S3

First Lotus

I bought my first Esprit, a 1986 S3 in 1992 from Paul Matty Sports cars in Bromsgrove. I traded in my 1.4 Nova for it.

But, Why Won’t it go ?

The first thing I did was drive off, straight onto the M42 with the hand brake on. I stopped on the hard shoulder after 200 yards wondering why my new motor wouldn’t go above 40 mph. Then I noticed the big red ‘BRAKE’ light on the dash and smelt the burning. It went much better after I took the hand-brake off.

How Much Petrol ?

The first petrol station I stopped at I stood proudly filling the tank, looking around with a big grin on my face and paying no attention to the petrol that was pouring out of the filler. I only stopped when another motorist shouted at me to stop. As it came with a big bunch of keys and it had different locks on either petrol cap, I could only fill one tank to start with. However, as the two tanks are connected with a balance pipe, the petrol gauge read full when I left the the forecourt and half full about 25 miles later. I couldn't believe my eyes ; half a tank of petrol gone in only 25 miles. My first day of ownership was quite eventful for me !

I'm Spinning Around !

As you can imagine, an Esprit is somewhat different to a Nova, and so I managed to spin it round twice in the first few weeks of owning it. It’s very unnerving to lose control of a car; all you can do is wait for it to stop. Even through it's over 17 years ago, I can still remember these incidents as if it were yesterday.

Cant' See - Can’t Park

After a couple of weeks of ownership I was wondering what the hell I had bought. I could hardly see out of it, I couldn’t park the bloody thing and it was a nightmare to start with a hot engine. However, I kept if for 4 years and it nearly ruined me. Huge servicing bills, large insurance premiums etc meant in went in my parents garage for nearly a year until I paid off my overdraft and vast credit card bills.

It’s Good, But it’s not that fast

One of the major disadvantages I found with it was that other road users assumed it had shattering performance when it did not. 0-60 was 6.5 seconds with a top speed of 135 mph. It had 160 bhp and 160 lb/ft of torque, which is no better than an Astra GTE or Golf GTi at the time. Mind you, I still spent ages washing and polishing it !