In the life of any CC hunter, one should expect the unexpected. Finding one Lotus Esprit in downtown Tokyo was somewhat strange, but not exactly unexpected. They really like their Lotuses, in this country. Tiny, highly-strung British sports cars that don’t rust? A Japanese car collector’s wet dream. Still, I’ve seen more Elises, Europas and old Elans than I did Esprits. Then I caught another one the same day. Finding two Esprits in one day, after not seeing any in two years (save for a complete basket case)? Now that was unexpected.
So here’s the first of two Esprit posts by yours truly. (I’ll get around to the second one sometime next year of whatever, we should pace ourselves…) The other car is a bit more recent and, crucially, has a rear spoiler. I kind of like these better without spoilers, like this slightly tatty late ‘80s example.
The Esprit had an outstandingly long career, especially for a high-performance car. Born in 1976 at a time when the company was in its prime, it was its maker’s rock through the incredible turmoil that rained down on Lotus in the ‘80s and ‘90s, finally ending in 2004, at almost 30 years young. Almost everything changed in those three decades, bar the name; just over 10,700 Esprits of all stripes and variants were made, so it remained a Lotus in that sense too – low production.
By the mid-‘80s, Giugiaro’s original work on the Esprit (which had been previewed at the 1972 Turin Motor Show on a Europa chassis) was way past stale and had started to grow mold. Lotus designer Peter Stevens was tasked with giving the Esprit a thorough makeover, which apparently received Giugiaro’s blessing. The front end was smoothed out, the rear end got Toyota lights and dozens of other little touches to refresh the design, while keeping the key elements of the Esprit…er… spirit. Strangely enough, the Stevens design proved to be less aerodynamic than the origami-like original. Style for style’s sake.
Alongside the revamped looks, the X180 featured a new gearbox. Previous Esprits used a 5-speed taken from the Citroën CX (and originally created for the SM); a lighter Renault unit now replaced it, as used on the Alpine GTA. This new gearbox forced Lotus to move the disc brakes out to the wheels, as the in-board brakes used up to this point on the Citroën gearbox could no longer be made to fit the Renault-sourced transaxle.
When the X180 was premiered in late 1987, the gearbox and rear brakes encompassed all of the major changes underneath the new skin. The rest of the car remained pretty much identical to the mid-‘80s Esprits. There were two distinct versions initially: the standard model (172hp) and the Turbo (215hp, moving to 228hp my mid-1988). Both cars used the same 2174cc 4-cyl., but the Turbo cars have a different roof with a sloping rear window. Standard cars like our CC have a simple vertical rear glass ahead of the engine cover. Not sure what the “Weber Equipped” sticker refers to, here – surely not carburetors?
Non-turbo cars like today’s CC were the last of the breed and disappeared quickly from the range. Lotus built fewer than 300 of these base-model X180s from 1987 to 1990, the lion’s share having been manufactured as 1988 model year cars. That was also the Esprit’s best year ever, with 1058 units sold – almost 10% of all Esprits were made that year! Soon, the Esprit SE (264hp) joined the fray so that the Esprit could enter the ‘90s with an appropriate amount of oomph. The SE ditched the glass back of the X180 turbos and added a pylon-mounted rear airfoil in 1991, as well as an additional chin spoiler on the front end.
After the high point that was 1988, things went south precipitously after 1989, due to collapsing American sales and Britain (as well as Japan) going into a recession. Production went down to 125 Esprits in 1991 and action was needed to remedy the situation. The X180 was replaced by the S4 in 1993, bringing the Esprit further up to snuff, especially in terms of build quality, though that was never Lotus’ strongest suit.
Speaking of which, here’s the rather sorry-looking interior of the car I found with that temporary license plate (that’s what the red diagonal bar on the plate signifies). I realize it says “Esprit Turbo” on that odd-looking green thing the console, but there isn’t anything like this in genuine X180 Turbos, either. All in all, this interior looks in dire need of attention and refurbishment, which I’m sure it will get now that it’s in Japanese hands.
And one can only hope that those horrid wheels will be high on the list of things to be addressed. This is a relatively rare version of the Esprit, but it seems to have just changed hands – perhaps fresh off the boat from the UK, given it’s RHD. And as a 35-year-old Lotus, it deserves to play a leading part in draining its owner’s savings account and be the best Lotus it can be, one repair at a time.
Related posts:
Curbside Classic: 1977 Lotus Esprit S1 – Giorgetto Giugiaro Takes Up Origami, by PN
Vintage Review: Lotus Turbo Esprit, by Yohai71
CC Capsule: 1987 Lotus Turbo Esprit – Turbo Doorstop, by Tom Klockau
What a quirky machine. I almost like it as much as a Ford Tempo. Looks like a kit car to me, and 3M was happy to supply the bonding agent to glue it together.
Judging by those 90’s Advan rims, it might have been in Japan for a long time.
The only thing I don’t like about the Stevens redesign is that abrupt squared off area on the A pillar where the original Giugiaro designed body came to a eye pleasing point. The rest of the design is an improvement to the ever kitted out S3 which was looking a tad crude, especially the Rover taillights. The stevens design substantially improved the rear end and other than the very last versions with round taillights used those Toyota units to the end, and in my opinion looked very nice.
The nite shaded taillights on this one bother me almost as much as the 3 spoke wheels. I really don’t have a problem with personalization but being a Lotus Esprit isn’t enough to stand out?
Thanks for the info – I know nothing about these cars. I found this one in West Hollywood a few years ago. I found it quite attractive.
Another view
One more
I rather like those rims; period pieces that are age-appropriate for this Esprit.
Lotus. Doesn’t that stand for Loaded Old Tosser’s Unusable Special?
I always thought the Espirit looked like an Old Spice box that’d been run over, possibly not helped by its movie career where it was used exclusively by seniors like Richard Gere cruising for hookers, or Roger Moooore cruising for flamboyant crustaceans or Michael Douglas being cruised BY one, chased, and run down by it but (perhaps appropriately) surviving the low wedgie with just a body flip and head shake. Not going to attract the young and rich all this, now is it? More espirit de corpse than a spirit to be proud of, if you ask me.
It is not my favorite to design to look at, and far from the Guigiaro’s best hour (and he surely spent no more than that). It looks like a flat pack that doesn’t unfold, and about as interesting.
The Uk market kept on with carbies right until about ’89 or so, so the equipment here is as it says on the label. Appropriately enough, its boasted equipment is old.
As a by-the-by, the gearbox mentioned can’t have been in the CX, else it’d be driving the wheels at front and back of the car, in the middle. Whilst this admittedly not impossible for Citroen, it didn’t happen. The box was apparently fine in the front on the SM and DS, but turned in reverse to drive the Lotus, it ran on the wrong side of the crownwheel cut, and broke, a lot. How very Chapman: no-one will know it’s backwards, and besides, the other bits we added lightness to will break first. Which, of course, they did.
“it deserves to play a leading part in draining its owner’s savings account and be the best Lotus it can be, one repair at a time”
Brilliant! Lots of trouble, usually serious.
Thanks for the great and informative write up. I never knew about the variation in rear windows, even if I think the Essex Turbo Espirt was the best. Just was.
Someone on my street had a Turbo one of this redesign, in white. PI only saw it in motion was when it was driven back and forth on my block going way to fast. Made an impressive noise. Not sure how someone bought one of these in Kansas but there it was.