Servicing on a lotus esprit

[crispy19]

I'm seriously considering buying a Lotus esprit as they are stunning but would like to have a rough idea of what the servicing would cost for one. I'm very interested in a V8 maybe aging somwhere between 1988 -1995. I live in the UK so would like anyone else who lives in the UK who has an esprit of this age to let me know roughly the running costs.

Thanks a lot.

[mustard]

v8 Wasnt introduced till around '96

[crispy19]

Sorry my mistake, there are so many of them, just checked on Esprit world site, I mean 96-2001 age range!!!

[mustard]

calling Rob.e to the information desk

Hes run one over quite a few miles so will give you a good insight

[superdave]

It all depends where you live and what car you buy. I have found theat one Esprit is completely different to the next with regards to reliability. Also labour costs can vary from £25/hour to over £100/hour.
The good thing about the V8 is that the cambelt service is further apart than the 4 cylinders and there isn't any C service.

Cheers,



Dave Walters

[crispy19]

I live in the wiltshire area and just basically would like a rough idea of servicing to see if its worth while buying as if I buy one for up to £25k and the servicing is going to cost £3000 a year for example then I may not be able to get one!!

I had a toyota supra before and they were very good cost wise for servicing.

What models of esprit are more reliable is it easy to say?

[superdave]

I think servicing on V8 is every 10K as opposed to 6k for the 4 pots. An A service will set you back about £200-350 and a B service about £500-800 as a rough guide.
I reckon you should budget about £1200-1500 year based on 6-10K per annum.
I have a 4 pot turbo and it probably costs me £500-1000 per annum plus other cost to upgrade/ modify my car.
Esprit can be costly if things go wrong. Some dealers can quote upto £2K for a new clutch whereas my local Lotus specialist has done one for less than £800. A 4 pot at the same place is £475. All prices + VAT.

Hope this helps,



Dave Walters

[crispy19]

As much as the V8 is lovely I'm being a bit put off by other threads I have read about reliability issue and the extra cost. I've read that the S4S is a good and pretty reliable model, what do others think?

The servicing is not so bad as I thought.

[bojangles]

Apparently my California S4s needs a cambelt only every 80k miles.. or something silly like that.. and the belt is the same part number..

Has anyone solved that mystery yet?
what is different about the California cars..???
are they slower?
BRuce
S4S ( now in Canada )

[superdave]

I know a very nice example of S4s for sale in Azure blue if you are interested? It hasn't been advertised yet but will be very soon.


Dave

[crispy19]

I wish I could buy one tomorrow but it won't be for a while yet, looking into the best one to buy and doing some investigation at the moment. I saw a fantasic looking one the other day which did not help things!!!!!

[cnh1990]

bojangles said:

Apparently my California S4s needs a cambelt only every 80k miles.. or something silly like that.. and the belt is the same part number.. Has anyone solved that mystery yet? what is different about the California cars..??? are they slower? BRuce S4S ( now in Canada )

Cam belts they built for California are required by regulations to last that long. Don't know if the belt really lasts that long.

[bojangles]

I can see the sales information meeting the regulations but what about the service info? It should tell the truth... but even it says that the california cars need less frequent belt changes

[JK1]

It's the rareified air in CA that makes the belts last longer.........:

[Dr.Hess]

I thought that the smog had some sort of protective effect for the rubber. So many volitiles in the air that the ones in the rubber stay in as the oncotic pressure gradient is not as great as say, here in Arkansas.

Dr.Hess