[Torro]

Hello Guy's

First off, I am already a Lotus owner with a 2005 Elise. I have been watching Esprits for a few months now an have been thinking about buying one.

The car in question is a 01 with 46K miles, It is at a used car dealer, he has some service records which begin at the 21K mile mark in 2002 and end at the 43K mile mark in 2008, going thru the service records during that short period of time show 11.5 thousand dollars in repairs from a Lotus/Aston Martin dealership, all I can say is "holy sheet".

There are no other records on the car, the price seems fair but WOW, are they that maint heavy to own and operate ? I believe that this is a one owner car, I did call the dealership that did the work and they were less than friendly on the phone even when I told the guy I was a current Lotus owner.

He did say that the PO maintained the car to a high degree, but could not explain why there were no service records from 0 miles to the first ones I was given at 21K miles, makes me say hmmmmm.

So your thoughts on this are ?

Todd :shrug:

 

[cemaykan]

Hmm...12k expense on a 43K mile car already,,, which means you should expect more heavy expenses down the road.

Also which Aston-Lotus dealer is this, Waltham, MA?

 

[91MR2]

I disagree - Doing the proper A, B, C service intervals on a V8 Esprit can easily add up, esp. if you consider the C service with a clutch done somewhere in between.

OP, thank your lucky stars it even has service records. I say go for it, or at least go look at it. 2001, that's a great model year Esprit, with the AP brakes, and interior upgrades...

 

[Torro]

M2 no record of a clutch change in the papers I have available on the car, what worries me is the lack of records for the first 21 K of it's life. Should'nt the dealer be able to pull the records based on the VIN ?

I got to say that almost 12 K in repairs over twenty thousand miles is not really a good sign.

Todd

The car is about 300 miles from me, so looking is kinda hard.

Cmay the car has 46 K on it now, sold at an auction to a dealer, what made you guess the MA place ?

 

[billt]

I bought my Esprit v8 2 months ago and it has been great so far. I didn't expect the attention it gets everywhere I go. Mine is a '99 and it had 11k miles on it - there are a lot of them with 15 to 20k for sale in the $35k range and these are what I'd recommend unless you get a heck of a deal on the '01. The maint. costs seem high for yours but if it was for normal stuff don't be afraid of it, it was just well maintained and at an expensive dealer to boot. If the money was spent trying to find some gremlin stay away from this car. I absolutely love my Esprit and enjoy the extra room over the Elise but I'm a bit bigger myself at 56 years old - it's a really fast and pretty comfortable car....dependable too (so far).

 

[4380r]

M2 no record of a clutch change in the papers I have available on the car, what worries me is the lack of records for the first 21 K of it's life. Should'nt the dealer be able to pull the records based on the VIN ?

I got to say that almost 12 K in repairs over twenty thousand miles is not really a good sign.

Todd

The car is about 300 miles from me, so looking is kinda hard.

Cmay the car has 46 K on it now, sold at an auction to a dealer, what made you guess the MA place ?

Don't care how far it is from you...to commit to buying one of these, or even making a decision, from a distance without having actually examined the car is asking for trouble.

I would not consider it without hiring an independent, knowledgeable mechanic to do a PPI. It's worth the time and money. These cars are so stunning to look at in person and so much fun to drive, that it's really easy to get a Johnson for one that passes a basic test drive and walk around, only to find out when it's too late that there are some hidden, and often expensive, problems.

Perhaps here, or through lotus ltd, or Esprit forum you may find a knowledgable owner who lives near the car's location who can go give a look.

Also, I had a 4 cyl Esprit and it had a timing belt, which would be needing replacement by now on a car of that mileage. do the 8's have a belt or chain?

If it's a belt, and you can't verify that it's been changed, that's something you'll want to do. Add some $$$ for that work.

RE service records based on VIN, sure it the service was done by Lotus dealers (if indeed they shared a service database 'back then,' which they may not have).

But my Esprit, bought used, was touched by a Lotus dealer only once. All other service was done either by me (I kept good records) or a shop specializing in specialty cars. No dealer could pull those service records.

What you MAY be able to do with the VIN is track down the original owner to get the lowdown on how the car was cared for early in life.

 

[Torro]

The PPI is a definate, the records indicate a timing belt change within the last 5 K miles, this car may be a little overpriced billt

Todd

 

[Simba]

Regardless of how much money has been put into it by a previous owner, I would not take that figure as a metric of how much it costs to run the car. It could have had a number of issues from the previous owner which had to be dealt with, or it's possible whatever shop was doing the work soaked the guy (fairly common), among other things.

So long as it gets a good PPI, I wouldn't let the service costs of a previous owner put you off the car. If it's in good order, it shouldn't cost anywhere near that much to keep that way.

 

[gtlotus]

Todd, call me if you are really interested in an Esprit. I have about 20 years experience with them.
Gene

 

[ifly]

FYI, if interested I had a call the other day from the previous owner of my 2004 and he is now selling his '97. I know that no expense will have been spared on the vehicle and it is located in Houston, TX. If you want any more info let me know and I will ping him.