Faults:

When I first got the car, the interior was worn out.

The interior color scheme was utterly, including the steering wheel, disgraceful. Replaced the door panels and steering wheel, as well as the seats, with the help of ebay.

Steering wheel from a guy that worked for Lotus in England. The door panels and seats from a V8 owner that was re-doing his for the track. All Lotus Connelly leather originals with trimming.

The car was not charged cooled; had a gentlemen that specializes in Esprit outfit mine with an over sized one.

When the car was driven for extended periods of time and parked, it would take about 2 hours cool off time to re-start. Whatever was causing that was sorted out.

Also had the infamous "red hose" issue, which would make the clutch and shifting impossible. This too was sorted out.

As of this writing, the car is extremely reliable, too many modifications, fixes,and upgrades to list. I must admit I "invested" substantially to achieve this. We drive it regularly on long trips in comfort [I'm 6'1" my wife 6'3"] with no thought of a mechanical failure.

General Comments:

When I first got the car, I would spend hours in the garage just looking at it; not unlike when my son was born, and I would look at him sleep, and think this is my beautiful baby.

In car centric Los Angeles, my Esprit Commemorative Edition 1988 is still a scene stealer. You see plenty of Lambos, Ferraris, Porsches, etc.. you just don't see very many Esprits, even in Los Angeles, and when people do, they pause.

The performance is extremely robust, tempered only by my co-pilot.. my wife.

I absolutely love this car; it's as close as an average guy can get to F1 performance on a middle class budget.

Sir Colin Chapman's legacy lives on; it's fast, it's sexy, it's exclusive, and it's MINE!

Faults:

There was a gear linkage problem. The reverse gear could not be selected.

Rusty exhaust pipe.

The brake pads where badly worn.

New cam belt and "C" service.

These cars need a lot of care and maintenance to keep on the road and you need a big wallet. They are cheap to buy and expensive to run, however, worth every penny.

General Comments:

The car was purchased as a "classic car" to enjoy on Sundays and holidays.

I bought it for £6,000 knowing it needed some work and it cost me £2,500 to get it working correctly.

The performance of the car is amazing. The acceleration is very quick and will leave most cars standing. It has Turbo lag which is not ideal, but you get used to. The handling is the best I've seen, it eats up corners.

It's a real head turner, were ever you go people look inquisitively and presume it's a Ferrari.

It's expensive, but I love this car and would recommend it to anyone who loves driving.