Lotus Esprit?

Just thing out loud here . . . but I'm starting to envision a late model Esprit in my garage in place of my C4S. Out here in So Cal, there are so many Porsches and even Ferrari's, but the Esprits are still fairly rare to see and the styling is fabulous. My pricing survey of '02 to '04's Esprits show they are priced at or slightly higher than my C4S so a trade-in would put me out less than $15k, and many have less than 10k miles on them. I'd be interested to hear feedback from those that have owned or known someone with the V8 Esprits and the overall ownership experience with it.

From what I've heard, the 4-cylinder models are a lot less trouble and not much slower. Although the V8 is a very powerul and sophisticated engine, it was built in relatively small numbers, whereas the inline-4 was pretty well-proven towards the end of its life. Other than that, buy the best you can afford, and be prepared for my home country's unique approach to electrical systems...

Myabe you can join Simon for a warm beer and show him you new ride. Seriously, I've know a couple of people that had a Lotus and they liked them. The cars have their quirks but so do the rest. I'd be sure that there was a good repair shop in the area that knows the cars.

There are many beautiful cars out there, including the Espirit. It's one thing to admire, another thing to own. If you love your C4S but feel it's too common, do some mods and make it stand out. Or get a unique color. In my view, that is a big trade down. Just my $0.02. -- M

A friend of a friend back in Michigan has an Esprit Turbo that he drives as a year around daily driver. When I go home for the holidays, I even see him driving it through the snow, so he either can't afford more than one car, or he really loves the car (I'm pretty confident it is the latter). It ALWAYS catches my eye when I see it. I talked to him about it once when he was at 40,000 miles and he said problems had been minimal. These are beautiful cars, and I could see myself owning one if I had a garage and budget that could fit a Porsche and multiple sports cars, but I don't think I would sell the Porsche to get one.

I traded my Porsche in on an exotic car and ended up buying it back two months later. Still have the exotic, but really missed having a sports car i could drive everyday. I would figure out a way to have both, I think you will really miss the P car. Just my opinion. Good luck on whatever you decide!

the last Espirit V8 turbo should has min. problems. they've made them for 15/20 years before the company went down water. i really like Espirit too, but the parts/main. conceins me

Lotus stopped making the Espirit because it could no longer get the Renault transmission that is in the car. Lotus, probably could not justify a redesign for a car that old and with such limited sales volume. Lotus is probably doing better now than it ever has wth the Elise, etc. The Espirit was in production for more than 30 years. It has an active owner's association and I suspect parts really aren't that hard to find yet. Now the price of those parts . . . .

There is a good reason most have less than 10k miles btw, I believe new Esprit is coming in a year or so. so today's Esprit might look outdate soon.

I was just going to write that! TopGear (a UK Motoring programme with Jeremy Clarkson) bought an Esprit. Sadly it never even got home...the gearbox went. Daily driver? Think of dentistry without novocain!

they are wicked and as such the allure is imo much like a Ulyseusian siren, but an Esprit like all older Lotus's is not generally a daily driver: you could also buy a cab company and minimize that downside. keep us posted and let us know if you end the story smashed on the rocks as well!

I run many track day events. there are usually 2-5 Lotus Elise/Exige at every event. you would see interior parts all over the floor in their cars. One of main reason Elise/Exige are great Lotus, because they are real simple. nothing to break off (other than interior pieces). Engines are reliable though. wait !! They have Toyota engines in Elise/Exige !!

I suggest you drive one first and then decide if it is worth pursuing. I have driven one and it was not the best impression. First, it is a lot lower. Be very careful getting in. I hit the side of my head on the roof getting in. Next, I hope you aren't very tall. I am below 6" and I barely fit. Even with the seat back all the way (I don't remember if it was adjustable), I had to be in it with my legs bent around the steering wheel. My hair even scrapes the roof. The steering has a lot of choppiness, like an old Fiero. The shifter feels and sounds like dragging a bunch of metal parts. After one drive I knew I would never own one. To be honest, an Elise is a much more satisfying car if you are looking to go the Lotus route and you don't see them everyday.

Thanks for all the interesting responses, and after doing some more research on the Lotus forums, I think I'll shelve the idea.

Be aware that if you're over 6' you may find it very cramped. So I've heard, not experienced.

As an aside - I had the opportunity to visit the Lotus factory in Norfolk, East Anglia, UK. in the 90's First thing you noticed was the traditional front entrance with a low hedge to one side of the parking lot, behind which could be heard the screaming of engines and tires. A quick peak over the hedge revealed a small test track, with a test driver giving a car a severe work out Factory was pretty amazing, but the image that sticks with me to this day were the dumpsters sitting out back with whole cars stuffed in them, wheels and all! It was like someone had thrown all their Hotwheels cars back in the toy box in a hurry, only these were real full size cars!!! I had to ask what was going on - and was told that it was 'cheaper to just trash a whole car if there were QA issues during production'. Stripping parts back off the cars was 'too expensive', although they did have someone that went back to the dumpsters to take the alloys off and re-use them! Never seen anything like it before or since - 'supercars' in dumpsters Chris.

<<<<"Never seen anything like it before or since - 'supercars' in dumpsters ">>>> That is an insane story. I doubt that is the case today but maybe we should check into it. Perhaps we could form a group to go dumpster raiding and pick up some Elises or Exiges on the cheap.