First Emira Breakdown?

[Lots_Of_Trouble]

Well,I'm not a happy chappy today.
144 miles in and poofff..

Smoke and oil blowing out the back.
Still not gone above 4500 rpm as quoted and this happens.

Yes ,these things happen I'll take that.

But the roadside assistance that followed was poor and unclear. The call centre is in Athens, they were unable to tell me about the process about how.lotus are going to pick this up or if they will call me or I need to call them.

AA came in an hour to be fair.
Still here,looking at a car that could be off the road for a while....

UPDATE to help possible new owners:
AA chap and Lotus Silverstones early thoughts on the issue:
Engine is most likely not the issue,levels were fine and no leaks from there,no warning light too.

Leaks "seemed" to be gearbox oil related,has happened previously with Toyota parts apparently .

Lotus Silverstone arranging for the car to be picked up from home to Their garage,not sure how long the wait will be yet.

Fingers crossed not too major,but still a blow for one week of ownership....

 

[Andy H]

Oh no! That's awful. Please do let us know what the verdict is. As you say, I guess these thing do happen - bathtub curve etc and a small (hopefully, extremely small) minority will get unlucky. No consolation when you're waiting on the roadside for the low-loader though.

All the best for a quick recovery!

 

[TomE]

Really sorry to hear this and hope you get things sorted. The Toyota engine and drivetrain has been very reliable in other applications, so it would be very surprising for that to let go.

In reply to your subject line, you aren’t the first to break down, or the first to discover Lotus Roadside Assistance isn’t great.

 

[New to Lotus]

Sorry to hear about your issues, but that's the main reason I cancelled going on how lotus treated people before they even got a car it was never going to be good. The after care is going to become a real issue for lotus.

 

[Lots_Of_Trouble]

New to Lotus issues,had an elise before but it was great.

Any idea who I complain to,to get this escalated and fixed urgently,I'm not.holding my breath on a new car bit won't want to be paying for it whilst I'm waiting....

 

[TomE]

I’ve messaged you contact details for escalating this.

 

[CDM1855]

Very surprising considering this is a proven workhorse, Hopefully just a loose pipe

 

[DerTheDer]

This does not bode well for my considerations on my 800 mile roadtrip driving the Emira home. Sorry this happened to you.

 

[Twin Cam]

painful times for both customers and Lotus, something will have to change. Personally I would be calling a meeting of all managers tomorrow morning and first thing on the agenda would be to identify which hand of seatbelt goes which side. There needs to be some late nights at Hethel this week as well as some tough decisions made.

It really pains me to see peoples goodwill, loyalty and dreams slipping through Lotus’ fingers.

Come on Hethel, you have been in tighter spots than this and turned it round!!!

 

[Hobiedick]

painful times for both customers and Lotus, something will have to change. Personally I would be calling a meeting of all managers tomorrow morning and first thing on the agenda would be to identify which hand of seatbelt goes which side. There needs to be some late nights at Hethel this week as well as some tough decisions made.

It really pains me to see peoples goodwill, loyalty and dreams slipping through Lotus’ fingers.

Come on Hethel, you have been in tighter spots than this and turned it round!!!

It's time Windle fell on his sword!!

 

[Twin Cam]

It's time Windle fell on his sword!!

Who says it’s him? I would think his superiors are the ones dictating the strategy

 

[dgrace]

Well, there is some irony in your screen name…

 

[shaank]

I've had to deal with lotus assist 4 times now, and have fed back several 'learning points' to lotus re them, so unfortunately, feeling your pain.

 

[TomE]

@shaank is yours back yet?

 

[shaank]

@shaank is yours back yet?

negative. 3 weeks so far this time around, requires new ECU. I'll post an update in the issues thread when I get more details.

 

[Jimblob]

It’s a real shame that early customers aren’t being looked after very well… the questionable aftercare was a big reason why I chose a Lotus instead of McLaren…

Let’s hope they up their game very quickly.

 

[DerTheDer]

It’s a real shame that early customers aren’t being looked after very well… the questionable aftercare was a big reason why I chose a Lotus instead of McLaren…

Let’s hope they up their game very quickly.

That was also a mistake. Both are not good.

 

[Evotion]

The smoke will be the oil burning.
Suggests a leak in the system. Head gasket, pipes, engine block, cylinder head.
Not good. Certainly, do not let anybody start it.

Hopefully it is more innocuous and it is an easy fix.
Either way, this is AWFUL PR and Lotus need to be on these episodes like flies on shit.

 

[Lotustoronto]

Who says it’s him? I would think his superiors are the ones dictating the strategy

This is beyond strategy, this is about implementing process to ensure proper construction, QA and importantly CS to owners. He wrote the book on how this should happen for the Emira... (if not write it he certainly approved it) I agree he needs to be held accountable, along with other senior staff that were made to implement this. Guys like Carr and Kershaw did their job, Emira looks amazing (Carr) and handles brilliantly (Kershaw).

One thing I do not understand is with all the delays to production due to parts, how did the software team not find all these faults in the ECU over the last year? Certainly strange considering they had been given far more time than they first expected.

 

[BeHappy]

I've had to deal with lotus assist 4 times now, and have fed back several 'learning points' to lotus re them, so unfortunately, feeling your pain.

Shaank does this mean your car has had to be recovered 4 times since you’ve taken delivery ?