8/15 Factory Tour

[scarzie]

Just got back to my hotel from this AM's factory tour at Hethel. This was my first time (finally) seeing the car in the flesh and holy hell, even better than I could have imagined.

I won't go as long winded as many have as much has been covered, but some things I noticed on the tour:

• The factory is hustling and bustling at every station. I can't put a figure on how many cars were in process today, but I counted around 40 in the main final assembly area so I'm assuming many of these are dealer demo cars along with more pre productions.
• There were a ton of DVs on the line which made me extremely happy, and the color looked great. At the final wheel and headlight alignment part there was my exact spec basically fully put together minus the badging - DV, tan interior, yellow calipers, diamond cut wheels, lower black pack only, and no privacy glass - it was STUNNING - oh and LHD
• All of the colors are simply awesome in person, everyone will be happy with their choice
• 80% of the cars on the line had black wheels, and from what I can see that's what they have the most of at the moment. The rest were diamond cut except for in the final holding area I spotted 2 with silver wheels.
• All of the leather seats I saw had the 3 debossed lines on them, so they are either production or close to production. I didn't see any alcantara with these, and one of the main guys in the seat area confirmed that the 3 lines on the alcantara seats will be perforated as alcantara cannot be debossed like leather without singing it. This may have been known but is news to me.
• All I saw in motion were V6 manuals, and there was one lonely i4 stashed in back

All in all it was a great tour with a lot of information, and I'm stoked that I got to see this before I get my car and highly recommend going. Also walked out with a 1:18 DV model, also a bonus.

If you have any other questions of what I saw today throw them at me!

 

[kratedisease]

photos ??

 

[JKP]

Just got back to my hotel from this AM's factory tour at Hethel. This was my first time (finally) seeing the car in the flesh and holy hell, even better than I could have imagined.

I won't go as long winded as many have as much has been covered, but some things I noticed on the tour:

• The factory is hustling and bustling at every station. I can't put a figure on how many cars were in process today, but I counted around 40 in the main final assembly area so I'm assuming many of these are dealer demo cars along with more pre productions.
• There were a ton of DVs on the line which made me extremely happy, and the color looked great. At the final wheel and headlight alignment part there was my exact spec basically fully put together minus the badging - DV, tan interior, yellow calipers, diamond cut wheels, lower black pack only, and no privacy glass - it was STUNNING - oh and LHD
• All of the colors are simply awesome in person, everyone will be happy with their choice
• 80% of the cars on the line had black wheels, and from what I can see that's what they have the most of at the moment. The rest were diamond cut except for in the final holding area I spotted 2 with silver wheels.
• All of the leather seats I saw had the 3 debossed lines on them, so they are either production or close to production. I didn't see any alcantara with these, and one of the main guys in the seat area confirmed that the 3 lines on the alcantara seats will be perforated as alcantara cannot be debossed like leather without singing it. This may have been known but is news to me.
• All I saw in motion were V6 manuals, and there was one lonely i4 stashed in back

All in all it was a great tour with a lot of information, and I'm stoked that I got to see this before I get my car and highly recommend going. Also walked out with a 1:18 DV model, also a bonus.

If you have any other questions of what I saw today throw them at me!

Can you elaborate on "Holy Hell, even better than I could have imagined?" Sorry for the silly question, but am curious if the car had significantly more "presence" than you anticipated? If so how you would quantify? Was it lower, wider, more menacing than expecting? More exotic than expected? Just curious what it was that evoked the emotion in you, as so much of the inputs to this point have been data (specs, etc). Really hoping to learn how it made someone feel this way.

 

[Kingslim]

Just got back to my hotel from this AM's factory tour at Hethel. This was my first time (finally) seeing the car in the flesh and holy hell, even better than I could have imagined.

I won't go as long winded as many have as much has been covered, but some things I noticed on the tour:

• The factory is hustling and bustling at every station. I can't put a figure on how many cars were in process today, but I counted around 40 in the main final assembly area so I'm assuming many of these are dealer demo cars along with more pre productions.
• There were a ton of DVs on the line which made me extremely happy, and the color looked great. At the final wheel and headlight alignment part there was my exact spec basically fully put together minus the badging - DV, tan interior, yellow calipers, diamond cut wheels, lower black pack only, and no privacy glass - it was STUNNING - oh and LHD
• All of the colors are simply awesome in person, everyone will be happy with their choice
• 80% of the cars on the line had black wheels, and from what I can see that's what they have the most of at the moment. The rest were diamond cut except for in the final holding area I spotted 2 with silver wheels.
• All of the leather seats I saw had the 3 debossed lines on them, so they are either production or close to production. I didn't see any alcantara with these, and one of the main guys in the seat area confirmed that the 3 lines on the alcantara seats will be perforated as alcantara cannot be debossed like leather without singing it. This may have been known but is news to me.
• All I saw in motion were V6 manuals, and there was one lonely i4 stashed in back

All in all it was a great tour with a lot of information, and I'm stoked that I got to see this before I get my car and highly recommend going. Also walked out with a 1:18 DV model, also a bonus.

If you have any other questions of what I saw today throw them at me!

Excellent - great to see a positive story. How much was the scale model and are they available in all the colours?

 

[Guest142]

Excellent - great to see a positive story. How much was the scale model and are they available in all the colours?

Great question. I'd like to order one for my son's birthday in Shadow Grey.

 

[scarzie]

Still no photos allowed unfortunately.

re: better than I expected - yes presence wise. Its much wider than you can tell in most photos which really does give it a supercar look. I know many have said from photos it looks like a supercar, but it really does in person. Wider and more menacing but unfortunately it has quite the wheel gap still (though does not look tall otherwise). I saw seneca and hethel's rolling around and when they're in motion, it's just a real looker. It made me lose any second guesses of possibly switching to a 718

Scale model was 110 gbp and since I took the tour 10% off. I only saw DV and Seneca in the display but I'm assuming you can get all of them.

 

[Mctaff]

.

• There were a ton of DVs on the line which made me extremely happy, and the color looked great. At the final wheel and headlight alignment part there was my exact spec basically fully put together minus the badging - DV, tan interior, yellow calipers, diamond cut wheels, lower black pack only, and no privacy glass - it was STUNNING - oh and LHD

Yeah baby, DV me up!!!!

🤡🕺🏽😍

 

[dgrace]

Thanks for the update. Great to hear that cars are finally(!!) rolling off the line. LHD makes me think dealer demos for NA market.

 

[Stelvio]

Still no photos allowed unfortunately.

re: better than I expected - yes presence wise. Its much wider than you can tell in most photos which really does give it a supercar look. I know many have said from photos it looks like a supercar, but it really does in person. Wider and more menacing but unfortunately it has quite the wheel gap still (though does not look tall otherwise). I saw seneca and hethel's rolling around and when they're in motion, it's just a real looker. It made me lose any second guesses of possibly switching to a 718

Scale model was 110 gbp and since I took the tour 10% off. I only saw DV and Seneca in the display but I'm assuming you can get all of them.

Could you tell if they were Sport vs Touring suspension? There's been discussion about Touring possibly having a larger wheel gap.

Also, how was the ground clearance? It appears to sit very low in some pictures and have a higher clearance in other pictures.

 

[scarzie]

Could you tell if they were Sport vs Touring suspension? There's been discussion about Touring possibly having a larger wheel gap.

Also, how was the ground clearance? It appears to sit very low in some pictures and have a higher clearance in other pictures.

They specifically said that both suspensions are the same height. The pictures of the cars at the Lotus Driving Academy are the heights the cars will be delivered at

 

[912Matt]

Just got back to my hotel from this AM's factory tour at Hethel. This was my first time (finally) seeing the car in the flesh and holy hell, even better than I could have imagined.

I won't go as long winded as many have as much has been covered, but some things I noticed on the tour:

• The factory is hustling and bustling at every station. I can't put a figure on how many cars were in process today, but I counted around 40 in the main final assembly area so I'm assuming many of these are dealer demo cars along with more pre productions.
• There were a ton of DVs on the line which made me extremely happy, and the color looked great. At the final wheel and headlight alignment part there was my exact spec basically fully put together minus the badging - DV, tan interior, yellow calipers, diamond cut wheels, lower black pack only, and no privacy glass - it was STUNNING - oh and LHD
• All of the colors are simply awesome in person, everyone will be happy with their choice
• 80% of the cars on the line had black wheels, and from what I can see that's what they have the most of at the moment. The rest were diamond cut except for in the final holding area I spotted 2 with silver wheels.
• All of the leather seats I saw had the 3 debossed lines on them, so they are either production or close to production. I didn't see any alcantara with these, and one of the main guys in the seat area confirmed that the 3 lines on the alcantara seats will be perforated as alcantara cannot be debossed like leather without singing it. This may have been known but is news to me.
• All I saw in motion were V6 manuals, and there was one lonely i4 stashed in back

All in all it was a great tour with a lot of information, and I'm stoked that I got to see this before I get my car and highly recommend going. Also walked out with a 1:18 DV model, also a bonus.

If you have any other questions of what I saw today throw them at me!

Thanks for this, you have exact same spec as me (except my steering wheel be on the proper side 😉), so very pleased to hear you are happy 👍

 

[Den]

Could you tell if they were Sport vs Touring suspension? There's been discussion about Touring possibly having a larger wheel gap.

Also, how was the ground clearance? It appears to sit very low in some pictures and have a higher clearance in other pictures.

Could there be transport blocks fitted to the springs making it stand higher. Seen these on other new cars.

 

[PaperLawyer]

Could there be transport blocks fitted to the springs making it stand higher. Seen these on other new cars.

My thoughts, too - a former girlfriend had an S2000 which she drove for several years (and had serviced several times) before eventually a dealer spotted transport blocks on her car! She received a brand new S2000 from Honda and in return Honda placed her original S2000 on display (as a warning to personnel regarding the importance of a proper PDI and servicing, IIRC!)

 

[Lankan]

My thoughts, too - a former girlfriend had an S2000 which she drove for several years (and had serviced several times) before eventually a dealer spotted transport blocks on her car! She received a brand new S2000 from Honda and in return Honda placed her original S2000 on display (as a warning to personnel regarding the importance of a proper PDI and servicing, IIRC!)

Wow! How long was it before the dealer noticed this?

 

[PaperLawyer]

Wow! How long was it before the dealer noticed this?

Over three years - she seemed to be aware of the noise but not the cause when the car was 3.5 years old:https://www.s2ki.com/forums/uk-ireland-s2000-community-25/creaky-rear-115912/page2/#post1545449

 

[TomE]

Excellent - great to see a positive story. How much was the scale model and are they available in all the colours?

Available in several colours and scales but not all colours in all scales. Availability is patchy and delivery times uncertain too!

Product Search

www.grandprixmodels.com

Parts Shop - Bell and Colvill

Parts Shop - Bell and Colvill are selling and servicing cars from its showrooms.

www.bellandcolvill.co.uk

Parts Shop - Bell and Colvill

Parts Shop - Bell and Colvill are selling and servicing cars from its showrooms.

www.bellandcolvill.co.uk

 

[TheMotizzle]

Just got back to my hotel from this AM's factory tour at Hethel. This was my first time (finally) seeing the car in the flesh and holy hell, even better than I could have imagined.

I won't go as long winded as many have as much has been covered, but some things I noticed on the tour:

• The factory is hustling and bustling at every station. I can't put a figure on how many cars were in process today, but I counted around 40 in the main final assembly area so I'm assuming many of these are dealer demo cars along with more pre productions.
• There were a ton of DVs on the line which made me extremely happy, and the color looked great. At the final wheel and headlight alignment part there was my exact spec basically fully put together minus the badging - DV, tan interior, yellow calipers, diamond cut wheels, lower black pack only, and no privacy glass - it was STUNNING - oh and LHD
• All of the colors are simply awesome in person, everyone will be happy with their choice
• 80% of the cars on the line had black wheels, and from what I can see that's what they have the most of at the moment. The rest were diamond cut except for in the final holding area I spotted 2 with silver wheels.
• All of the leather seats I saw had the 3 debossed lines on them, so they are either production or close to production. I didn't see any alcantara with these, and one of the main guys in the seat area confirmed that the 3 lines on the alcantara seats will be perforated as alcantara cannot be debossed like leather without singing it. This may have been known but is news to me.
• All I saw in motion were V6 manuals, and there was one lonely i4 stashed in back

All in all it was a great tour with a lot of information, and I'm stoked that I got to see this before I get my car and highly recommend going. Also walked out with a 1:18 DV model, also a bonus.

If you have any other questions of what I saw today throw them at me!

Tell me more about th i4 stashed in the back. They've started production the i4's I guess? Did you get a look at the engine through the glass? Did it look decent if so?

 

[Kwarstler]

This was my first time (finally) seeing the car in the flesh and holy hell, even better than I could have imagined.

This post made me giddy! 🤗

 

[Matt]

Thanks for sharing. I saw the pre-production car in March this year. The ground clearance is definitely abnormal, because the front bumper is less than 12 cm off the ground. A factory Ferrari 458 is 16-17 cm. Also look at the height of suspension , have you ever seen a factory car with such tiny wheel gap ?!

 

[0pirates0]

Just got back to my hotel from this AM's factory tour at Hethel. This was my first time (finally) seeing the car in the flesh and holy hell, even better than I could have imagined.

I won't go as long winded as many have as much has been covered, but some things I noticed on the tour:

• The factory is hustling and bustling at every station. I can't put a figure on how many cars were in process today, but I counted around 40 in the main final assembly area so I'm assuming many of these are dealer demo cars along with more pre productions.
• There were a ton of DVs on the line which made me extremely happy, and the color looked great. At the final wheel and headlight alignment part there was my exact spec basically fully put together minus the badging - DV, tan interior, yellow calipers, diamond cut wheels, lower black pack only, and no privacy glass - it was STUNNING - oh and LHD
• All of the colors are simply awesome in person, everyone will be happy with their choice
• 80% of the cars on the line had black wheels, and from what I can see that's what they have the most of at the moment. The rest were diamond cut except for in the final holding area I spotted 2 with silver wheels.
• All of the leather seats I saw had the 3 debossed lines on them, so they are either production or close to production. I didn't see any alcantara with these, and one of the main guys in the seat area confirmed that the 3 lines on the alcantara seats will be perforated as alcantara cannot be debossed like leather without singing it. This may have been known but is news to me.
• All I saw in motion were V6 manuals, and there was one lonely i4 stashed in back

All in all it was a great tour with a lot of information, and I'm stoked that I got to see this before I get my car and highly recommend going. Also walked out with a 1:18 DV model, also a bonus.

If you have any other questions of what I saw today throw them at me!

can you describe more about the i4, is it available for test drive or just sit there? Since there was no news about the test cars and they were delayed to Q2 2023?