Tell me about Esprits...
Discussion
A friend and I were chatting about future purchases last night and it turned out he was a closet Esprit fan, and it kind of got me thinking to. I don't suppose I'd ever actually take the plunge, but if you'll humour for a second ... what are they like to own?
I know there was twenty odd years of Esprit production, so maybe the first question is how much do they vary and what are the defining traits of each generation? Does the handling and performance still stack up in modern terms? And are they expensive cars to run? What tends to go wrong?
I know there was twenty odd years of Esprit production, so maybe the first question is how much do they vary and what are the defining traits of each generation? Does the handling and performance still stack up in modern terms? And are they expensive cars to run? What tends to go wrong?
Chris71 said:
what are they like to own?
Awesome 
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Bibs_LEF said:
Awesome
I cant speak for the older cars but the V8 Esprit compares very well to the competition. I was actually looking at F355s when I first drove the V8. To be frank, the Esprit had the Ferrari covered in every single area except one, the engine noise! I would put mine as not far off a F360.
Some servicing will be expensive but not prancing horse prices, its not cheap but its not scary either. Just remember that any car will always have service costs relative to its original price.
I've owned my F Reg 2.2 N/A for almost 10 years and the main thing that I've found is like most cars of this type, they have to be used regularly. Leave them standing in a garage for months on end and that's when things start to go wrong.
They are great cars to own, fun to drive and real head turners (if you like that sort of thing). Prices seem quite solid now so you could enjoy one for a couple of years and get most, if not all of your money back.
They are great cars to own, fun to drive and real head turners (if you like that sort of thing). Prices seem quite solid now so you could enjoy one for a couple of years and get most, if not all of your money back.
Ditto. I'm on my second V8-GT and even though I live in Scotland, work in London, it gets used every weekend (OK, maybe not the past 3 weeks so much - its fairly useless on thick snow and ice) and I did over 9,000 miles last year.
Apart from the big cambelt service, I find the costs reasonable for what was once a £60k car. Having said that my previous one was a money pit so if you do take the plunge the usual rules apply i.e. full service record, good mileage for the year (they HAVE to be used or stuff breaks), look at several, do the test drives, do the research, take someone along who knows about them and of course fully digest LEW and LEF. Plenty of owners there with experience of all the models who'd be happy to answer your questions.
I'd agree prices are firm. I wrote my previous V8-GT off on black ice in January '08. I bought it in October '05 for £18k and thats what the insurance company gave me for it as total loss. Three months later I bought another.
Go for it. You won't regret it.
Apart from the big cambelt service, I find the costs reasonable for what was once a £60k car. Having said that my previous one was a money pit so if you do take the plunge the usual rules apply i.e. full service record, good mileage for the year (they HAVE to be used or stuff breaks), look at several, do the test drives, do the research, take someone along who knows about them and of course fully digest LEW and LEF. Plenty of owners there with experience of all the models who'd be happy to answer your questions.
I'd agree prices are firm. I wrote my previous V8-GT off on black ice in January '08. I bought it in October '05 for £18k and thats what the insurance company gave me for it as total loss. Three months later I bought another.
Go for it. You won't regret it.
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