Esprit?

Author
Discussion

vindaloo

Original Poster:

122 posts

269 months

Tuesday 13th August 2002
quotequote all
Any one owned an Esprit? or know what they are like to own run etc. Was going to post on the Esprit bit but would like to know from a Tiv's point of view.

Cheers

AOVCERB

100 posts

271 months

Tuesday 13th August 2002
quotequote all
Had 2 x Esprits - SE and S4, Great cars great handling and I had no problems with either though servicing was rather expensive from main dealer, Cam belts is a must do.
Running costs were not too bad up to 25 mpg on a run and reasonable insurance, only issue for me owning an Esprit was the prats in their sales rep mobiles who would take suicidal risks to over take you.
My personnal choice though is the grunt of the TVR,

vindaloo

Original Poster:

122 posts

269 months

Tuesday 13th August 2002
quotequote all
what sort of service money we talking, how much for a belt change etc?

rob.ellis

2,861 posts

279 months

Tuesday 13th August 2002
quotequote all
Belt change as part of c service from main dealer recently cost me £1200 (nick whales).

Had a quote to do belts on their own before i did this from the factory service center (ketteringham hall) £700.

AOVCERB

100 posts

271 months

Tuesday 13th August 2002
quotequote all
Same costs here and also I think the 60k service involves changing all brake hoses etc etc etc very costly

wedg1e

26,806 posts

266 months

Tuesday 13th August 2002
quotequote all
Can't speak from experience, but a few things spring to mind from hearsay and magazine articles....
Turbo welds itself to engine and is a seriously expensive problem to fix (engine out etc.)
Clutch (and most other jobs!) needs engine out.
Chassis near the exhaust rusts; guess what, you have to take the engine out....
Only the post-86-ish cars handle well, the early stuff was pretty bad. At least in modern terms. Bit like a TVR wedge... ;-)

Ian
390SE

rob.ellis

2,861 posts

279 months

Thursday 15th August 2002
quotequote all
quote:

Turbo welds itself to engine and is a seriously expensive problem to fix (engine out etc.)



The turbos (there are two) are bolted to the manifold. Due to the heat the bolts WILL be a bugger to get undone, but not impossible. They're easily accessible and you wouldn't have to take the engine out to get at them.

quote:

Clutch (and most other jobs!) needs engine out.



Nope. You can change the clutch with the engine in the car. 4 cyl and v8.

quote:

Chassis near the exhaust rusts; guess what, you have to take the engine out....



All esprits since the s3 (1981) have a galvanised chassis. I've not heard of any cars after '81 with chassis rust.

Ian, i secretly think you like esprits.. go on, admit it!

Rob

rob.ellis

2,861 posts

279 months

Thursday 15th August 2002
quotequote all
quote:

Same costs here and also I think the 60k service involves changing all brake hoses etc etc etc very costly



Which esprit? My v8 will have its 60k service in a few weeks. Its an "A" service, so fluids only (i.e. its a cheap one).

Rob

kevinday

11,641 posts

281 months

Thursday 15th August 2002
quotequote all
quote:


The turbos (there are two) are bolted to the manifold. Due to the heat the bolts WILL be a bugger to get undone, but not impossible. They're easily accessible and you wouldn't have to take the engine out to get at them.




Only on the V8, the 4 cyl turbos only had one (both the official Lotus turbo and the Bell and Colvill version which pre-dated the official one by about 2 years).

AOVCERB

100 posts

271 months

Thursday 15th August 2002
quotequote all
60k servive for S4 and SE