📓 Journals JohnHoward's Journal

[Bilbao-Emira]

I completely forgot to post about the wipers yesterday. I tried as many permutations as I could of auto to fast, fast to auto, normal to auto etc etc and even adjusting the sensitivity and then trying again. The wipers worked exactly as expected with no issues that I could replicate as others have described. The only problem I had yesterday was the window misting up, but I put the blame firmly on my co-driver for operator error. @TomE helpfully gave me a couple of tips to avoid this and I now know where those settings are on the screen and also the dedicated buttons (aircon and recirculation) on the heater control.

First job this morning was a quick wash. I also applied some rainX to the windows. Also applied some alloy wheel cleaner to the wheels. The wheels are very easy to clean with the big gaps. I will apply 303 graphene to the whole car and wheels over the coming days as this makes washing super easy. I find that if you use this and for washing use snow foam and a gentle wipe a wash mitt (using the 2 bucket method), rinse off with the pressure washer and then I dry it with a cordless leaf blower to avoid touching the paint as much as possible. Quick polish of the glass with a microfibre. There is a maintenance mode for the windscreen wipers on the central touchscreen.
View attachment 25153
View attachment 25154

I haven't got any PPF/ceramic as I really enjoy doing all the car detailing myself and I can fix any minor issues as needed.

Second job was to spend some time sat in the car fiddling with all the settings, getting the radio tuned in to the stations and generally getting everything set up how I wanted it. Fine tuning the seat position and steering wheel and generally getting properly acquainted.

We decided to have a run up the M6 towards Blackpool. This is a great motorway car. In tour mode it is very comfortable drive. We had the radio on for background music and it sounded very good. The seats are great, no discomfort whatsoever. The motorway journey was about 1 hour 20 mins.

There are miles of roadworks on the M6 at the moment, so this worked very well with a chunk of 50 mph and then some at the motorway speed limit. Ideal for running in miles.

The promenade in Blackpool was super busy with traffic, so I kept an eye on the temperature readout and the temperature control was spot on maintaining a very stable water temp. We ‘cruised the strip’ in Blackpool (aka drove along the prom) and saw Blackpool in the best way you can (in a fast car).

We went on south a short distance to Lytham and had a very nice lunch and a ‘shopping opportunity’

The auto is a beast in track mode on regular roads. I think the sweetspot is fully manual and drive on the paddles. There is nothing wrong with auto mode, but it really does hold onto those gear changes and I don’t want to overdo it whilst running in. It just sounds so good. It creates a devil on your shoulder whispering in your ear “Give it the beans”! To switch to fully manual move the gear selector to the left or right. If you are in auto and use a paddle it stays in manual for about 20 seconds or so before switching back to auto. If you are in full manul, to switch back to auto you move the selector down.
I think the paddles feel a bit different to the Evora, but I am not certain as I had the Alpine inbetween and that of course was different, so I am not completely sure. The paddles feel very good and are plenty big enough for road driving.

Unfortunately, my phone went completely flat on the journey, so I couldn’t take any pictures today. I was using Android Auto and Google maps (wirelessly), not that I needed directions, but I was just testing the combo of Android Auto and Google maps. I don’t think this is anything to do with the car, I should have plugged the phone into the USB, but didn’t notice it had gone flat until we got there. So no pictures again! This is nothing to do with the car, my phone isn't new and I think the battery is past its best (like its owner!)

Very impressed with Android Auto and Google maps. I am not sure what benefits there are with paid for subscriptions such as TomTom Go, Waze etc, but I think Google maps will do for me at the moment.

We have another day out tomorrow, so third time lucky for some photos!

About a quarter of the way there on running in miles so far.

Other things I have noticed. The reversing camera is very good and you can set the door mirrors to tilt down in reverse. This would be very handy in certain situations if you are reverse parking in tight spots nears kerbs/obstructions etc.

This car attracts major amounts of attention – be prepared for questions and people taking pictures/videos! I always found there was some interest in my F-type and Evora, but the Emira is on another level!

First job tomorrow will be refuelling, something that will become very familiar if I keep driving in track mode!

Great post.
I am happy to hear exactly same feelings about the Auto. Pics tomorrow please!!!

 

[Wonza]

Thanks Tom, will set that up before I drive anywhere today!
It was quite comical yesterday, The weather was so bad and needed 100% concentration on the conditions so I was randomly pressing the controls without being familiar with them and my wife was saying "it's freezing, turn it off" one minute and " it's roasting, turn it off" the next!
I put her in charge of the controls and we found out that the heated seats worked, but then she lost the page, so they had to stay on! I asked her to put our home address in the SatNav so we could try that and she picked out what she thought was our address - that turned out to be in France.
Lesson learned - when you get a new car, spend some time setting everything up before you set off anywhere despite the urge to go for a drive!

Why does it sound so familiar. One minute hot, next minute cold. Make sure you get the DAB radio setup too!!

 

[EspritGuy]

I completely forgot to post about the wipers yesterday. I tried as many permutations as I could of auto to fast, fast to auto, normal to auto etc etc and even adjusting the sensitivity and then trying again. The wipers worked exactly as expected with no issues that I could replicate as others have described. The only problem I had yesterday was the window misting up, but I put the blame firmly on my co-driver for operator error. @TomE helpfully gave me a couple of tips to avoid this and I now know where those settings are on the screen and also the dedicated buttons (aircon and recirculation) on the heater control.

First job this morning was a quick wash. I also applied some rainX to the windows. Also applied some alloy wheel cleaner to the wheels. The wheels are very easy to clean with the big gaps. I will apply 303 graphene to the whole car and wheels over the coming days as this makes washing super easy. I find that if you use this and for washing use snow foam and a gentle wipe a wash mitt (using the 2 bucket method), rinse off with the pressure washer and then I dry it with a cordless leaf blower to avoid touching the paint as much as possible. Quick polish of the glass with a microfibre. There is a maintenance mode for the windscreen wipers on the central touchscreen.
View attachment 25153
View attachment 25154

I haven't got any PPF/ceramic as I really enjoy doing all the car detailing myself and I can fix any minor issues as needed.

Second job was to spend some time sat in the car fiddling with all the settings, getting the radio tuned in to the stations and generally getting everything set up how I wanted it. Fine tuning the seat position and steering wheel and generally getting properly acquainted.

We decided to have a run up the M6 towards Blackpool. This is a great motorway car. In tour mode it is very comfortable drive. We had the radio on for background music and it sounded very good. The seats are great, no discomfort whatsoever. The motorway journey was about 1 hour 20 mins.

There are miles of roadworks on the M6 at the moment, so this worked very well with a chunk of 50 mph and then some at the motorway speed limit. Ideal for running in miles.

The promenade in Blackpool was super busy with traffic, so I kept an eye on the temperature readout and the temperature control was spot on maintaining a very stable water temp. We ‘cruised the strip’ in Blackpool (aka drove along the prom) and saw Blackpool in the best way you can (in a fast car).

We went on south a short distance to Lytham and had a very nice lunch and a ‘shopping opportunity’

The auto is a beast in track mode on regular roads. I think the sweetspot is fully manual and drive on the paddles. There is nothing wrong with auto mode, but it really does hold onto those gear changes and I don’t want to overdo it whilst running in. It just sounds so good. It creates a devil on your shoulder whispering in your ear “Give it the beans”! To switch to fully manual move the gear selector to the left or right. If you are in auto and use a paddle it stays in manual for about 20 seconds or so before switching back to auto. If you are in full manul, to switch back to auto you move the selector down.
I think the paddles feel a bit different to the Evora, but I am not certain as I had the Alpine inbetween and that of course was different, so I am not completely sure. The paddles feel very good and are plenty big enough for road driving.

Unfortunately, my phone went completely flat on the journey, so I couldn’t take any pictures today. I was using Android Auto and Google maps (wirelessly), not that I needed directions, but I was just testing the combo of Android Auto and Google maps. I don’t think this is anything to do with the car, I should have plugged the phone into the USB, but didn’t notice it had gone flat until we got there. So no pictures again! This is nothing to do with the car, my phone isn't new and I think the battery is past its best (like its owner!)

Very impressed with Android Auto and Google maps. I am not sure what benefits there are with paid for subscriptions such as TomTom Go, Waze etc, but I think Google maps will do for me at the moment.

We have another day out tomorrow, so third time lucky for some photos!

About a quarter of the way there on running in miles so far.

Other things I have noticed. The reversing camera is very good and you can set the door mirrors to tilt down in reverse. This would be very handy in certain situations if you are reverse parking in tight spots nears kerbs/obstructions etc.

This car attracts major amounts of attention – be prepared for questions and people taking pictures/videos! I always found there was some interest in my F-type and Evora, but the Emira is on another level!

First job tomorrow will be refuelling, something that will become very familiar if I keep driving in track mode!

Your exceptional narrative is worth noting. Feels like I'm getting a ride-a-long. No comments on the utility of the cup holders?
Oops, you had a passenger, didn't you.

 

[Toomanyloti]

Thanks Tom, will set that up before I drive anywhere today!
It was quite comical yesterday, The weather was so bad and needed 100% concentration on the conditions so I was randomly pressing the controls without being familiar with them and my wife was saying "it's freezing, turn it off" one minute and " it's roasting, turn it off" the next!
I put her in charge of the controls and we found out that the heated seats worked, but then she lost the page, so they had to stay on! I asked her to put our home address in the SatNav so we could try that and she picked out what she thought was our address - that turned out to be in France.
Lesson learned - when you get a new car, spend some time setting everything up before you set off anywhere despite the urge to go for a drive!

sounds like the only thing missing from this sketch John was Benny Hill himself

 

[EspritGuy]

sounds like the only thing missing from this sketch John was Benny Hill himself

 

[JohnHoward]

Another wet day so we didn’t go as far as we had planned.

Today’s events

• I have joined the broken wiper club.
• First error message
• The radio reset button works
• A bus ride?
• First stone chip
• Mysterious moving seat
• Heater blower

Despite a reasonable forecast we woke up to another wet and drizzly day, so we decided to stay local and have a ride out for lunch. With my trusty co-pilot in charge of the centre screen we set off. It was drizzling so I had the wipers in sensor mode. I was telling her about the issues that some were having with the wipers. I demonstrated to her that when you switched to regular speed, the wipers would switch to normal speed and then I said, the problem that other people are having is when you switch to double speed, they stay at normal speed. I demonstrated switching to double speed, “So why aren’t they going any faster”, it seems that we are infected with the wiper bug!

What I can’t understand is they worked fine just a couple of days ago, unless I wasn’t leaving them in sensor mode long enough? I think the temporary fix is to not use sensor mode. Switching the car off whilst we had lunch reset the wipers and they worked fine as long as sensor mode was avoided by switching past sensor mode to single/fast.

Whilst I was driving I switched from track mode to Sports and got an error message on the dash 'auto-hold service required', that went away after stopping the engine and switching the ignition off and hasn’t reappeared.

Then the radio went off, I said what have you pressed. “I’m not sure, I haven’t got my reading glasses on”. “You have pressed the reset button” I said, “Well, it seems to work” was the reply.

After lunch we sat in the car park at the pub and I set the Infotainment up again and we set off. About a mile down the road, the radio goes off. “Sorry” she said. I said "If you mess with that again one of us is going home on the bus."

I enjoyed the bus ride, they are very comfortable these days.

Thankfully the rain stopped and I thought I would do some basic detailing. First job was to get all the brake dust off the wheels from yesterday’s adventure.

A quick wash and polish wash and the car is clean, then it started raining again!

The clean revealed the first stone chip on the front wheel. A job for another day.

I have got the drivers seat set with my settings on No.1 and the seat moving all the way back for easier ingress/egress on No.2 The car seems to randomly move the seat back to position 2 when you switch off and open the door, but it doesn’t do it every time. Something must trigger this, but I have no idea what.

Also, when I unlock the car, the heater blower comes on, even before you get in the car or open the door. I don’t know if this is intended or a setting somewhere or a fault. Any ideas?

One thing that is very good on this car are the door mirrors, you get a very good view and in addition the rear view mirror also gives a good view.

The Emira

............ compared to my Evora 410 Sport

A close up of the auto gear selector. The parking brake (handbrake) is a switch near your right knee.

Red leather seats look very inviting!

Hopefully, there is some better weather on its way and more adventures to write about.

 

[TomE]

Thanks, lots of useful!

Wipers: the recent posts suggest there is a way to avoid the issue by switching quickly past auto-sensing, so it's possible it appears to work OK on some days and not on others.

Message "auto-hold service required": has been reported by others and appears to be a false warning in response to the ECU getting confused by something. Ignition off seems to clear it.

Blower coming on when you unlock the car: others have reported the infotainment starts playing when you unlock the car, so I'm assuming unlocking also turns on the ignition. If you've previously set the blower to a high rate or set the aircon to a temperature very different to ambient then the fan will start when you unlock.

 

[4MIR3]

"I have got the drivers seat set with my settings on No.1 and the seat moving all the way back for easier ingress/egress on No.2 The car seems to randomly move the seat back to position 2 when you switch off and open the door, but it doesn’t do it every time. Something must trigger this, but I have no idea what."

Are the buttons programmed to the different car keys? Key one defaults to button one setting, key two defaults to button two? Just a guess based off nothing other than logic... LOL.

 

[EspritGuy]

Thanks, lots of useful!

Wipers: the recent posts suggest there is a way to avoid the issue by switching quickly past auto-sensing, so it's possible it appears to work OK on some days and not on others.

Message "auto-hold service required": has been reported by others and appears to be a false warning in response to the ECU getting confused by something. Ignition off seems to clear it.

Blower coming on when you unlock the car: others have reported the infotainment starts playing when you unlock the car, so I'm assuming unlocking also turns on the ignition. If you've previously set the blower to a high rate or set the aircon to a temperature very different to ambient then the fan will start when you unlock.

It's the new poltergeist feature. You'll authenticate this once you are at the dealer and can't replicate the issues.

 

[eclat2emira]

Another wet day so we didn’t go as far as we had planned.

Today’s events

• I have joined the broken wiper club.
• First error message
• The radio reset button works
• A bus ride?
• First stone chip
• Mysterious moving seat
• Heater blower

Despite a reasonable forecast we woke up to another wet and drizzly day, so we decided to stay local and have a ride out for lunch. With my trusty co-pilot in charge of the centre screen we set off. It was drizzling so I had the wipers in sensor mode. I was telling her about the issues that some were having with the wipers. I demonstrated to her that when you switched to regular speed, the wipers would switch to normal speed and then I said, the problem that other people are having is when you switch to double speed, they stay at normal speed. I demonstrated switching to double speed, “So why aren’t they going any faster”, it seems that we are infected with the wiper bug!

What I can’t understand is they worked fine just a couple of days ago, unless I wasn’t leaving them in sensor mode long enough? I think the temporary fix is to not use sensor mode. Switching the car off whilst we had lunch reset the wipers and they worked fine as long as sensor mode was avoided by switching past sensor mode to single/fast.

Whilst I was driving I switched from track mode to Sports and got an error message on the dash 'auto-hold service required', that went away after stopping the engine and switching the ignition off and hasn’t reappeared.

Then the radio went off, I said what have you pressed. “I’m not sure, I haven’t got my reading glasses on”. “You have pressed the reset button” I said, “Well, it seems to work” was the reply.

After lunch we sat in the car park at the pub and I set the Infotainment up again and we set off. About a mile down the road, the radio goes off. “Sorry” she said. I said "If you mess with that again one of us is going home on the bus."

I enjoyed the bus ride, they are very comfortable these days.

Thankfully the rain stopped and I thought I would do some basic detailing. First job was to get all the brake dust off the wheels from yesterday’s adventure.

View attachment 25176


A quick wash and polish wash and the car is clean, then it started raining again!

View attachment 25178


The clean revealed the first stone chip on the front wheel. A job for another day.

View attachment 25179

I have got the drivers seat set with my settings on No.1 and the seat moving all the way back for easier ingress/egress on No.2 The car seems to randomly move the seat back to position 2 when you switch off and open the door, but it doesn’t do it every time. Something must trigger this, but I have no idea what.

Also, when I unlock the car, the heater blower comes on, even before you get in the car or open the door. I don’t know if this is intended or a setting somewhere or a fault. Any ideas?

One thing that is very good on this car are the door mirrors, you get a very good view and in addition the rear view mirror also gives a good view.

The Emira
View attachment 25180

............ compared to my Evora 410 Sport

View attachment 25181

A close up of the auto gear selector. The parking brake (handbrake) is a switch near your right knee.

View attachment 25182

Red leather seats look very inviting!

View attachment 25183

Hopefully, there is some better weather on its way and more adventures to write about.

Great write up, I'll look out for some of the issues you mention and report back. with the wipers I have sometimes succeeded in keeping them out of auto but not always. I think you'd mentioned putting some Rainex on the screen, which was already on my mind as a practical measure to mitigate any issues that might arise in heavy rain.

Love your red interior - the red/black combo works so well.

Envious of the First Edition badge on your shifter!

 

[JohnHoward]

Thanks, lots of useful!

Wipers: the recent posts suggest there is a way to avoid the issue by switching quickly past auto-sensing, so it's possible it appears to work OK on some days and not on others.

Message "auto-hold service required": has been reported by others and appears to be a false warning in response to the ECU getting confused by something. Ignition off seems to clear it.

Blower coming on when you unlock the car: others have reported the infotainment starts playing when you unlock the car, so I'm assuming unlocking also turns on the ignition. If you've previously set the blower to a high rate or set the aircon to a temperature very different to ambient then the fan will start when you unlock.

Thanks Tom.
Yes, the radio comes on also, if it was on when you last locked the car. I also noticed today when I went to the car to put something inside (without starting up) that when I shut the door and locked it again that the driver window had dropped (to protect the glass) but did not close again. Cycling the ignition on and off resolved it. The mysterious moving seat has got me confused but now I know to watch the sequence of events, I will probably will be able to figure it out and will post my findings.
I will experiment with the blower settings (and switching it off completely) to determine how different settings change things next time you unlock the car.

 

[JohnHoward]

Great write up, I'll look out for some of the issues you mention and report back. with the wipers I have sometimes succeeded in keeping them out of auto but not always. I think you'd mentioned putting some Rainex on the screen, which was already on my mind as a practical measure to mitigate any issues that might arise in heavy rain.

Love your red interior - the red/black combo works so well.

Envious of the First Edition badge on your shifter!

Yes, I think Rainx is a great product and I always use it.

Two top tips.
1. Easiest way to apply, is to clean the screen and dry. Apply the product with a microfibre pad or cloth. Leave it to cure for a minute or two until it has gone hazy. Then rinse off with water. If you try to polish it off, it takes a lot of polishing and can go streaky. Although washing it off seems counterintuitive, the active ingredient is already bonded to the screen and the residue is just uneeded that can be simply washed off in a couple of seconds.
2. If you get 'wiper judder' after application, it is very likely contamination on the wiper blades (as long as they are not worn out). A little bit of clay bar rubbed across the blade usually does the trick. This also pulls out any small particles embedded in the rubber of the blade that will put micro scratches on your windscreen over time.

 

[JohnHoward]

"I have got the drivers seat set with my settings on No.1 and the seat moving all the way back for easier ingress/egress on No.2 The car seems to randomly move the seat back to position 2 when you switch off and open the door, but it doesn’t do it every time. Something must trigger this, but I have no idea what."

Are the buttons programmed to the different car keys? Key one defaults to button one setting, key two defaults to button two? Just a guess based off nothing other than logic... LOL.

I like your thinking and that would make perfect sense and would be a nice feature for two people using the car to have the seat in the correct position depending on the key used. Unfortunately, it is the same key. The spare key is locked away and will probably remain unused.

 

[Bilbao-Emira]

I will experiment with the blower settings (and switching it off completely) to determine how different settings change things next time you unlock the car.

Mine also starts the blower always when I unlock. Stops the second I open the door.
I leave the A/C normally at 20 degrees C, and in Auto Fan

 

[JohnHoward]

Mine also starts the blower always when I unlock. Stops the second I open the door.
I leave the A/C normally at 20 degrees C, and in Auto Fan

Mine keeps running when I open the door, it is set to auto and similar temperature.

 

[Bilbao-Emira]

Mine keeps running when I open the door, it is set to auto and similar temperature.

Now we have a problem, which one is ok?
Yours, mine or none ?

 

[scoates]

I have got the drivers seat set with my settings on No.1 and the seat moving all the way back for easier ingress/egress on No.2 The car seems to randomly move the seat back to position 2 when you switch off and open the door, but it doesn’t do it every time. Something must trigger this, but I have no idea what.

I've discovered (probably in the manual but I didn't read in that much detail!) that if you are in the car with the door closed you have to press and hold the seat memory buttons to move into position, but if you have the door open then a single press moves the whole way. Might be something to do with that?

 

[JohnHoward]

I've discovered (probably in the manual but I didn't read in that much detail!) that if you are in the car with the door closed you have to press and hold the seat memory buttons to move into position, but if you have the door open then a single press moves the whole way. Might be something to do with that?

Yes, I have noticed that you have to press and hold the button to move the seat with the door closed. I wonder if I have accidentally pressed the 2 button when I opened the door and not realised and this is when the seat has moved back as it has only happened a couple of times. I will test it tomorrow. If that is the case it would explain it.

 

[Toomanyloti]

I've discovered (probably in the manual but I didn't read in that much detail!) that if you are in the car with the door closed you have to press and hold the seat memory buttons to move into position, but if you have the door open then a single press moves the whole way. Might be something to do with that?

Taycan is the same - door open 1 press door closed hold until finished moving

 

[CheshireCat]

Congradulations and great write ups. So at least 2 of us in Cheshire with Nimbus, silver wheels and red leather. Your black pack and auto differentiates us nicely.