8 you’re looking at £5k-£10k, whereas it’d be £2k-£5k on a four-cylinder car.
‘As the twin Allied Signal T25 turbochargers kick in you’re rewarded by a thunderous wellspring of torque’
A customer can get a few big bills and think “right, I’m selling”, but whoever buys it gets 8-10 years of trouble-free motoring.’
Gerald says that the gearbox is the V8’s Achilles heel. It can handle stock torque figures, but you avoid cars that have had modifications chasing more power.
A V8 GT can be picked up for £20,000 but it would likely require a lot of work; an average example will set you back £30k, a good car closer to £45k and the very best £60k. Prices for the limitedproduction poster-boy Sport 350 are stratospheric (you’ll pay £80k for the very best), but mid-nineties early V8 cars like this are moving out of its shadow, and are again becoming appreciated.
When new the V8 was the Esprit pinnacle and sold accordingly, with 1483 of all variants – V8, V8 GT and Sport 350 – built. That’s 14 per cent of total Esprit sales, achieved in just eight years. Whether it remains at that summit today is down to personal preference, but if you’re a torque addict and your supercar must have more than four cylinders then this is surely where it’s at.
For humans and car designs alike, the ageing process is inevitable. The choice: to hang on for grim life to your era – like a hirsute Seventies medallion man raging against the dying light of disco – while all else evolves around you, or change. The Esprit’s sharppenned lines were starting to look just a little bit tired 11 years into production, and this was reflected in falling sales. Fellow wedges such as Ferrari’s 308 GT4 and Lamborghini’s Urraco had long since departed the scene but, in the most impressive sleight of hand since Karmann’s Triumph Tr5-into-tr6, the company’s in-house design team – headed by Colin Spooner and utilising the pen of freelancer Peter Stevens – released its ‘new’ Esprit in 1987.
Looking at Wendy Lloyd-owen’s X180 Turbo, a 40th Anniversary Commemorative Edition, it’s clear they did a superb job. The new Vacuum Assisted Resin Injection (VARI) production technique means the pin-sharp central seam has been deleted – also resulting in a substantially stiffer body – while there’s also a distinct softening of the edges. It’s like viewing an Esprit through gauze; it’s a soft-core version of the original’s by now harder-core lines. Toss in this example’s Pearlescent White paint, and it’s time to state loud and proud, ‘Welcome to the Eighties.’
Given the decade, the burr wood dashboard may seem like a backward step, but the cabin has a newfound plushness with a profusion of soft Connolly leather and suede inserts. It’s marginally more spacious inside, but the biggest gain is in cabin insulation. The Twin Cam remains an urgent presence although you lose some aural connection – we’re talking a matter of degrees, though.
For the X180 out went the Citroen SM gearbox, with a Renault 25-derived transaxle replacing it; the resultant shift is meatier with a tendency to self-centre, so a firmer hand is required.
Performance is a tad up on our earlier Turbo, but there’s a definite overall sense of increased solidity – it feels more taut, together and planted. That inspires more confidence, and after a day hooning multiple Esprits round Hethel my trust in the chassis is absolute. Chicanes, long sweepers, and hairpins are dispatched with nonchalance, while I stretch the Turbo’s high-speed legs on the straights. As with the four other cars here it’s mightily satisfying.
‘While people could buy the X180 quite cheaply for a while, they couldn’t always afford to run them,’ says Geoff Downhill. ‘We’re finding a lot of “home repairs” on this model, and on some cars we spend quite a lot of time putting right bodges.’
Again it’s the usual Esprit checks – radiators, cambelts and a particularly keen eye on service history. For all post-1987 cars the only real issue with regards to bodyshells and the chassis is accident damage, and for all, lift damage from incorrect hoisting.
‘A few alternators are starting to fail and play in the steering can either be a result of steering rack wear (£400 for a new one) or lower steering UJ wear (£100). The alloy uprights on the rear suspension arms are also prone to corrosion, and you need to be extremely careful repairing them because any excessive force can break the lugs off. For all models, check to see if new fuel tanks have been fitted because they also have a tendency to rust.’
X180 Turbo prices start at £10k for a rough example, £21k for a good solid car and up to £26k for the very best, which makes it the best value Esprit entry point. If you go for the highperformance (264bhp, rather than 210bhp) chargecooled SE then it’s approximately another £5000 on top of those prices.
In SE form, the X180 also had its own time in the big screen limelight thanks to an appearance in the 1990 blockbuster Pretty
Woman. Lotus stepped in where other prestige marques had feared to tread, given the subject matter. A brave move that once again paid off in bringing the Esprit before a new celluloid generation. The marque apparently saw its US orders triple overnight. Would it have been so keen had the setting been a seedy Kings Cross, rather than a glamorous Sunset Boulevard?
Astonishingly the Esprit remained in production until 2004 and that shows two things – just how inherently right Giugiaro’s original design was, and what a top job was done on both subsequent re-designs in order to keep it relevant.
‘It’s like viewing an Esprit through gauze; it’s a softcore version of the original’s by now harder-core lines’
‘Each of our cars has its own distinct character, and offers a great value entry point into the Esprit world’
Lotus never strayed far from the original Esprit’s design, but each of our five cars retains its own distinct character. The smooth-lined X180 hit the visual reset button, paving the way for a new generation and today it’s the best value here if you find a good one. The normally aspirated S3 is the subtlest, both in looks and on track delivery, but is a joy to pilot and still packs a hefty punch.
The V8 came late to the party, and while it’s a brutish straight-line devourer of tarmac it’s definitely more GT in delivery. That racing-derived moniker is a misnomer in the final four-pot GT3 iteration – it can do touring, but at heart it remains a pure and scintillating driver’s car, and it almost got my vote. Today though, for me, it has to be the original Turbo Esprit; incisive Guigiaro styling, game-changing performance, and reflective Bond cool all combine to make it my Esprit to buy now.
Each offers a great value entry point into the Esprit world and with all, today has proven that performance and handling satisfaction is guaranteed.
Thanks to: Lotus Cars (lotuscars.com); The Lotus Forums (thelotusforums.com); Andy ‘Bibs’ Betts; Scot Walker; Rob Borrett; Alastair Florance; Paul Matty Sports Cars (paulmattysportscar.co.uk)