Just thought I'd share my experience of Espace ownership with you all.
I was looking for a replacement for my ailing Toyota Townace, a car which for £280 had provided me with nearly 3 years trouble free motoring. First off I picked up a Mitsubishi Chariot/SpaceCruiser 2.0 TD. Nice car but 18 MPG? It had to go!
This is when accidental Espace ownership came in. Having been in the motor trade for 30 odd years, I must say the Espace wasn't my first choice. But there was sat a 1994 Espace 2.1 Td, local, MOT and Tax, on Ebay for £175. No pic but a fairly honest description. I took the risk and clicked buy it now. What have I done? Hmm, time will tell. Reason for sale was a diesel pump issue which led to poor starting, stalling, no tickover and clouds of black smoke on idle. Body was tidy apart from a bit of laquer peel in places, interior was grubby as to be expected. Got it home, tightened 2 unions on the filter head and it started perfect and smoked a lot less. It was then pressed into daily service until I found a pump. I was amazed! Quiet, comfortable, good turn of speed and over 40 mpg. I was finding myself sat at 80 mph quite easily on twisty A roads, I love it!.
I then found a replacement pump for it, £5 on ebay. This was popped on and 3 hours later, it was purring and starting first flick of the key.
A few other niggles was sorted, bottom ball joint for the MOT but that was all, drivers inner door handle snapped but it glued back and 11 months later is still perfect, and the dreaded loss of interior heater fan. This has been cured by using a thermal cut out from a vacuum cleaner. I'm on my second winter with this fix and it seems to be fine.
Disasters? Yes, two!
First one I was going around a bend and hit a flood. Locked the engine solid. Had the car recovered and next day went out to have a look. Now most of us know that when you hydraulic an engine you can usually pronounce it dead. I like my Espace, so out with the glow plugs, spin it over to remove the water, intercooler off and drained, put it back together and it ran perfect. Lucky? I think so!
Then last week I thought I'd killed it. Heater output was dismal, so decided to flush it. Huge improvement! Made sure both top and bottom rad hoses were hot, radiator was uniformly hot, so packed tools away. Next morning, I set off on the school run and 14 miles from home, the temp gauge went into the red. Thoughts of warped head nagged me and after it cooling down, I nursed it home. I waited for it to cool right down and spent my time looking for a replacement car. I had to give it a chance though, so went out and refilled with water and bled the system. It's now better than ever with a perfect heater and running cooler!
Can this Espace be killed? I hope not!
Just one thing I didn't like about this Espace was the awful understeer, it neded 2 weeks notice in writing to get around a bend. This was cured by accident. It was coming up for needing tyres, so with my running on a budget in mind, I replaced the steel rims with a set of Momo alloys off ebay, nearly new 195 55 15 tyres all around, and only £50 which is the price of just one tyre. Popped them on and it transformed the car, it handles on rails!
Apart from fuel, I have had 14 months motoring for less then £320 including purchase price and a MOT.
Would I recommend one? Would I ever!
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