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Nigel Tingey's 1995

Nigel Tingey from Tamworth, Staffordshire, UK owns a 1995 S4s in Azure Blue, with a Full Raven leather'r interior.

Model:

S4s
Year:
1995
Colour:
Azure Blue
Interior:
Full Raven leather'
Driving Style:
Fast
Miles per year:
1,000 – 2,000
Owned Since:
2010
Purchase from:
Paul Matty Sportscars
Serviced at:
anywhere
Other Cars:
I'm a white van man
Previous Lotus':
None
Why an Esprit:
As a school boy I used to walk by Marshalls of Cambridge a Lotus dealer at the time.I would stop and stare through the window at the Esprits on show and dream.
Upgrades: K&N air filter,Quick silver straight through exhaust system and 360 bearing fitted to the turbo
Problems:
Gearbox and Turbo
Website:

          

'I searched for a fair while before I brought this S4S,one of the attractions of buying this s4s was that it came from a rep dealer, although it was top dollar i thought it was worth the peace of mind.

That was a mistake,two weeks after having it I got the dreaded petrol smell,so back to the dealer it went, one and half days later i got it back.
The smell was still there,on to the other Lotus site/forum I put the question out about the smell,every respones was breather pipe between the tanks.
So off with the side covers and there it was a split breather,well on to the phone I got to my dealer to moan about them not being able to sort such an easy problem.

The guy was full of apologies and said any more problems and we will "LOOK AFTER YOU"

Around 2000 miles later and 6 months down the line some young pup in a rover MG "ha ha" tried to race me,entering an S bend i dropped the car into second not particulary hard or fast but after that it crunched every time it went into second.

Back to my dealer I went,I reminded him about the breather saga and that he said he would LOOK AFTER ME,well his idea of LOOKING AFTER ME was £2000.00 for a all in repair,he reckoned he was letting me have the gears/sycros at cost at that price, and I never even asked if that inclucded VAT.
A trip to South west Lotus brought me a recon gearbox for £1500.00,members of the Staffs branch of Club Lotus fitted it for me.

The latest problem which happened just a week ago was no boost from the turbo. I took the air hose off and tried to turn the impellor with my finger,it was jammed soild. So I took the turbo off only to find when off the impellor turned fine,on closer inspection I noticed on the floor of the garage 3 or 4 flakes of rounded metal,which would seem to me to have come out of the turbo housing causing the it to jam up.

I sent the turbo off to Turbo Technics who confirmed the housing was rusted inside and the flakes had jammed it. I got them to put a new actuator and arm,housing and anything else it needed including a 360 bearing.

The car is now running better than ever,hush my mouth cos dont it all come in three's. What next may be petrol tanks cos I still get a very faint smell of petrol every now and then,oh well it can wait until when I one day open the garage door and the petrol smell hits me,in the mean time whenever I go on a run I will just make sure I have a full bladder :).

Even though Ive had those problems I would not be without it, its a great car to drive and for a 95 car its still so quick,i love it. Facts about my car, manufacture in Feb 95,the 10th ever s4s,the 1st with Azure and raven,miles at the moment 51000.

Things I've done to my S4S to give it that personal touch
Mats with the S4S logo and of coarse in Azura blue,well Azura blue ish. The stainless steel control knobs and new clarion radio/cd/ipod player. Stainless steel door sills were made up for me by a friend,and a dam fine job he done too. Lower front spoiler has that beautiful carbon fibre look to it, thanks to a sheet of 3M carbon fibre wrap I brought off ebay, I then spent hours with a hair dryer pulling and stretching the wrap onto my now crease free lower front spoiler,and don't it look good.

nigetingey@hotmail.co.uk

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