Lotus Esprit

The Espree is a sportscar, which was built by Lotus in the United Kingdom between 1976 to 2004, as well the future Esprit, which will be released in 2014. It was unveiled at the Turin Motor Show in 1972 as a concept car and it was a development of a streched Lotus Europa chassis. Originally, the name Kiwi was proposed, but in keeping with the Lotus tradition of having all car model names start with the letter "E", the name became Esprit. There are 6 generations of the Esprit, the sixth is the 2014 model.
The S1 - it was launched in October 1975. With a steel backbone chassis and a fiberglass body, the Esprit was powered by the Lotus 907 4 cylinder engine, which displaced 2 litres, produced 162 HP and 190 NM of torque. The transaxle gearbox was a 5-speed manual unit. This S1 was said to have the best steering of any Esprit. It went from 0 to 100 km/h in 8.4 seconds with a top speed of 214 km/h. The car gained fame through its appearance in the James Bond movie "The Spy Who Loved Me", where it was featured in a long chase sequence, converting into a submarine.
The S2 - it was introduced in 1978. The most obvious of the changes made to this car was the intake and cooling duct "ears" located behind the rear quarter window, tail lights from the Rover SD1 and an integrated front spoiler. The S2.2 had an enlarged type 912 engine, which was 2.2 litres and which produced 217 NM.  During the Series 2, the Essex Turbo Esprit was announced in 1980. This was the first factory turbocharged Esprit. The new type 910 engine produced 210 HP and 270 NM of torque. From 0 to 100 km/h it went in 6.1 seconds with a top speed of 240 km/h. The series 2 cars are extremaly rare as only about 200 of them were produced alltogether.
S3 - it continued to use the 2.2 litre type 912 engine of the S2.2, whilst the Turbo Esprit(S3) reverted to a less complez wet-sump lubrication system, retaining the power and torque outputs of its dry-sump predecessor. In April 1986, the final incarnations of the Giugiaro-styled Esprit were announced, with raised engine compression giving rise to the HC moniker. This increased the output of the naturally aspirated engine to 172 HP and 217 NM of torque for the Esprit HC and 215 HP and 298 NM for the Turbo Esprit HC, with the increased torque available at lower rpms.
S4 - in 1987, a new version of the Esprit was unveiled, incorporating rounder styling cues given by designer Peter Stevens of Mclaren F1 fame.  The car's type 910 engine retained 215 HP and 298 NM, but decreased its zero to one hundred km/h to 5.2 seconds and a top speed of 240 km/h. 1989 came out the Esprit SE(Special Equipment), which's more powerful with horsepower of 280 available on overboost and 0 to 100km/h in 4.7 seconds with a top speed of over 260 km/h. Along with the SE, Lotus produced the little seen Esprit S, a midrange turbocharged car offering fewer appointments and 228 HP.
Now comes my favorite generation of the Espree - the series 5. in 1993, another exterior and interior revamp of the car resulted in the S5, which was the first model to include power steering. The S5 was succeeded in 1994 by the S5sport, which uppered power to 300 HP and 393 NM of torque, improving all around performance while retaining the comfort of the previous version. Top speed was increased to 270 km/h with 0 to 100km/h time of 4.6 seconds. Although the engine kept its 2.2 litre capacity, many modifications were added to improve engine performance. This car was to be the end of the line for the Esprit but a cancelled project for a front engine car had left Lotus with a compact V8 and no car to put it into, so in 1996 the Esprit V8 was revealed. It's 3.5 litre V8 engine featured 350 HP with zero to one hundred kilometres per hour time of 4.4 seconds and a top speed of 282 km/h. Esprit production temporarily ceased in 2004 with Lotus content on producing the Esprit with little development aside from minor cosmetic changes including a switch to four round tail lights for the 2002 model year. Currently a total of 10 675 Esprits have been produced. The S5 V8 consumes 13.3 litres of fuel per 100km . You can get one nowadays with a starting price of 20 000 euros.
There is also a series 6 car, which will go into production in 2014. Its engine is petrol, also available as a hybrid, with optional KERS from F1. It has a 5 litre V8 with power of 620 HP and 720 NM of torque. It goes from 0 to 100 km/h in 3.4 seconds with a top speed of 330 km/h. Price will preferrably be around 125 000 euros. The fuel consumption is not known right now.
The following pictures, which I do not own any rights for, are all the property of Adrian Pingstone, Jeff Greenland, Olari Vokk, auto24.ee, autobestpics.com, wikipedia users Bmwe36v8, Sog240, detectandpreserve.