2003 lotus elise 135r £20,995

LOTUS ELISE SPORT 240 FINAL EDITION

August’s Silverstone Festival will play host to a massive 50th birthday bash for the Lotus Esprit – we drive each generation to get a sense of what makes this sports car so special

The obvious question is whether it would have been easier to soup-up a stock Europa rather than streetify a 47. It’s a fair one, too, especially if you are unfamiliar with quite how different a Type 4

Power/engine size: 118bhp/1.8 litre Engine/gearbox: V6/four-speed manual 0-60/top speed: 11.5 seconds/115mph Price new: £3,173 price now: from £750,000-£1m I'VE had a model of the Lancia Aurelia for m

Design is not a democracy.” Such a bold statement, wonderfully out of tune with modern group-think, could only apply to a car as radical as the Lotus Esprit. These words were only uttered today by Gio

WHENEVER I’M ASKED TO NAME THE MOST significant new car I’ve ever driven, I struggle to think of anything that has left a bigger impression on me than the S1 Elise. In the three decades since I first