Esprit maintenance costs vs. Elise
Discussion
Hi all,
I'm an Elise S1 111S owner and did a pretty stupid thing last week: test drove a Esprit S4S. It was a great experience. What a blast, much more a straight line performance car than an Elise (at least in my humble opinion...).
Anyway, the story on the car is:
- 96000km
- build date feb 1997
- interior quality is so-so. Seats are quite worn/scratched
- some 5000km ago, all clutch related mechanics have been replaced
- around the same time, someone messed up putting the spark plug in correctly and the head needed to be repaired
- despite all of this, I can't get the car out of my mind. What a beauty.... Exterior is quite ok.
I'm quite shocked by the maintenance bills compared to what my Elise is costing me. Can anybody tell me a bit about Esprit maintenance costs compared to an Elise? What the most crucial maintenance items that need to have taken place with this kind of milage? Is there a risk the turbo needs to be replaced soon?
Thanks for all your help in advance
Cheers
Dennis
I'm an Elise S1 111S owner and did a pretty stupid thing last week: test drove a Esprit S4S. It was a great experience. What a blast, much more a straight line performance car than an Elise (at least in my humble opinion...).
Anyway, the story on the car is:
- 96000km
- build date feb 1997
- interior quality is so-so. Seats are quite worn/scratched
- some 5000km ago, all clutch related mechanics have been replaced
- around the same time, someone messed up putting the spark plug in correctly and the head needed to be repaired
- despite all of this, I can't get the car out of my mind. What a beauty.... Exterior is quite ok.
I'm quite shocked by the maintenance bills compared to what my Elise is costing me. Can anybody tell me a bit about Esprit maintenance costs compared to an Elise? What the most crucial maintenance items that need to have taken place with this kind of milage? Is there a risk the turbo needs to be replaced soon?
Thanks for all your help in advance
Cheers
Dennis
Dennis
If you move up to a big boys car then you get big boys running costs. Ofcause, if you do the work yourself then you will save a lot of money. Assuming you intend to have to have the car looked after by a good dealer/garage then typical prices in the UK are :
A Service : £250
B Service : £450
C Service : £1000
Servicing is every 6,000 miles and goes : A, B, A, C etc ( I think this is right on an S4 ). It might be A, B, A, B, A, C. So, it's £1000 every 24000 ( or maybe 36000 ) miles. That's assuming that nothing else needs doing.
Clutch; These last about 30,000 miles. Say £750.
Manifold;( these quite often crack ) : Say £1125
Tyres; Around £600 a set
New Turbo ( these do blow themselves to bits ) : £1000
My website, www.adrianmugridge.co.uk has all my running costs since I've owned my 97GT3. Look at about £3000 a year ( the place where mine goes charge about £45/hour for labour )
Most Elise owners I've talked to keel over when they find out how much an Esprit costs to run compared to what they tell me an Elise costs ( Most say about £500 a year ).
It's a fantastic car ( I've had 3 over last 12 years ) but the costs are quite horredous. My 1st one was stored for 1 year once whilst I saved up enough money to pay for the insurance and the servicing. Which tells you I could not really afford to keep it, but I was determined not to sell it.
Adrian
www.adrianmugridge.co.uk
If you move up to a big boys car then you get big boys running costs. Ofcause, if you do the work yourself then you will save a lot of money. Assuming you intend to have to have the car looked after by a good dealer/garage then typical prices in the UK are :
A Service : £250
B Service : £450
C Service : £1000
Servicing is every 6,000 miles and goes : A, B, A, C etc ( I think this is right on an S4 ). It might be A, B, A, B, A, C. So, it's £1000 every 24000 ( or maybe 36000 ) miles. That's assuming that nothing else needs doing.
Clutch; These last about 30,000 miles. Say £750.
Manifold;( these quite often crack ) : Say £1125
Tyres; Around £600 a set
New Turbo ( these do blow themselves to bits ) : £1000
My website, www.adrianmugridge.co.uk has all my running costs since I've owned my 97GT3. Look at about £3000 a year ( the place where mine goes charge about £45/hour for labour )
Most Elise owners I've talked to keel over when they find out how much an Esprit costs to run compared to what they tell me an Elise costs ( Most say about £500 a year ).
It's a fantastic car ( I've had 3 over last 12 years ) but the costs are quite horredous. My 1st one was stored for 1 year once whilst I saved up enough money to pay for the insurance and the servicing. Which tells you I could not really afford to keep it, but I was determined not to sell it.
Adrian
www.adrianmugridge.co.uk
Hi Dennis,
I think I know the car you had a testdrive in. It's prolly the yellow S4s that is currently with VdKooi in Lochem. I am the owner of the other (black) S4s in the Netherlands and have an Elise S1 as well.
Maintenance costs of an Esprit are substantially higher the then those of an Elise. Main reason is that the parts are more expensive and that most jobs take a lot more time. Mine is serviced at Van Sten Engineering near Delft, which is usually a lot cheaper than VdK and the quality of the work is in my opinion a lot better.
The asking price of 36K is quite a lot. I paid 32,5K for my black S4s in May 2003 with 68.000 Km on it. So you should be able to get a better deal with this info. (Only problems it had were red clutch hose syndrom and it needed a new cambelt, but that is just a regular change). Apart from that the car is in a very good condition.
Would you swap your Elise for it? Or would you keep the Elise?
Sent me an email if you have any questions.
Regards,
Koen
I think I know the car you had a testdrive in. It's prolly the yellow S4s that is currently with VdKooi in Lochem. I am the owner of the other (black) S4s in the Netherlands and have an Elise S1 as well.
Maintenance costs of an Esprit are substantially higher the then those of an Elise. Main reason is that the parts are more expensive and that most jobs take a lot more time. Mine is serviced at Van Sten Engineering near Delft, which is usually a lot cheaper than VdK and the quality of the work is in my opinion a lot better.
The asking price of 36K is quite a lot. I paid 32,5K for my black S4s in May 2003 with 68.000 Km on it. So you should be able to get a better deal with this info. (Only problems it had were red clutch hose syndrom and it needed a new cambelt, but that is just a regular change). Apart from that the car is in a very good condition.
Would you swap your Elise for it? Or would you keep the Elise?
Sent me an email if you have any questions.
Regards,
Koen
Guys, thanks for the extensive feedback.
I've given it a bit of thought and think that I don't want to take the risk re: maintenance costs. Especially since I definitely don't want to trade in my 111s.
Still though, that massive power kicking in keeps playing with my mind....as well as the beautiful shape. I knew I shouldn't drive the car...
Cheers
Dennis
I've given it a bit of thought and think that I don't want to take the risk re: maintenance costs. Especially since I definitely don't want to trade in my 111s.
Still though, that massive power kicking in keeps playing with my mind....as well as the beautiful shape. I knew I shouldn't drive the car...
Cheers
Dennis
Well, the sound of the V8 is really awesome, but in terms of speed it's not a really big difference to an S4s. Besides that the reliabilty of the S4s is a bit better then the V8's, I think. And an Esprit should be a 4 cylinder...:-)
Dennis, where are you located in the Netherlands? I can't recall ever meeting you and it's always nice to meet other Lotus owners. We have a pretty nice Dutch owners group doing a lot of runs and trackdays together, so it would be nice to hook up one day.
Koen
Dennis, where are you located in the Netherlands? I can't recall ever meeting you and it's always nice to meet other Lotus owners. We have a pretty nice Dutch owners group doing a lot of runs and trackdays together, so it would be nice to hook up one day.
Koen
The Esprit's FAR more exclusive than the Elise. Here in the UK,i see an elise on the road every day,this would take away a very special quality were it true of the Esprit.
Esprit ownership tends to command respect,people ask how the car is before asking how i am. Among my mates,i am considered Brave and mad in equal measures.
I think Lotus were getting it right with the Exige.
This gave a 'balls out' looking variant that you could then build on without having to make the jump to the Esprit. Some of the Exiges i have seen look Great.
Do they make them in Elise S2 shape,or have Lotus axed yet another model?.
PAUL C
Esprit ownership tends to command respect,people ask how the car is before asking how i am. Among my mates,i am considered Brave and mad in equal measures.
I think Lotus were getting it right with the Exige.
This gave a 'balls out' looking variant that you could then build on without having to make the jump to the Esprit. Some of the Exiges i have seen look Great.
Do they make them in Elise S2 shape,or have Lotus axed yet another model?.
PAUL C
Hi Koen,
I'm living in the famous city of Almere. I think I've seen you one or two times at Maarten's place and at some of the Lotus runs. I usually join some people from around Almere on Lotus trips etc. we organize amongst ourselves. Seems that there is a Lotus incrowd in Holland and some small groups that meet eachother besides that. Is there a mailing list that you guys use?
I'm living in the famous city of Almere. I think I've seen you one or two times at Maarten's place and at some of the Lotus runs. I usually join some people from around Almere on Lotus trips etc. we organize amongst ourselves. Seems that there is a Lotus incrowd in Holland and some small groups that meet eachother besides that. Is there a mailing list that you guys use?
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