Is the esprit a car for me?
Discussion
Oi! I'm from Chicago. I want to drive an esprit, and I'm a teenager who has desperate need of transportation (school is 8 miles away). Is this reasonable? (or at least possible) I don't want a super-fast corolla, or anything like that. I would take care of the car, and so far, I've heard of a dealership over here, fox valley motorcars. I'm in the market for a 89-91 Turbo SE. Is this car reliable enough to be something that I could work on in my spare time if anything happens or an occasional haul to a mechanic if I take care of it?
Wafflow
Wafflow
You can get the Lotus IF:
1. You have never had an auto accident(your fault or not).
2. You have a couple thousand dollars laying around if you need it for maintenance.
3. Your IQ is over 140( You should then be able to fix it yourself).
4. Snow fall will never happen.
5. Your significant other has no paranoia about seeing the axles of eighteen wheelers up close and personal.
6. You only have one friend at a time.
If you can answer yes to all these questions, then you can buy one. By the way, insurance for my teenage son is $6000 a year, and he has never had an accident with a PT Cruiser. That is what my insurance would be if I had a collision policy at all on my Lotus, and I'm 55 and never had an accident.
A Lotus is a reward for accomplishments. Have you had any yet? I got my first Europa at 22 after college.
Hope this helps you decide.
lotusman
'89 non-SE
1. You have never had an auto accident(your fault or not).
2. You have a couple thousand dollars laying around if you need it for maintenance.
3. Your IQ is over 140( You should then be able to fix it yourself).
4. Snow fall will never happen.
5. Your significant other has no paranoia about seeing the axles of eighteen wheelers up close and personal.
6. You only have one friend at a time.
If you can answer yes to all these questions, then you can buy one. By the way, insurance for my teenage son is $6000 a year, and he has never had an accident with a PT Cruiser. That is what my insurance would be if I had a collision policy at all on my Lotus, and I'm 55 and never had an accident.
A Lotus is a reward for accomplishments. Have you had any yet? I got my first Europa at 22 after college.
Hope this helps you decide.
lotusman
'89 non-SE
I agree with Lotusman about having to earn a lotus.
I'm 21, and 3 semesters away from finishing my degree at Georgia Tech. I'm gonna buy my first Lotus then.
Right now, i drive a '65 fastback mustang. I learned tons about cars from restoring mustangs, and you learn to appreciate them more when you work on them. When you become responsible enough, then you can move onto a better car. I wrecked a '67 mustang with 56k original miles, which was my automotive epiphany. I'm much more careful when driving. Plus the parts for my car are pretty cheap.
Save the lotus for a later date when you can actually enjoy it.
I'm 21, and 3 semesters away from finishing my degree at Georgia Tech. I'm gonna buy my first Lotus then.
Right now, i drive a '65 fastback mustang. I learned tons about cars from restoring mustangs, and you learn to appreciate them more when you work on them. When you become responsible enough, then you can move onto a better car. I wrecked a '67 mustang with 56k original miles, which was my automotive epiphany. I'm much more careful when driving. Plus the parts for my car are pretty cheap.
Save the lotus for a later date when you can actually enjoy it.
wafflow said:
I forgot another thing, does anyone know any dealerships, mechanics, or any other places related to lotus in chicago?
Continental is in the Chicago suburbs,
St. Charles motors is west of Fox Valley and used to partners with Fox Valley before they broke away.
I doubt they have many 4 cyl or older Esprit's in stock as these places sell high line cars and if they have one it is by trade in.
You do not fit the demographics so I doubt they will even let you test drive a car unless you have valid check in your hand.
Gripes!!! I wish I had the resources to buy an Esprit when I was a teenager. Having said that I would have been a lot less prepared for it, I was 30 when mine arrived. I'm now 34 and wish I'd taken driving lessons as soon as it arrived (advanced, on a track)
If you can afford it, go for it but it aint a rice rocket, its a classic British sportscar and as such a completely different animal to what your mates will be driving. Difficult to explain what I mean by that unless you have driven one but you will learn the hard way about its performance and maintenance unless you either do tonnes of research (including taking a test drive in a dealer car or one of the owners) or bring along a mate who knows about them. Most guys I read about do lots before committing.
The dealer may also not take you seriously as you're so young (unless you are in the know and come across as fairly adult, which I'm sure you will).
My advice (you may not like it but you can leave it)would be to buy a reliable jap or american thing and spend some time researching the Esprit. Then you can decide if its for you.
Also, get some experience of driving (like a few years) because if you put your foot down in the Esprit and you are not expecting too much and you are not too familiar with a manual gearbox AND its just rained and you have big feet and you have a passenger whom you are keen to impress and you have the TMC brakes with Greenstuff pads and no airbag and ... well... it may end in tears.
I would hate for your first experience of a British sportscar to be your last. Ever.
Dom
sorry if that went on a bit.
If you can afford it, go for it but it aint a rice rocket, its a classic British sportscar and as such a completely different animal to what your mates will be driving. Difficult to explain what I mean by that unless you have driven one but you will learn the hard way about its performance and maintenance unless you either do tonnes of research (including taking a test drive in a dealer car or one of the owners) or bring along a mate who knows about them. Most guys I read about do lots before committing.
The dealer may also not take you seriously as you're so young (unless you are in the know and come across as fairly adult, which I'm sure you will).
My advice (you may not like it but you can leave it)would be to buy a reliable jap or american thing and spend some time researching the Esprit. Then you can decide if its for you.
Also, get some experience of driving (like a few years) because if you put your foot down in the Esprit and you are not expecting too much and you are not too familiar with a manual gearbox AND its just rained and you have big feet and you have a passenger whom you are keen to impress and you have the TMC brakes with Greenstuff pads and no airbag and ... well... it may end in tears.
I would hate for your first experience of a British sportscar to be your last. Ever.
Dom
sorry if that went on a bit.
Due to insurance costs,living arrangements and pay. I was running a 1.1 litre ford feista until i was twenty four.
I went staight to a 24 valve 3 litre Supra,it was some jump!, i loved it.
In retrospect, it would have ruined my life socially, financially and probably mortally had i had it in my teens though...
In the time i was running my little car (Age 19 - 24) i qualified for my job and bought a house. i could only do this because my income was not filtered through a Lotus's running budget before hitting my pocket
The UK house market has soared and the house i bought in '93 for £39k (about the same cost of an SE back then) has increased in value fivefold.
If in '93 i'd took out the same loan and got an SE instead of a house?. Sure,i'd have enjoyed it and been locally famous for a bit - but today the car would be worth £15k tops, and i'd be homeless
The lads that were spending all their wages running and insuring 'hot hatches' when i had a 'girls car' are renting homes now,or have mortgages too high to afford a car like an Esprit.
Wait,Please.
I went staight to a 24 valve 3 litre Supra,it was some jump!, i loved it.
In retrospect, it would have ruined my life socially, financially and probably mortally had i had it in my teens though...
In the time i was running my little car (Age 19 - 24) i qualified for my job and bought a house. i could only do this because my income was not filtered through a Lotus's running budget before hitting my pocket
The UK house market has soared and the house i bought in '93 for £39k (about the same cost of an SE back then) has increased in value fivefold.
If in '93 i'd took out the same loan and got an SE instead of a house?. Sure,i'd have enjoyed it and been locally famous for a bit - but today the car would be worth £15k tops, and i'd be homeless
The lads that were spending all their wages running and insuring 'hot hatches' when i had a 'girls car' are renting homes now,or have mortgages too high to afford a car like an Esprit.
Wait,Please.
Insurance isn't neary as high in the US when compared to the UK, so, the car is more "affordable" for lots of us. We don't have the tiered displacement system etc. Still, it won't be cheap for him, that is for sure.
If you can find one, get it checked out, then why not? I firmly believe that where there is a will there is a way. There are service manuals etc. and I'm sure if you're reasonably intelligent then you can handle maintenance issues.
I find my Esprit is reliable and would do fine as everyday transportation. I don't use it for that, but from what I can tell it'd do the job. I drive mine 2-4 times a week and it never fails to start, run, and drive.
Get one, drive it around a bit with care, explore the limits on a track with instruction, and you'll have a good time. And be driving a much more fun, exclusive, better performing, and classic car than your buds with pimped up Hondas etc.
If you can find one, get it checked out, then why not? I firmly believe that where there is a will there is a way. There are service manuals etc. and I'm sure if you're reasonably intelligent then you can handle maintenance issues.
I find my Esprit is reliable and would do fine as everyday transportation. I don't use it for that, but from what I can tell it'd do the job. I drive mine 2-4 times a week and it never fails to start, run, and drive.
Get one, drive it around a bit with care, explore the limits on a track with instruction, and you'll have a good time. And be driving a much more fun, exclusive, better performing, and classic car than your buds with pimped up Hondas etc.
I'd go for a Spitfire or a Healey first. I started with a Healey... You learn a lot about how to work on the British cars without breaking the bank. They are not fast, but they are very very fun to drive and work most of the time (like the Esprit). Spitfire came next... kept the Healey though...I still have it! The Spitfire was very similar to the Healey. Very English. Required some do it your self work.
I'd go for the Esprit after school... keep one of the other British cars as the "daily driver" should you aquire this particular car disease (by the way, there is no cure). Then insurance will not eat you up. You can go with Leyland West, Grundy, or another exotic car insurance group and pay an yearly rate under $500.00.
...just my thoughts....
Drive topless!!!
Cameron
and... oh yea... move to a location that you can actually live all year 'round - ie: out of the ice and snow!!! Hahahaha!
I'd go for the Esprit after school... keep one of the other British cars as the "daily driver" should you aquire this particular car disease (by the way, there is no cure). Then insurance will not eat you up. You can go with Leyland West, Grundy, or another exotic car insurance group and pay an yearly rate under $500.00.
...just my thoughts....
Drive topless!!!
Cameron
and... oh yea... move to a location that you can actually live all year 'round - ie: out of the ice and snow!!! Hahahaha!
rob.e said:
Oi! I'm from Chicago. I want to drive an esprit, and I'm a teenager who has desperate need of transportation (school is 8 miles away). Is this reasonable?
No.
Get a Push Iron (2 wheeled Bicyle) and get fit you over weight numpty.
When it snows get the school bus.
Insults aside I had a Kwaka Z500 in the sixth form and it was only a mile to school. It was paid for by 3 evenings in a petrol station a week and the insurance was a reasonable £375 quid TPO.
I got my 1st Esprit at 23 ( 86 N/A ). I drove a Mini to school in the 6th form. Well, I for one would have loved an Esprit to drive to school in !! And the reason I had a Mini and not an Esprit ? Erm, easy really, money. If I had enough money to buy an Esprit at 17, that's what I would have done. All the replies to Wafflow seem to come from a load of jealous owners to me !!
adrianmugridge said:
All the replies to Wafflow seem to come from a load of jealous owners to me !!
That's me, but I'm sticking to my : 'Get off your fat arse and use pedal power' stance on the grounds that he'll have more luck with the wimmin if he's fit as a butchers dog, than if he's an AVERAGE size yank.
(That is why he wants an esprit is it not ? I never saw any bends when I was in Chicago )
adrianmugridge said:
I got my 1st Esprit at 23 ( 86 N/A ). I drove a Mini to school in the 6th form. Well, I for one would have loved an Esprit to drive to school in !! And the reason I had a Mini and not an Esprit ? Erm, easy really, money. If I had enough money to buy an Esprit at 17, that's what I would have done. All the replies to Wafflow seem to come from a load of jealous owners to me !!
Point taken re. the money. I agree...if you got it - spend it. But, I think it is safe to say that buying and running are two different issues. In fact, I'd say that this is some of the reason Esprits can be had for such good money. It is THE affordable exotic when buying. It does however maintain that high dollar investment to keep running properly. So, people get them and then runinto trouble with up-keep so the car ends up sitting...(I know - not always- but it does happen). I did learn a lot from the two cars I list that help me with the Esprit.
My thing is not with anyone wanting or even buying an Esprit at any age....
Why would anyone want to live where it is so damn cold???
hahaha...
Drive topless!!!
Cameron
Oi ! Wafflow, sarcastic comments and stuff aside, Adrian is right. If you have the cash sitting around then buy one and see for yourself but beware that if you think it will hold up to drag racing, it wont, 2nd (or your clutch) will go 'ping'. If you think it will be reliable like a Honda Civic, it won't (generally). If you think the chicks will love you in it, they will, until you are stranded on a deserted road, then she definitely WON'T*. If you think you can scrimp on servicing and parts are cheap and easy to come by, forget it.
Basically you gotta do yer homework and be a more than average committed owner.
Its all down to experience I suppose
Dom
* you'll think of something to do to pass the time...
Basically you gotta do yer homework and be a more than average committed owner.
Its all down to experience I suppose
Dom
* you'll think of something to do to pass the time...
Hope I don't get flamed for this... I managed to earn the funds for my Esprit at a young age, so I have a bit of experience with this issue... First of all, it doesn't seem like you've ever driven an Esprit? Do that. Drive one before you decide you want it. It is VERY different from any car you've probably ever driven, even (especially) any american performance car you've driven. I thought I had experience with performance cars before I bought the Lotus (muscle cars, 55 Chevy, Camaros, Corvette etc.) but truthfully ownership of all those cars prepared me in no way for the Lotus. The Lotus requires much more skill to drive quickly than any of those cars, where you can simply mash the accelerator, and corners are never an option in the first place. It can also be more dangerous and expensive if you don't know what you're doing. Go to performance driving school or something, I've had to learn a lot of things the hard way.
Maybe you're enticed by the fact that very few cars go as quickly as the Lotus, and hope to beat anything next to you at the stop light. Yes, the Esprit CAN be quicker than most any car on the road, but it absolutely hates to be driven that way. Unless you like high repair bills. Driving the car as fast as it can go is killer on the drivetrain. People said it to me before and I didn't believe them, but though it is quick, the Esprit is no drag car. It's quick in ways Camaros and such aren't.
Speaking of repairs... don't expect to have none. I'm personally surprised at how little has gone with my car in over a year of ownership, especially after hearing many stories that told me otherwise (and ignoring them). Do have mechanical knowledge of the car, I've never done any major work on my car, but I've done many roadside repairs that have got my car running just enough it would get me home or to the shop. I had experience rebuilding several SB Chevy V8s when I was in my early teens (gearhead from birth) and while they are very different from the 4cyl Lotus, mechanical skill is useful. Mainly though, avoid lots of repairs by driving the car regularly.
The most important thing though, is discipline. Very few teenagers have it, I had more than most, but still I don't think it was really enough for Esprit ownership. You can show off to every riced out integra that pulls up next to you, but do you really have to/want to? It's very easy at your age to start driving like an idiot when you drive a car like the Esprit. It's also easy to act like an ass while you're not driving your car...
Also consider whether your car will be safe in the high school parking lot. The fact that mine never was vandalized/stolen still amazes me.
My recommendation to you is to buy a cheaper, still fun car that you can really learn things in, and eventually move up to the Lotus. I'm not making any judgement on you (I don't know you) but most of these issues applied to me a year ago, so I'm just passing on my knowledge. Truthfully, if I could go back I probably would have bought an MR2, AE86 Corolla GTS or cheap RWD car or something similar to prepare me for the Esprit, instead of learning on the more powerful, more expensive car. But hey, you grow up, and I'm now "stuck" with the Esprit
(no problem anymore). In case you're interested, I'm nineteen now, seventeen when I bought the Lotus.
If you do buy an Esprit, be careful, buy a good one, good luck, look forward to hearing from you on this board.
Dan
Maybe you're enticed by the fact that very few cars go as quickly as the Lotus, and hope to beat anything next to you at the stop light. Yes, the Esprit CAN be quicker than most any car on the road, but it absolutely hates to be driven that way. Unless you like high repair bills. Driving the car as fast as it can go is killer on the drivetrain. People said it to me before and I didn't believe them, but though it is quick, the Esprit is no drag car. It's quick in ways Camaros and such aren't.
Speaking of repairs... don't expect to have none. I'm personally surprised at how little has gone with my car in over a year of ownership, especially after hearing many stories that told me otherwise (and ignoring them). Do have mechanical knowledge of the car, I've never done any major work on my car, but I've done many roadside repairs that have got my car running just enough it would get me home or to the shop. I had experience rebuilding several SB Chevy V8s when I was in my early teens (gearhead from birth) and while they are very different from the 4cyl Lotus, mechanical skill is useful. Mainly though, avoid lots of repairs by driving the car regularly.
The most important thing though, is discipline. Very few teenagers have it, I had more than most, but still I don't think it was really enough for Esprit ownership. You can show off to every riced out integra that pulls up next to you, but do you really have to/want to? It's very easy at your age to start driving like an idiot when you drive a car like the Esprit. It's also easy to act like an ass while you're not driving your car...
Also consider whether your car will be safe in the high school parking lot. The fact that mine never was vandalized/stolen still amazes me.
My recommendation to you is to buy a cheaper, still fun car that you can really learn things in, and eventually move up to the Lotus. I'm not making any judgement on you (I don't know you) but most of these issues applied to me a year ago, so I'm just passing on my knowledge. Truthfully, if I could go back I probably would have bought an MR2, AE86 Corolla GTS or cheap RWD car or something similar to prepare me for the Esprit, instead of learning on the more powerful, more expensive car. But hey, you grow up, and I'm now "stuck" with the Esprit
(no problem anymore). In case you're interested, I'm nineteen now, seventeen when I bought the Lotus. If you do buy an Esprit, be careful, buy a good one, good luck, look forward to hearing from you on this board.
Dan
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