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

[FederGigant]

This has to be the difference of having your own department in-house and being able to quickly try things, versus making a request to an outside company and waiting to see what they come up with. In the future, they may want to bring back the in-house setup strictly for design and testing, then hand that result over to the outside company for production.

I'm not worried about it. Gavan is a stickler for performance detail, and if he's not comfortable in the seat, he's not going to approve it, which is probably why they're still testing variations.

You are very right. I think the overall situation with covid and now the war showed us quite well that it's not the best idea to be dependent of others for every tiny bit that you need to build something.

 

[SlavaUkraini]

This has to be the difference of having your own department in-house and being able to quickly try things, versus making a request to an outside company and waiting to see what they come up with. In the future, they may want to bring back the in-house setup strictly for design and testing, then hand that result over to the outside company for production.

I'm not worried about it. Gavan is a stickler for performance detail, and if he's not comfortable in the seat, he's not going to approve it, which is probably why they're still testing variations.

Sounds like wishful thinking to me, unfortunately.

 

[Eagle7]

Sounds like wishful thinking to me, unfortunately.

Possibly. People from Lotus do watch these forums, so maybe they'll see this and take that idea back to management.

 

[TXEMIRA]

Do we think there will be Lotus seat options once the Base is introduced? Not just cloth vs leather but like comfort vs sport seats?

At least one of the reviews mentioned the seat in a way that lead me to believe there will be options.

 

[FederGigant]

There will be a 4-way and a 12-way electric seat. Maybe one of those is sports and the other one comfort? I don't think that there will be another seat for the base model, because they already said that those are the two options. Maybe later down the line with a possible Emira GT, there will be even sportier seats.

 

[TXEMIRA]

Ah! 14 way or 12?

 

[SlavaUkraini]

Possibly. People from Lotus do watch these forums, so maybe they'll see this and take that idea back to management.

Maybe they can take this idea back to management: communicate with us you muppets

 

[FederGigant]

Ah! 14 way or 12?

12 way of course, sorry. I corrected it! Was comparing it too much to the Porsche I guess

 

[freefall_junkie]

It irks me that Lotus still hasn't figured this seat thing out, or at least they hadn't as recently as a month ago (Feb 7th-ish) when these journalists drove the VP car. Lotus were talking about this "20mm too high" business in July of last year as a direct response to questions about the seating, and made direct statements that the seats seen in the demo vehicle would change dramatically before production, and yet here we are in March of the following year and it's still somehow an insurmountable issue? It wasn't random marketing people, Matt Windle and Gavan Kershaw both were on record making a note of it. The seats shown in the preview-drive VP car and in the recent factory floor photos look more or less identical to what they showed at Goodwood and at the roadshows, and people with Lotus badges on their shirts are now saying "the seats could have been 20mm lower if not for the power seat mechanism" which is just an absurdity to me. Of course it has a power seat mechanism. That was a given back in July of last year when they first fielded negative feedback about the issue. How could that not be a key project milestone that had to be solved definitively with a supplier by some date back in late summer or autumn of 2021?

I'm not sure why they couldn't just buy seats from whoever BMW uses for their Sport 14-ways? I believe they're sourced from either Lear or Magna. I don't mean the expensive shell-back M seats, I mean the regular Sport ones they have as an option in the F-chassis cars since 2011. They are fantastic. Stellar comfort for long drives, plenty of bolstering, great support, and sit quite low. Super low in fact, compared to most "sedan" seats. Plenty of opportunity for OE customization of style, shape, etc to match the desired styling, while retaining key ergonomics.

BMW option Sport seats in black dakota leather with red stitching/piping (F30/F31 3-series):
View attachment 3725
Same thing in Coral Red dakota leather:
View attachment 3726

I mean, there are a million other options out there too. Why not optional Recaros? A set of Recaro Speed V or Recaro Expert (or some OE variant to match the Emira style) would have done the job quite nicely as well, and are legendary for support and comfort. Manual adjustment is fine! It's a driver's car.

View attachment 3727View attachment 3728

I get that they wanted electric pushbutton operation for convenience, but it's also a sports car. At least give people an option for a proper sport seat. Charge $1,000 extra, or whatever. It would be worth it to a ton of buyers, particularly those who aren't squarely in the "daily driver" category that Lotus imagines they are going to be conquering with this car. I still can't wrap my mind around that. Sure, there will be enthusiasts who will also drive these daily, but the will almost always be enthusiasts first. People aren't going to trip over their shoes and accidentally buy one of these while they were on their way to the Mercedes dealer to buy a GLC crossover.

Fingers crossed that they make an option seat in future that early adopters can retrofit later, if needed. It will be an unnecessary frustration for a ton of us if the standard seat is sub-par. Seats can make or break an owner's long-term relationship with a car, and I intend to make this a 30+ year automotive romance if I'm able.

Agree with all of this. It is just unfathomable to me that Lotus seem to be making such an arse of getting the Emira's seating right. My daily driver is a BMW F31 and the sports seat in that are indeed superb. I'll be mightily hacked off if the Emira's seats are inferior and set too high when it costs twice as much. I love everything else about the Emira, but as you say, seating is fundamental to the driving experience. I really hope Lotus don't spoil an otherwise great car for the want of decent low-set seats.

 

[PaulP]

the world tour seats looked extremely plain and boring. They were too high. Reasonably comfortable but not as sport bolstered like I would have expected for a "driver's car". Was told seats would be revised and better and 20mm lower by the lotus staff at the event.

Here we are MONTHS and MONTHS later and production is apparently actually going and we STILL don't know the details on the seats? People are being told different things by the company. How is this possible? It really seems the reason this company has never broken into the broader marketplace is not niche carmaking, it's inability to manage a business that involves actual customers. Maybe they have some good engineers, but engineers don't create successful companies on their own.

Show the me the seats. Show me the colors. So I can make an actual decision. I would have been 7 months into my 911 wait or had a BMW in my driveway by now. Take some damn pictures and post them. WTF are you even being pair for, Lotus PR department?

 

[scarzie]

the world tour seats looked extremely plain and boring. They were too high. Reasonably comfortable but not as sport bolstered like I would have expected for a "driver's car". Was told seats would be revised and better and 20mm lower by the lotus staff at the event.

Here we are MONTHS and MONTHS later and production is apparently actually going and we STILL don't know the details on the seats? People are being told different things by the company. How is this possible? It really seems the reason this company has never broken into the broader marketplace is not niche carmaking, it's inability to manage a business that involves actual customers. Maybe they have some good engineers, but engineers don't create successful companies on their own.

Show the me the seats. Show me the colors. So I can make an actual decision. I would have been 7 months into my 911 wait or had a BMW in my driveway by now. Take some damn pictures and post them. WTF are you even being pair for, Lotus PR department?

They've been busy making a video for Women's day...

At least we got a glimpse of Nimbus and Magma

 

[IanO]

As a person who is only 6ft tall but has a very long torso for my height, this set of developments is concerning. If the production seat ends up actually being 20mm higher than originally planned/claimed it may throw a wrench (spanner) into my plans. The grey demonstrator car was not great in terms of body-to-viewport seating position. It was right at the limit of functional acceptability at the lowest seat settings, and definitely not in a range that I would characterize as "good". 20mm lower would just eke into "good", and if they haven't figured out how to follow through on that promise it will be a genuine problem.

Lotus is a British car, so any product from them I expect to have Northern European body type capability, including the Dutch, the Danes, and the Swedes. Tall lanky people. Historically this has been an absolute design requirement, and the previous cars were famously comfortable for tall folk. I can't imagine why it wouldn't be so now. Gavan Kershaw is a big person, surely he would demand that the engineering accommodate drivers of his size. Surely...?

At last, being a short-arse has paid off!. Can you drop 20mm with buttock liposuction?

 

[Racer X]

At last, being a short-arse has paid off!. Can you drop 20mm with buttock liposuction?

What’s the opposite of squats? Whatever that is, start doing them!

 

[Bilbao-Emira]

#ForTheAddLightness

 

[TomE]

I know the reviews have caused some confusion. Pleased to have had this clarification from Matt Windle: "Hi Tom there is only one seat and the show car was 20mm higher than legal so production will be 20mm lower. I think the confusion was (at the time of testing) the seat was still not there for us so we were iterating but it is close now. These drives were a month or so ago. That’s a long time at Lotus!"

 

[NicolasB]

I know the reviews have caused some confusion. Pleased to have had this clarification from Matt Windle: "Hi Tom there is only one seat and the show car was 20mm higher than legal so production will be 20mm lower. I think the confusion was (at the time of testing) the seat was still not there for us so we were iterating but it is close now. These drives were a month or so ago. That’s a long time at Lotus!"

So they are putting it at the highest "legal" position??? Seems like an odd thing to aim for.

 

[Porter]

So they are putting it at the highest "legal" position??? Seems like an odd thing to aim for.

No, it's not the aim. They need to get it low enough for the viewing angles to be "legal" for regulatory purposes so they are shaving down the seat configuration until they get there.

 

[jamesbxxx]

This is my number one concern. Show car height meant not possible to wear a helmet. Doubtful 20mm will be enough for me, so unable to commit until I can sit in one. This will almost certainly put any delivery out to Sept or Oct for me from Aug.

 

[freefall_junkie]

I know the reviews have caused some confusion. Pleased to have had this clarification from Matt Windle: "Hi Tom there is only one seat and the show car was 20mm higher than legal so production will be 20mm lower. I think the confusion was (at the time of testing) the seat was still not there for us so we were iterating but it is close now. These drives were a month or so ago. That’s a long time at Lotus!"

Tom, many thanks for the clarification. Can't be many car companies where it is possible to have a direct line to the MD like this!

Still concerned that 20mm compared to the show car won't be enough for me, but the revised padding could make a significant difference so just have to wait and see. Seems very late in the day to be testing iterations of the seats just one month ago. The Emira development clearly has gone right down to the wire before production starts. For June deposit holders you have to ask yourself one question:

 

[eclat2emira]

Tom, many thanks for the clarification. Can't be many car companies where it is possible to have a direct line to the MD like this!

Still concerned that 20mm compared to the show car won't be enough for me, but the revised padding could make a significant difference so just have to wait and see. Seems very late in the day to be testing iterations of the seats just one month ago. The Emira development clearly has gone right down to the wire before production starts. For June deposit holders you have to ask yourself one question:

Worth bearing in mind that Henry Catchpole, at 6'5", did not have any height issues and the seat will be slightly lower than that - worth another watch for our taller members on that particular point?

At 6'4" Mr Eastwood would fit comfortably, although he may be somewhat shorter now than in his prime!

This is not an issue for me at 5' 8 1/2" (that 1/2" is very important to me!) but I appreciate this would be a nagging concern for less vertically challenged people!