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This is the car after a visit to the ceramic dude. Honestly, the jury is out as to whether it's any good. The paint work certainly comes up nicely, but you've got to have the kit to maintain it - it doesn't look like this magically. Also, I got a nasty stone chip just after having the work done (typically) so, it isn't quite the armour plating that I had been led to believe. The wheels were coated and it made rod all difference (brake dust pitting on the fronts), so I suspect that I'll have to have them laminated. But, if nothing else, the road dirt (currently biblically epic in Herefordshire) doesn't stick to the paintwork quite as much and the body and glass are hydrophobic, so its not all bad. I wonder though, if I couldn't have achieved this with a really good wax (at a 100th of the cost, albeit reapplied annoyingly regularly). Time will tell on that. The car is currently with Nick at Tomorrow's Classics to have it's 1,000 mile service (1,000 wet, greasy, flooded and mud-caked, but also epic miles). It's also having a fuel sensor issue fixed, as the telemetrix gauge needed a Smiths sender unit (natch). Also, I have figured out a way to lift the tailgate and keep the tips of all my fingers. Super impressed with myself with that fix. Centre console bits have gone off the Stitch Perfect in Worcester to be redone (they were bit rubbish), which should show off the highly illegal (and incorrect Ferrari 275) ashtray off nicely. And - more sacrilege - I've had a rosewood Europa (latest, more terrible one) gear knob added. I know, right? Oh, and the Apple CarPlay double din unit is just awesome. More heretical modifications, I know, but it makes the car so much more awesome. On Friday the car visits (with me along for the ride) Northampton Motorsports for the ECU to be tuned (or whatever). It's who Lotus Bits (who rebuilt the engine recommend). So am super looking forward to that, as the car currently burns through petrol as if there were great lakes of the stuff just sitting in the ground. Which means - technically - come the weekend, we'll be rounds complete on the car. I am super pleased.

Hi, owned an Excel SE many years ago (great car), then headed off into German and Italian ownership (still have those I must confess) but always kept an eye on the ‘classic’ Lotuses. Bought an Esprit S4s recently and crickey what a car! Very fast and wonderful handling, obviously. Took the car out today and was struck by how usable it is - fired up straight away after too many weeks of inactivity (have a battery conditioner on from previous, other cars, bitter experience..), heater great, visibility fine, relaxing and confidence inspiring drive, then get the engine temp up to release full boost and...we’ll I’ll just say it rather goes! Mine’s really well maintained with a huge set of invoices for every service and other bits and pieces in between. Bought the car from Mark at Stocks which was an easy transaction, would recommend them. Since then just gone through it completing the little details: couple of spanner’s and pliers missing (found those on eBay and NOS in California of all places), couple of bits of trim had aged, all ‘odds and sods’ but I imagine common areas of wear and tear and having them ‘right’ makes all the difference in my eyes. Turns out there were only two supplied in Black RHD and only mine with cream leather (the other was black with black). So, it’s nice to be back in Lotus ownership, and the S4s is one hell of a car. Not sure how it’s brilliance has passed me by the last couple of decades! I suspect that will change for all Esprits, and other models in general, once the Geely plans move forward some more and people revisit the ‘back catalogue’ to see where it all started. For me Esprits are aging so well and the S4s, well it really is a match for its rivals of the day and given they are pretty special cars in themselves that’s high praise indeed. Enjoy your holiday blasts! Paul

Okay, update time! Popped over to lotus Silverstone this afternoon and they've fitted my access panel for me. Took em dead on an hour but originally had fitting included in my quote so didn't matter too much anyway had to use a little Dremel work as has been said before on here to open up a couple of the mounting holes on the clam but other than that it was, by all accounts straight forward. To say I'm happy with the result is an understatement. I think that the carbon goes so well with the blue and helps break up the colour scheme. Also really happy with my little DIY petrol cap surround. Next up is more carbon goodness in the form of scoops from @alias23 and GRP tail lights. Just need to source a 380 cup/410/430 engine cover at the right price now!

What if money was no object two black and gold 430s yes please.

Since the storm has passed....

Very sorry guys, but a mag cannot and will not be able to experience and describe what real ownership long term can. So for me, all those socalled evaluations, articles and what not is not worth the paper or screens they are presented on. For my sake they can go right down the drain. Being that cars from owners on here or elsewhere, it's still the same: nothing wrong with the cars, but an editor writes what he or she wants. And we all know they are biased towards an old german car and always recite Jeremy C. for his irritating nonsense of lots of trou......... So, forget those, this forum so much better by far in terms of getting real oppinions. Personally, I've tried a Giugiaro carb non-turbo and one with turbo. While I like them for sure, they cannot and will not be able to do what a later Stevens SE-S4-S4s can do. It's a whole different ball game. It's a car in a totally different league. So many things are changed: electrics, engine, gearbox, traction, performance, looks, seating interrior, design and what not. They are so much more capable and equal in feel and fun. Not a dime is lost. If Lotus thought otherwise, they would have develped them reversed. Not so. And fortunately we can experience the same. With regards to maintenance and strong/weak points, there are hundreds of threads on here on the other forum describing that. But jsut one point here right now: the Renault UN1 is not so bad at all: change the translator, the rubber bushings at the lowest point of the gearmaster and adjust accordingly, and you have a nice gearshift. It doesn't explode at every street corner that some people will have you believe. Not so. The old cars feel smaller at the first drive, when getting in a Stevens Turbo SE or later. But as you drive, you soon come to realise that the car becomes smaller and really surrounds and hugs you as you find the rythm in turn after turn after turn, zipping past much more modern cars on curby back roads. Yes, the modern cars may have far more horses than a Turbo SE/S4/S4s, but somehow these old Lotus cars manage to get real speed out of what on paper seems to be very little compared to newer cars. Weight? nope, not much of a difference really. A Stevens Turbo SE 1990 is 1231 Kilo from Lotus (no fuel) and mine is 1125 and a bit with a few mods here and there without changing it's looks or character. I'd say go for the Stevens Turbo SE 1990-1991, possibly a 1989, or later as in S4/S4s. And if it comes with an old school abs, delete it and get better brakes for it. Ian is the man as Sparky said. Not much to think about, I'd say. Good luck with you Esprit itch, which ever Esprit you choose, they are all magnificent sportscars! Kind regards, Jacques

The problem with with bucket list cars is that every time i think of compiling a list it becomes obvious that I have champagne tastes on a beer budget. And whenever I manage to get the bucket full of beer, I drink it.

...and not a daily driver!

Hang on a minute, isn’t that response just plain offensive to people with acne? Do have a care and think of the thousands of poor kids with spotty faces who might happen upon your post on t’internet! It’s spottist is what that is!!! (please place tongue very firmly in cheek!)

Solution. Trade the wife in for the S4s. Sorted.

For a nice looking S4s that’s superb on the face of it @swindon_alan as ever it’s all about what the cars like underneath and what the recent history file is like. the esprit market is slow - cars are priced highly ( not in my opinion but market relative to time ) and they do take longer to move. My S4 was advertised for what seemed like an eternity but sold to the first viewer for a fair price - not as much as I’d have liked though. what is interesting is throughout December the market has hardened price wise and there’s a lot more at the higher end. The recent magazine exposure in a few classic rags now is only going to help galvanise prices as we come into the summer.

@LotuStuart considering the title of this topic, I's say you're the one looking for a discussion. Nothing wrong with that, it's what makes this forum so interesting a nd not only for car related topics. To answer a few of your questions, of course I think pollution is bad. It's not because I like cars, that I don't care about the environment. I limit my energy consumption (granted, the Esprit is not the most economical car, but keeping it on the road for 30+ years instead of buying new every 5 years helps a lot), recycle what I can, separate trash (and enforce that on other users of our workshop), always try and fix instead of repair, seem buy considerably less consumer goods than people around me. And I love animals and support their causes whenever I can. I'm not convinced about the current hype around man made climate change, no. I have not seen much evidence that clearly deviates from the long term fluctuations our planet has always gone through. As Ant explains above. I am convinced the current panic reaction isn't the way to handle it. A lot of money has been and is going into solar and wind energy, regardless of their actual benefits. The (personal) car is demonized, EVs are pushed as the future, despite all the problems and without looking seriously into future power generation and distribution. And I do see a lot of taxes that can only be enforced in the name of climate change. Finally, yes, I don't like Greta. She's represents only negativity and spreading guilt, no constructive ideas. Maybe I should pity her, for how she is being used. But she seems to enjoy it and the attention it brings far too much. Getting rides on multi-million dollar yachts so you don't have to take a plane (unlike the crews for the yacht) only serves to get into the spotlight. Filip

Good to see @Arun_D earlier and measure up his Cup R wing, gives me a good baseline now to be able to accurately design my new wing...

Sorry they are not the best pictures but here is mine, #1035.

Me.... mine is the bollox... i thought it was a very straight forward Build to be fair. My second 910 Turbo engine from the crankshaft up. some make it sound like a Saturn 5 to build. It’s an internal combustion engine, that’s all. And to be fair the tolerances are not even that tight. the main thing is having the right kit and space. Fabian was dead unlucky IMO. Had a follower fail by the sound of it. nothing to do with blast media. My entire block, sump and head blasted. Clean as a whistle. No residue. Good as gold. stop over thinking it. @Lotusfab

Over the Port of Felixstowe last night

Christmas #1 2M on the Esprit final vid

It’s gonna be an Evora once you drive one Dave - the V6 soundtrack and ease of driving the Evora will be difficult to resist I reckon......I wait to hear your findings with interest

Really! Oh jeez...............

I agree @Barrykearley but the irony is that it is the current generation, 30 - 45, who are driving this obsession with economic growth to drive richness. We used to take long term views in this country and companies were reasonably well run with an expectation of around 3-6% growth per annum. Then the Business Schools started to plug their obsessive MBA courses and every wannabe FD/CFO went off to Harvard, Yale, Wharton etc to join their "management programmes" and before you know it we now have businesses in the UK that demand 3-6% growth per quarter, everyone being assessed on quarterly sales quotas and growth, everyone saying they run a P&L, etc. - Why, because now it's not just US CEO's that are hired and fired every 6 months as that behaviour spread over hear fuelled by the US'itfrication of UK business and the obsession with quarterly growth. As a result, we have CEO's getting richer, whilst their products are becoming worse and worse (housebuilders anyone?). @Escape, this then leads to the issue of how do you fuel that quarterly growth? Well, of course you make your products obsolete by design (Apple anyone - you haven't forgotten how they slow down your devices over time with software changes have you? Tesla - they reduce the range of their cars over time by remote software changes....) and harder to repair or recycle (look up Sonos in the news this past week for their absolute crazy policy on upgrades - you have to basically junk your old to get a decent on the new!). Greed. Get rich quick. Fook the environment and people. That's big business today.

Trying hard not to pick my own car but there’s nothing else made by Lotus since 2010 that I would swap the GT430 for. If it had to be another Lotus I’d go for the Type 25 edition Exige Cup 430.

Have a read of Classic Cars magazine this month. It does a 5 car Esprit test discussing the pros and cons of each model be they G or Stevens cars.

Purely biased but there’s a lot of reasons why I still think the 380 is the best compromise for the road when it comes to the Exige. Still loving it 18 months in pic taken the day before I picked up

Evora 400 IPS but most likely wait til 2021. Renault Alpine but will wait til they are sub 30k. Renault 16TX but will probably never bother. Renault 21 turbo...fear the running costs as my 5GT has been expensive but worth it. Lotus Elan S1. Hard to find. Lotus Elite Coventry Climax. Noisy, not quick, hard to maintain. Bentley Blower. A legend. But I doubt I ever would. Lancia Aurelia. Just sublime and so pretty. If I can sell two cars in 2020, this may happen. Justin

Well my sample is looking a near identical match for OEM

My garage queen

I’m sure it’s in the S4 onwards manual - or one of them - I’ll try and find the section when I’m back home as I’ll need it again, and the wife’s best Perspex jug, very soon

I’ve just purchased a 1976Elite that’s been off road for around 12 years. Hopefully be road ready this summer. Here is a photo of it used by Lotus in add campaign.

Assuming what you've been told is true see if you have a fuse in 22 which is the CDL circuit. It needs a 7.5 amp fuse. If you have one then see if you have wiring and lock actuators in the doors.

So.... I was just finishing up fitting the (expensive) new wheel bearings in my Elite rear hub carriers and I'm thinking - for the umpteenth time - what a crap design, when I had an embarrassing epiphany . Having had an Excel for a few years I'd got a picture in my mind of the Elite hub carrier pivoting on the lower bolt - and I'd been thinking why on earth didn't they put some sort of bush/bearing in there! However - (and I cant believe it's taken this long to click) the motion of the Elite hub carrier is not even similar to the Excel - the Elite hub carrier has no relative motion to the radius arm to which it is fixed whatsoever! It is bolted firmly in place in two axes - there is no pivoting action going on at all, so it doesn't matter that the hub carrier just has a hole with a bolt through it! . Sorry Colin/Ollie Yours embarrassingly! Pete

Tony, I'm near Loddon - just off the A146 out of Norwich - here most of the time so just drop me a message Cheers Ant

7600. Weekly use usually.

Leather is used in all surfaces typically in contact with the occupant's body, so top surface of seat cushion and bolsters right out to the edge, the headrest choker, and the headrest including its sides for appearance sake I suppose. The vinyl (PVC) therefore is seen on the seat flanks and the very top of the headrest only, with that covering the backside of seat not shown in the photo. This is the form in which my S2 was originally trimmed. Cheers

@Lotusfab just one thought - you did disconnect the oil supply line to the turbo charger, crank the car over(not allowing a start so with plugs removed) and recover about 0.5l of oil?? I’m sure that’s the process before starting a later engine

Hi Dave. The block wasnt aqua blasted. Its was cleaned with brake cleaner. I put a boresvope into the oil ways . All were clear. I even took pictures of the internal oil ways. My mistake was aqua blasting and media - never again! The plastic pipe method is used by other well known engine builders to check for air leaks on the pickup pipe. I replaced the olive on the pick up pipe. Sofened in hot water prior to fit and torqued twice. There were no cracks visible in any of the followers. I didnt appreciate they were cast iron amd Lotus had changed them to steel . I understand now they have flaws which cant be seen. in hindsight I would replace all of them with the long skirt followers. I learned from that! I was unlucky with this its not rocket science its just an engine. Im an enthusiast and even though I could farm it out I have built everything on this car. If I hadnt aqua blasted this and the oil pressure relief valve hadnt stuck I would have a perfectly serviceable engine. I agree though, if you do this all the time your would have built it quicker with less chance of problems, but would you have spotted the pressure refief valve issue before fitting? You've laid down the gaunlett now - i will rebuild it again and it will be perfect! The other thing I have learned is I shoud have bench tested this engine prior to fitting in the car. This time I will get Lotusbits to bench test it on their rig before it goes back in. I will post a video on youtube. If it isnt perfect after this rebuild I will acknoledge you were right and have it professionally

TBH Fabian. having read the above link about media blasting etc, I really do not see this as being the cause of your problem. I really, honestly don't. This problem could effectively arise almost immediately, but I would say after quite a few miles and performance testing. Having put over 800 miles on my newly restored car since July, on the open roads of the North Yorkshire Moors, I really do not think you will have come even close on your car. I think you could be on a wild goose chase if you go solely down the media and powder coating route being the root cause. Ending up with not fixing the main cause of this failure, as @Sparky described earlier on. He seems to know what he's talking about, and it stacks up with my own knowledge of engine rebuilds and opinion. If you're going to the trouble of removing the whole engine and rebuilding it with new parts (cam followers, towers and the like), then I would look to getting this done either thoroughly, or professionally by an outfit that can measure tolerances and compare to the original specifications. Doing less than this could be throwing good money after bad. As well as countless hours. But it's your call.

ok propose yours

Looked at this one and quite liked it, seems to have received love and attention. I think I would change to SE sills to finish the look and bin the decals but good car. Sticking to the Evora now as time for a change. Dave

Is that a special body model? If you zoom in, I think you can see a front lip.

Updates: Exhaust is starting to bed in but I'm still craving more noise. Seats: I spend the most of a day over the Christmas break tinkering with the seats. My plan was to swop the driver and passanger seats around and hoping I could making some custom brackets as the driver seat is too wide with the running to fit the passanger side. The Passanger seat and subframe sat perfectly in the drivers seat position, with the help of a couple of spacers, but unfortunately I couldn't get the drivers seat and runner (now removed) to sit right in the passangers side of the car. So I had to resort to some spacer washers under the front on the drivers seat (runner now refitted) which has in proved the seating position but still not as good as the passanger subframe was. I had a rough quote of around £150 for the passanger side subframe. Alias23 Filter fitted. Awesome bit of kit. Impressive OME feel and quality. Noticeable performance gains along with the supercharger whine. My personal feedback is the fitting instructions actually make it sound a lot more difficult than it was. I was shocked at how much grit and dirt was in my filter after <1,300 miles The car now feels much more keen especially between 4.5k > 6k rpm. Overall I'm very happy with my purchase, it also reduced the weight of my wallet

Knowing you @Barrykearleyyou will have ticked that list off by March.

As an aside, if you're looking at underfloor heating, a friend of a very good friend owns https://www.thermosphere.com/ and I'm sure I could get some decent discounts for TLFers

last I heard, Maggie is dead! Stuart, It isn't that I don't (unlike some) believe in climate change, but (and seriously) the climate has been changing for millions of years (since the last Ice age in fact). What we are now experiencing is the impact of that change. Humans have without doubt had an impact on the acceleration of that change, but all we are doing now (in my humble opinion) is to try and slow down that acceleration. It is a bit like telling people we need to spend 10 years sorting out the govt spending deficit and ignoring the trillions of debt that we can never repay. As I've said previously in other posts, we are where we are and Nature will rebalance things at some level to maintain the equilibrium of life, irrespective of humans - we are simply the next 'beasts' in the circle. unfortunately we simply have the where-with-all to understand we are screwed before the big bang, ppwhereas the Dinosaurs carried on in blissful ignorance. Dinosaur or 21st century human as a choice is tricky but the ability to appreciate my 43 yr old lotus (even in bits) gives me the edge I think. I also detest people shouting at me telling me what to do - this is Greta's biggest mistake. It didn't work for Corbyn, won't work for Sturgeon or anyone else. Happy Christmas

I cannot say I negotiated very hard on my Evora. The 1 year warranty was a large attraction to me, knowing I would do 10000 miles+. I wanted the car as it has cocobolo leather with carbon grey coachwork which I found very fetching. I basically asked what the best was, which was attractive compared to other cars for sale given the warranty; and said yes. I did not even drive it! However, I have driven a few before and since, all thanks to Jamie at Bell Colvill. I am sure he will let you enjoy an extended test drive. You will get great back-up from them. The owner Andy loves his dealership and the staff love Lotus. Most have been there for years. They don't feel like a main dealer....that is a compliment as most main dealers for any marque make me feel ill. Justin

Based on a certificate of provenance recently provided by Andy Graham at Lotus Archives: - 21 x GT430 produced for the UK only. 18 of these had 2+0 seating & manual transmission. - Apparently only 1 GT430 Sport was produced for the UK. Not sure how many of the remaining theoretical 39 of 60 were actually produced for the EMEA market.

With caymans and Alpine A110 starting at gbp 46 k (eur 50k ish) then it basically gives you the answer where you need it o start a 4 cylinder 2 seater sports car. if you want to start higher, either you have a car fully loaded so it comes cheaper than the above with options or yoh make sure they are positioned above (so basically a faster more powerful engine). If it is a V6, this is immediately more expensive and potentially a smaller market plus not the easiest to fit with emission rules.

Did you not even click on the link I provided? > frankly I don't listen or believe what a 16 year old with no education in enviromental sciences tells me one little bit. I just switch off or turn over when she comes on the TV or radio. And I don't think I'm alone in that. And if (as I suspect the next argument will be) that she is saying what she is being told to say then have those doing the telling come out and tell me not a 16 year old. She's a spokesman, not a scientist. Do you believe the environmental scientists and what they say about climate change? They've been saying that we have problems for years-who are you wanting to hear it from? Her speaking out has resulted in the matter being front page news, and even here on this board, we know who Greta is, and what she is saying. "What would James Lovelock say" would, no doubt, elicit "Who?" queries, and rapid wikipedia searches...

not at all, the only other thing I looked at was a Golf/AudiS3/RS3 as she likes the hatchbacks but presented with this car it was again no contest. It's a surprise pessie for the missus, not me. She will have never heard of a Alpine... It's the lowest power version they do (300hp), guards red, shit loads of options (wheels, heated steering, bose etc etc) due to being the dealer demo, 19 plate, they stuck another 12 months warranty on it so it's got 3.25 yrs all for 43k. the missus will never asked or even think about how much power it has,all she will see it's a red porsche, it looks great, it has nice wheels, the roof comes down at the touch of a button, it can get her shopping in with relative ease, she can get in it with relative ease and it plays radio4 on the stereo... Not my bag (give me a pick-up for the week and a lotus for teh evenings and weekends), but for her its going to bring a tear. Lotus need something in their stable that can do the same, hubby has the raw weekend driving machine, missus has the attractive everyday useable.