Build quality and reliability experiences with pre-Emira Lotus cars

[RENDERMAN]

So many stories to tell that would strengthen the brand

Pardon my interruption but I hope Lear is not pronounced Lier or Lotus will be in serious trouble. I've been dealing with Lotus since 2005 so stories does not do much for me anymore. I, like every customer out there want to start seen results! I recently purchased a 2021 Evora GT with 3500K miles and less than a year old and the $5K seats are coming undone, have a water leak (14 years in the making) the AC stopped working twice, the pillar covers are ungluing, for a customer coming from Porsche or even KIA these series of events could be devastating. I just can't understand how Lotus all of the sudden is this state of the art company with great craftsmanship. The interior on the Emira reminds me so much of a Tesla (a car I would never buy) Can't wait to see the three beautiful indentations on the seats coming unglued like my eye bags, you're going to have to use that cream on TV to put it back together!
I also feel sorry for those of you that are planning to seriously track your car, you will have to put some serious money to make it full track ready or buy the GT4 instead....
I am seriously deviating whether I should keep my deposit or just weight until the I4 3.0 comes out with more power and new and improved seats or even hold on until the electric in 2026. Nuff with my rant, have a good evening!

 

[Porter]

2021 Evora GT with 3500K miles and less than a year old and the $5K seats are coming undone, have a water leak (14 years in the making) the AC stopped working twice, the pillar covers are ungluing,

1. This is unfortunate. But thanks for the info, it's useful for those of us who are coming to Lotus from other brands.

2. Is the garaging location climate controlled? Or does it significantly temperature-swing? Just trying to figure out what might be contributing to this, to try to avoid it for myself.

 

[CoryC]

1. This is unfortunate. But thanks for the info, it's useful for those of us who are coming to Lotus from other brands.

2. Is the garaging location climate controlled? Or does it significantly temperature-swing? Just trying to figure out what might be contributing to this, to try to avoid it for myself.

I'm fairly certain the seats for the Evora are not an appropriate benchmark for the Emira; They're not from the same source and are unlikely to share same characteristics.

 

[VL3X]

I'm fairly certain the seats for the Evora are not an appropriate benchmark for the Emira; They're not from the same source and are unlikely to share same characteristics.

Evora GT seats were from Sparco. Emira's are completely different suppliers.

 

[RENDERMAN]

1. This is unfortunate. But thanks for the info, it's useful for those of us who are coming to Lotus from other brands.

2. Is the garaging location climate controlled? Or does it significantly temperature-swing? Just trying to figure out what might be contributing to this, to try to avoid it for myself.

I don't know the past since the car was traded in by it's original owner, mind you, this guy spent $10K on a car wrap and failed to do basic maintenance (should be illegal) I'm anal about my cars so I'm taking care of all needs, I've had the car for 9 weeks and been without it for 4 of those 9, just taking care of business! the Lotus my friend is like your problem child, you want to disown, buy love him too much

 

[RENDERMAN]

Evora GT seats were from Sparco. Emira's are completely different suppliers.

Sorry, At this point I don't trust anything Lotus puts together, if I was in charge I run a recall and make Sparco eat every seat they made for every Evora!! the Emira will certainly bring a new set of problems... A company doesn't correct decades of poor craftsmanship overnight, you never hear a Porsche owner say Porsche craftsmanship used to be good, not anymore.....believe you me, I hope I'm dead wrong!!

 

[RENDERMAN]

I'm fairly certain the seats for the Evora are not an appropriate benchmark for the Emira; They're not from the same source and are unlikely to share same characteristics.

in 2025 I'll be 65 so I should be alive then, I'll make sure to bring this thread back to continue to discuss those awesome Emira seats

 

[CoryC]

Sorry, At this point I don't trust anything Lotus puts together, if I was in charge I run a recall and make Sparco eat every seat they made for every Evora!! the Emira will certainly bring a new set of problems... A company doesn't correct decades of poor craftsmanship overnight, you never hear a Porsche owner say Porsche craftsmanship used to be good, not anymore.....believe you me, I hope I'm dead wrong!!

With an influx of Geely's investment and an entirely new technologically advanced facility, there is reason for cautions optimism.

 

[Porter]

I'm fairly certain the seats for the Evora are not an appropriate benchmark for the Emira; They're not from the same source and are unlikely to share same characteristics.

Yes, I know. I was referring to his experiences with interior pieces coming unglued, water leaks, etc. That's stuff you wouldn't have tolerated in a base Toyota Camry back in 1995, much less a $100k sports car in 2021, so it's useful as a point of reference for comparison to the Emira's initial quality.

 

[Porter]

Sorry, At this point I don't trust anything Lotus puts together, if I was in charge I run a recall and make Sparco eat every seat they made for every Evora!! the Emira will certainly bring a new set of problems... A company doesn't correct decades of poor craftsmanship overnight, you never hear a Porsche owner say Porsche craftsmanship used to be good, not anymore.....believe you me, I hope I'm dead wrong!!

The Evora seats were upholstered in-house in a trim shop by Lotus employees. It shows some of the process in the documentary "Lotus: A New Dawn".

 

[CoryC]

The Evora seats were upholstered in-house in a trim shop by Lotus employees. It shows some of the process in the documentary "Lotus: A New Dawn".

They had been for years, but I'm not sure the final iteration of the GT seats were... in subsequent docs we've seen that many that worked in those depts have been transferred to different stations as things are done a bit more high tech now.

 

[Twin Cam]

Sorry, At this point I don't trust anything Lotus puts together, if I was in charge I run a recall and make Sparco eat every seat they made for every Evora!! the Emira will certainly bring a new set of problems... A company doesn't correct decades of poor craftsmanship overnight, you never hear a Porsche owner say Porsche craftsmanship used to be good, not anymore.....believe you me, I hope I'm dead wrong!!

A different perspective here, I had my first ride in a Lotus around 1975 and it was light years ahead of any other British sports car manufacturer. 16V all alloy engine, pop up headlights, low drag coeff, alloy wheels, handling to die for and attractive interiors. The other marques tended to be overweight and living in the 50’s regarding specs, technology and styling ie 2/3 valves per cylinder, steel block, sprung steel rods holding the roof lining up, vinyl seats, truly shocking suspension and steering etc etc..
fast forward a few years and I was driving a (70’s Elite) and an Eclát. These cars had problems but they were always small ones, rear suspension bolts, the odd wheel bearing, fuel pump etc, and if you were savvy you could get a lot of parts from Ford or Rover parts lists at a fraction of the cost from Lotus. In a nutshell, these cars were great fun and cheap to run if you didn’t mind getting your hands dirty/ skinning your knuckles.
The guy who took me for my first ride in a Lotus told me that he wanted to own a Porsche, went to the dealership and happened to look round the workshop and was taken aback by the amount of serious repairs being carried out. He stuck with Lotus (and convinced me to) and never minded the odd Saturday trying to change the hand brake cable on his S2 Esprit or the like.

Fast forward 40 Years and not much has changed, I accept Porsche is engineered to a very high standard, but listen to my Porsche owning friends that tell me they always change cars before the warranty runs out, especially one, who got caught for a full engine rebuild on his 5 year old 26k miles 911. I would imagine there are many Porsches out there that have never missed a beat, but in my small world I know of quite a few that have emptied peoples wallets, over thing they didn’t think would ever happen to their fairly new low mileage Porsche.
Anyway, I’m waffling, but don’t be too hard On Lotus, the car world would have been a lot less exciting without them.

Lastly, I saw the car at B&C Saturday, it looked a million dollars, no iff’s no butt’s it was beautiful, the most accomplished Lotus I have ever seen

 

[RENDERMAN]

A different perspective here, I had my first ride in a Lotus around 1975 and it was light years ahead of any other British sports car manufacturer. 16V all alloy engine, pop up headlights, low drag coeff, alloy wheels, handling to die for and attractive interiors. The other marques tended to be overweight and living in the 50’s regarding specs, technology and styling ie 2/3 valves per cylinder, steel block, sprung steel rods holding the roof lining up, vinyl seats, truly shocking suspension and steering etc etc..
fast forward a few years and I was driving a (70’s Elite) and an Eclát. These cars had problems but they were always small ones, rear suspension bolts, the odd wheel bearing, fuel pump etc, and if you were savvy you could get a lot of parts from Ford or Rover parts lists at a fraction of the cost from Lotus. In a nutshell, these cars were great fun and cheap to run if you didn’t mind getting your hands dirty/ skinning your knuckles.
The guy who took me for my first ride in a Lotus told me that he wanted to own a Porsche, went to the dealership and happened to look round the workshop and was taken aback by the amount of serious repairs being carried out. He stuck with Lotus (and convinced me to) and never minded the odd Saturday trying to change the hand brake cable on his S2 Esprit or the like.

Fast forward 40 Years and not much has changed, I accept Porsche is engineered to a very high standard, but listen to my Porsche owning friends that tell me they always change cars before the warranty runs out, especially one, who got caught for a full engine rebuild on his 5 year old 26k miles 911. I would imagine there are many Porsches out there that have never missed a beat, but in my small world I know of quite a few that have emptied peoples wallets, over thing they didn’t think would ever happen to their fairly new low mileage Porsche.
Anyway, I’m waffling, but don’t be too hard On Lotus, the car world would have been a lot less exciting without them.

Lastly, I saw the car at B&C Saturday, it looked a million dollars, no iff’s no butt’s it was beautiful, the most accomplished Lotus I have ever seen

I have to be hard on Lotus, because I am passionate about the brand ( not as long as you have, since 2003). I had 3 convertible sports cars that leaked water, the last one, a 2016 Nissan 370Z with 1500 miles, was bought back cause Nissan couldn't figure it out, so I said, let me play a trick on God this time around.....so I bought a $100K hardtop car, what can go wrong with a water leak? no way!! but God has a sense of humor.....gave me a freaking leaking Evora, I can still hear Sam Kinison screaming 'AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH, AAAAAHHHHH, I LOVE LOTUS! AAAAAAAHHHHHHH"

 

[TomE]

Sorry, At this point I don't trust anything Lotus puts together, if I was in charge I run a recall and make Sparco eat every seat they made for every Evora!! the Emira will certainly bring a new set of problems... A company doesn't correct decades of poor craftsmanship overnight, you never hear a Porsche owner say Porsche craftsmanship used to be good, not anymore.....believe you me, I hope I'm dead wrong!!

Sorry to hear you've had a poor experience with a recent Lotus. In contrast my experience over 11 years of Evora ownership has been of running one of the most reliable cars I've ever owned. I've heard of people having issues with airbag covers, master cylinders, A-pillar trim, sticky sensors and damp carpets. I've not had any of those. I've had a jammed starter motor (replaced FOC outside warranty), a failed AC control panel (£70) and a failed indicator LED (£150). I wish my wife's and daughter's Audis, Volvos and VWs were as trouble-free.

I also seemed to get lucky with my earlier Lotus cars: possibly the only non-leaking Elan ever built and an Elise that only needed a low loader when the nut behind the wheel ran out of talent and parked it in a field

I'm sure we'll see some initial issues with customer Emiras, but hopefully nothing too serious. The investment in design, build and QA capabilities and the largest accumulation mileage programme Lotus has ever done should help with longer term quality and reliability.

 

[Pops68]

Sorry to hear you've had a poor experience with a recent Lotus. In contrast my experience over 11 years of Evora ownership has been of running one of the most reliable cars I've ever owned. I've heard of people having issues with airbag covers, master cylinders, A-pillar trim, sticky sensors and damp carpets. I've not had any of those. I've had a jammed starter motor (replaced FOC outside warranty), a failed AC control panel (£70) and a failed indicator LED (£150). I wish my wife's and daughter's Audis, Volvos and VWs were as trouble-free.

I also seemed to get lucky with my earlier Lotus cars: possibly the only non-leaking Elan ever built and an Elise that only needed a low loader when the nut behind the wheel ran out of talent and parked it in a field

I'm sure we'll see some initial issues with customer Emiras, but hopefully nothing too serious. The investment in design, build and QA capabilities and the largest accumulation mileage programme Lotus has ever done should help with longer term quality and reliability.

Those complaining about troubles with their Lotus ownership have undoubtedly never owned a Peugot...

 

[RENDERMAN]

Sorry to hear you've had a poor experience with a recent Lotus. In contrast my experience over 11 years of Evora ownership has been of running one of the most reliable cars I've ever owned. I've heard of people having issues with airbag covers, master cylinders, A-pillar trim, sticky sensors and damp carpets. I've not had any of those. I've had a jammed starter motor (replaced FOC outside warranty), a failed AC control panel (£70) and a failed indicator LED (£150). I wish my wife's and daughter's Audis, Volvos and VWs were as trouble-free.

I also seemed to get lucky with my earlier Lotus cars: possibly the only non-leaking Elan ever built and an Elise that only needed a low loader when the nut behind the wheel ran out of talent and parked it in a field

I'm sure we'll see some initial issues with customer Emiras, but hopefully nothing too serious. The investment in design, build and QA capabilities and the largest accumulation mileage programme Lotus has ever done should help with longer term quality and reliability.

You have been very lucky my friend (no wait ,you're not my friend! ) hope the same happens with your new and improved Emira, check this out, and I'm quoting Lotus now, I've had 3 out of 4 on this sheet, a 14 year old problem (2009) not to mention two issues with the AC. Now I gave Lotus 2010, 2011 and maybe 2012 to fix the problem, but in 2021? that's unacceptable!! I went out of my way and paid premium to purchase Lotus Flagship car, the Evora GT....
Did you know, the only soft top car I've ever owned that didn't leak was the Elise, now, Lotus comes out with the much better and improved Evora and I have a water leak (like my friend from Cuba would say "Son for Gun!"
So you see Thomas, I do need a friend and a hug..... never mind that, I need some serious therapy! I'm calling Dr. Phil, you'll see me on TV with a large group of owners telling our stories, hysterically balling, making a spectacle...
I'm going to demand to my Lotus rep provides me free of charge with 2 tubes of Beta Seal 1701 just in case
So them, how do you, who (is) highly educated, and come from England, who fought the Vikings, William Wallace, took on the French, the Germans, the Spaniards and conquered half of the world expect me to trust Lotus? I'll wait and see when I get my Emira so I'm not disappointed again... good night my friends!

 

[Bilbao-Emira]

You have been very lucky my friend (no wait ,you're not my friend! ) hope the same happens with your new and improved Emira, check this out, and I'm quoting Lotus now, I've had 3 out of 4 on this sheet, a 14 year old problem (2009) not to mention two issues with the AC. Now I gave Lotus 2010, 2011 and maybe 2012 to fix the problem, but in 2021? that's unacceptable!! I went out of my way and paid premium to purchase Lotus Flagship car, the Evora GT....
Did you know, the only soft top car I've ever owned that didn't leak was the Elise, now, Lotus comes out with the much better and improved Evora and I have a water leak (like my friend from Cuba would say "Son for Gun!"
So you see Thomas, I do need a friend and a hug..... never mind that, I need some serious therapy! I'm calling Dr. Phil, you'll see me on TV with a large group of owners telling our stories, hysterically balling, making a spectacle...
I'm going to demand to my Lotus rep provides me free of charge with 2 tubes of Beta Seal 1701 just in case
So them, how do you, who (is) highly educated, and come from England, who fought the Vikings, William Wallace, took on the French, the Germans, the Spaniards and conquered half of the world expect me to trust Lotus? I'll wait and see when I get my Emira so I'm not disappointed again... good night my friends!
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sorry for you to see this happening.
Have you tried the easy fix?

 

[RENDERMAN]

sorry for you to see this happening.
Have you tried the easy fix?

Not yet, the car is under warranty so I'm letting them deal with it, if I touch it, they will blame me...

 

[DJS]

Not yet, the car is under warranty so I'm letting them deal with it, if I touch it, they will blame me...

Are you really an Oompa Loompa or is your photo just rendered?

 

[RENDERMAN]

Are you really an Oompa Loompa or is your photo just rendered?

I hate chocolate!! 😛 if I ever do my PHD, I will do my dissertation on the pathology of a Lotus owner, human behavior, you got to love em...