Please help me decide.....

[Mutley]

I sold my S4S a couple of years ago to finance my son's house purchase and have been longing to return to Esprit ownership ever since. S4S's seem very rare at the moment and I think will be out of my price range. For some reason, there are several GT3s currently on the market, and as Pete Musgrove at PNM was wonderful with getting my S4S engine sorted, I rang him for his opinion on them. He mentioned he's selling his own 'fire breathing' Turbo (my words not his) and you've guessed it, I just don't know what do do.

I've got first refusal on Pete's car, which he's upgraded to nearly 300 bhp, but the GT3 below has just appeared on the market. Please, please help me choose, because although I'm lucky enough to have an Elise owning wife with a serious car gene, I can sense I'm driving her up the wall with my indecision.  

Of course if anyone were to offer me an Essex Turbo, all the above would be incidental. Bazza......? 

Pete's car >>  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwXwGQlAwm8

The rather loud alternative >> http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/lotus/esprit/lotus-esprit-gt3-coupe----2000/5912256?v=c#&gid=1&pid=1

All advice much appreciated

Edited July 10, 2016 by Mutley

[Barrykearley]

Really like the green one - and I'm not a fan of green on an esprit  - but the stripes, lotus markings and flags make it look awesome

[Mutley]

Thanks Barry, I must admit I'm undecided on awesome or revolting!

[Barrykearley]

You just need some proper encouragement - cue @swindon_alan whom I'm sure will provide some green guidance 

[stephenwhyte]

Not to make the decision making even more complicated but only to make sure you've covered all the options - have you seen this? Might be a deal to be done to get it down to the GT3 asking price?

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C754570

But if it's between the White Turbo & the green Gt3 (but looks like an S4s with the wheels and rear spoiler) I'd say the white one wins it

For me this is the GT3 that stands out of the current ones available :

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/lotus/esprit/lotus-lotus-gt3-esprit-coupe-------------1998/5911752?v=c

or this one looks a beauty too.......

http://www.lotusforsale.com/ads/1998-lotus-esprit-gt3-2/

 

[Bazza 907]

1 hour ago, Mutley said:

  

Of course if anyone were to offer me an Essex Turbo, all the above would be incidental. Bazza......? 

 

Sorry, not for sale... 

Personal view of course but both look pretty non-standard and not my cup of tea. What about that good looking grey GT3 that somebody here is selling - I'd have that over either of those two but it's a personal choice.

Bazza 

[Sparky]

The grey (silver) one has gone.  The green one was Alex's; probably the best nick GT3 I've ever serviced. Not a fan of the livery (or the wing!), but all his restoration /upgrade work was nicely done, and I think it's a decent deal. It is indeed the last one off the production line.  The yellow one is of course superb, because it's yellow. But I might be biased.

[Mutley]

It was the Silver one on LEF that sparked my interest in a GT3 and whilst Silver is not really the colour for me, the contrast with the red interior was stunning. Alas (but quite rightly) the owner couldn't wait around all year for me to commit, so it's now gone.

Coincidentally Mark the owner of the red S4S Stephen mentioned above was interested in my S4S 2 years ago, but wasn't a fan of yellow I recall, and mine was a Cat D. I enquired about his car and he's already reduced the price, hence my original conclusion that an S4S is out of my price range.

I think the Yellow GT3 has also gone as its disappeared off evil Bay.

The more advice I receive, the more I'm thinking I'd miss the extra bhp of an S4S hence me thinking of Pete Musgrove's car which apparently packs nearly 300 bhp as he's added a Chargecooler. 

Thanks for your thoughts so far, please keep them coming!

Cheers, Andrew

Edited July 10, 2016 by Mutley

[superdavelotus]

I am sure something decent will come up, don't rush into anything you'll regret further down the line. I would personally buy as late as you can afford and would probably go for the GT3. It's the one that going to go up in value from this point on compared with any of the others which have already shot up.

Pete's White esprit used to belong to a very close friend of mine called Alan Croft used did those mods you are talking about and some you haven't mentioned. I helped him with most of them and he used it do the same with my carb turbo.

Regards

 

David

[Bibs]

That GT3 belonged to @arbell9 and is the last ever 4-pot Esprit made. I've driven it and it's spot on, a terrific car

[stephenwhyte]

28 minutes ago, Mutley said:

It was the Silver one on LEF that sparked my interest in a GT3 and whilst Silver is not really the colour for me, the contrast with the red interior was stunning. Alas (but quite rightly) the owner couldn't wait around all year for me to commit, so it's now gone.

Coincidentally Mark the owner of the red S4S Stephen mentioned above was interested in my S4S 2 years ago, but wasn't a fan of yellow I recall, and mine was a Cat D. I enquired about his car and he's already reduced the price, hence my original conclusion that an S4S is out of my price range.

I think the Yellow GT3 has also gone as its disappeared off evil Bay.

The more advice I receive, the more I'm thinking I'd miss the extra bhp of an S4S hence me thinking of Pete Musgrove's car which apparently packs nearly 300 bhp as he's added a Chargecooler. 

Thanks for your thoughts so far, please keep them coming!

Cheers, Andrew

Andrew I'm pretty confident Archie Buchanans yellow GT3 that I posted up is still for sale as it didn't sell on eBay as the bids never met the reserve........probably because of Archie's location. Looks great value to me and the car that will be worth more in long run surely. He still has the original seats which are to be refitted before sale. Archie is a lovely guy and although I've only met him once I know from speaking to others he's like us all a proper Lotus fanatic

 

[superdavelotus]

The GT3 will also have later braking system, Kelsey Haynes as opposed to Delco Moraine therefore will give a better feedback. It's got to be the better option in my opinion. If it does have the original bucket seats then top result!

You can get the GT3 up to 280BHP no problem if not more, so I don't know what the problem is on power?

[Chillidoggy]

I'd be going for the white one because it has a really nice rear wing.

[Vanya]

Honestly, I'd get the GT3, especially since it's THE LAST ONE EVER MADE! You'll love the later braking system and it's always cool to have the newer interior. 

Otherwise, as always, find a Turbo SE,.

[Advantage]

2 hours ago, superdavelotus said:

You can get the GT3 up to 280BHP no problem if not more, so I don't know what the problem is on power?

My old GT3, no internal mods just bolt on replacement parts but on the standard exhaust manifold. I would imagine an Alunox and perhaps an oversize chargecooler would see the figure start with a "3" on the right day.

[Mutley]

Wow - does that say 290 bhp? Sorry I've got an old pc with a crap screen!

[Advantage]

Yep. 290.5bhp. Currently owned by another TLF member and it's good to see it out and about on occasion. Hybrid turbo, uprated secondary injectors, BOV, cat delete & sport exhaust, electric chargecooler pump and refurbed chargecooler rad are the main mechanical mods to the engine when I had it. In my tenure it was running a PUK chip for the GT3 which gave it a peaky power curve, but at the RR above it was fitted with one of Chris's @internets excellent remapped chips which has the above properties. So nothing particularly difficult or complex required to lift the engine up to useful amounts of power. Obviously, if you wish to chase big numbers then more invasive surgery would be required, but you can still have a nippy car just with bolt-ons. 

[temple]

 

http://www.thelotusforums.com/forums/topic/69089-temples-esprit-gt3-on-the-rolling-road/

This one, 

[Chillidoggy]

Shame about the colour(s).

[Barrykearley]

^ typical greenie 

[Chillidoggy]

To be fair, we are talking about '50 Shades of Yellow'.

[ramjet]

I'm not going to say anything. I don't want to cop any flak if my advice was a bit ordinary.