World's first Emira customer delivery?

[VL3X]

Hi all,

As a quick update, I took delivery of my car yesterday at Lotus Antwerp

I think that this post could fit on several threads in the forum but I am paying tribute to eriegz who started this conversation 😉

I am attaching some pics on direct sunlight so you can have a glimpse on all the shades of dark green/clouds reflections. Needless to say again that it's even more stunning in the flesh. Also adding a pic next to my daily Class C coupe for size comparison.

I have driven around 160kms / 100 miles so far (only reason I'm not behind the steering wheel at the moment is that it's raining cats & dogs with strong winds and I am trying to avoid getting the medal for the first guy to have a tree fall on his Emira...).

In very short, I am enjoying every second as an Emira owner. Lot of things have already been said on the car following test drives so I'll just share a short summary of my very first impressions below:

- It took me around 30 minutes to forget my "muscle memory" from my Mercedes to get used to the clutch, the pedals setting and the gearbox. Well...I stalled 2 times in the Lotus parking lot, ended up several times in #4 gear instead of #2, etc. but not a show stopper at all. Once you "connect" to the car it feels natural
- Breaking-in period is 2,500 kms, with a reco not to go past 4,000 revs. Cannot therefore really comment on the full performance potential of the car yet. The EMIRA is my first sportscar so my comparison points are limited but I can tell you I already had a lot of fun, especially in sport mode (not tried track yet as a reco from the dealership). The car is planted on the road, feels super agile, nice torque, etc. It's very much alive and I am looking forward to be able to push beyond the 4,000 limit!
- Seat is confortable, interior is neat and well-finished. My wife enjoyed the ride yesterday and is super enthusiastic about future roadtrips so that's already a strong selling point 😁 The space in the backseat can fit 2 carry-on luggages
- Havent specifically focused on the sound system and navigation so far (wanted to focus on the drive and listen to the engine) but the KEF system did not specifically stand out
- Last but not least...and stating the obvious again: what a beautiful car!! I drove through a city used to welcome lots of exotics brands, and yet I have received a dozen of "thumbs up", some guys were snapping pics as I was passing, etc. Not that I am interested in coming across like a douchebag showing off his new car, but it kind of strenghtens the experience of driving something quite unique (well, being one of the first lucky guys to have the car worldwide helps I guess 😇). Went to a restaurant for dinner and frankly, it was painful to leave the car on the parking lot after staring at it for a few minutes with a grin on my face.

I'm in "honey-moon" period with the EMIRA and probably biased as I havent experienced the car enough to see some pain points/ sources of frustration (maybe KEF and visibility of the central screen under direct light are questionable) but I can say I am super happy.


Good Sunday to all,

Cheers,

NB

Congrats! That Emira is stunning. Please let us know if the wheel gap naturally lessens over the next few weeks.

 

[Captain.Kirk]

I’m beginning to wonder.

UK dealers were told in July they’d have demos in August, then they were told delayed to late August, then told it would be mid September. Now it looks like late September, but none have been given specific dates or even which week. Many have also not had confirmation of whether they’ll get the spec they requested or another spec.

People on factory tours several weeks ago were told UK demo cars were in build at the time of the visit. If a car gets finished then it should only be a few days for it to reach the dealer. The Belgian cars appear to have reached those dealers about a week after finishing build.

Maybe they’ve part built all the UK demos and are waiting on shortage parts before they can delivery them.

Lotus media seems to be doing a master class in how to NOT communicate with any of their stakeholders. It’s beyond the point of doing damage control. The Lotus brand is sadly loosing credibility. I still love Lotus but they need to give us something...soon.

 

[TomE]

Posts in this thread about the running-in procedure have been moved here:

Running in procedure

Do we know what the running in procedure will be for the Emira? I assume similar to that of an Evora or Exige? This might open up a can of worms regarding whether running in is even necessary on modern engines! :ROFLMAO:

www.emiraforum.com