RE: We drive the all-new Esprit

[I WISH]

Great looking cars. One of my friends in the Lotus Car Club has one which I drove last year ... exactly the same model with the round rear lights (which I like by the way .... not better or worse just different).
Drove really well. Plenty of grunt and great handling as you would expect. Dodgy gear change though ... could be quite difficult to select second on occasion. Spoils an otherwise terrific car.
Certainly wouldn't say no as something to keep my S1 Elise company in the garage!

[BarbaricAvatar]

Too much want.

Wednesday Lottery beckons.

[ukmike2000]

toppstuff said:

That really is a massive bag of wrongness. There is so much wrong in your post, I hardly know where to start.

The V8 Esprit is still a genuinely fast car. And the handling is simply fantastic. In many respects, it gave the Ferrari 355 GTB a bit of a spanking. The chassis is that good.

I never said it wasn't fast or it handled badly - but to me it is on the list of cars I would least like to spend money on. We will have to accept each others widely differing opinions and agree to differ.
Do you by any chance own one?

[BIRMA]

Well the first thing I did on mine was to change the rear lights, bit of a hot issue but as my car is a late 2001 I did not want rear lights from an 80's Toyota I must admit it may be colour dependant

[juansolo]

Never liked the big wing and later rear lights. But damn they're still a fantastic looking car. I still want an Esprit (GT3 or Sport300) badly, whereas other cars from the era I'm not really bothered about. Indeed my profile pic goes a long way to showing why I have a soft spot for them. That was a while ago...

[Axe Murderer]

adz13091982 said:

Still 5 speed?

What's wrong with a 5 speed?

[juansolo]

Axe Murderer said:

adz13091982 said:

Still 5 speed?

What's wrong with a 5 speed?

Nothing at all if the engine is torquey. Which one would expect a V8 Turbo in a relatively light car to be. Shame that it's made of chocolate however

[Pat H]

anything fast said:

I am pretty sure the original Lotus Espirit was lighter and more nimble than a Ferrari 308 and at a fraction of the price of a Fezza

I owned a S3 Turbo Esprit, sold it and bought a F328.

Then sold the F328 and bought my old Lotus back.

You can draw your own conclusions.

Ferrari was far better built, better finished, easier to live with and felt much more like a production car.

Esprit definitely felt like a kit car in comparison, but was a sharper drive, felt every bit as exotic and was easily a match for the Ferrari in terms of performance.

All for half the price.

The Esprit is flawed, difficult to live with and fragile. But as a loose collection of 1970s Ford and BL parts, it works far better than it deserved to.

I loved my Esprit far more than my F328. There was just something about it which really clicked.

And it was a proper Chapman Lotus, from a time when Lotus spanked Ferrari and just about everyone else on the circuits.

I know that it is a very personal thing, but the Ferrari seemed like a box that I needed to tick.

And, let's face it, we all should tick the Ferrari box at least once. The F328 was great, and I'd love to own another sometime.

But that Lotus really got under my skin.

Straight choice between a concours early Esprit and a concours F308? I am hopelessly biased, but I would take the Esprit every time, faults and all.

[falconhoof]

BIRMA said:

Well the first thing I did on mine was to change the rear lights, bit of a hot issue but as my car is a late 2001 I did not want rear lights from an 80's Toyota I must admit it may be colour dependant

That looks awesome, prefer the round lights, love the esprit but apparently won't fit being 6ft6 which I find hard to believe considering I was driving an OG mini the other day!

[Paul O]

Fantastic stuff!! Shame they changed the colour from red to white though, but other than that superb!!

[HereBeMonsters]

If I win the EuroMillions I'm buying that to give back to the guy who built it. Brilliant.

[BIRMA]

falconhoof said:

BIRMA said:

Well the first thing I did on mine was to change the rear lights, bit of a hot issue but as my car is a late 2001 I did not want rear lights from an 80's Toyota I must admit it may be colour dependant

That looks awesome, prefer the round lights, love the esprit but apparently won't fit being 6ft6 which I find hard to believe considering I was driving an OG mini the other day!

No you wouldn't fit a guy from the RAOC tried to get in a while ago and he didn't fit and had to get out on his hands and knees

[E38Ross]

So what is this exactly? Are Lotus making a new model or just building an old one and selling it? Are they doing more than 1?

Not quite sure I understand?

[BIRMA]

E38Ross said:

So what is this exactly? Are Lotus making a new model or just building an old one and selling it? Are they doing more than 1?

Not quite sure I understand?

From what I know it was re-built for Dame Barker to show him what a real Lotus was like

Edited by BIRMA on Monday 3rd September 19:26

[Chris944_S2]

There's a dealership 50 odd miles from me offering a new Esprit V8. Don't think I'd want one that has sat around for 10 or 15 years though.

[robzD]

Love my lotus .
Yes its flawed , but i went for a car i could care about not just pay for .
Never selling it .

[rob.e]

jimjim150 said:

herebebeasties said:

jimjim150 said:

How much do people reckon this will sell for? Would LOVE to own an Esprit, but can't really justify the cost of a nice, late model mortgage comes first!

Would love this - http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/4187916.htm

Oooh. How much do the V8s cost to run, realistically?

Any owners care to chip in? Would be interested to hear difference in ownership of the V8 / Turbo 4.

I ran a v8 and before that a gt3 as my everyday car - did 50k miles in the v8.. I have a bunch of stuff in my profile on both of these cars including running costs. Not cheap to run (so no surprises there) but no worse that a contemporary Ferrari or tvr IMO.

[LuS1fer]

I prefer the Toyota lights too. The round lights are trying too hard to be a fake Ferrari.

[Oilchange]

I've had my Esprit from the turn of the century and, yes, I've spent a lot on it. Again, probably not more than an equivalent Porsche/Ferrari/Lambo whatever.
A few stupid comments to put to bed.
The gearbox isn't 'chocolate'. Uprated ones are used in GT40 replicas running 5.0 Ford V8s that have big torque. It is, however, susceptible to aggressive 1st to 2nd upshifts as the 2nd synchro can fail. A victim of its own marketing success due to the car doing 0-60 in 4.6 seconds!
Unfortunately the primary shaft is in 2 pieces and is rated to 350hp (not bad for an old van gb), also the 5th gear is susceptible to the V8 torque and can break. Not a problem on mine, it's a lower torque 4pot
The halfshafts, I heard are 6R4 derived. I don't know of the truth in this though.

Mine is a S4. It has a few sensible mods (and maybe one or two daft ones) and the clutch can't handle the torque in 3rd 4th and 5th it pulls so hard.
It goes like nothing I can imagine and is the most nimble thing, for the weight, on the road. Certainly of that era. It is bloody fast. With the right tyres I imagine there's very little that will touch it on a windy A-road, you're looking at Honda'd Exige/211 type cars.

Mine has also blown all the stuffing out the exhaust so sounds bril. It has pop up headlights and looks the bo11ocks and makes me feel fantastic when the sun is out and the roads are clear.
I just took it to Nice/Monaco/Como/St Moritz/Montreux/Paris and it got lots of attention and nice comments. I'm 42 and felt like a 17 year old.
I don't intend to sell and if all the derogatory comments help reduce the prices further then fine, there will be more owners taking a punt and experiencing what I have.

They are great great cars.

Also, the wing on the back has a heater in it to warm your hands when your pushing it

Edited by Oilchange on Monday 3rd September 20:51

[Gatsods]

Fantastic looking thing, love driving these on Gran Turismo so rare on the road too, a real head turner.