turboman786

Does anyone have any experience of Esprit V8 ownership.....please share you experience of performance, handling, durability, servicing, image etc......

bloke

I looked into this once and very quickly backtracked...unreliable and expensive doesn't start to cover it. Shame as while they work they are awesome...

I think the Webmaster had an Esprit once...briefly

RLE

iTrader: (2)

Oh he certainly did and what a motor it was too.

I think I remember him saying at the time that it wasn't that comfortable. Damn nice car. Toyed with this my self. Saw a W reg at Hillfoot for £20k. Very tempted along with a Cerbera but again the reliabilty is the issue. I think when I get a second car I'll take the plunge the at least I have something to fall back on!

Brun

Hillfoot TVR, Sheffield?

my94

It will break down every couple of hours..............great car though.

blip

Not personally, although a mate recently sold his Honda S2000 to buy a V8 Esprit that was a couple of years old. It was back at the dealers more than in his garage. In the end it lunched the gearbox and at 4k to replace it that was the final straw and he sold it. I think he owned it about 6 months in total.

He said yes it was awesomely fast BUT ultimately a pile of sh*t (just his opinion obviously). He deeply regrets selling his S2000 as he now realises what a good car that was.

There is however a silver-lining - he recently test drove a scoob and thinks that will be his next car

turboman786

Didnt realise they had such poor reliability........all of a sudden Im put off...!

Jerome

Lots Of Trouble Usually Serious

AdiM

I know it's a bit of an old thread ( i.e. 3 months ! ) but I've got a V8 Sport 350, i.e. the track version of the V8, only 42 made. If anyone stills want to know about them I'm happy to help.

Scoob99

iTrader: (1)

A customer of mine had one and the exhaust spilt at the manifold, £4000 to repair

davyboy

I remember one of these from a Goldtrack evening track day last year. The day started damp but dried later in the evening.

My lasting memory is letting him past down Hanger straight, only for his silencer to fall off right in front of me, 2 corners later!

AdiM

It's somewhat true they are not overly reliable, but it's not as bad as you may think. I'm on my 4th Esprit ( 86 NA, 89 Turbo, 97 GT3, 99 Sport 350 ) and in 12 years I've broken down about 6 times. There are some know major problems with them. Turbos do blow up ( my GT3 one did ), manifolds crack with thermal shock ( again, my GT3 did ), 2nd gear sycho is not very strong and can fail ( I've never had this happen ).

The V8 can also suffer from pourous cyclinder liners ( Lotus used the wrong glue ). This means the engine has to come out, which is not cheap. Most people tend to shy away from the very early ones ( 96 - 97 ) as these are known for general problems but that is reflected in the price. You can pick them up for sub £20k now ( not bad for a car that was £60k new ). The cars improve after 99 with the SE, GT and Sport 350 and these cars tend to fetch more money.

I've had my Sport 350 fot 2 months and it has actually been of the road for 3 weeks of that. Both times a hose split, pissing coolant everywhere !! All the hoses have now been replaced and so far no problems. The cause I'm told was oil in the water which rotted the rubber. This was because the system had not been flushed 100% after some major engine work done by the last owner. So, yes, they can be a bit unreliable at times.

V8 performance is pretty awesome, 0-60 around 4 seconds, 0-100 in about 10. Top end 170 to 180 depending on model and corners on rails, as does every Lotus model.

The gearbox could be better, as well as 2nd gear, the V8 puts out 350 bhp and that's about it for the box. The engine would easily give 450 but the box would not take it. Infact, the boost is reduced in 1st, 2nd and 3rd for that reason. But once you are away it can handle the power. There are a couple of options for this, either a porche G50 or a quaife box can be fitted but I only know one owber who has the G50 conversion.

What else ? Servicing is every 6,000 miles with a cambelt change every 36,000 miles. A 6,000 mile service is about £400 and £1k for a cambelt change. My GT3 cost me about £3k a year to run in terms of servicing, breakdowns and tyres. This seems about the going rate, sometimes a bit more, sometimes a bit less.

Fuel consumption is around 17 mpg on optimax, but then with a 3500cc engine that's no big surprise.

I've loads of stuff about it on my site, mainly my GT3 as I had it 6 years and very little on my V8 cus I've only had it 2 months. It's www.adrianmugridge.co.uk

matlow

the 350 is the mutts nuts! very impressed

AdiM

Thanks Matlow

It is a great car, my wife says I would sell her for my Esprit ( she may be right !! ) but I just wish it did not spend quite so much time being towed home !!!

David_Wallis

cue John..