Japan - Emira Test Drives (エミーラ試乗体験) - posts in Japanese

[virtualmacho]

Information related to test drives in Japan such as availability of drivetrains, suspension configurations, and routes. This thread may seem redundant, as we already have The great big "all the customer test drives" thread, but wanted a place for discussions in Japanese.
ディーラーでの試乗に関する話題はこちらに。英語での投稿は The great big "all the customer test drives" thread にしていただくとして、気兼ねなく日本語で投稿できる場を設けてみました。

 

[Tokion]

Today October 2, 2023 I made my first visit to the beautiful Lotus Showroom in Harajuku, Tokyo after the Eletre joined and it is displayed alongside the Emira V6. Interestingly there was another Emira V6 with number plates parked in front of the store (both are Seneca blue). I was told this registered car is reserved for press relations, and that it is not for customer demo drives. (But I am certain this is somewhat flexible;-)

I listened to the audio in the Eletre, and I found it to be acceptable. However, today time did not allow to also listen in the Emira.

The overall audio impression was fairly good, and I realized that the STAGE preset position sounded the best of the 3 possibilities. I cannot tell you exactly how good the audio performance is in absolute terms, since I was limited to listen to preinstalled demo files that are not my own, and the files were of unknown quality.

 

[Tokion]

Today October 2, 2023 I made my first visit to the beautiful Lotus Showroom in Harajuku, Tokyo after the Eletre joined and it is displayed alongside the Emira V6. Interestingly there was another Emira V6 with number plates parked in front of the store (both are Seneca blue). I was told this registered car is reserved for press relations, and that it is not for customer demo drives. (But I am certain this is somewhat flexible;-)

I listened to the audio in the Eletre, and I found it to be acceptable. However, today time did not allow to also listen in the Emira.

The overall audio impression was fairly good, and I realized that the STAGE preset position sounded the best of the 3 possibilities. I cannot tell you exactly how good the audio performance is in absolute terms, since I was limited to listen to preinstalled demo files that are not my own, and the files were of unknown quality.

But there were no Lotus cookies around

 

[virtualmacho]

But there were no Lotus cookies around

They are reserved for distinguished guests only.
上客専用かもしれません！

 

[virtualmacho]

So, no test drives in Japan? Customer deliveries are taking priority? If so, we should lock this thread.
結局、一般顧客による試乗 (路上で運転) って無かったのかな？そうであれば、このスレを閉じます。

 

[ino]

I really din’t know who he is, but a V6 AT test drive video in Tokyo.
Part I:
Part II:

試乗車よりも納車を優先している、みたいな話は聞きました。でもオーダー枠決まってない車両なら試乗車にできるはずですし、地方行脚に駆り出されているのでしょうか…。

 

[virtualmacho]

I really din’t know who he is, but a V6 AT test drive video in Tokyo.

試乗車よりも納車を優先している、みたいな話は聞きました。でもオーダー枠決まってない車両なら試乗車にできるはずですし、地方行脚に駆り出されているのでしょうか…。

Hmm. City streets and traffic... Not an exciting video, but shows that test drives are available to non-journalists.
都内じゃこんな感じになってしまうんでしょうね。ここまで来たら今更試乗したいとも思いませんが、声も掛けてもらえなかったことに寂しさを覚えます。

 

[Nick219]

The video was made by me,,,, I was also not super happy when I drove the car because of traffic jam. The test drive time slot was not good and I may ask dealer to do it one more time with AT or 6MT. I would recommend to make a call to dealer as a test drive is available.

 

[virtualmacho]

The video was made by me,,,, I was also not super happy when I drove the car because of traffic jam. The test drive time slot was not good and I may ask dealer to do it one more time with AT or 6MT. I would recommend to make a call to dealer as a test drive is available.

How did you feel about driving the Emira in traffic? I know everyone has different expectations and tastes, each car is different, and to top it off, the test vehicle was an automatic. But did the size of the car and brake feel bother you in traffic?
個人差・個体差はあると思いますが渋滞中の「雰囲気」はどうでした？車格やブレーキの具合など。

 

[Nick219]

How did you feel about driving the Emira in traffic? I know everyone has different expectations and tastes, each car is different, and to top it off, the test vehicle was an automatic. But did the size of the car and brake feel bother you in traffic?
個人差・個体差はあると思いますが渋滞中の「雰囲気」はどうでした？車格やブレーキの具合など。

I think the overall "feeling" was quite good except "brake touch". I was not used to that feeling especially during traffic jams. The distance between brake and acceleration pedal is too close to me, that also made me bit uncomfortable. I'll try to get a next chance of test drive and review all possible insights which eventually will be broadcasted at youtube. Wait a moment, please!

 

[Tokion]

Hi Nick219
Welcome to the forum. It looks like you are with the LCI Harajuku store, just like myself (I am kept waiting for an I4).

Recently I was explicitly told that the demonstrator car is exclusively for lending to the press; and it is not for test drives by customers.

Have you already signed up for an Emira, and paid the 10% initial down payment; or are you still prior to that and trying to determine which version to buy?

LCI Japan officially say that all V6 First Edition Cars are sold out, and the only version still offered is i4 First Edition with 4-cylinder AMG turbocharged engine and DCT (automated) gearbox. But there has so far not been any i4 demonstrator available in Japan, and customers like myself had to decide ‘blind’ about 2 1/2 years ago, and we are still waiting, and we will have to accept whatever shows up in the end

Anyhow, Nick219, I hope that in the end several of us Emira owners in the greater Tokyo area can meet up with our cars and exchange experiences and stories together.

 

[Nick219]

Hi Nick219
Welcome to the forum. It looks like you are with the LCI Harajuku store, just like myself (I am kept waiting for an I4).

Recently I was explicitly told that the demonstrator car is exclusively for lending to the press; and it is not for test drives by customers.

Have you already signed up for an Emira, and paid the 10% initial down payment; or are you still prior to that and trying to determine which version to buy?

LCI Japan officially say that all V6 First Edition Cars are sold out, and the only version still offered is i4 First Edition with 4-cylinder AMG turbocharged engine and DCT (automated) gearbox. But there has so far not been any i4 demonstrator available in Japan, and customers like myself had to decide ‘blind’ about 2 1/2 years ago, and we are still waiting, and we will have to accept whatever shows up in the end

Anyhow, Nick219, I hope that in the end several of us Emira owners in the greater Tokyo area can meet up with our cars and exchange experiences and stories together.

Thanks for the warmest comment. Yes, I signed up for an Emira i4 last May and am also waiting for it. To wait for a long time may not be worse, but which give us some benefit... many bugs in Software/Hardware could be found and fixed in the next 1year, and we eventually may have chance to get "stress free" Emira!
Yes, we can meet anyway next year with our Emiras, I hope this will come until the 1st half.

 

[virtualmacho]

many bugs in Software/Hardware could be found and fixed in the next 1year, and we eventually may have chance to get "stress free" Emira!

No doubt many bugs will be found, but don't fool yourself into thinking they will be fixed

 

[khiro]

私は、22年４月オーダーのi4待ちです。８月に大阪のジロン自動車で、V６セネカブルーMTに試乗してきました。久しぶりのMＴ車で慣れるまで少し時間がかかりました。ブレーキに関しては、すぐになれました。出だし、オートのブレーキ解除のためのトルクと、動き出しのトルクが必要になるため、エンストしてしまいました。私も残念ながら、道が混んでおり、思うようには、走れませんでした。。やはり、高速を走りたいですねえ。

 

[virtualmacho]

結局、試乗ってあまり意味がないのかも... 自分の車が納車されたら「あとは慣れるだけ」ってことになりそうです。
皆さんも一日でも早く納車されることを祈ります！

 

[Tokion]

khiro said (via Google Translate):
<I'm waiting for an i4 ordered in April 2022. In August, I test drove a V6 Seneca Blue MT at Giron Motors in Osaka. It's been a while since I've driven a manual transmission car, so it took me a while to get used to it. As for the brakes, I got used to them quickly. At the start, I needed torque to release the auto brake and torque to start moving, so I ended up stalling. Unfortunately, the roads were crowded and I couldn't run as much as I wanted. . After all, I want to drive at high speed.>

Hi khiro: Nice to hear you could have a test drive in a V6 manual, even if the roads were crowded. I know the feeling driving manual when you have not done that for a long time. But something you did in the past, will always come back to you, and it will become enjoyable. I compare it to the time I learnt how to ride a horse. It felt great to become able to control the horse to make it move the way I want to.

GOOGLE: <道路が混んでいてもV6マニュアルで試乗できるのは嬉しいですね。長い間マニュアル運転をしていなかったときの気持ちはわかります。しかし、過去にやったことは必ず思い出され、楽しくなります。私が馬の乗り方を習った頃と比べてみます。馬をコントロールして思い通りに動かせるようになるのはとても気持ちよかったです。>

 

[Nick219]

I had a chance to drive V6 MT, and the 1st impression was amazing! I had "direct" drivability with manul transmission and "go-cart" feeling although EMIRA is much heavier than other Lotus cars. The only issue I have now is still considering which colour is the best matching with my taste.... I'm quite sure I have a chance to change my selected colour to other one due to manufacturing delay.

 

[virtualmacho]

I had a chance to drive V6 MT, and the 1st impression was amazing! I had "direct" drivability with manul transmission and "go-cart" feeling although EMIRA is much heavier than other Lotus cars. The only issue I have now is still considering which colour is the best matching with my taste.... I'm quite sure I have a chance to change my selected colour to other one due to manufacturing delay.

Get both!

 

[Tokion]

SO, IT FINALLY HAPPENED MORE THAN TWO YEARS AFTER I ORDERED THE EMIRA

The Japan Lotus importer (LCI) trusted me to take one away and drive it wherever I wanted for about 3 hours.

This was a shadow gray V6 Automatic with red interior. I am personally not a red interior fan, but thought I could stand it for 3 hours

The car had touring suspension on Goodyear F1 Tires.

THE ROUTE:
For those locally knowledgeable about Tokyo and surroundings; I drove into the Chuo Motorway (Kousoku-Douro) through Hachijoji and turned into the Ken-O-Do Motorway and into the Sayama parking area. After a break I continued on the Ken-O-Do before turning into the Kan-Etsu Motorway driving back toward Nerima and then mostly regular streets to Takaido, but the last sprint on Motorway was Chuo and Shuto Motorway and through a part of the (almost) world record Yamate tunnel (Shinjuku to Shibuya) and again regular streets through Shibuya and back to LCI showroom in Harajuku.

THE IMPRESSION
The V6 Automatic on touring suspension and Goodyear F1 tires feel surprisingly “ordinary”, like a trustable sedan. It does of course have power resources, but most of the time it simply feels ‘nothing special’, but still a “good car with pretty looks”. It does not feel “super-light” like Elise and Exige (which I have both driven.) Unfortunately it does not satisfy my own dream for what a Lotus should feel like to drive. I am not completely dissatisfied, and I realize that it is really well made, and that it drives very well; but I personally simply want a more “hard core car”, I am not sure if this is just because it is an Automatic, and not a Manual transmission car. (I intend to find out this later, and I have the desire to drive the V6 Manual with sports suspension in order to compare.

THE NAVIGATION, CAR STEREO INFOTAINMENT
I hooked up my iPhone 14 Pro Max to use with Apple CarPlay. The whole navigation experience was in my experience extremely “hit and miss”, and at times the connected iPhone would disconnect itself. I did luckily have a co-driver assistant who helped me get through. But I honestly can’t understand why a navigation experience of a soon 2024 model Lotus (Emira) should be worse than my 2008 and 2013 BMWs. I have talked to another Emira-owner friend who says that I need to get used to the current trend where car navigation is driven by apps on the smartphone, and that this is not unique to Lotus, but it is going this direction on all new cars from all manufacturers. So I assume that I am getting old and out of date

I streamed music via my iPhone through Apple Music (that normally gives me excellent quality) But the sound from the Emira sound system was in my opinion appallingly bad. (I am an audiophile and also work in the home audio industry.)

I do intend to make second and third attempts to improve this situation, and I have a plan to prepare a USB memory stick with the highest resolution possible to use.

The above is an incomplete impression during my 3-hours drive, and I am more than willing to conclude that some of this failure was definitely caused by my own inexperience.

THANKS TO LCI LIMITED
Despite of some limited negative experiences, I was mostly happy driving the Emira V6 Automatic with touring suspension. It is a very fine sporty car (rather than a sportscar). This is not the version I have chosen for myself, and I suspect that replacing an i4 order with a V6 Automatic is at least not the route I will choose.

I will need to check out (and drive) the two other versions of Emira to find out what they are like to drive. And I intend to stay with my choice (since summer 2021) of i4 First Edition, and I still suspect that was the right choice for me. If only Lotus Cars can manufacture it and deliver it

(Wednesday 15:30 Japan time: EDITED FOR CLARITY).

(I have deleted/cut a Google Translation I posted here earlier; but I realize this may be poor and incorrect. I will therefore leave translation up to each of you to do yourself if you need it. For those who know me, I speak Japanese fairly fluently, but i am unfortunately not able to write fluently ;-)

 

[Nick219]

Thanks for sharing very deep your impression at Emira. I think LCI Tokyo can offer you a test drive with V6 MT as I did. I assume some different impression you would have at MT. I didn't see any communication problem with my iPhone13 by wire.