The best Bond cars ever, part 3: the Lotus Esprit

Now, Bond 25 is imminent. No Time To Die arrives in cinemas this week, allowing Daniel Craig to flex his actorly muscles as he signs off from playing 007, putting him through the emotional wringer, while the film’s stunt crew and production designers reimagine the very essence of a car chase yet again. Apparently No Time To Die features the most brutal one ever seen in a Bond movie. Which made us think. Six actors have played 007 on the big screen, and they’ve all had carefully cast automotive co-stars.

In fact, for many of us, watching a Bond film on the TV at a formative age is one of the reasons we became consumed by cars in the first place. The ginormous global 007 fan base endlessly debates who the best Bond is, but which Bond had the coolest car? Choosing one per actor, Top Gear gathered the key vehicles together in the same part of the space-time continuum to explore their history, and conduct a quasi-scientific but mostly subjective test. Time to catch up with Moore's fabulous Lotus Esprit...

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Photography: Mark Riccioni and John Wycherley

Bond films reflect eras, not just the geopolitical ones unfolding during production, but also the one that was the backdrop to your first 007 viewing experience. And if you happen to be a child of the Seventies, then Roger Moore’s your man, and the Lotus Esprit is the car. Elon Musk is such a fanboy he paid almost $1m for one of the prop cars at an auction in 2013. When asked in a 2019 Tesla shareholder’s meeting whether he’d consider creating an aquatic car, he replied, “Funny you should mention that... we do have a design for a submarine car like the one from The Spy Who Loved Me...”

Honestly, what’s not to love? Giorgetto Giugiaro designed it, Colin Chapman engineered it, James Bond turned it into a submersible. Just as millions of us owned the Corgi DB5, and squandered countless hours searching for the tiny ejected man, how many of PPW 306R’s missiles must have been sucked up by the world’s vacuum cleaners? The Esprit only ended up in TSWLM thanks to the chutzpah of Lotus PR man Don McLauchlan, who parked a de-badged prototype outside the Bond production office in Pinewood in 1976, confident it would pique their interest. It worked, and a deal was soon done on a handshake.

Driving a non-aquatic Esprit S1 now is a revelation

The company supplied two cars, seven bodyshells, various spare parts, and the services of test driver Roger Becker. McLauchlan estimated the total cost to be around £17,500 (about £105k in today’s money, a bargain). Florida-based Perry Oceanographics was hired to create the underwater Esprit – dubbed Wet Nellie – which used four propellors for forward motion, and was powered by batteries contained in a watertight compartment. Diving and climbing were controlled by ballast tanks, the Lotus’s wedge profile stabilised by articulated fins. Inside were all the gubbins necessary for the sub’s operator – a former Navy SEAL called Don Griffin – to control the craft. He laid on a platform and did the job in full scuba gear.

Driving a non-aquatic Esprit S1 now is a revelation. Chapman may have taken his “simplify and add lightness” ethos to extremes, but even with just a 160bhp, 2.0-litre 4cyl engine behind your head, this is a masterclass in low-polar moment, ultra-responsive dynamics. Its steering and ride are sublime, its willingness to change direction bewitching. And it really goes, sounding fruitier than any four-pot I can currently think of as it does so. People moan about the Morris Marina doorhandles and shonky panel gaps, but once you’re ensconced, the none-more-Seventies interior graphics and curved instrument binnacle are an entertainment in their own right. What an inspirational, forward-thinking car.

Gadgets: 10/10
Speed: 7/10
Pulling power: 7/10
Skids: 8/10
Stunts: 8/10
Star status: 8/10
Total: 48

Stay tuned to TopGear.com this week for Dalton, Brosnan and Craig, and click here for Connery's DB5, and here for Lazenby's DBS.