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Any SoCal Esprit Owners? (new here!)

2K views 22 replies 11 participants last post by  Jenna'sEspritTurbo 
#1 ·
Hello Forum,

I was directed to move my post into the Esprit section.

Basically, ever since the air of the Top Gear Patagonia Special I absolutely fell in love with the Lotus Esprit and can't seem to get my mind off them. I have been a longtime Lotus enthusiast thanks to my father who has a wonderful Lotus Europa as well as various other English and German cars. Currently, I am in the process of selling my 1987 BMW 535is to purchase said car. I would like to get out of the BMW community and try something new. The Porsche 911SC, 951 (944 turbo), Acura NSX, E36M3, and E28M5 are all within my consideration, but the Esprit still tops the list. While the V8 or S4s would be my first choice (actually the 1993 Sport 300 tops the list), I am specifically in the market for a 1990-1993 SE Turbo.

This post leads to 2 questions:

First, are there any Esprit owners who daily drive their cars? I understand these aren't BMW's, I understand these are "specialty cars", and I understand that they are expensive to own with high tolerances and low service intervals. I have read many of the posts related to this question online, but I would really like to talk with someone who has/or is currently daily driving their Esprit (vs. the keyboard warriors tossing information without experience).

My second question pertains to the first, in that, I was wondering if there were any Esprit owners in the Los Angeles area that wouldn't mind meeting up, showing their car, and going for a drive in exchange for a coffee. While I am looking to purchase a 90-93 SE, I do not mind and would be just as excited at looking/talking with the owner of any year/model Esprit. As you know, it is near impossible to find these things around town and they are hardly ever seen at cars & coffee.

I'm not here to get recommendations on what car to buy, more so I would like to get involved with the Esprit community and potentially purchase one of my own. Driving, whether it be at 1:00 in the morning or an entire weekend rally/tour with a quality group, is by far my biggest passion and I believe the Esprit will deliver a phenomenal driving experience.

Feel free to contact me at 805-358-12five6. I am excited to hear your responses.

Cheers,
Austin
 
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#2 ·
There are a few local Esprits. I don't think anyone local with a 4-cyl daily drives them.

When they were new, I'm sure they were some. Now, the newest car is 12-yo. Can they be daily driven? sure. Can the be reliable? As reliable as any car of the same age.

I daily drive a 92 VW. I went through almost all mechanical aspects of the car and it's been decently reliable. Although, there have been some unexpected repairs due to age.

So unless you go completely though the car, daily driving a 25-yo car is not the best thing to do regardless of brand.
 
#3 · (Edited)
When they were new, I'm sure they were some. Now, the newest car is 12-yo. Can they be daily driven? sure. Can the be reliable? As reliable as any car of the same age.

I daily drive a 92 VW. I went through almost all mechanical aspects of the car and it's been decently reliable. Although, there have been some unexpected repairs due to age.

So unless you go completely though the car, daily driving a 25-yo car is not the best thing to do regardless of brand.
That's basically what I want to know - if they are reliable enough to drive every day. I have an 87 5 series, and I've been through the whole thing and it serves as my DD right now (actually for the last 3 years). I'm not worried about the age of the car; I personally don't think 1990 is old. Going through suspeison and brakes and such are fine with me. I just want to make sure the car can handle day to day use. I really don't know why they wouldn't... but then again, that's why I asked. Thanks for your insight.
 
#4 ·
First, welcome to the forums! IIRC there are one or two members here that drive their car daily (I'm not one of them). What information exactly are you looking for regarding the daily drivers?

My '90 SE is in Vegas, but I make trips to San Diego with it every so often. I'll let you know if I'm headed that way any time soon.
 
#5 ·
First, welcome to the forums! IIRC there are one or two members here that drive their car daily (I'm not one of them). What information exactly are you looking for regarding the daily drivers?
Thank you! I just want to confirm that DD'ing an esprit is not 100% absurd. This question seems to be well answered across the forum so I suppose I'll be okay.

Driving and meeting local esprit owners is more or less the goal of this post.

Glad to see your enjoying yours! I'm still extremely excited over these cars.
 
#11 · (Edited)
I drove my late 88 Esprit daily and did 50K miles in 49 months from October 2011 to Nov 2015.

Yes - short answer. If you refresh the car to daily driver status (see my 'garage' for my entire service history on an 88 Esprit - it was 23 years old when I bought it).

No rocket science necessary. I had all the key subsystems replaced with new parts as I was going to drive the car every day,

Daily drive was 40 mile round trip to work every day for 49 months.

If you have a great condition car AND replace the old parts (see garage for full list), the Esprit runs just as reliable as a Honda. Note that 'high maintenance' is not the same as 'unreliable'.

Maintain it by the book RE: timing belt, valve adjustments, timing belt adjustment, oil/filter changes, etc. - it will run just fine as a daily driver.
--
There are some limitations logistically to use an Esprit daily:

I have 2 laptops for work (1 personal, 1 work) and carrying in the Esprit is inconvenient. If I locked in front trunk every day, it's painful to 1) unlock trunk 2) get out of car 3) open trunk 4) get laptops out 5) close trunk 6) get back in car and lock trunk (it's only accessible inside car - there is no external lock). Try doing that for 49 months. What I endedup doing it keeping all my laptops in cabin, but obviously locking up when going to the store or other stop.

Note - I didn't using the rear trunk because it has a potential weakness - if the cable breaks, very difficult to open the rear trunk. You can install backup release cables, but I was a lazy sod and just kept my laptops in cabin; locking only in front trunk as necessary. You don't want your work laptop to be stuck in a trunk that may take hours to open.

And putting the emergency release is good. But I don't like the ideal of my laptops potentially being stolen via a knowledgeable thief that knows the release procedure.

Also, the car was fare more easy to use when I installed keyless remote. You'd be surprised how tedious it gets in a daily driver Esprit to use a key to lock/unlock a door. Yeah - first world problem - I know.

One other irritating trait - every 3-5K miles, all sorts of coarse screws got loose in the engine compartment. The door latch screws also loosened up quarterly. Be careful *not* to remove the door latch screws as the nuts will fall out and require removal of the gas tank (!) to reattach.
 
#17 ·
[snip]How was the tire wear for you given all the milage? Assuming you had stock alignment/tire sizes?
Yes - stock tire size and wheel offsets maintained; factory OEM spec alignment.

By the numbers:
2011:
Original front Goodyear tires (1988 date code) - 30K miles - good for another 30K easily
Replacement rear Goodyear tires - 30K miles (1990 date code) - estimated it lasted 15K-20K max

2011 - replace all four with OEM size BFG TA radials @ 30K miles on car.

Rear set wore out around 25K miles around 2013. fronts and have about 20K miles left.

Replaced 15" wheels with 1995 Esprit S4s 3 piece OZ Futura 17x7 and 17x8.5 wheels with Dunlop DZ101 tires.

Rear set wore out again around 16K miles around 2015. Front tires still had about 15K miles left on them. Dunlops definitely softer compound than BFG TA.

Rear set replaced with Dunlop DZ102 tires (DZ101 no longer manufactured) - put about 3-5K miles before car was totaled in accident.

All daily driving about 40 miles a day round trip 60% stop/go traffic 40% surface/freeway speeds
 
#14 ·
DD Esprit

Geesh Eddie,, did you sleep in it to, a in the doghouse get way maybe? I respect those that use their car as a DD but would never do that to mine. Not that it is not possible. I do however have her put back up as a go anywhere anytime I want car. That fits best for my lifestyle as I work out of my home and can just go whenever the urge hits me. But each has there own fit up for use and yes the key to being a DD is to keep up on maintenance regularly whether you pay to have it done or do it your self. I don't trust most people with my cars and do get enjoyment out of the little triumphs of getting something repaired myself. That always adds to my knowledge base and feelings of pride of ownership. If that doesn't fit you then you have the wrong car. What really gets under my skin is the folks that never owned an Esprit but are very willing to bash it. Or the owner who has to pay to get everything done and when they add up the receipts get bent out of shape about the cost of ownership. Owning any exotic car requires having a intimate relationship with the car, You give it takes. lol Basically Lotus ownership is a lifestyle I believe. But considering the buy in cost of an Esprit compared to other super car status they are incredible best kept secrets and I like that. I am not in the car as an investment. I still have a longing for a Ferrari 328GTS but it may probably never happen,, but dreaming about one next to Penelope in the garage puts a huge smile on my face.:grin2: Good luck on your search!
 
#16 ·
Geesh Eddie,, did you sleep in it to, a in the doghouse get way maybe? I respect those that use their car as a DD but would never do that to mine.[snip]
I understand the garage queen concept - that's why I was able to get excellent condition Esprit in 2011 and my *cough* friend in 2016.

But I'm not the guy whose gonna die with a mint condition Esprit in my garage. As long as I can hold on to an Esprit, driving it daily is crazy fun thing to do.

 
#15 ·
My 23 year history of ownership shows that tire wear has been 15 - 20K miles per set on the rears, almost double that on the fronts. (V8s have bigger wheels and more adjustable suspensions.)

I've averaged $2.5k per year in maintenance, mostly timing belts, but that includes two tranny rebuilds. V8s are going to be more than that.

Just to put it into perspective, here's a recently-posted chart of Ferrari maintenance costs:
 

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#21 ·
Hello Esprit owners of SoCal... I'm an editor at GQ Style magazine and I'm looking for a pristine late 80s - early 90s example for a photo shoot happening in LA on 11/30 - 12/1. If you have a car that might work for this, please email me: noah_johnson @ condenast dot com. Thanks!
 
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