I had a quiet drive on Sunday. It was a half hour out and back. The temperature was in the low eighties, it was late afternoon and there was blissfully little traffic.
It was the first moment I was completely absorbed by this Esprit.
I should explain… …a car is a car, but in a car like this, there is a lot of other “stuff” happening while you are driving it that you don’t get in other cars. There are noises it takes getting used to, constant comments, and other reactions to the car from strangers, the disorientating way it cocoons you, the ride height, and the power to name some. It takes a while to sort of filter it out to the point that its just you and the machine.
Well, that has happened, and it is as I remembered it. In a word: sublime.
It’s funny how Lotus managed to combine the raw visceral violence of the 918 engine to such a polished chassis. I know to this day Roger Becker still whines about the V-8 being an “engine too far” and on some level I agree with him, (after several years in an Exige) but taken without regard to any other motorcar, the Esprit is a fascinating experience. I don’t suppose any other manufacturer has ever managed to combine supple ride quality and communication as successfully.
Anyway, more than anything else, the Esprit makes the physical act of DRIVING a car rewarding. I find now that I have enough “seat time” to disenfranchise myself from the fact that it is an exotic to get that now. Is funny, the car has been trying to have a conversation with me for almost a year, but this was the first time I actually listened…
Conversations with my Esprit 