Ferrari 328 vs Lotus Esprit

Autocar 1988 article

Lotus Esprit Turbo versus Ferrari 328 GTB

 

Very cool article.

 

Fun to share with all my friends who have driven my car. Mine is a Mondial but same drive train.

Good read.

 

Very nice, The last paragraph and tha last sentence says it all.

 

I have a copy of that magazine in My attic somewhere!



And I have those exact same roads right on My doorstep!

 

When I see the interior shot of the Esprit, I can't believe that's a brand new car! The upholstery is horribly folded and creased!

Lovely article. I still have a soft spot for the Esprit, would love to drive one one day. But the 328 is undoubtedly better. First Ferrari I ever drove and it still is an occasion even after all the other Ferrari models I have driven since.

Thanks for posting!


Onno

 

Esprit interiors have always been a ghastly mess. I never understood why, because in general British interiors were the best anywhere.

 

British interiors a la Chapman were the usual part bin specials. This always put me off the Esprit, plus of course, the most important part of the last para in that article ... "proper engine".

The series 1 Esprit, especially, has drop dead gorgeous styling - but thanks to the Italian influence, not the British... Later restyles like the one featured did nothing for the car.

 

Just curious what you mean when you say, "...Thanks to the Italian influence, not British...later restyles ....did nothing for the car."

I was under the impression that Peter Stevens was responsible for the restyled Esprit that was released around 1988, and he is British. So just curious why you blame the Italians?

 

Ghastly is an understatement. It looks a lot like those puffy "winter" jackets the gang homies wear up here.

 

Change those models to a V8 Esprit and 308, and the conclusion reverses ---- I assure you .

 

haha, I agree; spend 50% more on a car and it's likely to be preferable to the cheaper alternative!

 

Sorry if it's not clear. The original Giugiaro is a work of art; a true highlight of 70s sports car design. Stevens messed it up. Lotus tried to turn a knife edge folded paper design into a curvy car. Fail.

308 -> 328 was a much more coherent progression. It starts with a curvy car and finishes with a curvy car.

 

A reliable Toyota engine from one of the newer Lotus cars in a nice S1 sounds like a good idea.

 

Really enjoyed that. Thank you for posting the link!

 

Can't say I agree with this!

The S3 Esprit has aged awfully to My eyes because it has far too many harsh, sharp edges and angles on it, and it resembles a kit-car! - it's almost a caricature of the original S1 Esprit, especially the Turbo version.

To Me Stevens did a good job of softening up the lines of the Esprit whilst keeping the familiar shape and in some ways it's closer to the original S1 design.

One thing on the S4 cars that does still look like it should be in a kit-car rather than an expensive sports car though is the dreadful Air-con control panel. It looks like something home-made to Me!

The other thing that looks completely wrong on the later Esprit's is the Ferrari style quad round tail-lights! They simply don't suit the shape of the car!

 

Interesting read. I too thought the Lotus was 30 y/o looking at the interior.

 

I always liked the Turbo... all the sharp edges were part of the identity of the Esprit to me and emphasized how incredibly low it was. I also thought the side skirts made it look more muscular, less delicate. The car that appeared in For Your Eyes Only was a looker, IMHO, second only to the 308 among the exotics of the era.

Agree 100 percent on 4rePhill on the round tail lights.

 

The early Turbos had the "ruched" leather interiors to differentiate them from the flat leather of the non-turbo. This is definitely not to everyones taste! In the 2-tone color scheme of the car in the article it looks pretty bad.

I used to live in the next road from the original Connolly leather works and I once took my Turbo Esprit there for them to have a look at because the folded leather had deteriorated. The guy said nothing could be done about it and also said that when Lotus told them what they were going to do with the leather on the Turbo interior they almost refused to supply them because a different type of leather should have been used for this design, the type used on sofas.

 

V8 Esprit is 21 years younger than the 308. Do you consider that a fair comparison?


Onno

 

In some ways, I do.

Other than the more powerful engine (and the interior update), the V8 is essentially the same car as the SE ---- the chassis (and thus the handling performance) remained the same throughout the Esprit run, from the mid-80's on. The braking systems were improved in the later, more powerful variants, too.

 

There is a recurring theme -- comparing the 308/328 against more modern cars.

I think it speaks to the 308/328 design. It really has aged better than anything else from the '70s, so people have unrealistic expectations of what wasn't really all that modern a car even in 1985.

 

Thanks for explaining your statement. I like the purity of the S1...I thought it started to look very aftermarket with the tacked on ground effects of the Turbo models that were produced through 87. I'm not sure I'd say the Stevens design was a failure, but it took time to mature...I like the sharper looking front bumper of the V8s over the blunt front bumper of the 88 models.

The quad round tail lamps were a huge mistake. They looked like an afterthought stuck in those rectangular housings where the rectangular tail lights previously were. Round tail lamps were a Ferrari trait from the late 60's onward...I never understood why Lotus decided to go that route after more than 20 years of Esprits having rectangular lights.

 

If it is a fair comparison, then the V8 Esprit was woeful compared to its contemporaries. That is not what I have read in the press.

But besides, it is still a nonsensical argument. You propose that to let the Lotus be the moral winner of the test, we go 8 years into the future for the Lotus, and 13 years into the past for the Ferrari. And the reason that is a fair comparison is that the Esprit was essentially not updated? Wow, that is quite a convincing case for the Lotus then....

I rate the Lotus higher than that.


Onno

 

Don't forget the only things they changed over the years on the Esprit (even if considering only the SE and the V8) were the engine, exterior, interior, and brakes. Definitely sounds like its essentially the same car to me...NOT!

If the only way to even the odds is by doing a comparison with a car that's a minimum 11 years older (and possibly as much as 20 years older) than an V8 Esprit...possibly its a comparison that's as pointless as comparing the Wright Brothers Plane with a Gulfstream.