This site is sure different than the Lotus ones...

Welcome to the forum. This is a great site for real information about Ferrari.
Some of these members must work for NASA, they are so knowledgeable!

 

If you want reliability and something that is probably much MORE fun to drive than either of those... LOTUS ELISE and its new, probably has a warranty.

 

I think that was Ettore Bugatti talking about Bentleys.

My pick would be a Esprit Sport 350. Cheaper and faster than a 355

 

I have both, a 355 and a Lotus TT V8. I much prefer the Lotus.

 

The truck holds set of golf clubs and a helmet, what more could you want???

A set of aftermarket shocks/springs work wonders on the handling and don't cost very much. 17 or 18 inch wheels are also a bolt-on mod. The hp is a little (ok a lot) lacking and expensive to improve, maybe 5k to get it to 300hp-320hp with natural aspiration, 10k-30k to get it up to 350-600 with a turbo/blower conversion.

 

Cute. I suggest you spend some real time on this site before you make that determination. Your single-minded fixation with price, price, price is going to cause you grief and Ferrari-grief is way worse than Esprit-grief.

 

Good choice

 

There were two 308GTB Fibreglass on ebay this week.

The grey one went seven days without a single bid! The other red/tan struggled to get to $26K.

 

My 'front' trunk has a lot more space than Jerry's car, because I have a space saver spare. Jerry obviously has the full size. The space saver allows me to store a lot more stuff, like paper, the original floor mats, and a few small cans of a favorite beverage. If you decide to go w/ a 3x8, do NOT store your chocolate collection in the 'rear' trunk. I put a thermometer back there when I first got the car, it got up to 115 degrees.

 

That front trunk shot isn't my car - It was an azzurro 328 on ebay a few months back (not Aug's). Mine has the same size tire though.

 

Well, my car was a '94 S4 and I think the interior was bit different than the picture you posted... not so much of that tucked leather and burlwood. I'm guessing the dimensions were about the same, though. I do seem to remember it being a bit cramped and I'm only 5'8". The center console I remember being real intrusive while the 328 doesn't really have one to speak of. Can't say as I remember the steering wheel feeling too close to the door although maybe the door panels and such were different by then. Overall, the interior of my '94 just left me a little flat. Having to steer the car with a wheel out of a Camaro didn't help matters one bit. As I recall the seats were weird too. Either too flat or too wide or something. My 328 has a much more roomy feeling interior although headroom in my GTB is tight. I can't tell you how many times I have ground the button in the top of my baseball cap into my scalp. If I was 6 feet or more it would be a definite concern. All that being said the Lotus was fun, fast and turned many heads. It was yellow/black and when I decided to sell it in 2001 the first guy I contacted (he had posted to a board that he was looking for that color combo) bought it sight unseen for $39k (it only had 9k miles) without blinking an eye.

 

I'm not sure what's "totally unacceptable" about my opinion but I've read your posts at pistonheads too and your biggest concern revolves around price when you should be worried about finding a quality car. You complain about not being able to find a good car when what you really mean is that you can't find a perfect car for free and you 2nd guess everyone's advice when it doesn't fit your preconceived notions. If you get the wrong car (Ferrari or Lotus), the last thing you'll be worried about is depreciation. More than one person here on Ferrarichat has spent $10k+ getting a car straightened out.

 

Not from personal experience, but I am reliably informed that sorting a crap Espirit can also hurt your cash flow too...probably why there's so little space inside (no space needed for your wallet).

You really need to try both cars. At 6'4", 308s, 328s and Espirits were all out for me. I could just about drive the 3x8s, but not safely. Couldn't even start with the Espirit.

Until you've tried to drive these cars, you'll never be able to tell if you can truly live with one (or even get it out of the showroom!).

I can also empathise with mfennell's post. Great car's always exist, but you get what you pay for and shelling out a little more for a better quality car can often save you tears and money in the long run.

 

Or maybe I just happen to read both boards?

Good luck in your search.