Has anyone ever owned a Lotus Esprit? | Page 3 | FerrariChat

Has anyone ever owned a Lotus Esprit?

Discussion in 'Other Off Topic Forum' started by L8Braker, Dec 4, 2003.

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  1. L8Braker

    L8Braker Formula 3

    Nov 10, 2003
    1,567
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    Jeremy Stafford
    #51 L8Braker, Dec 5, 2003
    The more I read the more I love it!!! Sooooo many great write ups.

    Hey TXesprit do you have any videos of your car on the track? I have a few videos but none of them really give a great idea of the v8 sound.

    Thanks
    Jeremy
     
  2. wax

    wax Five Time F1 World Champ
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    #52 wax, Dec 5, 2003
    I nominate this to be one of three threads for December's "Thread of the month."
    It is proof positive that cars outside the Ferrari marque can be regarded objectively.

    I echo sentiments that Lotus makes a perfect choice for a first "exotic" or "track" car, if not an addition to the stable of any caretaker's Ferrari, Lamborghini, etc..
     
  3. karmavore

    karmavore Formula 3

    Dec 29, 2002
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    #53 karmavore, Dec 5, 2003
    re: Ferrari/Lotus mutual respect

    Esprit Owners: secretly, or not so secretly, wish they had a 355.

    355 Owners: wish they had Esprit maintenance and their 75K back.

    :)

    Luke.
     
  4. Clax

    Clax Formula 3

    Oct 3, 2002
    1,611
    #54 Clax, Dec 5, 2003
    I always like the Esprit, and I think the fact that they are no longer going to be produced makes them even more appealing. Realistically, how much HP could be expected from a modified V8 Esprit? It has been mentioned on this thread, but I am not familiar with the types of performance mods available for the Esprit. I've often toyed with the idea of buying a used V8 Esprit and modifying it.
     
  5. L8Braker

    L8Braker Formula 3

    Nov 10, 2003
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    Jeremy Stafford
    #55 L8Braker, Dec 5, 2003
    WOW nominated for a thread of the month......impressive!! haha

    Karmavore.... I think you hit the nail on the head haha of course I love the 355 but the lotus is much cheaper!

    Clax you can check out http://freudhoefer.de/lotus/esprit/
    It looks like you can get upwards of 450 crank HP easily.
     
  6. EspritSE

    EspritSE Formula Junior

    Dec 1, 2003
    509
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    #56 EspritSE, Dec 5, 2003
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    Hehe....
    Image Unavailable, Please Login
     
  7. thecarreaper

    thecarreaper F1 World Champ
    Silver Subscribed

    Sep 30, 2003
    17,576
    Savannah
    #57 thecarreaper, Dec 5, 2003
    holy ~@!#$ ......... WOW!
     
  8. EspritSE

    EspritSE Formula Junior

    Dec 1, 2003
    509
    Colorado
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    Craig
    #58 EspritSE, Dec 5, 2003
    That's Johan Hybinette's V8. He is a local Esprit club member here in Colorado. His server seems to be down at the moment, but his website is...

    www.ExtremeEsprit.com

    Couple more highly modded V8's on that site as well. When the site is back up, you'll have to read about his experience at Bonneville. Fifth gear blew up at well over 200mph!! Rumors have it that Johan was going to undertake a Porsche G50 tranny swap.

    Here is another good one....

    http://www.lotusespritworld.co.uk/EOwners/mikeSek.html

    A couple vids of the above car at....

    http://www.lotusespritworld.co.uk/EOtherstuff/TVDocumentary.html

    (very bottom of page)

    Craig
     
  9. TXesprit

    TXesprit Formula Junior

    Oct 31, 2001
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    #59 TXesprit, Dec 8, 2003
    Jeremy,
    I do have some videos at the track, but they are quite large files, and I'm not sure which CD I burned them on. I'll see if I can find them and load them somewhere.

    -sean
     
  10. wax

    wax Five Time F1 World Champ
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    #60 wax, Dec 18, 2003
  11. mfennell70

    mfennell70 Formula Junior

    Nov 3, 2003
    586
    Middletown, NJ
    #61 mfennell70, Dec 18, 2003
    Just another "me too". I've been very happy with my S4s for 3 years and 19000 miles. Total mileage is 71000. It's going in for a "C service" (similar to Ferrari 30k) in two weeks with a few extra things. $2100 for a timing belt, new intake cam gear to change the cam timing, remove and reseal the cam towers (notorious leakers on high mile 4 cylinder cars), coolant change, plugs, etc. This is paying top dollar at a Lotus certified shop run by an ex LCU Field Engineer.

    You can review just about every dime that has been spent on my car since 1999 here. The PO spent far more than he had to but it really set me up for troublefree fun.

    Everyone has talked about the positives. I'll balance it out with a few negatives.

    Outside vision sucks. You can't see the hood and in the S4s the tiny rear window is further obscured by the big wing.

    Chassis rigidity is margainal as you might expect from a basic design that dates to '75 or so. The car squeaks and rattles quite a bit. I haven't been keeping after it the way I should.

    As Alex said, I've just never been happy with the Brembo brakes. They were really very good on the track but day to day they feel mushy and take too much effort. I ran quite a bit of fluid throught them and my mechanic calls them "normal".

    That's it though. The car is simple, rugged (the trans is borderline but the engines don't blow up), inexpensive, and fun. I occaisionally (like one a day!) consider selling it and my Factory 5 Cobra to get a 355 but I prefer having the two less expensive toys to the one expensive one.

    BTW, Billy's car is all apart because of a manufacturing defect. Some '99s had a problem with the liner seals leaking. The whole engine has to come apart to fix. It would have been covered by LCU (even out of warranty, I bet) but he had signed his warranty away when he put in a race ECU.

    [​IMG]
     
  12. Mojo

    Mojo Formula 3

    Sep 24, 2002
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    #62 Mojo, Dec 18, 2003
    Cool cars, I think James Bond had one, But if im not mistaken I think he trashes his cars, You know he drives them under water and stuff :)

    Lets see some more pictures. Love that red one.
     
  13. EspritSE

    EspritSE Formula Junior

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    #63 EspritSE, Dec 18, 2003
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
  14. EspritSE

    EspritSE Formula Junior

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    #64 EspritSE, Dec 18, 2003
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  15. EspritSE

    EspritSE Formula Junior

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    #65 EspritSE, Dec 18, 2003
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  16. EspritSE

    EspritSE Formula Junior

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    #66 EspritSE, Dec 18, 2003
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  17. EspritSE

    EspritSE Formula Junior

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    #67 EspritSE, Dec 18, 2003
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  18. EspritSE

    EspritSE Formula Junior

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    #68 EspritSE, Dec 18, 2003
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  19. EspritSE

    EspritSE Formula Junior

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    #69 EspritSE, Dec 18, 2003
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  20. EspritSE

    EspritSE Formula Junior

    Dec 1, 2003
    509
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    Craig
    #70 EspritSE, Dec 18, 2003
  21. EspritSE

    EspritSE Formula Junior

    Dec 1, 2003
    509
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    Craig
    #71 EspritSE, Dec 18, 2003
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  22. wax

    wax Five Time F1 World Champ
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    #72 wax, Dec 18, 2003
  23. chrislamborghiniatlanta

    chrislamborghiniatlanta Formula Junior

    Dec 23, 2003
    343
    #73 chrislamborghiniatlanta, Dec 23, 2003
    Hey Guys,
    Kind of new here. The Lotus in my opinion is a great exotic for the money. It is fast and also handles extemely well. Not the car that you would like to be hotrodding off of the line but fantastic in the twisties or on the highway. I have a customer that bought one from me in april of this year. He already has almost 40k miles on it(yes, that is 40 thousand). And outside of his regular oil changes, brake pads and rotors, and a clutch master cylinder, I don't see him in the shop. He takes that car up to the mountains and flogs it almost every weekend and it keeps on coming back for more. I cannot vouch for everyone as others have gotten cars that the PO did not maintain well or even drive, but from what I have seen that I have sold new they are pretty sound vehicles.

    Chris Constantin
    Lamborghini Atlanta
    Lotus of Atlanta
     
  24. allanlambo

    allanlambo F1 Rookie

    Jun 9, 2002
    4,363
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    #74 allanlambo, Dec 23, 2003
    Lotus rocks! Hope they can come up with a great replacement for the Esprit.
     
  25. lotustt

    lotustt Formula 3

    Aug 28, 2002
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    #75 lotustt, Dec 24, 2003

    I definitly agree with this statement!! Hey Allen you have any good pics of your Esprit to show? Thanks.
     
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