A little background...
In 2021, my wife and I traveled to Sedona, Arizona to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary trip. We rented a 2020 Evora GT through Turo for that trip, and were gobsmacked. The car was fantastic, unlike any I had driven before. The mountain roads around Sedona were the perfect playground for the car. Even before we finished the trip, I knew Lotus ownership was in my future. Retirement and kids' college be damned!
Fast forward to 2024. I took delivery of my 2024 Osmium Silver Emira in March. I have had some hiccups during ownership, but overall I love the car and plan on keeping it forever. It feels that special.
This past week was our 13th wedding anniversary. 13th? Foreshadowing? Maybe...
We decided to drive to Fredericksburg, in the Texas Hill Country, for the weekend. If you've never been, the Hill Country is beautiful. Endless valleys, buttes, rolling hills, limestone formations, Live Oak trees. Lots of good regional food and drink. The Hill Country is actually a unique cultural intersection of Texas. The American West, German, Spanish, and Mexican cultures and traditions are all strong in Texas, and are concentrated and blended in this region. Plus, the heart of Hill Country is only 2-3 hours from where we live, so it's an easy get away.
The plan was to drive to state parks around our Fredericksburg Air BnB and do some day hiking. That was the plan. But like Mike Tyson says, everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. Or until they have car problems on a road trip.
Got to our cabin safe and sound on Friday night after a 3 hour drive. Woke up on Saturday, went outside to warm the car up and load up for hiking. Driver's side rear tire, 12.7 psi. Ugh. Looks like we have a quickly deflating tire. I filled the tire using the pump that came with the car. It held the pressure. Ok, maybe we can still get this taken care of and go hiking.
We drove to a local garage. Before I could pull all the way into the shop bay, the owner came out and said "I don't work on Lotuses". I agreed. With that kind of attitude, you don't work on my car. Never mind the fact it's not any different than any other low-profile high performance tire on a 20" wheel. Like what comes factory on high-option Mustangs, Camaros, Corvettes, etc.
We went to another local garage. Same story. Called another garage. Same reply as the first two. Called Discount Tire 30 minutes drive west in Kerrville. They can look at it as soon as we get there and if repairable, they should be able to fix it in an hour. OK! Done deal! It wasn't exactly on our way to where we wanted to hike, but it wasn't too far out of the way either.
A nervous 30 minute drive later, we drop the car off at Discount Tire, and walk across the street to have an early lunch at Chili's. Not my ideal lunch spot to celebrate our anniversary, but then again, I'm not a "high maintenance" kind of guy, so it'll do given the situation. A text from Discount Tire tells us the car is ready. We paid the check, and walked back across the street, fingers crossed.
Bad news: 3 punctures. 1 gash. Non-repairable. Didn't even take the tire off of the car. No tire in the right size in stock, earliest date they can get the tire is Monday. And it's Saturday.....
So now my wife and I are a little, how should I say, discouraged...... The tire is still holding air, but, where we are headed is remote, and the last thing we need is a 250+ mile flatbed tow truck ride back home for our Emira with a blown tire.
Last ditch effort. I call QuickLane garage in Kerrville. The guy on the phone says they can fix a flat that afternoon. We might still make it Lost Maples State Natural Area before sunset! The Bigtooth Maples are finally changing color, and I have literally the last park entrance reservation issued for the day. These trees are though to be descendants of Maples that grew in this part of Texas over 10,000 years ago during the Ice Age. It should be spectacular to watch the late afternoon "Golden Hour" sunlight dance on the changing leaves. All might not be lost!
I pulled into the QuickLane parking lot, duck inside the office, and approach the service desk. The cross-eyed manager behind the desk asks me if I'm the guy that just called. I affirmed so. He then said, "You didn't tell me it's a Lambo." No sir, it's not a Lambo. It's a Lotus. A Lotus with a low profile high-performance tire mounted on a 20 inch wheel, similar to the Performance Package Mustang GTs parked at the front of the lot.
The cross-eyed manager and two technicians then walk out to my car, eyeing it up and down.
- "Is them Z-rated tires?".
- Yessir, they are.
- "Fed'ral law prevents me from patchin' Z-rated tires. It's against federal law."
- Uh huh. Ok. Thank you.
Dejected and defeated, my wife and I drove back to Fredericksburg. While a quaint and fine city in its own right, Main Street Fredericksburg is mostly expensive tourist junk, art galleries, and beer/wine tasting. We ambled up and down the street, trying to find a distraction.
Unsuccessful, I figure it's time to put some sealant in my tires to see if I can stop the leak. I break out the kit included with the purchase of the car. The compressor works great. The tire sealant canister does not work. At all.
A trip to O'Reilly auto parts and a bottle of Slime later, I have the tire sealed. It appears to be holding pressure, so it looks like we can safely drive back home on Sunday with our tails tucked between our legs.
We had a good supper and early bedtime. We got up Sunday morning and checked the pressure. It held overnight. We packed up, deflated but determined to come back another weekend for a "do-over". The car ran and drove great all the way home, with no issues whatsoever from the dying tire. We even made a short stop at Colorado Bend State Park to hike to Gorman Falls. Yes, there are waterfalls and natural pools in Texas! And they are beautiful!
Morals of the story?
1) Don't underestimate The Lotus Effect on local garages. The beauty and mystique of the Lotus is too much for many local garages to handle. You may have difficulty finding someone to even attempt a repair.
2) Don't count on the tire inflator kit that comes with the car. The sealant did not work. At all.
In 2021, my wife and I traveled to Sedona, Arizona to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary trip. We rented a 2020 Evora GT through Turo for that trip, and were gobsmacked. The car was fantastic, unlike any I had driven before. The mountain roads around Sedona were the perfect playground for the car. Even before we finished the trip, I knew Lotus ownership was in my future. Retirement and kids' college be damned!
Fast forward to 2024. I took delivery of my 2024 Osmium Silver Emira in March. I have had some hiccups during ownership, but overall I love the car and plan on keeping it forever. It feels that special.
This past week was our 13th wedding anniversary. 13th? Foreshadowing? Maybe...
We decided to drive to Fredericksburg, in the Texas Hill Country, for the weekend. If you've never been, the Hill Country is beautiful. Endless valleys, buttes, rolling hills, limestone formations, Live Oak trees. Lots of good regional food and drink. The Hill Country is actually a unique cultural intersection of Texas. The American West, German, Spanish, and Mexican cultures and traditions are all strong in Texas, and are concentrated and blended in this region. Plus, the heart of Hill Country is only 2-3 hours from where we live, so it's an easy get away.
The plan was to drive to state parks around our Fredericksburg Air BnB and do some day hiking. That was the plan. But like Mike Tyson says, everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. Or until they have car problems on a road trip.
Got to our cabin safe and sound on Friday night after a 3 hour drive. Woke up on Saturday, went outside to warm the car up and load up for hiking. Driver's side rear tire, 12.7 psi. Ugh. Looks like we have a quickly deflating tire. I filled the tire using the pump that came with the car. It held the pressure. Ok, maybe we can still get this taken care of and go hiking.
We drove to a local garage. Before I could pull all the way into the shop bay, the owner came out and said "I don't work on Lotuses". I agreed. With that kind of attitude, you don't work on my car. Never mind the fact it's not any different than any other low-profile high performance tire on a 20" wheel. Like what comes factory on high-option Mustangs, Camaros, Corvettes, etc.
We went to another local garage. Same story. Called another garage. Same reply as the first two. Called Discount Tire 30 minutes drive west in Kerrville. They can look at it as soon as we get there and if repairable, they should be able to fix it in an hour. OK! Done deal! It wasn't exactly on our way to where we wanted to hike, but it wasn't too far out of the way either.
A nervous 30 minute drive later, we drop the car off at Discount Tire, and walk across the street to have an early lunch at Chili's. Not my ideal lunch spot to celebrate our anniversary, but then again, I'm not a "high maintenance" kind of guy, so it'll do given the situation. A text from Discount Tire tells us the car is ready. We paid the check, and walked back across the street, fingers crossed.
Bad news: 3 punctures. 1 gash. Non-repairable. Didn't even take the tire off of the car. No tire in the right size in stock, earliest date they can get the tire is Monday. And it's Saturday.....
So now my wife and I are a little, how should I say, discouraged...... The tire is still holding air, but, where we are headed is remote, and the last thing we need is a 250+ mile flatbed tow truck ride back home for our Emira with a blown tire.
Last ditch effort. I call QuickLane garage in Kerrville. The guy on the phone says they can fix a flat that afternoon. We might still make it Lost Maples State Natural Area before sunset! The Bigtooth Maples are finally changing color, and I have literally the last park entrance reservation issued for the day. These trees are though to be descendants of Maples that grew in this part of Texas over 10,000 years ago during the Ice Age. It should be spectacular to watch the late afternoon "Golden Hour" sunlight dance on the changing leaves. All might not be lost!
I pulled into the QuickLane parking lot, duck inside the office, and approach the service desk. The cross-eyed manager behind the desk asks me if I'm the guy that just called. I affirmed so. He then said, "You didn't tell me it's a Lambo." No sir, it's not a Lambo. It's a Lotus. A Lotus with a low profile high-performance tire mounted on a 20 inch wheel, similar to the Performance Package Mustang GTs parked at the front of the lot.
The cross-eyed manager and two technicians then walk out to my car, eyeing it up and down.
- "Is them Z-rated tires?".
- Yessir, they are.
- "Fed'ral law prevents me from patchin' Z-rated tires. It's against federal law."
- Uh huh. Ok. Thank you.
Dejected and defeated, my wife and I drove back to Fredericksburg. While a quaint and fine city in its own right, Main Street Fredericksburg is mostly expensive tourist junk, art galleries, and beer/wine tasting. We ambled up and down the street, trying to find a distraction.
Unsuccessful, I figure it's time to put some sealant in my tires to see if I can stop the leak. I break out the kit included with the purchase of the car. The compressor works great. The tire sealant canister does not work. At all.
A trip to O'Reilly auto parts and a bottle of Slime later, I have the tire sealed. It appears to be holding pressure, so it looks like we can safely drive back home on Sunday with our tails tucked between our legs.
We had a good supper and early bedtime. We got up Sunday morning and checked the pressure. It held overnight. We packed up, deflated but determined to come back another weekend for a "do-over". The car ran and drove great all the way home, with no issues whatsoever from the dying tire. We even made a short stop at Colorado Bend State Park to hike to Gorman Falls. Yes, there are waterfalls and natural pools in Texas! And they are beautiful!
Morals of the story?
1) Don't underestimate The Lotus Effect on local garages. The beauty and mystique of the Lotus is too much for many local garages to handle. You may have difficulty finding someone to even attempt a repair.
2) Don't count on the tire inflator kit that comes with the car. The sealant did not work. At all.
