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Spy Shots: New Lotus Esprit Mule caught in the Arctic
by Sam Abuelsamid on Feb 18th 2008 at 11:02AM 
A Lotus Esprit that has clearly grown several inches in its midsection has been photographed playing in the snow of northern Sweden where all the European automakers like to spend their winters. The scribes at Autocar have traced back the license plate to reveal that the car it's attached to is propelled by a 4.4L BMW V8. As reported yesterday, it's believed that the 2010 Lotus Esprit will be motivated by the twin-turbo 4.4L V8 that debuted in the X6 xDrive50i at the Detroit Auto Show. Mounted in the Esprit, it's expected to get pumped up from the original 407 hp to a nice round 500 hp. It should make a fun alternative to the next gen Ferrari F430 and Lamborghini Gallardo when it finally drops. Let's just hope it doesn't get pushed back again.[Source: AutoCar]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
johnny 11:21AM (2/18/2008)
my dad has a 2000 rolls royce with the 4.4 liter twin turbo bmw engine in it from the factory making 450hp.
Before the Phanthom Rolls Royce used the BMW 4.4 from the 540i in its cars. check on it. this is nothing new.
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MikeW 1:17PM (2/18/2008)
Bentley, and it was 350hp.
Bruxell 11:27AM (2/18/2008)
Correction. It should make a fun alternative to the next gen Ferrari F430 and Lamborghini Gallardo, bit its proprietary drive-train will relegate it to second string status, trading shots with the likes of Noble/Farbio...
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Doug 2:25PM (2/18/2008)
Just like the Toyota engine in the Elise and Exige relegate them to "second string status"? You are off the mark by a long shot my friend.
sith33 11:59AM (2/18/2008)
That was a different engine, just happened to share the same displacement ...
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Kevin M 12:05PM (2/18/2008)
That's the stupidest thing thing I've ever read. The McLaren F1 had a proprietary motor from BMW as well and I don't think it suffered second-string status. Noble/Farbio, great as they may be, have "second-string status" because they're relative unknowns, with zero brand history, lower build quality and no distribution network. Lotus is a far cry from that.
Hopefully the Esprit will offer F430 dynamics/horsepower with less weight than anything this class has seen in 15 years. It will be refreshing to see something new competing directly with Ferrari/Lamborghini/Porsche after so many cars recently have seemed to be going less-focused [aiming for that lucrative Continental GT segment] to avoid direct competition.
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MikeW 2:03PM (2/18/2008)
The BMW S70/2 V12 engine was outstanding for the time.
The transmission was only great. It was unique in that the right angle gear mesh came first.
http://www.weismann.net/supercar.html
Eventually in the later long tail race cars, the transmission was switched for a conventional transmisson (2 instead of 3 gearmeshes)
Porsche used a similar transmission design in the Carrera GT
http://images.motortrend.com/features/consumer/112_0401_Trannyz_2004_Porsche_Carrera_GT_Tech+2004_Porsche_Carrera_GT+Transmission_View.jpg
4 gear meshes
DIRETTORE 6:49PM (2/18/2008)
* Hey Kev, Noble Zero History? Low build quality?
What exactly is wrong with Noble Quality?
I've spoken with Noble owners who are very pleased with theirs. Performance can hardly be matched anywhere! M400 0-60=3.3 SECONDS!!!
What more you want?
In an age where resources are scarce, I do not believe each car needs proprietary status. I would argue the opposite. Actually I would prefer to have an engine tried, tested & true & availability of parts & service.
Even Jay Leno balked at $1000 to change the windshield wiper on his McLaren! He said what? No thanks!
jmerc 1:23PM (2/18/2008)
maybe its the Eagle 2+2
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Bruxell 2:56PM (2/18/2008)
Think what you want. There's a big difference between small sports cars such as the Elise/Exige, and full on supercars such as the F430, and pedigree is expected in the case of the latter. The Esprit had it's own engine for the entire production run. Lotus need to create a competitive powertrain if they expect this car to compete with the likes of Ferrari/Lamborghini.
So how am I off the mark?
Bruxell 3:00PM (2/18/2008)
The Mclaren's powertrain was created specifically for that car. It wasn't used in a BMW roadcar at all, let alone a cross over. The Esprit needs its own motor.
Noble has been around for like ten years now, and Lee Noble has been making cars a lot longer than that. Except that he hasn't been making cars, he's been making chassis, chassi without engines, engines that he needs to buy from somewhere else. This is a problem for Ascari too, it's a British car with a German motor, and it suffers as much from that as it does from its unknown status.
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dac 5:29PM (2/18/2008)
Having driven an Elise, I have great faith in Lotus to deliver the best handling car in its class. And I'm not sure why everyone is complaining: BMW makes great engines, Lotus makes great Chassis/Suspensions, seems like a great combination. 500hp is more than sufficient. If I had that kind of money to drop on a car, I'm guessing the Esprit would be one of my first choices.
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