Those thickly padded, well bolstered leather seats are perfect for their pure sports car application, but the surroundings are not as inspired. For one, it's difficult to get legs and feet into a comfortable position - the front wheel well carving out most of the usable space, leaving room for three skinny pedals that work best with thin-soled Italian loafers rather than meaty British brogues.
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| The interior of the Esprit is very tight, and the awkward positioning of some of the controls are bothersome. (Photo: Lotus) |
Meanwhile, the traditional upright driving position that the majority of people find most comfortable has been completely scrapped. It's normally thought that sitting low in a car brings the driver closer to the experience of piloting a race car. While this is true to some extent, the awkward positioning of the sill-mounted handbrake and a transmission tunnel that rivals Everest in height are quite bothersome.
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| Lotus could have spruced up the interior of the Esprit a bit, it's just as impressive as expected. That said the company will customize pretty well anything on a customer per customer basis. (Photo: Lotus) |
But it isn't just how you sit inside that raises concerns, the finish of the interior doesn't appear particularly impressive either. Lotus fettled with a few minor components, but most occupants will be under-whelmed with plastics and switches borrowed from GM products dating back to the early '90s.
Does the steering wheel seem familiar to you? That's because it was featured on the first run of Saturns with airbags, still a costly option on the Esprit. Unlike other manufacturers that add small bits of wood or aluminum trim, two-tone leather and other decorations, the Esprit is unadorned, left plain and simple. Nevertheless it works, the full black interior leaving nary a thing to divert the driver's attention from the road.