Hi everyone As the original 4 cylinder supercar, why has the lotus esprit value never gone up? All it takes is for a exotic car dealer to jack the price up on a classic for example a ferrari 308 ( which actually jumped in value almost overnight not to long ago) then everyone else follows and suddenly the demand is there and people pay ridiculous prices. The lotus esprit being a hand built low production car are very cheap. Why is this? Why has almost every other car of its era gone up and the esprit when compared to them was a faster and better handling car?
just seems to be the norm with most British cars especially those from the 80s....they depreciate quickly and aren't particularly desirable used..build quality is not good compared to other cars and repair costs are sky high..same reason you can pick up an 80s Bentley or Rolls for 20 grand
I agree - build quality, or at least perception of build quality, has hurt the Esprit. Having a 4-cylinder didn't help when Lamborghini, Ferrari, and Corvette had V8s. The NSX's V6 was potent enough, a turbo-4 just wasn't / isn't viewed quite as exotic IMHO. Lastly, I think that the Elise really hurts the Esprit. The Elise is a sublime driving experience, largely considered one of Lotus' best products ever, and you can get one for $30K (probably not for long, but as of now - yes). While I love the Esprit - I love it, I'm a huge fan and nearly bought one, it's an icon of my youth - I'd have a hard time spending $25-30K on a 80's vintage Esprit when I could have a modern Elise for about the same. Just my 2 cents.
I have owned 6 Esprits, I still own a 1985 turbo Esprit. Bang for the buck, they are incredible cars. But you must be able to turn a wrench or you will go broke quick! On the road they are a blast to drive and look like a 100k car to the average joe, most people are shocked you can buy them for under 15k. And why can you buy one so cheap? Simple, Lotus owners are the worst They bash their own marque constantly. If a newb posts on Lotus Talk about an esprit he found and wants to restore everyone gangs up on him telling him horror stories about the car and its maintenance. Instead of working together to keep these cars on the road, everyone bashing everyone elses car for not being "stock" or not "correct" It gets old. Lotus owners are notoriously cheap! I parted out a 1985 and even the rarest parts I was nitpicked to death over price by people who needed them. I finally boxed them up and will save them for my car. Many of them are in disrepair because it costs more to fix them than they are worth. If the owners would value these cars like they should there is no reason a early S1 and S2 esprit should not be 50k plus, they are rare, exotic and amazing handling cars. My 1985 Esprit is beautiful, its a keeper to me, It is worth probably 15k max. and has not appreciated since I have purchased it. My 308 is probably worth double for what I paid for it and my Merak, (bought cheap a few years back) is probably worth 4 times what I paid for it. But I dont plan to sell anything so it doesnt matter. Until owners appreciate the esprit and encourage others to join the marque they will continue to be the low hanging fruit in the exotic world, in the meantime, I buy every one I can find.
Prices actually have increased a little since last year, I noticed the v8 cars are up 5-10k and even the s4 4cyl cars are asking a bit higher than when I sold mine.
I would love to see pics of JasonMiller's stable of cars. Sounds like a really good group! As an aside, I have seen Elise prices go up by nearly 50% in the last 14 months. A good under 40,000 mile Elise is now well into the mid thirties, while all manner of S4 Esprits can be had for a few grand less. A well presented and maintained S4 should be $50,000 and in a few years, it may well be. I've always loved Lotuses ... derived from my formulative years in England, I suspect. About 5 years ago I had an Indy 500 car show/BBQ at my house. There were Corvettes, Porsches, a Studebaker, Ferrari, Miata, Pontiac GTO, Gallardo, etc. Also present were my Europa Special and an early Esprit Turbo. The latter was parked next to a very nice black 911, and the Porsche looked like a London taxi cab next to the Esprit. The 911 is a fabulous car, no doubt, but a 25 year old Lotus made it look pedestrian by comparison.
Thanks gents. A fibreglass 308 ferrari costs a squillion dollars. A fibreglass esprit costs nothing. I guess everyone wants a ferrari. Only lotus people buy a lotus
My 308's are worth at least double. My merak ss doubled in price almost immediately. Even my 355 is going up in value. How can we make the esprit desirable and double in price. I drove my esprit the other day and was stopped by many people saying is that worth over $100k? It should be but it's an exotic with a Hyundai price. I agree the esprit makes a Porsche look like a taxi. It's a countach looking thing and it needs the price tag to go with it!
As an Esprit owner I think there is a whole list of reasons why prices seem to stay stagnanat Owners devaluing their cars as stated before is one big reason Rarity, they only built like 10K cars in almost 30 years and the car is just not on a lot of peoples radar lack of dealer and aftermarket support perception of unreliability perception of poor build quality I owned an 88 for about 3 years and a 94 for the last 6. I'll agree that the 88's built quality was a little suspect, but the 94 is leaps and bounds ahead. My 94 has been as reliable as a train. I just pulled it out of storage again for this year and started in a few seconds and was ready to run. I lost one fuel injector on the car a couple summers ago, but other than that have had zero issues and has cost much less to maintain than ether my 308 or 348. The esprit is a great bargain for those who know of it and good ones should be rising in price as potential 308 buyers get priced out and look to other similar cars to fill the void.
To the point of perceived reliability, I was told that E-Types are rubbish. I've had mine for 10 years with little issue. I drive it regularly and year round, and while it's no Lexus, consider it's a near 50 year old car. How many 50 year old people don't break down once in a while? That there is a Lotus community, you can get help. If you choose a GM era car, there's parts availability. They look great and you don't see them around a lot. I would still be hard pressed to spend the money on a great Esprit over an Elise. However, if I could find a solid car for around $20K, I'd jump on it. The 80's cars might be fragile, but they look bad ass and go like stink.
For the right price, yes! The S1 was the first esprit. They will go up in value over time. Sounds like your collection pretty much mirrors mine. You are correct that the esprit is a huge attention getter. The G Bodied esprit (next to the mighty countach) is probably the most "shocking" looking exotic out there. They are flat, wide and low and next to other cars look tiny. Again I am not totally concerned about the prices rising as I hope to leave my kids with that task, but I think as someone else stated as other cars rise out of scope for most people to afford, the Esprit will be the last affordable exotic and demand will rise. Look at this beauty! Image Unavailable, Please Login
The Esprit is hugely undervalued, a great car to have right now you can find late model esprit with very low mileage any day under $50,000
People are alway looking for "the next big thing". IMO an early turbo Esprit fits the bill nicely. The naturally aspirated ones just didn't have the ooomph.
David, If I recall, about 10 years ago while at your house you had an esprit under a cover in your driveway... do you still have it? Apologies if I am mistaken,
You're absolutely right about the Elise/Exige. It was Lotus' "magnum opus." The values of Elises are slowly creeping up. Even more so with the Exige. I don't get Esprit values. The "Bond era" car should be worth big $$$$$. Maybe at some point, the values will skyrocket overnight. Or maybe not.
I had a 1987 espirit , while the car look cool, exotic, was fast when it was running correctly, it was a mechanical nightmare... Something was always breaking on the car... Car was on a flatbed often... If it wasn't for the mechanical issues.. I would buy another one... It was like a little go kart...
