First Emira Breakdown?

[Toomanyloti]

again to put things into perspective the salesman drove my new £117k Taycan out of the reveal bay and parked it straight outside. I got in it closed the door then got back out to put something in the boot. As I opened the door the top internal door trim fell off......

Its been back to the dealer a couple of times once for a software update, new tyres (all the internal sidewalls were goosed at 7300 miles - riddle me that £1400 full set change) and alignment. Alignment still out so its going back. The tyre issue is being glossed over. Is it me is it the car is it the tyres.....?????
I am apparently lucky that my heater is still working as there are sh!t loads of cars all over the world laid up with faulty heaters and no replacements. The guy who did a smart repair on one of my wheels where my car was parked/stored said he saw 50 cars in the dealers compound stuck because of heaters. I actually don't believe there could be that many but he had no reason to make it up.
..and for whatever reason it wont charge properly and it seems thats on me to find out why..

So the Lotus sh!t show is a bit disappointing but having had reliable second hand factory stories fed to me now for nearly 30 years its totally expected.

When you mix heritage lotus behavior and target non traditional lotus customers then its going to look a whole lot worse.

So apart from a pretty car with loads of orders not much else has changed and due to scaling things up might just be worse!!

I hope they sort it all out and as I have said before no business sets out to p!ss folk off.

I'm still in partly because I'm the customer they don't really want and this perversely amuses me

 

[richbrown]

Long time Porsche owner here with great experiences with Porsche Quality and Service. I'm in line for an Emira, and even though these initial production issues are a concern, especially since my Lotus Dealer is a 2.5 hour drive, I'm staying in-line for my Emira.

No one likes to hear about problems with a car they will be buying, yet it is good to expose them, even if they get blown out of proportion as most issues do on these forums.

Little/minor issues with "Fix yourself" solutions can be noted, and more serious issues can be followed to see if a manufacturer fix has been implemented.

So I'm staying IN, and expecting Lotus to sort things out in 2023. Hopefully sooner than later...

As for the OPs issue. It was stated that it was Gear Oil being dumped, which could get on the hot exhaust and smoke. So the issue may have nothing to do with the Engine, and everything to do with the tranny. Lets wait and see what it really is before making any conclusions on long term Emira quality/reliability.

Drive Safe

Totally agree and the reason I delayed my car into Q1 24. I think it was unrealistic to expect that a new line and more complex car wouldn’t have a period of teething problems.
Sorry to hear those who are having them aren’t getting them resolved quickly.

 

[Lots_Of_Trouble]

So, the car is still on my drive and NOT at Lotus.

Protocol for Roadside assistance is to get this to the Lotus dealer on breakdown.
Mine was told this is not the case by the AA and that the car was OK to drive home.

I was told by lotus Silverstone that it should have been sent there,as I suggested.
They have a specialist arriving at Silverstone to look at my car specifically today.

It was supposed to be picked up and delivered this morning to Silverstone, the collector did not turn up,so it's still on my drive.

I rang Roadside assistance and was told I'd get a call back,that was 2 hours ago.

I escalated this,still nothing.

Getting abit of a joke this is...

 

[NicolasB]

Drive it home??!!

 

[Lots_Of_Trouble]

Drive it home??!!

Yep,after arguing it should be taken directly to Lotus.

They said the engine was fine,probably just gearbox oil on the hot exhaust causing smoke.

These are the "specialist" Lotus assistance are working with....

 

[CDM1855]

Yep,after arguing it should be taken directly to Lotus.

They said the engine was fine,probably just gearbox oil on the hot exhaust causing smoke.

These are the "specialist" Lotus assistance are working with....

And you’re sure this is not the case ?

 

[ADC]

Yep,after arguing it should be taken directly to Lotus.

They said the engine was fine,probably just gearbox oil on the hot exhaust causing smoke.

These are the "specialist" Lotus assistance are working with....

And you’re sure this is not the case ?

Even if it was the case... the gearbox is fscking leaking oil. Naturally, the best thing to do when leaking lubricant/fluids is continue to drive it :maximum-sarcasm:

 

[CDM1855]

Even if it was the case... the gearbox is fscking leaking oil. Naturally, the best thing to do when leaking lubricant/fluids is continue to drive it :maximum-sarcasm:

Yes, I get that, would’ve thought that a competent technician from the AA would be able to investigate the root cause. impractical to have to keep sending cars back to dealerships.

Edit. I am forgetting the tub design would completely hide everything, not easy to see from underneath the source

 

[VL3X]

Yep,after arguing it should be taken directly to Lotus.

They said the engine was fine,probably just gearbox oil on the hot exhaust causing smoke.

These are the "specialist" Lotus assistance are working with....

Oh, so it's perfectly fine to drive with most of your gearbox oil on the pavement?

 

[Lots_Of_Trouble]

Oh, so it's perfectly fine to drive with most of your gearbox oil on the pavement?

Tell me about it,shocking.

Literally left with no choice.

"We won't be sending a lowrider out mate,it's perfectly fine to drive home..."

 

[Citizen]

Common Sense Is The Least Common Of The Senses

 

[Lots_Of_Trouble]

Tell me about it,shocking.

Literally left with no choice.

"We won't be sending a lowrider out mate,it's perfectly fine to drive home..."

It gets even better.

AA were supposed to pick it up at 9am to take to Silverstone.
Just had a call saying they aren't coming today as I'm not a priority....

If you did your bloody job in Sunday we wouldn't still be here.

In the end ,Aimee at Silverstone has had to arrange a private company to come pick it up.

It seems the dealerships are making the effort still ,which I'm grateful for.

Really not enjoying this ownership ,less than 2 weeks in, but I love the damn car....when it was working

 

[Aero]

Did you see any drips of fluid on the ground after or since? What color was it? Toyota gearbox fluid is usually red (but not sure in Emira trans)
BS they say its safe to drive...safe in it may get you home but not on the integrity of mechanicals if too much came out.

 

[Porter]

It gets even better.

AA were supposed to pick it up at 9am to take to Silverstone.
Just had a call saying they aren't coming today as I'm not a priority....

If you did your bloody job in Sunday we wouldn't still be here.

Lotus assist are as much use as a chocolate teapot,never got a call back.

In the end ,Aimee at Silverstone has had to arrange a private company to come pick it up.

It seems the dealerships are making the effort still ,which I'm grateful for,but HQ couldn't organise a p:$$ up in a brewery.

Really not enjoying this ownership ,less than 2 weeks in, but I love the damn car....when it was working

Automobile Association and Lotus HQ are not the same entity. It sounds more like your local AA staff or contractors are making up their own standard operating procedures on the fly, and Lotus HQ probably has less info about the situation than you do.

This seems like the kind of thing that's tailor-made for a good social media shaming of the AA for what is rather self-evidently negligent treatment of a customer's new vehicle breakdown.

 

[Lots_Of_Trouble]

Automobile Association and Lotus HQ are not the same entity. It sounds more like your local AA staff or contractors are making up their own standard operating procedures on the fly, and Lotus HQ probably has less info about the situation than you do.

This seems like the kind of thing that's tailor-made for a good social media shaming of the AA for what is rather self-evidently negligent treatment of a customer's new vehicle breakdown.

You're right, this is largely down to AA,And I've redacted my discontent with HQ.

In fairness they are looking into it,it's just not ideal it's still not being looked at,and Roadside assist were supposed to keep.me informed instead of not getting back to me,not HQ.

I just didn't expect to have to deal with this 10 days into ownership,more fool me.

I'm sure when all is settled, I'll reflect and comment on how in reflection,they acted well.....if it gets turned around quickly that is

 

[Lots_Of_Trouble]

Did you see any drips of fluid on the ground after or since? What color was it? Toyota gearbox fluid is usually red (but not sure in Emira trans)
BS they say its safe to drive...safe in it may get you home but not on the integrity of mechanicals if too much came out.

Yes,it's been wetting its pants on my garage floor,mirky brown with a hint of pink....sounds naughty...

 

[VL3X]

Yes,it's been wetting its pants on my garage floor,mirky brown with a hint of pink....sounds naughty...

Yeah, sounds like trans fluid. VWs use pink coolant too though. Not sure what color Lotus uses.

 

[Aero]

Yeah, sounds like trans fluid. VWs use pink coolant too though. Not sure what color Lotus uses.

According to the manual they use pink which is what toyota uses. It would feel like water if coolant and lubricant/oily if manual trans fluid. I'd expect a low coolant light on dash if that. Manual trans fluid level isnt usually monitored.
Whatever it is they should have fixed already.

 

[Porter]

This obviously sounds like gearbox, as has been stated previously.

But random question based on my own ignorance of the system... do we know what fluid Lotus uses in the chargecooler system for the supercharger? I believe that's a closed system with its own pump, and routes to a dedicated radiator. Does it use a water-based coolant? Or something else?

 

[NicolasB]

What concerns me is that normally a manual transmission does not have an external cooler and a pump and lines. They are normally just a self-contained unit, but perhaps they are different on this car? I'm just wondering how you could suddenly lose transmission fluid like that...