1989 2.2 NA Esprit - Value / Worthwhile ?
Discussion
I've been offered an Esprit by a neighbour it's a 1989 2.2 NA - I wouldn't have been interested a few years ago - more a V8 fan - but recently I've found more pleasure thrashing, lower powered cars.
Bodily it looks fantastic, I was shocked how much I liked it (more of a 90's Jap fan) it's only covered 80k but has only covered 1k in the last 10 years and off the road for 2 yrs
The interior is cream leather and looks like it's done 200k and although I'm 5'11 my head is touching the sunroof so my first job would be to bolt an Elise seat (or similar) to the floor
I've heard it running, sounds fine.
First question - what would it be worth ?
Second - as it seems a very basic car, why in the back of my mind do I recall that they are a money pit ?
Bodily it looks fantastic, I was shocked how much I liked it (more of a 90's Jap fan) it's only covered 80k but has only covered 1k in the last 10 years and off the road for 2 yrs
The interior is cream leather and looks like it's done 200k and although I'm 5'11 my head is touching the sunroof so my first job would be to bolt an Elise seat (or similar) to the floor
I've heard it running, sounds fine.
First question - what would it be worth ?
Second - as it seems a very basic car, why in the back of my mind do I recall that they are a money pit ?
V8RX7 said:
it's only covered 80k but has only covered 1k in the last 10 years and off the road for 2 yrs
When was the cambelt last changed?Unless it was done recently, I'd be wary of running/driving it until a new cambelt has been fitted. Even without running the rubber deteriorates through age, so if its 5 years old but only done 500 miles, it will be best changing it. They should be changed every 2 years, regardless of miles.
Its nightmare to do on these things.
Glassfibre body and a Lotus of that vintage should have a galvanized chassis too. That doesn't mean it is immune to rust at this age but shouldn't be too far gone. Being a non-turbo (?) makes it less desirable to some but easier to maintain and less pricey to fix, there are many parts specialists. Values for these have been going up a bit recently I've noticed at classic auctions.
All lotus interiors seem to age badly, it's 'engine out' for major maintenance. Headroom is shocking as you note, I drove a friend's 1990 SE back in the day and noted the gearchange wasn't very good. Fast though because they're so light! Pretty too, this will be the Peter Stevens car:
https://www.lotusespritturbo.com/Lotus_Esprit_Stev...
All lotus interiors seem to age badly, it's 'engine out' for major maintenance. Headroom is shocking as you note, I drove a friend's 1990 SE back in the day and noted the gearchange wasn't very good. Fast though because they're so light! Pretty too, this will be the Peter Stevens car:
https://www.lotusespritturbo.com/Lotus_Esprit_Stev...
Yes I've been googling... it seems the reason I'm struggling to find comparable cars - because the NA in the revised body was only made for 2 years.
Good Turbos seem to be asking £25k and this is a lot less than that.
I thought 80k was very low mileage but it seems it's high for an Esprit !
Good Turbos seem to be asking £25k and this is a lot less than that.
I thought 80k was very low mileage but it seems it's high for an Esprit !
V8RX7 said:
it's only covered 80k ... I've heard it running, sounds fine.
Owners will be better able to advise (it's one of the Lotuses that has escaped me, so far, though I love the pre-turbo Giugiaro cars) but as a long-standing member of Club Lotus, the received wisdom on these is that if they're noisy at start-up, but get quieter as the engine warms, that's good. If they're quiet at start-up, but get noisy when the oil is hot, get ready to empty your wallet.The Lotus 900-series engine isn't especially long-lived by modern standards, so don't be too surprised if 80K miles is heading for a full rebuild - the expectation is that they won't go much beyond 100K without needing one.
Bob-iylho said:
.......They are not money pits.......
They can be if you buy the wrong one: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...There's a saying in Ferrari circles: "The most expensive Ferrari to own, is the cheapest one you can buy!"
It's a generalisation, but it does have a lot of truth to it.
I suspect the same sort of thinking applies to Lotus Esprit's.
4rephill said:
They can be if you buy the wrong one: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
There's a saying in Ferrari circles: "The most expensive Ferrari to own, is the cheapest one you can buy!"
It's a generalisation, but it does have a lot of truth to it.
I suspect the same sort of thinking applies to Lotus Esprit's.
That thread is a great read! Shame it had no conclusion.There's a saying in Ferrari circles: "The most expensive Ferrari to own, is the cheapest one you can buy!"
It's a generalisation, but it does have a lot of truth to it.
I suspect the same sort of thinking applies to Lotus Esprit's.
V8RX7 said:
That's an S1, to be fair: they're worth a huge premium over most S2's/S3's (with the possible exception of JPS cars like Bob-iylho's) because of the James Bond connection... despite being the most flawed model (overheating, driveshafts that eat themselves, reasonant boom at certain engine revs).Equus said:
That's an S1, to be fair: they're worth a huge premium over most S2's/S3's (with the possible exception of JPS cars like Bob-iylho's) because of the James Bond connection... despite being the most flawed model (overheating, driveshafts that eat themselves, reasonant boom at certain engine revs).
Odd isn't it that investors tend to value the least developed, most flawed early models, rather than the later models that have had the bugs ironed out.Yertis said:
Odd isn't it that investors tend to value the least developed, most flawed early models, rather than the later models that have had the bugs ironed out.
I think it depends what the car is.As an example in Ford circles MK1 Escorts, Cortinas and Capris seem to be much more desirable than MK2s!
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