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Esprit for me?

9K views 40 replies 23 participants last post by  99V8Socal 
V8's certainly worth the extra money. While it doesn't sound amazing, it does have a fairly unique note, and it's certainly better than the four banger.
'Better' based on what criteria?

The V8 out of the box was actually slower than the 4 cylinder to 60 by .2 seconds. As for the V8 being faster over 60 (waaaaay over 60 :) the 4 cylinder's turbo can actually start to impede the flow of air a bit on the big end because it doesn't flow enough. (I fixed mine with a new T3/T4 hybrid - it pulls as hard at 140 now as it does at 40). How fast do you plan on driving your car?

With the V8 you get a whole bunch of extra weight that eats up most of the extra power the four extra pistons buy you. When you want to start modding it to make up for it's girth - you get to spend twice the money than you would on a 4 cylinder because you've four more pistons to feed (turbos, plugs, wires, injectors etc). The V8's clutch also costs $4000 to replace.

Granted I like the V8's interior better, I dislike the replacement of actual gauges by dummy lights - especially in a car as expensive to repair as the Esprit if something goes wrong.

The 1995 S4 and S4s have the V8's brakes (without all the V8's weight), power steering, doors that open wider than earlier models and R134a A/C systems.

Again, the V8 is great (I think all Esprits have their merits) but for me the only real advantage is the interior and exterior styling changes - maybe. If that's worth the massive premium to you, go for it.

The only real downside to a 4 cylinder is finding one worth owning. They got cheap fast and a lot of the wrong people got their hands on them.

No matter which one you buy - make sure the very first thing you do is have the timing belt(s) changed by somebody who's got the right tools and knows what they're doing.
 
The search is all part of the experience and it really gives you a good appreciation of good examples vs. bad examples. Most of us will tell you the search can last a bit of time, for me, it took close to 2 years... but I got exactly what I wanted.
+1

It took 2 years of constant searching for the first one and almost 6 years (slightly less constant and mostly discouraging) for the second.
 
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