Let's talk about the Emira's seats...

[lion shf]

Witness:

 

[RENDERMAN]

Excuse my slanty eye that makes me look like I've had a few, was focusing on the selfie

It's certainly the lowest headrest I have encountered, I'm 6'3", legs are a little long and average torso, for reference.

View attachment 10549

Nick @ 6'3" you are considered Abi-Normal to be sitting in an Emira, let just call it a neck rest for now until we sort this thing out

 

[Tonyshepp]

Moderator note: copied from another thread

Had my test drive this weekend at JCT600 in Bradford (UK).

My thoughts:

• Fantastic steering - great feel and excellent turn in. Quite an old fashioned feel in that it brought back memories of the 80s/90s for me, before the numbness of over-assisted electric racks and the isolating of real feedback from the wheel.
• Grabby brakes - nothing I wouldn't get used to but after 30 mins of driving I was still having to consciously moderate the initial press of the pedal.
• The clutch has a very long throw but only a very short part of the travel actually does anything, so again quite tricky but as above not something I wouldn't get used to.
• Sport suspension was - to my mind - far too stiff for everyday use on West Yorkshire roads. It made my M4 Comp on its stiffest damping feel very comfortable by comparison so I'm glad I've ordered Tour.
• The seats: the main thing for me was the comfort of the seat base and lumbar. It felt like it was lacking base padding and the lumbar felt 'odd'. During the drive it was just a bit uncomfortable but it was afterwards I noticed I felt as if I'd been sat on a stone wall too long. The base was even more noticeable than the short back. I'm 6'4" so used to seats being a bit short for me but these were oddly short. I would have serious doubts about wanting to set off on a 400 mile drive and that's a big concern for me given the supposed GT credentials.
• Despite the seat issues, there is plenty of legroom and no issues getting to a good driving position with the seat and steering wheel adjustment, though.
• The Interior is very well done. I like the dash layout and the design of that and the door panels really works for me.
• It sounded really good. I'm not looking for too much engine noise and I think it struck the right balance between volume and tone. I like the supercharger whine.
• I didn't particularly stretch its legs but it was clear it would need some serious revs on the clock to feel quick, IMO. I've driven plenty of 300-500bhp cars and, if I didn't know, I'd have put it at the bottom end of that range from the pull up to 4k or so.
• It certainly drew a lot of attention, although I suppose that's to be expected with the colour. More than once there were cars jostling for position to get alongside for a proper look on the 3-lane ring road near the showroom, and surprisingly not just young lads - a middle-aged guy in a new Audi stopped beside us at a roundabout to quickly ask if was 'that new Lotus' amd said he thought it was a Ferrari at first. I noticed another bloke getting pics from the passenger seat of an Evoke as (presumably) his wife was directed to get closer.
  

Overall, I have to say the seat situation is so bad that it's really disappointed me and soured the already long wait for delivery. I'm not one to start swapping seats on a new car so it would be a case of having to put up with the originals for me and I'm not sure I'm happy with that. Hmm...

I agree totally on the seats, im 5 9 and the seats (despite numerous adjustments) felt no better than our 2004 Freelander. I won't be touring this car and Im surprised Harry Did.

 

[Pops68]

I simply cannot get on with the seats, it doesn't feel like 400bhp to me and because of this and the focus on comfort, its lacking a bit of drama. Apart from that it really is an amazing car! And those coming from slower cars and for whom the seats work for them, will love it

I may have missed it in one of your creative and entertaining posts but re the seats, did you find the seat bottom hard/uncomfortable? I read another post here that mentioned it and that is indeed a deal breaker for me as I'm about to drive my Lincoln into the sea because of their "30way perfect position" rubbish seats..

 

[Leonard]

I may have missed it in one of your creative and entertaining posts but re the seats, did you find the seat bottom hard/uncomfortable? I read another post here that mentioned it and that is indeed a deal breaker for me as I'm about to drive my Lincoln into the sea because of their "30way perfect position" rubbish seats..

This is personal preference again and I'm medium build and 5'9
But the seats for me missed the mark and were neither sporty or comfortable.

Sporty
- They don't go low enough
- The side bolsters aren't supportive enough.
- The head rest is more of a lower head rest and it feels unsafe to me in case of an accident (again just my opinion)
- I tested Alcantara, but would guess that the leather seats will be pretty slippy due to the lack of contouring

Comfort
- The seat base is too hard
- There is no lower thigh support
- The lumber was strange, I played with it for 5 mins after my drive to try and remove it from where it was sticking I to me in an unpleasant way and couldn't.
- The heated seat controls are in a sub menu of the infotainment system

Overall there really were no positives for me bar the build quality seemed OK. Ultimately though I was sat on them, not in them and I cannot live with that.

I'd been sat in an Alpine A110 an hour before with some of the best seats available and just come out of my Yaris 5 mins before and the seats are often vilified as being the weakest part of that car, yet they felt perfect after stepping back out of the Emira.

Now I'm going to assume that the demo car was full production spec. Even though it had Track mode disabled (purely because its a demo allegedly)
If it wasn't production spec for any reason or the lumbar was broken then I'm sorry but customers make lurchase decisions based on these hour test slots so they should be representative.

I'm sure Litchfield and Komotec will resolve this and other minor issues, but I'm not interested in spending northwards of £5k aftermarket to resolve and make the car perfect for me.

 

[Evotion]

I 100% agree with the sportiness section.

I found the opposite with the comfort though.
The lumbar support was very adjustable and found it perfect.
I thought the seats were too comfy - were alacantara in both my drives. I thought they could perhaps be a little firmer!

Saying all this... others may find out more about the car in 10 minutes than I have found in a few hours as I often don't notice details. I concede I might find all of the above true after a month.

 

[Leonard]

I 100% agree with the sportiness section.

I found the opposite with the comfort though.
The lumbar support was very adjustable and found it perfect.
I thought the seats were too comfy - were alacantara in both my drives. I thought they could perhaps be a little firmer!

Saying all this... others may find out more about the car in 10 minutes than I have found in a few hours as I often don't notice details. I concede I might find all of the above true after a month.

Everyone is different so people should of course make their own decisions. Hope they work for you (and everyone else)
The one thing I have learnt over the years though is that the very best seats feel right from the off. They don't need adjustment and fit 99% of all body types.

 

[Green]

This is personal preference again and I'm medium build and 5'9
But the seats for me missed the mark and were neither sporty or comfortable.

Sporty
- They don't go low enough
- The side bolsters aren't supportive enough.
- The head rest is more of a lower head rest and it feels unsafe to me in case of an accident (again just my opinion)
- I tested Alcantara, but would guess that the leather seats will be pretty slippy due to the lack of contouring

Comfort
- The seat base is too hard
- There is no lower thigh support
- The lumber was strange, I played with it for 5 mins after my drive to try and remove it from where it was sticking I to me in an unpleasant way and couldn't.
- The heated seat controls are in a sub menu of the infotainment system

Overall there really were no positives for me bar the build quality seemed OK. Ultimately though I was sat on them, not in them and I cannot live with that.

I'd been sat I'm an Alpine A110 an hour before with some of the best seats available and just come out of my Yaris 5 mins before and the seats are often vilified as being the weakest part of that car, yet they felt perfect after stepping back out of the Emira.

Now I'm going to assume that the demo car was full production spec. Even though it had Track mode disabled (purely because its a demo allegedly)
If it wasn't production spec for any reason or the lumbar was broken then I'm sorry but customers make lurchase decisions based on these hour test slots so they should be representative.

I'm sure Litchfield and Komotec will resolve this and other minor issues, but I'm not interested in spending northwards of £5k aftermarket to resolve and make the car perfect for me.

Wait you are worried about headrest safety and you want to buy a Nomad or Exige?

 

[Leonard]

Wait you are worried about headrest safety and you want to buy a Nomad or Exige?

Fair
But at least I won't get whiplash

 

[emiraspain]

Wait you are worried about headrest safety and you want to buy a Nomad or Exige?

I'll have you know, rightly or wrongly, I felt very safe in my Nomad...... its a pretty rugged piece of xxxx, much more so than a caterham and I'd even say it side impact protection would beat most cars as you are sat inside a virtual cage with pretty thick diameter tubing. We will just forget about all the open spaces..... as I dont like to be proved wrong...

 

[Toomanyloti]

aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh f*cking seats again

If it doesnt Fook up the 'lectrics' of the rest of the car and they are as horse sh!te as quite a few are revealing (and it was my only concern at launch) then surely some aftermarket ones will be quickly available?

Surely the rest of the car is worth keeping just bin the seats???

I have said this before but the leather Esprit V8 seats in my GT3 were simply pants so had some Esprit 300 seats copied and they are cool. Cost me £2200 and a Drive to Devon a few years ago....

 

[lion shf]

aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh f*cking seats again

If it doesnt Fook up the 'lectrics' of the rest of the car and they are as horse sh!te as quite a few are revealing (and it was my only concern at launch) then surely some aftermarket ones will be quickly available?

Surely the rest of the car is worth keeping just bin the seats???

I have said this before but the leather Esprit V8 seats in my GT3 were simply pants so had some Esprit 300 seats copied and they are cool. Cost me £2200 and a Drive to Devon a few years ago....

I’ll agree seats are EXTREMELY important but I’m ZFG if I need to put in a sparco etc how COOL and SPECIAL will I be at Middletown cars and coffee? I’ll answer VERY special

 

[schuey100]

aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh f*cking seats again

If it doesnt Fook up the 'lectrics' of the rest of the car and they are as horse sh!te as quite a few are revealing (and it was my only concern at launch) then surely some aftermarket ones will be quickly available?

Surely the rest of the car is worth keeping just bin the seats???

I have said this before but the leather Esprit V8 seats in my GT3 were simply pants so had some Esprit 300 seats copied and they are cool. Cost me £2200 and a Drive to Devon a few years ago....

Drove yesterday and instantly thought the seats were amazing, 6ft3in loads of headroom and extremely comfy and supportive, could have sat there all day and I have a bad back, I didn’t when I got out! well done Lotus, amazing car and especially the seats, ignore the negative ……..

 

[Dommo]

Drove yesterday and instantly thought the seats were amazing, 6ft3in loads of headroom and extremely comfy and supportive, could have sat there all day and I have a bad back, I didn’t when I got out! well done Lotus, amazing car and especially the seats, ignore the negative ……..

Now that's what you call amazing seats.....you get in with a bad back and come out with a good one

 

[Evotion]

Ha.
I have a had a lifelong bad lower back and found the seats fine!

#forthecrippled

 

[Green]

Ha.
I have a had a lifelong bad lower back and found the seats fine!

#forthecrippled

I concur seats felt great!

 

[Dommo]

I concur seats felt great!

For me, the seats were fine. Not outstanding in any way but at the same time they didn't even register as a consideration on my test drive so they can't have been bad.

If I was driving it without a chaperone then I think I would probably have felt the need for some better side bolstering, so I'm glad I chose alcantara to avoid extra slip during more spirited driving

 

[Wake]

The seats are miles better than my MX5 & RX7 seats (which really isn’t hard). Weren’t a patch on the Recaros in my Type R though. Which surprised me a little for a car over half the price. I’m sure the Emira seats will be fine though.

 

[Leonard]

Drove yesterday and instantly thought the seats were amazing, 6ft3in loads of headroom and extremely comfy and supportive, could have sat there all day and I have a bad back, I didn’t when I got out! well done Lotus, amazing car and especially the seats, ignore the negative ……..

100% you are the Head of seat design at Lotus HQ

Glad to hear they worked out for you though. Maybe that weird lumbar lump in the middle of the seat that I couldn't get rid of on my test drive readjusted some of your vertebrae, excellent news

 

[Evotion]

This lumbar thing.. IIRC, it pushed the lumbar bar up and down and in and out?!

What more can it be expected to do? Tickle Uranus?