RE: We drive the all-new Esprit

[dickiecox]

toppstuff said:

Oh Wow ! Thats really, really funny. I have never heard that before. Not ever. Ground breaking automotive humour. Truly, you are a shining example of whit and humour.

Awesome ! I love the truly original material you have there. I hope the Top Gear and Sniffpetrol talent scouts are reading this, you are truly a motoring-related humour legend.

Do you have jokes about Skodas and skips as well?

Don't need to make jokes about Skodas... never owned one.. (Wit by the way doesn't have an "H" in) Unlike the Lotus that i have owned and the countless others of all ages and types that i've driven.
I wasn't trying to make a joke just pointing out what most owners have discovered. If you want to look at a car and admire the looks rather than appreciate the whole package then the Lotus is definitely you're car. Just make sure you get a good service agent near you when you eventually buy yours because you're going to need them.

[rtz62]

Shock Headline;
"Lotus redefine dictionary definition of 'new'...."

Have I missed something or is this not the same as some real ale drinking beardy ecomentlist renovating his Ford Cornucopia and calling it new?

A car can
Only ever be new once!

[ewenm]

rtz62 said:

Shock Headline;
"Lotus redefine dictionary definition of 'new'...."

Have I missed something or is this not the same as some real ale drinking beardy ecomentlist renovating his Ford Cornucopia and calling it new?

A car can
Only ever be new once!

I suspect PH wrote the headline, not Lotus. I think it's known as a pun or play on words, given Lotus's well-publicised plans and subsequent troubles.

[toppstuff]

dickiecox said:

Don't need to make jokes about Skodas... never owned one.. (Wit by the way doesn't have an "H" in) Unlike the Lotus that i have owned and the countless others of all ages and types that i've driven.
I wasn't trying to make a joke just pointing out what most owners have discovered. If you want to look at a car and admire the looks rather than appreciate the whole package then the Lotus is definitely you're car. Just make sure you get a good service agent near you when you eventually buy yours because you're going to need them.

Well my best friend had a V8 Esprit and put 18,000 trouble free miles on it over just 12 months. He's also put 30'000 miles on an Exige including numerous hoons to the ring and back. And not much has gone wrong.

So I don't think you have much of a point beyond the witless cliche you posted earlier. Notice I removed the H..

[tommy vercetti]

Looks fresh

[cqueen]

So hang on, are they actually making the new Esprit or not?

[dickiecox]

toppstuff said:

Well my best friend had a V8 Esprit and put 18,000 trouble free miles on it over just 12 months. He's also put 30'000 miles on an Exige including numerous hoons to the ring and back. And not much has gone wrong.

So I don't think you have much of a point beyond the witless cliche you posted earlier. Notice I removed the H..

Maybe some of the points raised by other post's may be relevant to this arguement.

“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”

“Esprit definitely felt like a kit car in comparison”

“the clutch can't handle the torque in 3rd 4th and 5th”

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

"Witless cliche" would indicate that there is not a scrap of truth in the old saying, maybe these owners are also witless?
There is another old cliche that goes "there's no smoke without fire"

[Grinnders]

oh I remember looking at this (@ Leftovers) when it was red.....

[scoobyrubes]

On a day when two bits of Italian red were put on FB, its nice to see the virginial white Lotus. Looks like a stunning bride ready for wedding night!

[Hedgerley]

Here's that very Esprit on the Lotus stand at Goodwood last year. Not only did it not look out of place amongst the newer cars (even the 'new' Esprit concept which was on show) folk were actually asking when the car would be available and how much would it cost! Chatting with the guys on the stand and the European Sales Manager they said they had to turn down several serious enquiries.

So what does that say about a restored 2002 V8 version of a 1987 refresh of a car launched in 1976? "Timeless" probably covers it.

By the way, after a serious examination of said vehicle I can agree that the restoration was top notch, especially the interior.

I am the proud owner of a 2001 V8 which I have had for 4 years, my second V8 Esprit and I would agree with many of the posts, both positive and negative. They do get under your skin and I doubt I will ever part with it - but Pearl White over blue Alcantara does look very good, despite the provenance......

[BIRMA]

We were discussing this last night at our monthly Lotus Anoraks Meeting. Now a lot of these wonderful cars do fall into the hands of people who think they can afford to run them and can't so there are quite a few that are neglected and that's where the bad reputation starts, its a bit like dogs that go bad blame the owner not the dog. Many of us who have pristine up together V8's would never sell them anyway but to value a pristine factory restored one is a case of looking on here in the classified section as there is what appears to be a 2002 car with low mileage for £28K so myself I'd put a value on it of no more than £30K. I recently put my car up for sale on here for £22K and had 3 very serious buyers after it and that has had all the big things that a car of this age needs to have done. In our general opinion the car's previous owner is an irrelevant factor and if the new Esprit does ever get launched as opposed to the old V8 the new car will be launched into a very aggresive market with regards to the competition. The V8 Esprit is a great road car and the only thing I'll replace mine with is a 911 Turbo S which I have so nearly done on many an occasion but still go back to liking the Esprit and keeping it.

[SergSC]

LuS1fer said:

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

No, these are just from the same parts bin as the elise . They are used to this day in led form in the evora.

[predding]

Was the article on the All New Esprit canned?

[LuS1fer]

SergSC said:

LuS1fer said:

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

No, these are just from the same parts bin as the elise . They are used to this day in led form in the evora.

Doesn't alter the point though. the car was plainly not designed for round lights.

[suffolk009]

This does raise the question, why does Lotus not have a Works Restoration Department? (maybe it does and I didn't know about it.)

I would find it impossible to decide between an S1 in white, an S2 JPS, a GT3, and an S4s.

Test drove a GT3 when they where new, can't remember why I didn't get one.

[jerrytlr]

I've had my 2000 V8 for 2.5yrs but have only done about 6,000 miles in it.

Running costs?
MPG low twenties
So far, I've had to replace the rubber surrounding the fuel filler which was perished. About £20.
That's it.
However.....

It is now due a full service with cambelts and there are some jobs needing doing that are engine out - rattling exhaust manifolds, engine mounts... This lot won't be cheap and is going to bump up the cost per mile a lot...

Regarding the quantities of Cadbury's finest in the drivetrain:

When I first test drove the car the gearchange was poor and it actually refused to go into first by the end of the test drive!! Adjustment of the linkage sorted this and it has been fine ever since. I suspect some of the gearchange related comments may just be lack of routine adjustment/maintenance. The Renault gearbox is a good unit as long as you realise it is at the limit of its capability and treat it with a bit of respect. Also any manual gearbox coping with 350bhp is going to require some effort to shift, the box in my T350 TVR (Getrag I think) felt very similar.

The chocolate driveshaft thing is a bit of a suprise, very early Esprits had some issues I think as the driveshaft formed part of the suspension but I thought this was revolved long before any V8s appeared on the scene.

So, my experience so far is a very positive one, but I am bracing myself for some fairly heavy expenditure to get the car back up to scratch over the coming months....

Cheers

Jerry

jimjim150 said:

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

[Le TVR]

toppstuff said:

ukmike2000 said:

I have never been a fan of the Esprit - and the fact that this is a one-off makes it somehow less desirable. Lotus tried to play with the big boys with a car that was barely half a step up from a DIY Kit Car. A friend of mine is a Lotus fanatic but even he doesn't want an Esprit.

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 intended to buy an Esprit. I was looking at F355s.
One dealer also happened to have a Sport350 there. Tried both and can totally concur with toppstuff's post.

However I can't imagine we are going to stop people knocking Lotus just as it was a national sport for Brits to knock TVR. Yes they were all ste and always will be. Keep talking them down and prices will follow. I'm most grateful

[jazzyjeff]

dickiecox said:

toppstuff said:

Well my best friend had a V8 Esprit and put 18,000 trouble free miles on it over just 12 months. He's also put 30'000 miles on an Exige including numerous hoons to the ring and back. And not much has gone wrong.

So I don't think you have much of a point beyond the witless cliche you posted earlier. Notice I removed the H..

Maybe some of the points raised by other post's may be relevant to this arguement.

“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”

“Esprit definitely felt like a kit car in comparison”

“the clutch can't handle the torque in 3rd 4th and 5th”

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

"Witless cliche" would indicate that there is not a scrap of truth in the old saying, maybe these owners are also witless?
There is another old cliche that goes "there's no smoke without fire"

So tell us about your own unique (uniquely awful it would appear) ownership experience?

Incidentally, there's no apostrophe in 'posts' and no e in 'argument'

[robinessex]

Guys, come on, this is PH. Don't 'complain' about running costs, this is the perfect DIY 'exotic'. They're basically simple cars, so clear out the garage, get a tool kit from Halfords, and fix the dam thing yourselves!! Simples !!

[juansolo]

Oilchange said:

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.

I'm loving your definition of 'not chocolate' there. Uprated boxes are used on GT40 replicas. But it's susceptable to synchro's failing in 1st and 2nd... and 5th can't really handle the torque of the V8.

This reminds me of how a friend was extolling the reliability of his Elise until I asked him how many engines it had been through (3, for the record).

But it's all good, at least the clutch can take it...

Oilchange said:

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.

Good strong transmission that. *nods* I can see why you'd get shirty when people make stupid comments about how it's not really up to the job it was stuck in the car to do.



EDIT: Just thought I'd add, unless it wasn't clear, I love Esprits (most Lotuses to be fair). That just made me chuckle.

Edited by juansolo on Tuesday 4th September 10:58