[S4Simon]

The senior guys at Lotus always look a bit worried when Cam belts are mentioned.  Problem is Exotics don't get driven much, together with cold European winters the belts don't seem to last as long.  Mines a 95 car and the book states every 36k miles, but Lotus came out a few years back stating that (to be safe) they should be changed every 24k miles.  If buying an older type car the belt should be changed ASAP as you can never trust P.O.s.  The only difference between 'B' and 'C' is the belt change.

[AshSimmonds]

 

how'd your mate go?

just browsing classifieds and seeing a few early Esprits on the chopping block at the moment.  wonder if i can convince my gf to go for one of these rather than an MR2 or MX5... 

$32k red

$28k black

$38k red

$27k red

$30k silver

[S4Simon]

Depends if she wants realiable and boring

or

Unreliable and exciting...

Much like life really.

I would not touch a pre '90 Esprit mainly due to the reliability issues.  I did have a look at the red Esprit at Gazzards (Mt Gambier).  This car has been well looked after with a lot of new factory parts fitted.  It's just that the car is way down there and no one really has a clue what it is (country folk  ). 

[AshSimmonds]

heh, well she liked driving the turbo X more than she thought she would the other day, i have a feeling it will have more in common with the S3 than not when i'm done...  but it'll still be barely worth a jatz cracker 

will have to take one for a test pilot oneday, see how it suits.  can never have too many wedges!

[S4Simon]

will have to take one for a test pilot oneday, see how it suits.

Might take a bit of getting use to.  Nothing like a general 'run of the mill' car - which I suppose is a good thing. 

[AshSimmonds]

Might take a bit of getting use to.  Nothing like a general 'run of the mill' car - which I suppose is a good thing. 

i reckon i'm pretty well prepared.   gotta say though, last couple days i've been dreaming about that doorstop shape, especially on that silver one.

[S4Simon]

Get reading then 

0-100 in 5.6s is nothing to sneeze at.

Lotus Esprit Turbo

[AshSimmonds]

Get reading then 

been doing that all my life!

0-100 in 5.6s is nothing to sneeze at.

magazine numbers mostly, we all know the massive variable difference when it comes to getting older cars going to on-paper potential.  new cars can have similar results down to like 0.1 standard deviations each time by most drivers, with old cars it's like saying "a human CAN run 100m in 10 seconds"... are you *that* human?

fwiw my old X felt like a ~6.5 second 0-100 car - with some reasonable room left for more.  i'm aiming for mid-low 5sec for the turbo, but will be happy with anything 6 and under.

[AshSimmonds]

wonder if i can convince my gf to go for one of these rather than an MR2 or MX5... 

just showed her some examples, she hates them.

[S4Simon]

I'll drop by in the S4....

May speed up the deliberation process.