1997 Lotus Esprit V8 Test Drive

With a brand new V8 engine supplying the thrust, Lotus Esprit accelerated into 1997 like a scalded spider monkey. In place of the heavily boosted inline four that powered the car for decades was a Lotus designed 3.5 liter twin turbo V8 that produced 350 horses at 6500rpm. Besides the increased peak power, the new V8 brought big improvements in response and driveability. Coupled with a five speed manual transaxle, the car was said to require just 4.5 seconds to reach 60mph, and terminal velocity was pegged at 178mph. With the addition of an anti lock brake system and a variety of other improvements, the Esprit V8 clearly was primed to reassert its position in the supercar ranks.