Build quality and reliability experiences with pre-Emira Lotus cars

[Bilbao-Emira]

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

oh ok, sorry I forgot to mention the easy fix:
Don't drive it on the rain !

 

[RENDERMAN]

oh ok, sorry I forgot to mention the easy fix:
Don't drive it on the rain !

I can fix it myself, I even bought a smoke leak detector but ended up returning, I figure if they need to replace the door seal or anything else, it could be an expensive proposition for me, I'm really upset at the previous owner, as all of these issues should have been resolved within the 1st month of ownership, but he chose to spend the money on a wrap instead... unbelievable!!

 

[Bilbao-Emira]

I can fix it myself, I even bought a smoke leak detector but ended up returning, I figure if they need to replace the door seal or anything else, it could be an expensive proposition for me, I'm really upset at the previous owner, as all of these issues should have been resolved within the 1st month of ownership, but he chose to spend the money on a wrap instead... unbelievable!!

I feel for you.
I only have 6 months and 6.000 kms with my EVORA GT410 2019, and lucky so far no issues at all.
In Spain, by law, the seller of a used car has to issue a 1 year warranty, which clearly would cover your leak case. There is no such regulation in US?

 

[DaaS]

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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Wish your experience was better.

In an effort to continue to derail this nice thread about seats, I just wanted to say that I have not had any of these problems with water leakage and my seats are not falling apart. I guess not all Evoras were made on a Friday right before a long holiday weekend.

 

[RENDERMAN]

I feel for you.
I only have 6 months and 6.000 kms with my EVORA GT410 2019, and lucky so far no issues at all.
In Spain, by law, the seller of a used car has to issue a 1 year warranty, which clearly would cover your leak case. There is no such regulation in US?

I got mine with 3500 miles on it, Yes we have similar laws but is a tricky situation, if I don't do the job with an authorized dealership, Lotus can come back and say I didn't follow protocol, if the car had been out of warranty then, I would have fixed it at my expense but trying not void the warranty, plus the Lotus dealership has special communication with high techs and service engineers who can figure things out...

 

[GetawayDriving]

My first Jeep Wrangler went through 2 radiators, leaky axle seals, and a 12V battery failure before the warranty was up. That Jeep saw a flat bed twice under 60k miles. Oil cooler also failed. When the axle seals failed, it poured oil all over the rear brakes and Jeep refused to cover this "collateral damage" under warranty, leading to an $800 repair. At that repair, they ran my Jeep into a utility pole pulling it out of the garage, putting a yellow gash down the side of my fender. They denied this until I drove around back and found the damn utility pole, with matching silver paint on it. Only then did they repair for me.

2nd Jeep, a 5 month old fully $70k spec Rubicon 4XE, stopped charging the hybrid battery throwing a "Charge fault error". Dealer told me there was an open circuit in the charge point, and it would need a new one. Back-ordered for months. I drove it up to Quebec on a vacation, and days later it died in the driveway of my Airbnb in January's 15-below temps. Jeep refused to cover any warranty service in Canada, and required that I tow it over the border to the US. No tow service would agree to this, since crossing the border at the time meant Covid quarantines and testing. I joined CAA (Canadian roadside) and they came out to jump me thinking it was a dead 12V. Didn't work. They came out a 2nd time to remove my 12V battery and charge it on the bench overnight, which also didn't work. This lead to a tow-rope tow down the 1.5 mile snow caked dirt track, terrain entirely appropriate for a Jeep Rubicon but not for a flatbed, so they had to bring an F-150 to winch me out and tow with a strap as I steered a dead Jeep behind them. I had it towed to a Canadian dealer. $1,200 later, I was back on the road like nothing had happened. The dealer just... charged my 12V battery. To make matters stranger, this miraculously fixed my charge fault error, and the Jeep charged fine.

So Jeep is my benchmark for a bad customer experience.

 

[NicolasB]

My first Jeep Wrangler went through 2 radiators, leaky axle seals, and a 12V battery failure before the warranty was up. That Jeep saw a flat bed twice under 60k miles. Oil cooler also failed. When the axle seals failed, it poured oil all over the rear brakes and Jeep refused to cover this "collateral damage" under warranty, leading to an $800 repair. At that repair, they ran my Jeep into a utility pole pulling it out of the garage, putting a yellow gash down the side of my fender. They denied this until I drove around back and found the damn utility pole, with matching silver paint on it. Only then did they repair for me.

2nd Jeep, a 5 month old fully $70k spec Rubicon 4XE, stopped charging the hybrid battery throwing a "Charge fault error". Dealer told me there was an open circuit in the charge point, and it would need a new one. Back-ordered for months. I drove it up to Quebec on a vacation, and days later it died in the driveway of my Airbnb in January's 15-below temps. Jeep refused to cover any warranty service in Canada, and required that I tow it over the border to the US. No tow service would agree to this, since crossing the border at the time meant Covid quarantines and testing. I joined CAA (Canadian roadside) and they came out to jump me thinking it was a dead 12V. Didn't work. They came out a 2nd time to remove my 12V battery and charge it on the bench overnight, which also didn't work. This lead to a tow-rope tow down the 1.5 mile snow caked dirt track, terrain entirely appropriate for a Jeep Rubicon but not for a flatbed, so they had to bring an F-150 to winch me out and tow with a strap as I steered a dead Jeep behind them. I had it towed to a Canadian dealer. $1,200 later, I was back on the road like nothing had happened. The dealer just... charged my 12V battery. To make matters stranger, this miraculously fixed my charge fault error, and the Jeep charged fine.

So Jeep is my benchmark for a bad customer experience.

Jeeps have been pieces of garbage for years, and I'm pretty sure almost everyone knows it. The crazy thing is, people just keep going back for more punishment and buying these boxes of shit and paying more and more for them every year. I think Jeep people make Lotus people look pretty normal.

 

[lion shf]

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!

Seems like I’d be super dumb to dd this thing for 8 years. C8s are still breaking BRAND NEW transmissions (for 4 years now) the 718 T is leap frogging these other two. Getting ridiculous

 

[Forlorn]

Seems like I’d be super dumb to dd this thing for 8 years. C8s are still breaking BRAND NEW transmissions (for 4 years now) the 718 T is leap frogging these other two. Getting ridiculous

Owned many Lotus from 1971 onwards:
Elan S3 - trouble with driveline doughnuts.
Elite 502 - rear suspension bolts always broke, but chamfer was the cure.
Esprit turbo - manifold corrosion, everything else was great over 8 years.
Elise S1 - no issues at all. Perfect
Evora S - perfect no problems
Evora400 - window seals changed under warranty - then no problems.
Both Evora’s over 9 years absolutely great. Truly exceptional.
with Emira - if anything small teething issues will appear, but I think from test drive thread people are going to be unhappy with KEF and screen controls. But didn’t McLaren also have issues on their early cars.