[tilt100]

Posted before asking to view local cars in the Phoenix Metro area. A few members were kind enough to show me their car and I have an offer to see another one this weekend. So far I will have seen silver, light blue, and mustard yellow hopefully this weekend, however, I'm still trying to find a red one as this is one of the cars I'm thinking about purchasing but its out of state. May seem weird but at least personally I don't feel I can get a true impression from just photo's, and having seen a few in person now it only reinforces that perspective.

So I've got to believe there's a red esprit in phoenix, its a large enough metro area and reds a popular enough color. If anyone reading this has one and would be kind enough to show me it I would be very obliged or if anyone knows someone who has one and can point me in the right direction that would be very helpful.

Thanks again.

Jerry

 

[thaibasil]

I think red would look great on an Esprit. I've only seen a green one in person. I'm looking to buy in a few months. Orange or a vibrant blue would be my top choices but I don't think they made orange SEs and the blue I like was a Europe only color those years. Black looks cool but wouldn't be good in Phoenix. Good luck in your quest.

 

[jtrealty]

Color is important but of greater importance is the car's condition. I agree you should see every car you can but don't let color rule your choice. You should also, if you can, drive as many as you can. That way you will get some kind of a feel for what a good one is like. You will also see if you can fit. That may sound funny but in the case of a Lotus it is important too. If you are a big guy you may have a a hard time getting in and out, and more importantly, driving it comfortably. Especially if you are tall, there is no room for your left leg! And if you have big feet you may have a lot of trouble with the pedals. They are small and close together.
David Teitelbaum

 

[Docl]

...And if you have big feet you may have a lot of trouble with the pedals. They are small and close together.
David Teitelbaum

+1. I have to wear my driving shoes because otherwise my 11.5 wide sneakers get stuck between the pedals.

 

[tilt100]

Hey guys,

Thx for the input, I was excited when I saw some responses to my thread as I thought some local guys had responded with offers to see their cars but your input was still good. I actually have been able to get hold of local guy with a red s4 that he said I could see but I'll have to wait another week as he's out of town. Hopefully I'll get more local responses but we'll see.

As for your comments, red has always been one of the colors that imagined owning an Esprit in and indeed I've been talking to one of our members about their red 98 over the past month or so that they are selling. It definitely seems like a well sorted vehicle, I just would really like to see one in person in that color.

I have driven a local silver one for sale which also looked very cool in person. That was primarily the reason why I figured I really needed to see colors in person as the car looked really quite different in person even though I had seen like a zillion pictures, lol.

As far as impressions I was overall pleasantly surprised given everything I had read. I'm 6ft and although I am in my 40's I'm pretty athletic and weigh in at 165lb so not a big guy in that respect. I actually found the car very easy to get in and out of. I was quite happy with the seating position. I like to recline a bit when driving and was quite happy that I could bring the seat forward and recline the back and still comfortably reach the pedals, in fact I felt I needed the seat forward a bit for the pedals to be where I wanted them. As for pedal spacing, yes they are close but I really didn't have issue with them. I tend to be a converse kind of guy and if I have sneakers on they are generally not a big chunky design so not really an issue and I'm a size 12.

Overall I found the car easy to drive given I'd never driven one. Clutch took a little while to get used to and I was still getting used to it but it was just a ten minute test drive and I felt that it would be fine once I owned one and got used to it more. I actually found visibility to be much better than I expected. I didn't need to reverse at all, lol, but at the same time i didn't feel like I was blind to everything around me, to be honest it was such a none issue that I didn't even really think about it.

It would be nice to drive multiple to compare but that's a luxury that may not be afforded to me, but at least I know fundamentally that I can most certainly live with this vehicle. Most likely I'll have one in the next month so we'll find out

Thx again for all your input.

Jerry