It's not often that a new car company makes its way into Canada, however in the last few years, we have seen Kia and more recently Mitsubishi make their way into our shores, hoping to end up on our driveways.

2003 Esperante

Specifications
  • Make: Array
  • Model: 2003 Esperante
  • Horsepower: 320@6000
  • Torque: 4750
  • Transmission: 5-Speed Manual

2003 Peugeot 307 CC

Specifications
  • Make: Array
  • Model: 2003 Peugeot 307 CC
  • Horsepower: 200@0
  • Torque: 3500
  • Transmission: 6-Speed Manual
  • [do not use] Vehicle Model: Array

The Esperante has been on sale since the year 2000, however production only really started to pick up in 2003. 2004 will be a record production year with 170 cars expected to roll off the line. These are miniscule numbers -- Ferrari makes more cars than that in a month than Panoz does in a whole year; it would be a seriously bad year for TVR.

Engine

The options carry on in respect to the engines too. You can either have, from Ford SVT, the normally aspirated 4.6 litre V8 producing 320 bhp or the supercharged version of that engine which produces a silly grin inducing 420 bhp. You get transmission choices too, you can have a four-speed automatic, a five-speed manual or a six-speed manual gearbox.

Performance

Performance numbers hence are respectable, yet not spectacular, The regular Esperante should sprint to 60 mph from stop in 5.5 seconds, and tops out at 155 mph, while the GTLM should do the sprint in 4.7 seconds and top out at 175 mph.