1988 Lotus Esprit Turbo Se on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Tesla Model S Easter egg turns car into submarine

When thinking about Elon Musk, the first thing that comes to mind may not be his sense of humor. However, the Tesla boss is embedding a pretty funny Easter egg in the company's cars that references a part of his own collection. Musk famously purchased the Lotus Esprit submarine from the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me for about $967,000 in 2013. At one point, he even intended to install a Tesla powertrain and make it fully transformable. From anyone else that plan would sound like pure fantasy, but Musk has the money and the means to make it happen, if he wants. Now, every Tesla Model S driver gets to share in just a little of that very cool ownership experience. A person on YouTube filmed how to access the Easter egg, and it's extremely easy. Just hold down the T on the infotainment screen for a few seconds, enter the appropriate code 007 and check the suspension settings page. Instead of seeing a Model S, Bond's submersible Esprit now appears. As another cool touch, users can set the vehicle's depth in leagues, and the options max out at 20,000. This is almost certainly a subtle reference to the classic story 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Maybe someday Musk can get the Lotus' conversion complete, and we can see it working for real. Until then, this a neat way to show the unique car off. Related Video:

Lotus Esprit S1 gets wet and wild in 'Forza Horizon 4' James Bond trailer

It only makes sense. When the official trailer for Forza Horizon 4 ( FH4) first debuted at E3, details showed the game is set in Britain. Those who were ahead of the curve might have recognized this as a foreshadowing of sorts. Celebrating the launch of FH4's XBOX One and Windows 10 demo on Sept. 12, Playground Games announced that the next version of the beloved racing simulator will launch with an available Best of Bond pack that includes many of James Bond's storied rides. As expected, the list is heavy on the Aston Martin, but there are plenty of other goodies, too. Included in the 10-car pack are the 1964 Aston Martin DB5, a 1969 Aston Martin DBS, a 1986 Aston Martin V8, a 2008 Aston Martin DBS, a 2015 Aston Martin DB10, a 1974 AMC Hornet X Hatchback, a 1977 Lotus Esprit S1, a 1981 Citroen 2CV6, a 1999 BMW Z8, and a 2010 Jaguar C-X75. If you can name every movie that all of these vehicles are from, pat yourself on the back and grab a martini. View 15 Photos Microsoft is rewarding those who are all-in on FH4. The Best of Bond pack will come with the Ultimate Edition of the game that is allowed an early play date, starting Sept. 28. For those who haven't fully committed, the Best of Bond pack will be available as an add-on for purchase when the game launches globally on Oct. 2. The action-packed trailer shows many of the vehicles transforming or busting out tricks they're known for from the films, including the Lotus emerging from the sea. Although players will not be able to drive any vehicles under water (that we know of), several of the gadgets will make it into the game and will be viewable during Forzavista mode. The '64 DB5 has many of its features, such as the bumper rams and revolving license plate, while the Lotus will have an available body kit, fins and all. The Bond pack also comes with a few features irrelevant to the cars, including two Bond outfits and six "quick chat" phrases that can be used during multiplayer. The pack adds to an already impressive catalogue of vehicles that includes more than 450 different rides. Available now to pre-order, the FH4 Ultimate Edition is priced at $99.99, the Deluxe Edition is $79.99, while the base game is $59.99. For those who love Bond but don't own a gaming system, don't forget about the recently announced DB5 Lego kit.

Lotus will kill Elise, Exige and Evora to make room for the new Type 131

Lotus ended years of speculation by announcing it will begin rejuvenating its range when it releases a new model in 2021. Known as the Type 131 internally, its arrival will mark the end of the Elise, the Exige and the Evora. Although the three aforementioned models are showing their age, putting them out to pasture at about the same time is a surprising move because they're currently the only cars in the company's lineup. Saying that the Type 131 will have big shoes to fill is an understatement; it will blaze the path that a full family of new cars will follow. Official details about the 131 are few and far between, but an earlier report sketches the outline of a driver-friendly sports car powered by a mid-mounted engine. While it won't stray far from the lightness and the nimbleness that Lotus is famous for, it will be equipped with more tech than even the Evora, which offers a more comprehensive list of features than the track-inspired Exige and the back-to-the-basics Elise. Insiders have claimed that the 131 will be built on a new modular platform, and that it will not use any kind of electrification. Lotus released an image that shows the Evija (an electric, 2,000-horsepower halo car strictly limited to 130 units globally) next to three enigmatic cars hidden by a cover; one is presumably the 131. Another might be the battery-powered model that it's developing jointly with Renault-owned Alpine. As for the third, your guess is as good as ours. We know that the British firm is developing a Volvo-based SUV, but it's not pictured in the lineup. News of a new Lotus model will bring joy to enthusiasts and economists alike. The company is investing over 100 million British pounds (about $136 million) into its Hethel, England, facility, and it will hire about 250 employees to bring the 131 to the market. Most of the recruits will work in engineering and manufacturing. Lotus noted that it hopes to start building prototypes of the Type 131 — an internal designation that will likely not appear on the production model — in 2021. We don't know if deliveries will also begin this year, or if they are scheduled to start a little later. Regardless, it will be worth the wait. Lotus told Autoblog that all of its future cars will be engineered for global markets, and that its intention is to sell the Type 131 in North America. Related video: