Quote:
Originally Posted by Yarko
Hey All,
My dad & brother are contemplating an S1 Esprit as the next familly project car.
(we've re-built and tuned a triumph gt6+ and a datsun 260Z thus far)
There's a local one selling for a pretty good price that's already had the engine rebuilt and seems to need mostly just interior work.
My question is what are the S1's like to drive/live with?
Granted it must be one of THE sexiest cars of the 70's, but how about performance? Does the smaller engine dissapoint? I imagine handling is pretty darn good, especially considering the weight.
I drove the Z as a daily driver for years (and probably would still have it if someone didn't write it off  ) Does the Esprit have that kind of livability? Dad's retired now so it's not really going to be a "dailydriver". |
The S1 Esprits are nothing like what you have dealt with in the past with the Datsun or the Triumph. They suffered from many problems with just about every system in the car including overheating, catching on fire, rusted frames, weak suspension, electrical problems, etc. When they were new, they did not sell well and were commonly abandoned after multiple failures. The S2 cars are a better buy because many of the S1 problems were corrected by Lotus, but they are still slow and prone to failures. An early Esprit will not be as relaible as the Triumph or the Datsun and will cost you a lot of money with the constant repairs needed. They are also more complex and the parts are very expensive as well and some can be hard to obtain.
Now having said all that, the early Esprits are the best looking of the bunch with their clean body lines and were very exotic looking in their day. If you are set on buying this S1, I recommend you do a lot of research on these cars and the parts availability before you commit to buy.