Remember when Lotus tried to make us happy?

There is a near-perfect 340R for sale. Has 1998 ever seemed so distant?

By Matt Bird / Monday, 22 December 2025 / Loading comments

While it can seem like barely a week goes by without some new restomod vapourware emerging, the Encor S1 does look like something very special indeed. For one, it’s great to be talking about the Lotus Esprit again, a classic sports car that really doesn’t get the love it deserves, and everything going into the project sounds like it’ll make great use of the platform.

It also looks spectacular, surely a prerequisite of any reimagined sports car worth its salt. But then it is also going to be half a million quid. One to admire from a distance, perhaps. And anyway, if you want a mid-engined Lotus sports car that looks like it’s from another planet and promises to be even better to drive than the car it’s built from, what about a 340R? This is going to draw even more gawps, surely, than the Encor - unless they build an amphibious one…

The 340R came about when Lotus collaborated with Autocar of all people to create an even lighter, even more exciting Elise. Like the rest of us, the nation's most venerable car magazine had been fond of the Elise ever since its introduction; having driven a good few, they were well placed to advise on how it might be improved. It was they who had originally proposed the 500kg kerbweight, in fact, to make the 340hp-per-tonne figure using the 177hp K Series variant. But there was simply no way that an Elise could be made that much lighter, and in the end 340 units were made of a car that was 50kg lighter at 675kg.

The 340R could have been slower and heavier than an Elise, though, really, because it looked how it did. The response was so effusive from showgoers at the NEC in 1998 that a car never intended for production was given the green light, and all were spoken for before anyone had driven it.

Remember this was before the world really knew about the Ariel Atom, as the track day scene was only properly emerging and the Caterham Seven was already decades old. Cars as extreme as the 340R just didn’t really exist, and that’s what made it all the more thrilling. A Renault Sport Spider was much heavier and less powerful, and cars like the Strathcarron just didn’t have the brand cachet. In its combination of futuristic styling (which had a hint of upcoming Elise S2 to it) and sorted underpinnings, the 340R was an instant hit.

It’s amazing to think that this one is 25 years old, really; with some LED lights it would still look pretty contemporary. This is one of the original UK market cars, too, which is pretty cool - only 171 of the 340 were sold here. #324 is a one-owner car as well, with just 4,000 miles under its magnesium wheels; even for a skeletal sports car like this, that’s very little use for a quarter of a century.

As such it’s showing very little wear, despite being so exposed. The fabrics look good, as does what exists of a dash, and the incredible bodywork seems free from imperfection. This one was specced with the VHPD 190 upgrade from new, as well as the titanium exhaust, so as something to drive it’s going to be as good as a 340R gets. Which, if the reports are right, should be something very special indeed.

It’ll undoubtedly make for a spectacular summer sports car in 2026, as enthralling as an Elise with the presence of a supercar. This one is listed at POA; the last one we featured was for sale at almost £70,000 with just 2,000 miles three years ago. It’s hard to imagine there being any less excitement around these cars in collector circles nowadays. And just think how good it might look alongside one of those S1 restomods…

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