North America Emira Experiences

[Rupes]

Greatly enjoying hearing and reading about everyone enjoying their new Emiras! Happy for all of you and living vicariously through your adventures! I'm likely still a few months out from my delivery and not sure if this is the right place for this question, but here goes. I currently live just 12 minutes from the nearest Lotus dealer but the wife wants us to move to a city 500 miles away to be closer to our adult son, potentially putting me and my new Emira a good 7 hour drive from said closest dealer. Short of getting a new wife, which I've contemplated, and considering I know quite a few of you have driven your cars home quite a ways from the dealer where you picked it up from (and maybe also own or have owned previous Lotus cars at a similar distance from the dealer), how has this experience been and how do you deal with this when it comes to service? I'm of course especially concerned near term with all the new car bugs which may require frequent trips to the dealer but also longer term. Any thoughts you could share on this would be appreciated.

How much time you have? You might find a new wife before the list of problems

Thanks @Nova and everyone else for the dialog on "distant" warranty service being covered by Lotus with towing, that makes me feel slightly better. Except maybe for....#1. What about routine maintenance especially during the warranty period? Going to need an oil change after break in right? And other routine services. Aren't you going to want Lotus working on it during this time? I assume this won't be covered by towing. Or will it? And #2, "towing" likely means on a flatbed, not a closed carrier, for hundreds of miles, to and from. Every service. Anyone with any experience with this, and any issues, damage, mishandling, etc?

I’m with you on these concerns, and would like to know the same.

I’m 150 miles (3.5 hrs) from my dealer in Seattle. Not ideal, but I figure scheduled service probably happens about once a year, and I can find an excuse to go up for a day - watch a baseball game or something, and come home the next day.

Not ideal, but I knew getting a Lotus was going to be a unique experience. Maybe it will lead to some good stories, or maybe I’ll get tired of it real quick. Time will tell.

 

[MaybeNeedEmira]

I currently live just 12 minutes from the nearest Lotus dealer but the wife wants us to move to a city 500 miles away to be closer to our adult son.
.. snip ..
Any thoughts you could share on this would be appreciated.

Seems like there's a big factor we all missed. Which town/state and how are the driving roads there?

That plus intangibles of driving vs family unity which many balance often!

 

[GrahamClark_60-68]

Seems like there's a big factor we all missed. Which town/state and how are the driving roads there?

That plus intangibles of driving vs family unity which many balance often!

In my case it would be Boise to Park Place in Bellevue, WA (7 hours) but @Eagle7 has now informed me of a new Lotus dealer in SLC which would be ~5 hours and an easier drive. But still.....def sub-optimal as they would say. Concern now about how many trips to the dealer this car is going to need in the first few months of ownership, given others' experience so far, even with 2.0 cars.

 

[trackday14]

So, I just got word that Lotus Engineering diagnosed my car’s issue as a faulty Mass Airflow Sensor. My dealership has ordered the part. Let’s hope that it takes less time than the 2 weeks it took to identify the problem!

 

[I.am.Duke]

So, I just got word that Lotus Engineering diagnosed my car’s issue as a faulty Mass Airflow Sensor. My dealership has ordered the part. Let’s hope that it takes less time than the 2 weeks it took to identify the problem!

Or the 2+ years it took to get a car.

 

[Maurice R]

Update on my car deal finally received the TEM module. It cost $3k but is under warranty.
Car going in on Monday. Also going to do 100 mile oil change. I know it’s not required but I want it done.
I’m driving the car just working around the the faults. Just have to reset it as faults occur

 

[Nova]

Update on my car deal finally received the TEM module. It cost $3k but is under warranty.
Car going in on Monday. Also going to do 100 mile oil change. I know it’s not required but I want it done.
I’m driving the car just working around the the faults. Just have to reset it as faults occur

Geez, lets hope that's it. Hang in there.

 

[wallstbear]

Seems like there's a big factor we all missed. Which town/state and how are the driving roads there?

That plus intangibles of driving vs family unity which many balance often!

My question is, which is more frequent, adult children spending time with their parents or a Lotus requiring service/repair?

 

[trackday14]

My question is, which is more frequent, adult children spending time with their parents or a Lotus requiring service/repair?

I think that there are 2 potential measures here:

(1) # of visits by adult children vs. # of visits by a Lotus to a service service department; or
(2) amount of time visiting parents vs. amount of time the Lotus spends visiting a service department.

If you go by #2, so far my Emira is way ahead! My car has been in the my dealership’s service department for 17 days…I see my parents once a month or less.

 

[EspritGuy]

I think that there are 2 potential measures here:

(1) # of visits by adult children vs. # of visits by a Lotus to a service service department; or
(2) amount of time visiting parents vs. amount of time the Lotus spends visiting a service department.

If you go by #2, so far my Emira is way ahead! My car has been in the my dealership’s service department for 17 days…I see my parents once a month or less.

#ForTheVisitor

 

[Maurice R]

Went for a drive this morning with two other Dallas owners
I chose what I think was a nice route
Car is finally run in. Was getting up to 6000 rpm
Car-sounds fantastic
Handles superbly like on rails. Cornering at possibly excessive speed great
As far as interior noise even at higher revs was loud but my passenger and I could talk and hear each other. Did not have really raise our voices to be heard.
Car still has a few issues but did not go into limp mode today
Going to dealer in morning to get this hopefully taken care of
I think when problems some people are experiencing are resolved you will love the car and everything about it.
Feature I like best so far is the performance. It shows airflow over the car. Boost, HP , G force. Pretty cool

EDIT forgot to post a picture

 

[Maurice R]

Went for a drive this morning with two other Dallas owners
I chose what I think was a nice route
Car is finally run in. Was getting up to 6000 rpm
Car-sounds fantastic
Handles superbly like on rails. Cornering at possibly excessive speed great
As far as interior noise even at higher revs was loud but my passenger and I could talk and hear each other. Did not have really raise our voices to be heard.
Car still has a few issues but did not go into limp mode today
Going to dealer in morning to get this hopefully taken care of
I think when problems some people are experiencing are resolved you will love the car and everything about it.
Feature I like best so far is the performance. It shows airflow over the car. Boost, HP , G force. Pretty cool

EDIT forgot to post a picture

 

[trackday14]

3 weeks and a day, but my Emira is fixed and ready to go! Picking it up from service tomorrow.

 

[trackday14]

So, I picked up my Emira this morning after it was in my dealer’s service department for the last 3 weeks and all seems well. Drove it around for about 40 minutes…no old (or new) issues.

I thought the group would be interested to note that there were several Emiras in service - at varying levels of disassembly. One of the service guys said that they are seeing cars with 50ish miles on them coming in with problems.

I’m hoping that most of these issues are resolved in the first year of ownership.

 

[scc.131.fe]

So, I picked up my Emira this morning and all seems well. Drove it around for about 40 minutes…no old (or new) issues.

I thought the group would be interested to note that there were several Emiras in service - at varying levels of disassembly. One of the service guys said that they are seeing cars with 50ish miles on them coming in with problems.

I’m hoping that most of these issues are resolved in the first year of ownership.

Lucky day for both of us, congrats!

 

[JKP]

My car has been in service at the dealership for 10 days and they can’t even tell me why the Check Engine Light is on…not enough information in the codes that were thrown. Case escalated to Lotus Engineering over a week ago and Lotus has not reached out to my dealer.

 

[JKP]

My car has been in service at the dealership for 10 days and they can’t even tell me why the Check Engine Light is on…not enough information in the codes that were thrown. Case escalated to Lotus Engineering over a week ago and Lotus has not reached out to my dealer.

Were they able to diagnose the check engine light issue? My car has the same issue, would be nice to be able to tell my dealer what it might be in case they can't figure it out quickly.

 

[Eagle7]

So, I picked up my Emira this morning after it was in my dealer’s service department for the last 3 weeks and all seems well. Drove it around for about 40 minutes…no old (or new) issues.

I thought the group would be interested to note that there were several Emiras in service - at varying levels of disassembly. One of the service guys said that they are seeing cars with 50ish miles on them coming in with problems.

I’m hoping that most of these issues are resolved in the first year of ownership.

Did they say the types of issues they were seeing?

 

[trackday14]

Were they able to diagnose the check engine light issue? My car has the same issue, would be nice to be able to tell my dealer what it might be in case they can't figure it out quickly.

Mass Airflow Sensor

 

[trackday14]

Did they say the types of issues they were seeing?

Nothing consistent.