1995 Lotus Esprit S4S from North America
Summary:
Bargain exotic
Faults:
Car started leaking oil.
Idle was rough.
Problems with the indicator lights coming on during high speed driving.
Car was running hot.
Had difficulty getting parts.
Was losing boost pressure, had to get the turbo redone at 17,000 miles.
Had to replace the fuel lines, the car was smelling of fuel in the cabin.
Interior trim started fading, driver's seat bolster was getting worn down, dash was taking a beating.
General Comments:
For the first 5,000 miles the car ran great.
At about 12,000 miles I started having problems one after the other. Every time I took it out it wouldn't be too long before I had something that needed repairing.
At 130+ mph you can tell it's not solid, lots of rattles.
I was disappointed, I looked far and wide for a Lotus S4S with the lowest miles I could find, I figured I would get at least 20,000 miles out of the car before I was going to get major problems.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know
Review Date: 5th September, 2001
1st Jun 2005, 15:36
My Lotus 1995 S4s is everything I hoped. Solid, fast, great handling and more unsolicited praise than any of my previous fun cars ('73 MGB, '69 E-type Jag, '60 MGA, '64 Corvette, '91 Porsche Turbo)
35,000 miles on it when I got it 18 months ago. Easy driving in both stop-and-go traffic, country roads and highway.
Looked at four S4s (Cincinnati, Atlanta, Scottsdale and Huntington Beach) before buying the one in California.