Would you purchase one with a salvage title?

[dos Santos]

There is an S4S on pistonheads going for around 28k. Has been chipped, around 30k miles if i remember correctly, etc. Interior looks good. New timing belt. blah blah blah...

He said that if you run a carfax on it, it has been wrecked. I think he said it had a salvage title. But he said that he doesnt know where the damage is, and that the car is fine.

So he's asking $28k or so.

The price is good, but would you purchase it?

[karmavore]

Georgia is real easy on salvages. I beleive all you have to do is have it inspected an they will issue you a new Title and VIN! ..or something. Check it out and be sure it have it gone over very throughly.

Luke.

[njgsx96]

If I looked at it and was happy with it and brought a friend who does body/mechanic work or paid someone who does to look at it and they said it was good too, I would buy it. Not to mention, at that price it is a steal, barring nothing is wrong with it otherwise. Unless you are buying it in hopes to turn a profit, I think you will be fine as long as you have an inspection done on it.

[Esprit2]

Chris,

I know the car. The owner is a LOON member. Another member and I did the wrenching on it for the owner. It's a nice car, clean and fast. I'd buy it if I had the spare change, but I don't. I was hoping someone local would snap it up.

He loves the car, but he's selling it to get an Elise. He feels the car is too fast to really enjoy on public streets. Every time he pulls onto the freeway he cracks 100 mph before the end of the ramp. It's hard not to drive them that way since they do it so effortlessly... ya go that fast almost accidently. He's been lucky so far but figures he better get rid of it before he looses his license. So he's going for an Elise which he hopes will be fun and entertaining at sub-100 speeds.

Anyway... it's a good car... I'd buy it. The only items on the hit list at the moment are a couple of minor leaks, including one of the transaxle output shaft seals.

The other club member who wrenched with me has a hotrodded SE. He and the S4s owner had an one-upsmanship thing going. The SE got the Hi-Torque chip, so the S4s got the 330 HP chip. So the SE got the WC Turbo and big injectors, so the S4s got the Red-Race chip. Tweak this, counter with that. It was fun spending someone else's money. Both cars are great and whoever buys the S4s won't be disappointed.

Regards,

Tim Engel

Lotus Owners Oftha North

Edited December 5, 2004 by Esprit2

[Evil_Dr_Fish]

Chris,

I'm not suggesting for one second that the work on this car hasn't been top notch but I would warn you about one thing....

The extremely high power chips are very entertaining and all well and good but if you are *seriously* considering buying this car make absolutely certain that lots of other parts of the car have been upgraded to cope with all that extra power. (Turbo, BOV, Charge cooling, etc etc)

A guy over here stuck the 330bhp chip in what was essentially a completely stock car. It was a prety nice, clean, good car that had low miles but as I say, it had no actual modifications to help it cope with the extra power whatsoever. Within 6-9 months he has quite literally blown his engine to bits and is now up for what must be in the region of $9,000 worth of work.

So.... Check it can FULLY cope with the chip that's in there - or consider going back to say the 300bhp chip?

Also, the resale value will always reflect the car's 'written off' status....

However, the longer you own the car, trouble free, without it falling apart and building up your own history file, IMHO The less relevant that accident will be. Especially as it has been rebuilt by someone very well known within the Esprit community.

First time buyers almost certainly would never buy it but existing Esprit owners who are upgrading tend to 'know better'.

I don't know about your side of the pond but over here, *nice* S4s's, GT3's and Late Giugiaro Turbos have been going UP in value and they've all gained about $3000 in the last year or so.

If it's doing the same over there then even a car with an unfortunate history will appreciate by proxy...

If you're buying for yourself then you could find that it's a phenomenal way to buy into a superb car at a great price.

HTH

Robin

[karmavore]

A guy over here stuck the 330bhp chip in what was essentially a completely stock car.

So.... Check it can FULLY cope with the chip that's in there - or consider going back to say the 300bhp chip?

My opinion on modding based on a small sampling of data, limited experience, and a little BS:

1) All our cars are different and these chips aren't the key to making real power. I think our cars are tuned pretty well to begin and with out bolting on real steal (turbos exhaust, etc..) a car isn't going to see significant reliable gains.

2) All the chips seem to be able to do is alter max boost (to the magic 1.2 bar) and where in the power band boost is delivered. I don't see how effecting these parameters are going to net 330HP on a stock car. Considering when my car, on the dyno, was spiking at 20psi of boost and only made 233RWHP (~280 at the crank). Now again, every car is different and I think there is more hidden power in my car, but 50 more boosting an already maxed out turbo?? I wish I had taken a baseline before the chip. I have yet to see two side by side runs comparing chips so maybe I'll make one of my own someday.

3) Whatever it does, the 330HP chip is not good for stock cars (as it is advertised) anyway, and shouldn't be run on one.

4) If you begin modding the car, or even if you don't, I think running freescan every now and again is great insurance. Once I got mine going I discovered a knock at high RPMs. I would have never known this and now that I'm aware I can seek to fix it. I think that keeping an eye on your car and insuring it stays with in certain parameters will go a long way to keep your HP up and your car on the road.

Luke.

[dos Santos]

Thanks for the info guys. I'm actually not a fan of red, but I know there are several cars for sale with "salvage" titles, so this info helped. Thanks.