1998 Lotus Esprit V-8 Is Our Bring a Trailer Auction Pick of the Day

• Rarer than a Porsche but more affordable than a Ferrari, the Lotus Esprit offers thrilling performance and exotic looks.
• This one has just over 21,000 miles on its odometer and has had a thorough recent servicing.
• With three days to go before the auction ends on August 15, bidding on the Bring a Trailer online auction is at $41,111.

The desire for a Porsche or a Ferrari is both broad and deep, but to lust after a Lotus is to throw logic and reason out the occasionally malfunctioning power window. To paraphrase Shakespeare, love is not love which bends with the tow-truck driver to remove; with a Lotus, periodic interruption of service is worth the way the cars get under your skin. Want reliable? Get a Camry. Want passion? Take a gander at this gorgeous wedge of English beauty, an all-black Lotus Esprit powered by a twin-turbocharged mid-engine V-8.

Today’s pick from Bring a Trailer—which, like Car and Driver, is part of Hearst Autos—is a 1998 Lotus Esprit V-8 with just over 20,000 miles on the odometer (it’s a Canadian car, so that reading is actually 35,000 kilometers. Sorry).

The World’s Sexiest Doorstop

The original, wedge-shaped Esprit arrived in the late 1970s as the world’s sexiest doorstop, and received only two major refreshes over a 28-year production run. This mid-1990s version is fairly rare—in Canada, Lotus only managed to sell four of these in 1998; in the U.S. market, just 155 found homes—making it a far more exotic option than something like a 911 Turbo, but with performance that’ll have you nipping at the Porsche’s heels.

When Car and Driver reviewed the Esprit V-8 in 1998 (linked above), John Phillips knocked the car for a balky shift action and heavy clutch and couldn’t help but note the aging platform. Still, there was no arguing with the performance supplied by the 350-hp twin-turbo 3.5-liter V-8.

Though the new V-8 may not sound Ferrari-esque, it certainly inspires the Esprit to supercar velocities. Sixty mph now manifests in a spine-straightening 4.1 seconds—three-tenths quicker than the old four-cylinder Esprit S4S and seven-tenths sooner than the still-older Esprit Turbo SE. In fact, that zero-to-60 time places this Lotus only a tenth of a second behind a Viper GTS, which, of course, has the advantage of two more cylinders and 100 extra horse­power. The Esprit V-8 decimates the quarter-mile in 12.7 seconds at 112 mph—three-tenths and 4 mph better than the old S4S. And it rushes to 150 mph 10.3 sec­onds sooner than the S4S, placing this Lotus only one second shy of the 0-to-150-mph time of, say, a Ferrari 355.

And also, just look at it. This black on black with a nicely contrasting tan interior is like something Batman might drive. Assuming among his gadgets he also had a Bat Flatdeck and didn’t mind occasionally showing up to the Bat Signal half an hour late to find Commissioner Gordon pointedly looking at his wristwatch.

Affairs of the Heart

All joking about wonky reliability aside, what a Lotus really offers what most British sports cars bring to the table: true ownership involvement. If the shift linkage of an Esprit needs finessing, and if the V-8’s lack of low-rpm power requires throttle management, then that’s just part of the driving experience. A Lotus needs you back, and on the right day and the right road, the driving experience is absolute bliss.

There’s really no way to explain the appeal further: if you know, you know. And if you know, this is an extremely desirable example of the irresistible appeal of a proper sporting Lotus. With four days to go, bidding is at $41,111. Click on over to Bring a Trailer to bid with your heart, not your head.

Contributing Editor

Brendan McAleer is a freelance writer and photographer based in North Vancouver, B.C., Canada. He grew up splitting his knuckles on British automobiles, came of age in the golden era of Japanese sport-compact performance, and began writing about cars and people in 2008. His particular interest is the intersection between humanity and machinery, whether it is the racing career of Walter Cronkite or Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki’s half-century obsession with the Citroën 2CV. He has taught both of his young daughters how to shift a manual transmission and is grateful for the excuse they provide to be perpetually buying Hot Wheels.