I need some help with deciding what to do with my 7. I wanted one of these cars since i was in 3rd grade, that is why i also own a convertible. But from what i have read in the past the rx7 isnt that reliable of a car if turbo, but naturally aspirated is a bit more relialble but i want horsepower. My dilema is i been lookin at a 01 lotus espirit around 58,000 with only 4,000 miles on it. v8 twin turbo stock 350hp was gonna throw 14 or 15 grand down and finace the rest payment around $450.00 for 96 month plan but i cant do it until the end or this year thats when my C.D. is up .or i could put about 3 grand into the exterior, and 6 grand into motor (20B). 4 grand into suspension
and the other 2 grand would go towards fixin up my vert needs tune up and maybe new top and tranny. but if im gonna get this lotus im only going to put like 2grand into my seven painted and wider wheels , tell me what u guys think any info is appreatiated thks jason

 

a turbo rx-7 can be reliable, it all depends on how the car is tuned!

 

A non-turbo 20b would also be tons of fun. However like kompressorlogic said, a TII can be reliable. You just have to take care in setting it up, do reliability mods, and don't do stupid things like crank up the boost without adding more fuel just because you wanna see what it's like, or running a big turbo without supporting mods, etc.

 

nice looking car if I were you I would stay with what you have and just fix it up more, not that it really looks like it needs it. Just fix what you have and you will love it even more.

 

because if i could get my 7 where i want it (clean) wich is painted and well thats really all i wanna do for now , man the way this car sounds with my unspecified mufflers , i have never heard another 7 like it. thats for sure . i had and old man driving an ford explore follow me off my exit to tell me how good he thought my car sounded.

 

Maintanance costs alone on a lotus are off scale high compared to the seven. And there is a reason Rx7's (and now rx8) finish very high in indurance races "Reliability". I'm not sure but I don't think I've heard lotus's name in many indurance race winners circles. Dave Atkins Drag races with the same 500+hp motor for several years before he tears it down: the pistion guys (no matter what the brand) can't even come close to that when it comes to reliability.

This forum needs spell check

 

spokanerxdude, write in word, spell check, cut and paste (if you really need it)
too short, you could buy a 3rd gen and mod it for the money that you will put into a lotus to keep it running. (+ how many lotus mechanics are there in spokane?)
buy a normal exotic like a ferrari!

 

buy a house

 

wtf?? what 500hp motor are YOU talking about. Dave hasnt ever had a 500hp drag car to my knowledge

 

IRC it is like 400 and something. My memory might be fading though.

 

Sorry but what is a C.D.?

You do understand that a 96 month payment plan is 8 years long. That is the longest I think I've ever seen a car loan drag out for. Damn.

How old are you? I would hate to wreck a car that will cost you well over 60 grand after finance charges. You don’t want a 45,000 car loan right now. Trust me. Plus you’ll be forced to have full coverage insurance all the time which will be very high. You then have to assume insurance will increase due to tickets also.

If you didn't get a loan and stuck all 14-15g's into a 2nd gen you'll have a blast and one damn fast 2nd gen. Just do the reliability mods first and build a strong setup. Plus the car will be paid for (no money out of pocket each month) and you will not need full coverage because the car is paid for in full.

Just my .02
The house was the best idea yet.
I wish I had done that instead of building up my debt.

 

Buy a M3

 

How much do you know about Lotus Esprits? I am a huge Lotus fan, and have been following both racing and roadgoing cars for the last 30 years or so. I've had a bit of firsthand experience as well, since I've been around Lotus Cortinas, Elans, Super 7's, over the years. I've had the pleasure of being on a racetrack briefly in an Elise, and spend a afir amount of time behind the wheel of my younger brother's Esprit Turbo. Esprits are very striking visually, get huge amounts of attention on the road. They are "reliable for an exotic" but I wouldn't suggest that makes them "reliable" in any way, shape, or form compared to any modern daily driven street car. The reason that you can find them with such low miles, is because most intelligent owner undrstand that they just cannot withstand the rigors of daily use. They area car that is best utilized as a nice Sunday driver or casual track outing car. Even for that purpose, they have a myriad of problems that could steer you in another direction. Historically, the transaxle in these cars have not been quite as robust as one might want, the steering box is fragile, and overheating is about as much of a problem as you would expect from a high horsepower, small v8 enclosed in a small space with limited access to cooling air and then TURBO'd to boot. I believe that the motor is a Lotus-built unit, thus it is probably more expensive than a pissed off ex-wife to replace or repair! Add in the fact that the foot box is too small to put human sized pedals in, and even mid-sized car drivers will look out their window directly over the top of you and change lanes while directly alongside and you have a great way to flush your 58K in a hurry.

All of that being said, I love Lotus cars and have a particular fondness for Esprits. If I thought I could afford one to use it just when it really should be used, I would probably buy one. Unfortunately, those of us with even a slightly responsible streak realize that if you have 58k you should probably use it to buy a reliable car AND put a down payment on a house.

(I don't know who loans YOU money - but when I borrow the lender wants interest! AND interest is typically higher on longer auto loans. $58,000 - $15,000 down payment = $43,000. Typical rate for a 96 month used car loan certainly can't be less than 7% IF you can find one. That would make your payment more in the range of $590 a month. That seems like a lot to pay for a car that you really shouldn't even take out of the garage more than 2 or 3 times a month!)

 

Just wanna give a thanks to all of you who responded to this message. and boswaj thks for the info i know nothing about lotus's or probs they have. I wanted to get something new, fast and i just love the esprits body lines. i didnt even think about insurance costs or any of that,From what i heard and seen is every time you see a fd or fc in the paper they all got new or rebuilt motors , thats why i wanted to get something diffirent than rx7 but i still wanna just get my fc where i want it. Rotor joe i am 21 will be 22 feb 20th. I allready bought a condo in lake land hills , i wasnt thinking about the 96 month plan. either calculated wrong 8 years is way way too long. so i think i will keep the money in the bank and just renew my C.D. for another 5 years. but in mean time what u guys think about a supra?

 

It is not illegal to get that V8, the heart and soul of the lotus you desire, to mate with your beautiful FC. Just choose any commonly available, well engineered American brand and buy one of the commercially available kits. 500 horsepower is not out of reach with a mild V8 build. I recommend the Chevrolet LS1 with the bulletproof 6 speed transmission.

grannysspeedshop.com has complete bolt-on kits to adapt many hott V8's to your chassis.

Use your head, pistons work, the almighty cubic inch still rules, and at the end of the day, 1.3l isn't really that much.

 

I didn't mean to sound condescending when I asked about your age, I just was curious.

Congrats on the condo, you're a touch brighter then I in that area.

But you don't need to leave the money in the CD, yes that’s probably the best idea. But you can pull that out and put it towards what ever project you want. Like said before you could have one bad 7 for that price.

The longest loan term I've seen for a car is 5 years which is 60 months. And even then you will probably end up backwards in the loan after five years. Meaning that you'll probably owe more on the loan then the car is now worth in resale value.


Cars are always a loosing type investment in almost all cases.

So now you’re asking Rx7 nuts about a Supra, come on, what type of answer you are expecting. The 7pwns all others.

 

Got that number from Dave quite some time ago so who knows.

 

I thought that lotus had a toyota four banger that makes 200hp, or are you looking for one with an engine swap? Im confused.

 

You are thinking of the new Lotus Elise. If you are not making the money to buy a Lotus Espirit cash then don't. There are better investment options then CDs. Look at opening up an online trading account and put some of that money into Index funds or if you want to be real safe Treasury Bills. You will get a lot better return on your money and don't have to wait for 5 years to pull money out. You aren't going to do a 20B for 6,000 the motor and ECU alone will cost you that. I recommend you just install a 13B-RE in the car if you really like it and want to have some more power. You could also consider doing an LT1 or LS1 conversion which will run you around $8000 or less then you would have the car you like and reliable HP. The last thing you need is a huge car payment, use some of your money to have fun and save up the rest to buy stuff you really need later like furniture, a bigger house, or a new car.