1989 Lotus Esprit Turbo SE | Retro Review

The Lotus Esprit and its original boxy Giugiaro styling will always be timeless. But how do you feel about this restyling done by Peter Stevens?

[Accrd]

4.5secs in 1989 was just plain fast! Such a sexy car for the time and is still good looking today.

[zmoney]

Those are some seriously good performance numbers for that amount of horsepower.

[mediacritic]

I always loved this car. It made no sense - supercar price, supercar performance, - 4 cylinders. There was nothing else like it. So quirky and cool as hell.

[donnie]

Even in todays modern times, that car still looks badass.

[noseefood]

one of the best looking 80-90's exotics immortalized by pretty woman and 007.

[SubaruWRXspdManual]

Two things: incredible performance even by today's turbo 4's, and that radio disguise was hilarious!

[richardprice]

Still one of the best looking cars ever made

[Jerrypintoswe]

I just think of Sharon Stones beaver everytime i see one from Basic Instinct

[apollo]

Got smoked by one of these in 90’ in my mostly stock 89’ 5.0 GT.
These puppies were FAST for their time.

[ZIGZAG]

It always quite impresses me, videos of ancient Porsches and Lotuses, no matter how old, when on track they look like they're in their element, darting from apex to apex in a composed manner.

[jdsk]

I just saw the green Jim Clark edition earlier this week.
Looks so cool !!!

[bobolulu]

I own one of these! Even though I've had offers to sell it, I will never sell it - and yes, it is as fast it says it is. I also have a Corvette C4 ZR1, lots of parts sharing going on with both cars, as GM owned Lotus at the time. The Lotus accelerates as fast as my ZR1 up to about 110mph then after that the torque-myster just romps away into the distance.

[Sinn]

The 2004 Lotus Espirit Turbo V8 still looks absolutely incredible as does this car. I am actually considering buying an 2003-2004 Lotus Espirit V8 next year. I have always wanted one and the price now is so cheap for supercar performance...why not? Plus with today's turbos you can really push a car like this well past what was thought possible back then.

[shiny]

I can't even comprehend how good that Lotus must of looked on the showroom back in 89 .Its still stunning.I seen a black one a few years ago in New york parked in a garage with about half an inch of dust on it and 2 flats and the car still looked good.Couldn't believe someone would abondon a car like that.Oh well.their so nice in person.

[ditherdather]

Loved this car ever since I watched Basic Instinct.

[taylormordoch]

It's still a nice car even by today standards. I got a chance to drive one, and it handled beautifully around the corners,

[CFG]

The esprit was such an amazing performance car. The interior actually looks pretty decent for a 31 year old car. The outside just needed a new set of rims and it would look completely at home on the road today. I love the monowiper too. I hope Lotus will find it’s stride and bring back amazing performance cars at a somewhat more reasonable price than the Italian or German competition.

[lotusesprit]

Its a great looking car in every colour, i wish i had one, crazy about this car since the first time i've seen one in the 80's. Great design and handling

[BrasspineappleProductions]

" A stunning car way ahead of it's time "

[jefferysmith]

4.5 to 60 is good now. Amazing back then