Esprit for me?
Discussion
Hi All,
New on here... Going through the motions of what cars I could buy and they are changing somewhat:
BMW M3
Porsche 911 3.2 Carrera (gone off this idea - no PAS or ABS!)
Porsche 911 3.6 litre 911 (964)
and now tonight a Lotus Esprit. The Lotus is very appealing and I love the styling. I only cover around 7,500 miles a year and would be looking at insuring via a classic policy. The Porsche 964 was reasonable so hopefully the Lotus will be similar? I'll need to get a quote first tho. My budget on a car is just shy of £16k.
My questions are:
What will my budget get me Esprit wise? The 2.2 Turbo(?) will meet my expectations performance wise.
What have been your annual running costs approx? Services, etc? Reliability?
Any idea who my nearest specialist garage is for servicing? I'm over in the West Midlands.
Is it recommended to have a Lotus specialist carry out a PPI?
Are there any places I should avoid buying from? - obviously best to email me direct: teamcalibra@btinternet.com
Lastly any buying advice? I've visited a number of websites and trying to gain some knowledge.
Apologies for the number of Q's and my sincere thanks for reading this.
James
New on here... Going through the motions of what cars I could buy and they are changing somewhat:
BMW M3
Porsche 911 3.2 Carrera (gone off this idea - no PAS or ABS!)
Porsche 911 3.6 litre 911 (964)
and now tonight a Lotus Esprit. The Lotus is very appealing and I love the styling. I only cover around 7,500 miles a year and would be looking at insuring via a classic policy. The Porsche 964 was reasonable so hopefully the Lotus will be similar? I'll need to get a quote first tho. My budget on a car is just shy of £16k.
My questions are:
What will my budget get me Esprit wise? The 2.2 Turbo(?) will meet my expectations performance wise.
What have been your annual running costs approx? Services, etc? Reliability?
Any idea who my nearest specialist garage is for servicing? I'm over in the West Midlands.
Is it recommended to have a Lotus specialist carry out a PPI?
Are there any places I should avoid buying from? - obviously best to email me direct: teamcalibra@btinternet.com
Lastly any buying advice? I've visited a number of websites and trying to gain some knowledge.
Apologies for the number of Q's and my sincere thanks for reading this.
James
If your looking pre '98 4 cylinder Esprit Paul Mattys in Bromsgrove is your man www.paulmattysportscars.co.uk
Just about the countries leading independant specialist in all things Lotus, hes well worth having a chat to, and will give you an informed subjective view your budget should buy a nice S4
>> Edited by mustard on Wednesday 17th March 23:05
Just about the countries leading independant specialist in all things Lotus, hes well worth having a chat to, and will give you an informed subjective view your budget should buy a nice S4
>> Edited by mustard on Wednesday 17th March 23:05
mustard said:
If your looking pre '98 4 cylinder Esprit Paul Mattys in Bromsgrove is your man <a href="http://www.paulmattysportscars.co.uk">www.paulmattysportscars.co.uk</a>
Just about the countries leading independant specialist in all things Lotus, hes well worth having a chat to, and will give you an informed subjective view your budget should buy a nice S4
>> Edited by mustard on Wednesday 17th March 23:05
Thanks - having a look at the site now. Not too far away which is nice. I'm near the NEC.
hes got nothing in stock at the moment (was over there myself yesterday) but drop in and have a chat with himyou cant get average costs very well from a sample size of a few hundred cars per year, it is a crap shoot.
Take a ford focus if you want predictable costs,,,,
even the M3 and Porsches will be hard to predict.
Lotus should be impossible to guess, even if people here try to answer the question.
Every part is expensive and there is no guaranteee that wear and tear items will last even as well as the german parts do.
if you get lucky and are good at dealing with cars, you can have reasonable costs, if you bring it to a service guy... well open your cheque book..
Take a ford focus if you want predictable costs,,,,
even the M3 and Porsches will be hard to predict.
Lotus should be impossible to guess, even if people here try to answer the question.
Every part is expensive and there is no guaranteee that wear and tear items will last even as well as the german parts do.
if you get lucky and are good at dealing with cars, you can have reasonable costs, if you bring it to a service guy... well open your cheque book..
JRSE said:
Yes that's a bit over my budget! Very nice tho... Not many cars I like in red but the Esprit looks good.
Hi, - I'm by the NEC aswell. WEll, during the day anyway. I'm currently Espritless, but I bought my S4 from Paul Matty.
With regards to your other choices.
A friend who sits on the next desk to me has a 3.2 NA Carrera - Very nice car, but the Esprit is in a different league for performance and handling. Don't get me wrong the 3.2 is no pussy, but he openly admitted the Esprit had the edge. We would often go out for a Friday afternoon "Hoon" together, along with an S2000 and a couple of Z3's...
Still, drop me a mail off list and we can have a chat.
Cheers,
JC
Hi there and welcome. It's funny really about your post because someone put a similar post about a month ago.
IMO, if you include a BMW M3 in the equation and other German cars then you are best opting for those cars.
I would only go for an Esprit if it was a childhood dream or you really love them.
Don't get me wrong, they are absolutely fantastic cars to drive but build quality etc needs forgiving if you intend owning one.
Out of all the cars, the Esprit will draw more attention and the handling is best (IMO!).
BTW, the other guy went for an M3 in the end as he used it more as a daily car and was able to leave it in Sainsbury's carpark without having to worry about it too much. They tend to blend in with other cars.
Hope this helps you make the right decision.
Cheers,
Dave Walters
IMO, if you include a BMW M3 in the equation and other German cars then you are best opting for those cars.
I would only go for an Esprit if it was a childhood dream or you really love them.
Don't get me wrong, they are absolutely fantastic cars to drive but build quality etc needs forgiving if you intend owning one.
Out of all the cars, the Esprit will draw more attention and the handling is best (IMO!).
BTW, the other guy went for an M3 in the end as he used it more as a daily car and was able to leave it in Sainsbury's carpark without having to worry about it too much. They tend to blend in with other cars.
Hope this helps you make the right decision.
Cheers,
Dave Walters
M3 and esprit are VERY different cars. The esprit is hand built, exclusive, handles fantanstically and is a supercar. The M3 er.. 
well, reliability is probably a plus point, as is the build quality.
At your budget i'd be looking for a GT3. Best handling esprit ever made and a post 98 gets a number if improvements, cabin, wiperlink etc. If 240bhp isn't enough there are several chip options.
cheers
Rob
well, reliability is probably a plus point, as is the build quality. At your budget i'd be looking for a GT3. Best handling esprit ever made and a post 98 gets a number if improvements, cabin, wiperlink etc. If 240bhp isn't enough there are several chip options.
cheers
Rob
IMO you don't get much of a better looking car than the Esprit. The BMW and Porsche don't come close.
Performance wise, generally a good handling 0-60mph in less than 6 secs is acceptable to me. I'm used to fuel consumption figures of 19mpg - 21mpg. This time around I'm trying to find a balance. In fact I'd settle for slightly less performance but styling is important to me.
I hate unreliable cars. Sure I don't mind some repairs but I've owned a car where one week it was a new clutch + flywheel, then an full exhaust, then a new sump, various sensors, etc. I did minor services myself... It was being repaired more than I was driving it!
From an early age I remember the Esprit as one was always parked up outside the local shops! Still appeals to me but I think the key decision for me is reliability. I'm only covering 7,500 miles per year and don't want to be spending too much on repairs.
Decisions, decisions... Help!
Performance wise, generally a good handling 0-60mph in less than 6 secs is acceptable to me. I'm used to fuel consumption figures of 19mpg - 21mpg. This time around I'm trying to find a balance. In fact I'd settle for slightly less performance but styling is important to me.
I hate unreliable cars. Sure I don't mind some repairs but I've owned a car where one week it was a new clutch + flywheel, then an full exhaust, then a new sump, various sensors, etc. I did minor services myself... It was being repaired more than I was driving it!
From an early age I remember the Esprit as one was always parked up outside the local shops! Still appeals to me but I think the key decision for me is reliability. I'm only covering 7,500 miles per year and don't want to be spending too much on repairs.
Decisions, decisions... Help!
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