Dealer Demo cars in Europe and UK

[EspritGuy]

I have already said to customer service, I don’t want a test drive , I just would like my car delivered please. Don’t even want a factory visit any more!!

The test drive provision has been upgraded to a
test your patience opportunity.

 

[TomE]

After Goodwood 2021 I was OK with having to take the car without a test drive. In light of everything that’s happened since then and the concerns about parts, quality, materials, last minute changes and some of the customer and press feedback I do now want a test drive. And that’s after a factory visit, crawling all over several press cars and having a passenger ride.

As others have said, if it’s “worth the wait” then the extended wait means the “worth” needs to tick all of my boxes. I’m optimistic, but also have a high expectation.

 

[OUI131]

After Goodwood 2021 I was OK with having to take the car without a test drive. In light of everything that’s happened since then and the concerns about parts, quality, materials, last minute changes and some of the customer and press feedback I do now want a test drive. And that’s after a factory visit, crawling all over several press cars and having a passenger ride.

As others have said, if it’s “worth the wait” then the extended wait means the “worth” needs to tick all of my boxes. I’m optimistic, but also have a high expectation.

Mmm maybe I need to rethink my no test drive descision considering I havnt actually seen one in the flesh yet

 

[BeHappy]

Mmm maybe I need to rethink my no test drive descision considering I havnt actually seen one in the flesh yet

Think depends where you are on your car owing journey and what you will be using car for. For some this car will be the best car they have owned - it looks beautiful and ticks your box’s for a daily

 

[Magicman]

As much as I'd like a test drive before delivery that's looking unlikely, certainly before my 30 day, however thats also assuming my car is deliverd oct/nov . The thing is its no real gamble, test drive you're own car for a month, if it doesn't sit well after a month sell it, you'll easily get your money back or make a few quid.

 

[OUI131]

Think depends where you are on your car owing journey and what you will be using car for. For some this car will be the best car they have owned - it looks beautiful and ticks your box’s for a daily

So true, this car was supposed to be a summer toy, if it arrives late October I might get to drive it a couple of times before I disappear to my sunny winter retreat. I don’t actually drive much, my defender 90 that arrived in April this year has only done 2500 miles and it’s done a trip to Morzine, So I guess if it looks beautiful etc just crack on

 

[Lots_Of_Trouble]

After Goodwood 2021 I was OK with having to take the car without a test drive. In light of everything that’s happened since then and the concerns about parts, quality, materials, last minute changes and some of the customer and press feedback I do now want a test drive. And that’s after a factory visit, crawling all over several press cars and having a passenger ride.

As others have said, if it’s “worth the wait” then the extended wait means the “worth” needs to tick all of my boxes. I’m optimistic, but also have a high expectation.

Well articulated.

If they had kept to original timelines i would have taken the car as is without a shadow of doubt, without the need for a test drive.

As with the same concerns as you, delays , more time to think (Smartly) , talks of parts being exchanged, what we were originally offered since changing (linkage exposure etc) there is no chance i am committing before the test drive.

The interior quality and finish is a big decider for me, i am expecting big things now, if it doesnt meet that then i am contemplating waiting a few years for a second hand one, when the "premium" has dropped and getting somethign else that does have that premium feel (Mclaren/Ferrari etc) in the meantime

 

[Forlorn]

After Goodwood 2021 I was OK with having to take the car without a test drive. In light of everything that’s happened since then and the concerns about parts, quality, materials, last minute changes and some of the customer and press feedback I do now want a test drive. And that’s after a factory visit, crawling all over several press cars and having a passenger ride.

As others have said, if it’s “worth the wait” then the extended wait means the “worth” needs to tick all of my boxes. I’m optimistic, but also have a high expectation.

This has been my intent all along, I have been constantly assured by LCC that I will have an opportunity to test drive before ultimate build commitment, no I wasn’t, I was told “lock in (commit) to build or forgo a delivery Nov/Dec 2022. Because of my previous non test drive of a car (not Lotus) in 2003 - accepted a car then and it was truly awful - sold within 6 months and lost a whole load of money.
I guess that wouldn’t be the case with the Emira - but I made a decision then never to accept a car without testing.
My experience of two Evora’s SR and 400 this last 10 years gives me confidence it will be fine, but I do need to check the Sports set up ( still don’t understand Lotus position in providing this controversial two option) and gearbox noise issues I have had with both Evora’s. Not prepared to take an Emira with graunch issues. So a test is imperative - as stated in Autocar the other week, it’s a must.
For Lotus not to provide this in a suitable timeframe is a travesty for all. I think they are worried that customers new to the brand will walk away, particularly if as Tom says build quality is iffy!!!

 

[Leonard]

This has been my intent all along, I have been constantly assured by LCC that I will have an opportunity to test drive before ultimate build commitment, no I wasn’t, I was told “lock in (commit) to build or forgo a delivery Nov/Dec 2022. Because of my previous non test drive of a car (not Lotus) in 2003 - accepted a car then and it was truly awful - sold within 6 months and lost a whole load of money.
I guess that wouldn’t be the case with the Emira - but I made a decision then never to accept a car without testing.
My experience of two Evora’s SR and 400 this last 10 years gives me confidence it will be fine, but I do need to check the Sports set up ( still don’t understand Lotus position in providing this controversial two option) and gearbox noise issues I have had with both Evora’s. Not prepared to take an Emira with graunch issues. So a test is imperative - as stated in Autocar the other week, it’s a must.
For Lotus not to provide this in a suitable timeframe is a travesty for all. I think they are worried that customers new to the brand will walk away, particularly if as Tom says build quality is iffy!!!

How many RHD cars are talking for the UK
A dozen.....

 

[JohnHoward]

After Goodwood 2021 I was OK with having to take the car without a test drive. In light of everything that’s happened since then and the concerns about parts, quality, materials, last minute changes and some of the customer and press feedback I do now want a test drive. And that’s after a factory visit, crawling all over several press cars and having a passenger ride.

As others have said, if it’s “worth the wait” then the extended wait means the “worth” needs to tick all of my boxes. I’m optimistic, but also have a high expectation.

I'm not too worried about the test drive, but I do want to check that the radio works well. The radio in my Evora 410 Sport was a disaster, it wouldn't stay tuned in for more than five minutes. I even took it to a car radio specialist and he couldn't improve it. Apparently it was something to do with the aerial not being able to get a good ground connection (or something like that).
I tried a battery powered wireless (DAB), but my wife tired of it sliding across the dashboard and hitting her kness.
I ended up having to connect my telephone to the car and use the radio on that and had extra cost for data which I didn't have previously and the associated mither of not using more data than allowed.
My plan is to ask the dealer/retailer to drive the car whilst I try tuning in to different channels, so it doesn't matter if it is a manual demo car (I have ordered auto).
So if the radio is duff, it will be a deal breaker, I don't want all the faffing about I had with the Evora.
I appreciate that to some reading this post, it will seem ridiculous, even to me it seems mildly ridiculous, but you can't have Popmaster fading in and out.

 

[TomE]

This has been my intent all along, I have been constantly assured by LCC that I will have an opportunity to test drive before ultimate build commitment, no I wasn’t, I was told “lock in (commit) to build or forgo a delivery Nov/Dec 2022. Because of my previous non test drive of a car (not Lotus) in 2003 - accepted a car then and it was truly awful - sold within 6 months and lost a whole load of money.
I guess that wouldn’t be the case with the Emira - but I made a decision then never to accept a car without testing.
My experience of two Evora’s SR and 400 this last 10 years gives me confidence it will be fine, but I do need to check the Sports set up ( still don’t understand Lotus position in providing this controversial two option) and gearbox noise issues I have had with both Evora’s. Not prepared to take an Emira with graunch issues. So a test is imperative - as stated in Autocar the other week, it’s a must.
For Lotus not to provide this in a suitable timeframe is a travesty for all. I think they are worried that customers new to the brand will walk away, particularly if as Tom says build quality is iffy!!!

Lotus did make it clear at the reveal that very early deposit holders probably wouldn't get a test drive before having to commit contractually. That's often the case with getting onto the list for a pre-launch. I was OK with it, based on knowing the Lotus development team and the intentions.

Several things changed. The huge level of interest and Lotus keeping the V6 FE book open for a long time meant the group of people with deposits and limited prospects of a test drive increased dramatically. Plus many of those people weren't familiar with buying a pre-launch car and all the implications of that, so had different expectations. The launch edition Evora was 400 cars worldwide, 200 in the UK - it's 5-10x that for Emira.

Lotus tried to address this (at least in the UK) by moving the contractual commitment point much later, to 30 days before delivery. The original plan - now dropped - was commitment at payment of third deposit, which would have been Jan-ish for a May/June delivery. That would have meant maybe 3 months worth of UK people (say 500 people) having to commit without test drives. Lotus clearly decided to change the 3rd deposit requirement to reduce the risk of people cancelling or deferring, but they also at that time (Jan/Feb) also started saying everyone would get a chance to test drive before the 30 day commitment.

That reset everyone's expectations and removed the thought for most people that this is still a pre-launch exercise for many deposit holders. Less so because of the test drive but more because spec has had to be committed 3/6/9 months ago and can't be changed without incurring a delay.

The parts supply issues and the very visible pre-production shortfalls and iterations between versions have also contributed to a sense of uncertainty about some aspects of the final production car. The seats are a key example of this - it's fundamental to the experience for a sports car, the reveal/show car had poor ones and the various iterations have taken a long time to get to a final version that seems OK but has not been seen/sat in by many people yet.

 

[TomE]

I'm not too worried about the test drive, but I do want to check that the radio works well. The radio in my Evora 410 Sport was a disaster, it wouldn't stay tuned in for more than five minutes. I even took it to a car radio specialist and he couldn't improve it. Apparently it was something to do with the aerial not being able to get a good ground connection (or something like that).
I tried a battery powered wireless (DAB), but my wife tired of it sliding across the dashboard and hitting her kness.
I ended up having to connect my telephone to the car and use the radio on that and had extra cost for data which I didn't have previously and the associated mither of not using more data than allowed.
My plan is to ask the dealer/retailer to drive the car whilst I try tuning in to different channels, so it doesn't matter if it is a manual demo car (I have ordered auto).
So if the radio is duff, it will be a deal breaker, I don't want all the faffing about I had with the Evora.
I appreciate that to some reading this post, it will seem ridiculous, even to me it seems mildly ridiculous, but you can't have Popmaster fading in and out.

It's a problem with grounding in a car with an aluminium chassis and plastic bodywork. Affects Evora and Elise/Exige. Unless they've addressed it with a better antenna then it'll still be a factor.

I guess they assume everyone streams music over their mobile phone's data connection these days. No CD player or tape deck fitted either!

 

[JohnHoward]

It's a problem with grounding in a car with an aluminium chassis and plastic bodywork. Affects Evora and Elise/Exige. Unless they've addressed it with a better antenna then it'll still be a factor.

I guess they assume everyone streams music over their mobile phone's data connection these days. No CD player or tape deck fitted either!

Yes, you have reminded me, that is what the car radio guy said about the body and chassis.

So, I may as well bin my quadrophonic tapes along with my cassettes and the pencil I used to tighten the cassette reels.

 

[Rudolph]

* * * * *
From the German Lotus Forum........

 

[Tonyshepp]

* * * * *
From the German Lotus Forum........

Fixing it already ?

 

[virtualmacho]

Looks to me like they're trying to fit the white lawn mower in the front of the Emira.

 

[digilotus]

It seems that nobody told them the battery is in the boot and not under the bonnet

 

[VL3X]

I guess they assume everyone streams music over their mobile phone's data connection these days. No CD player or tape deck fitted either!

What's a tape deck? Jk...

My daily driver has a slot for a SD card which I found really convenient. I simply dragged and dropped my entire itunes library (back when I used itunes) to the SD card and popped it in my car. Within minutes I had 30k songs organized, sortable, and with album art in my vehicle. It's a great feature and it'd be nice if the Emira had the option, but not a big deal to me since everything is easily streamable.

 

[digilotus]

What's a tape deck? Jk...

My daily driver has a slot for a SD card which I found really convenient. I simply dragged and dropped my entire itunes library (back when I used itunes) to the SD card and popped it in my car. Within minutes I had 30k songs organized, sortable, and with album art in my vehicle. It's a great feature and it'd be nice if the Emira had the option, but not a big deal to me since everything is easily streamable.

You should be able to do the same with a usb drive plugged into one of the two glovebox ports.

 

[VL3X]

You should be able to do the same with a usb drive plugged into one of the two glovebox ports.

Good point! That would actually work nicely down in the port below the shifter and shouldn't get bumped.