The Esprit was 4 years old by the time DeLorean got involved with Lotus. Hardly a new car. And you might want to branch out in your reading materials. There are a lot of books available covering the history of Lotus that also adds information to this era. The view from SSI is different than views from people within Lotus. I have compared the Esprit with the DeLorean side by side - for the past 10 years. I own an '83 Esprit Turbo (since 1997) and an '81 DeLorean (since 1992). In fact, Bruce Benson and I wrote an article comparing and contrasting the two that was published in issue #3 of deloreans magazine. There are a number of things about the DeLorean are better than the Esprit (interior layout, HVAC, gearshift, rearward visibility, luggage space, NVH), and there are a number of things that are better about the Esprit, foremost is performance and handling. Other than the selection of materials, interior fit and finish was about even, with more/better leather in the Esprit. Exterior fit and finish was probably better on the Delorean given the additional rigidity of the doors. The places where the cars are the most similar, they share some of the same problems - engine cooling and sensitive electrics are probably the most similar. The DeLorean requires far less regular maintenance than the Esprit due to the use of fuel injection vs synchronized carburetors. You also need to keep in mind that the Esprit was priced at least 50% more than what the DeLorean sold for. That leaves a lot more room for additional features and functions like fully adjustable suspensions. -- Mike -------------- Original message from "cbl1739" <cbl302@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>: -------------- > You are correct on the "other" cars that Lotus Engineering did the > work for in later years,but as far as the Delorean goes,it was > straight off the Esprit Engineering,and TOO close to "THEIR" New at > the time Lotus Esprit,it basically states That fact In SSI,how all > the Delorean Group was treated by Lotus,see page 66-67 " Quote by > Bill Collins:well they treated us so shabbily you would not believe > it" as said by Bill Collins about Lotus!! Page70,bottom left" Lotus > had Decided to design the Delorean "their way" " So do you really > think that Lotus Engineering was really into Making a BETTER BUILT > British Sports car,that would be a better car than theirs.... I > don't think so.Compaire them side by side,(of the same time era)and > you will see,that the Esprit is a finely built car VS the Delorean > which basically was built/engineered with very minumal engineering > standards,if not for the Vendors,the Delorean would be a white > elephant,and would be very unsafe to drive. To address comments privately to the moderating team, please address: moderators@xxxxxxxxxxx For more info on the list, tech articles, cars for sale see www.dmcnews.com To search the archives or view files, log in at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnews Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnews/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnews/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:dmcnews-digest@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx mailto:dmcnews-fullfeatured@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: dmcnews-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/