Apologies if my first reply sounded sharp, the curse of the electronic word! The following is solely my personal opinion based on the very limited information provided (I.E. No service history shown, no status of tires, Timing belt, repairs required etc.) I have owned a lot of various models of the Esprit including six 88’s of varying condition, from the mint to the ‘project’. IMHO the premium being asked for this ‘one owner/low mileage’ model is quite high, especially given the current market for a used Esprit is very much a buyers one. As the Esprit gracefully (!) ages more and more become available that have been sitting for way too long, and as anyone who knows will tell you the Esprit hates to sit. The 88’s are revered by some, but the 89’s and up have typically been preferred models due to the simpler GM FI, Renault trans and various other changes when GM took ownership of Lotus. The car is the popular ticket me red, looks good, in 100% original condition, though the pictures are limited (would like to see the driver’s seat pic the same as the passenger seat, always an indicator of wear on the drivers when only the other is shown, dash close to base of windshield, and an indication of age of tires as they look like Goodyear’s) The engine photo shows to me an overall lack of care for a car with such low mileage (timing belt history?) with all the crap laying on top of the intake manifold between #3 & #4 injector and the carpet peeling back from the access panel (indicates someone has been in there, she needs to be detailed and shown at her best, this looks like a ‘let’s haul her out of storage and get rid of her approach’) The 88 is considered by many in the know to be one of the ‘purest’ Esprits due to the suspension, brakes and steering geometry (which was changed in later years to reduce manual steering effort) and this one would likely appeal to someone more ‘mature’ who wants originality, but the typical buyer of the first generation S cars is a younger enthusiast who knows some of the Lotus history but can’t quite stretch to the 91-95 SE/S4 price range (which IMO is where this one is priced) It’s always a touchy subject to criticise pricing but to give you a couple of examples i paid 11k for an 88 with 32,000 miles that needed the same amount of remediation that this one would, I also paid 20k for a one owner mint 88 commemorative edition with 19,000 miles. Now, that being said I have also paid 25k for a 78 (overpaid but I was young and didn’t know any better at the time) and more recently paid 19k for a second S4 with 20,000 miles on it that needs very minor TLC (stole it :clap
With these cars being as rare as they are, but not as desirable as some other exotics, its increasingly becoming worth whatever someone is prepared to pay for it, but anyone with a little tech savvy will have a quick look at ebay, autotrader, cars.com or craigslist and get a good indicator of what’s ‘too much’. Additionally there are a few posts on this forum from members with well maintained cars for sale that are more than comparable and 5 to 8 thousand dollars less. My 10 cents (9 CDN ) worth
Colin
