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432 Hp - 3.5l Twin Turbo V8 5-speed Manual Alloy Wheels Alpine Premium Stereo on 2040-cars

US $32,000.00
Year:2000 Mileage:43192
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A SPECTACULAR example of the truly rare Lotus Esprit Twin Turbo V8. This car was purchased by me in 2006 and has been meticulously maintained. I have taken many steps to upgrade some of the shortcomings of the car to make it more reliable and truly a joy to drive.

Lot's of people describe their car as "The One", but I'll let you read the description of this particular car, and you be the judge. One of the most disappointing features of the Esprit was the stock, ugly GM steering wheel that was basically the same as the Saturn cars, but with the Lotus emblem. Many people switch the wheel out to a Momo wheel, but give up the safety of the airbag. I, instead, had a RAID race steering wheel installed with integrated airbag. This required a custom adapter, but the satin aluminum wheel perfectly matches the aluminum accents on the dash panel and shifter knob. This is the wheel that should have been in the car from the beginning. Another disappointment was the meager 350 horsepower of a car that was supposed to compete with exotics like Ferrari and Lamborghini. Taking into account the standard 15% loss from the crank horsepower to the rear wheel horsepower, the typical V8 Esprit puts out 297.5 horses to the pavement. To remedy this, we did the following:

1: Switch to high flow K&N air filters
2. Switch to high flow catalytic converters
3. Install the high performance computer chip.

This resulted in rear wheel HP of 367.8 which translates to 432 Horsepower at the crank. This is a vast improvement over the stock performance, and truly brings the car closer to "supercar" performance. Please see the attached Dyno run done in 2008. Since then, we have installed 9 lb. waste-gate valves and changed to forged pistons. The Esprit ships from the factory with weaker cast pistons, and is prone to melting form high turbo boost. This is one of the reasons the car is sadly de-tuned to lower horsepower. My goal was to restore the power the car was capable of, while making it a completely reliable daily driver. The forged pistons are a must-do upgrade to these motors. 

Another design flaw of these cars is the inadequate radiator which causes them to over heat in warm climates. I live in Las vegas where the temperature regularly gets up to 115 degrees. I installed a 4 core aluminum radiator, and have never had an overheating issue.

In addition to the upgrades to improve the car and make it a reliable daily driver, i made these maintenance and repairs:

Replaced oil cooler lines
Replace gear box mounts
Replace clutch assembly
Replace pinion and release bearings
Replace oil temp sensor
Re-weld exhaust
Replace motor mounts
Replace shifter knob
Service and evacuate Air Conditioning
Replace stock horn with Italian air horn
Replace carpet mats
Replace timing belts and adjust
Replace rear crank seal
Replace low press oil switch
Replace both exhaust valves

I also replaced most of the light bulbs with low-current LEDs. The dash gauges were replaced with a brilliant white LED set which looks very contemporary. The headlights were switched to european CBIE lights which are brighter and shine farther.

I also had the alloy wheels re-powdercoated so they look like new. The tires have good tread on them. Includes the removable body color sunroof panel.

Now in the full disclosure department, the drivers seat shows some wear on the left bolster. There is a scratch on the left rear fender which was there when I bought it, and didn't bother me. The edges of the doors could use some touch up paint, and there are the standard small rock chips on the front bumper. Standing 6 feet from the car, you don't see any of this, the pearl yellow paint is simply stunning in the sunlight. You will probably want to replace the front rotors with the next brake job.

The AC blows ice cold, the CD stereo sounds real good, and as far as engine sound, everyone always remarks this is the best sounding Esprit they have heard. The high flow cats and straight pipes sound amazing!

I have taken great care of this car and hate to sell it, but I have just too many cars and this is the next one that has to go.

I am offering the car for sale locally and reserve the right to end the auction early if it sells locally. Buyer must Paypal a $1000 deposit within 24 hours of auction close, and the balance within 5 days by cash or cashiers check. Private message me here if you would like to arrange an inspection here in Las Vegas. Buyer is responsible for shipping and transportation.

Note: So I see once I listed this, the ebay carfax is putting up an exclamation point regarding the mileage. Apparently the company who auctioned it in 2006, said that the actual miles were not known, probably an error since there is nothing to indicate that the mileage is incorrect. Nevada then must have put "not actual mileage"on the title because of the auction people. If you look at the history of the miles, there is nothing out of the ordinary for a rarely driven exotic, and certainly no contradictions in the mileage. I've worked on the car enough to know that the mileage is in fact, accurate. I don't know why the auction house said that. Maybe they weren't smart enough to turn the key "on" to make the LCD odometer display the miles.

Auto blog

Driving the 2020 Lotus Evora GT, and Defenders at a trickle | Autoblog Podcast #631

Thu, Jun 11 2020

In this week's Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Senior Producer Christopher McGraw and Road Test Editor Zac Palmer. First, they talk about driving the 2020 Lotus Evora GT. Then they take some time to update any new happenings and opinions on our long-term Subaru Forester and Volvo S60 T8 plug-in hybrid. In the news this week, the new Land Rover Defender is in short supply, and Tesla is rumored to be creating a 12-passenger shuttle for use in The Boring Company tunnels. Finally, we reach into the mailbag to help a listener replace a Mazda3 hatch with something to better match their lifestyle. Autoblog Podcast #631 Get The Podcast iTunes – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Rundown Cars we're driving: 2020 Lotus Evora GT 2019 Subaru Forester long-term update 2020 Volvo S60 T8 long-term update The 2020 Land Rover Defender is in short supply Tesla may be working on 12-passenger shuttle for The Boring Co. Spend My Money Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on iTunes Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Lotus cars to be 'Made in China' at new Geely plant, according to documents

Thu, Jan 17 2019

BEIJING/SHANGHAI — The Chinese owner of Lotus plans to start producing the British sports car brand in China for the first time with the opening of a new 9 billion yuan ($1.3 billion) factory in Wuhan city, company job advertisements and government documents showed. The previously unreported plans are Zhejiang Geely Holding Group's first move to shake up the British brand since its purchase of a majority stake in 2017. The move is in line with Geely's ambitions to build more up-market cars and throw off its reputation for copycat designs and shoddy quality. For Lotus, it could mean greater production volumes and new models such as SUVs to boost sales. "For Geely, going high-end can help it take more market share," said Alan Kang, Shanghai based analyst at LMC Automotive. "Geely needs to do that to better compete with global brands." Lotus cars are currently built in Norfolk, England. Geely and Lotus said in a joint statement that while Norfolk was Lotus's manufacturing home, a key part of the firm's strategy to revive the brand was expanding the brand's manufacturing footprint globally. "Details on additional locations and models will be confirmed in due course," the company said in an e-mail to Reuters. The planning authority of Hubei province, whose capital is Wuhan, last month approved Geely's plans for the plant. The factory will be able to manufacture 150,000 cars annually, according to a document posted on the authority's website. The Wuhan Development Zone, where the factory will be based, said in a statement posted on its website last month that production at the plant would include "Geely's Lotus project". The Wuhan Development Zone did not respond to Reuters' request for comment. The documents did not say when the plant would start operations. The facility is approved to build all-electric battery cars, electric hybrids as well as combustion engine cars like Lotuses. Job advertisements on Geely's website show the automaker is looking to fill at least 20 Wuhan-based roles for the Lotus project. LUXURY AMBITIONS While is not clear what portion of the new Chinese production line would be devoted to the British brand, greater production volumes would be consistent with Geely's stated ambition to grow the market for Lotus by broadening its line-up. Geely sold only 1,630 Lotuses globally in 2018. Lotus currently produces models such as the Evora and Elise.

The Stig bungees a Lotus F1 car in Durban

Mon, 18 Aug 2014

Remember a couple of months ago when a mischievous Stig broke into the Lotus racing headquarters in Enstone and made off with an F1 car? Well, now we know where he went with it.
In this humorous clip from Top Gear, the tamed racing driver in the white suit disembarks with Pastor Maldonado's Lotus-Renault E22 (not the E21 he took from the team's headquarters, eagle-eye viewers might notice) in Durban, South Africa, and takes it to Moses Mabhida Stadium for the Top Gear Festival. After having some fun on a dirt bike, a chrome Mustang drift car and a few other curiosities, he hooks it up to a bungee cord and jumps off a tower behind the wheel.
Now we're not quite convinced they actually did this and that it wasn't all CGI, but it's still worth a watch and a laugh.