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

[VL3X]

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!

Yeah at 5'8" I'm not necessarily worried about the seat height. The roadshow car felt fine and I seemed to have sufficient room for a helmet. I'm more worried about sufficient side bolstering. The roadshow leather seats were badddd... So flat and not sporty at all.

 

[Justcallmemac]

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!"

@TomE , as you have a 'Bat Phone' link to Matt Windle, what are the chances of him providing you with a pic or two of the seat(s), that will actually be going in the production model? (Even before fitting and outside the car would be something) Configurator images aren't conclusive, changes have likely been made anyway and, height concerns aside, it would be great to have a better idea of what they are going to look like. Appreciate that this is likely a very "tall ask" and there are probably embargo issues etc but, as they say, "if you don't ask......." Cheers!

 

[Russc]

I dropped an email message to Lotus CC to ask about the seats but had a response that wasn`t relevant. I dropped the response onto FB as it did include some detail around the ride height of the car.

I then had a call from Lotus as they had seen the post.

The seats will be lower that the mule car, at least 20mm. The final will have different padding and are still being worked on, which is why we can`t see them yet. The test car, 007, didn`t have the final seats in it at all and even had two different seats between the driver and passenger pack.

A view, and one i`ve heard before, is that they have made the car to fit 80% of the population. That`s worldwide so fairly broad.

I`m still slightly concerned about whether i`ll be able to see properly or not, but the bottom line will be i won`t know until i`ve had the opportunity to sit in one.

But, following the discussion with Lotus i`m more happy to move forward that i was previously.

 

[freefall_junkie]

I dropped an email message to Lotus CC to ask about the seats but had a response that wasn`t relevant. I dropped the response onto FB as it did include some detail around the ride height of the car.

I then had a call from Lotus as they had seen the post.

The seats will be lower that the mule car, at least 20mm. The final will have different padding and are still being worked on, which is why we can`t see them yet. The test car, 007, didn`t have the final seats in it at all and even had two different seats between the driver and passenger pack.

A view, and one i`ve heard before, is that they have made the car to fit 80% of the population. That`s worldwide so fairly broad.

I`m still slightly concerned about whether i`ll be able to see properly or not, but the bottom line will be i won`t know until i`ve had the opportunity to sit in one.

But, following the discussion with Lotus i`m more happy to move forward that i was previously.

Thanks for the update. Not sure what to make of this though - they are still working on the seats when production has started and customer deliveries are 3 months away? So what seats are they putting in cars that are already on the production line? I'm wildly enthusiastic about the Emira, but again I'm concerned that the car I will be delivered in June will still be a work-in-progress.

 

[Autopsy]

Who'd have thought the one thing engineers at Lotus, a world renowned sports car brand and engineering solution provider, struggled the most, is a seat?

 

[andrew6382]

Thanks for the update. Not sure what to make of this though - they are still working on the seats when production has started and customer deliveries are 3 months away? So what seats are they putting in cars that are already on the production line? I'm wildly enthusiastic about the Emira, but again I'm concerned that the car I will be delivered in June will still be a work-in-progress.

Careful, i got shot down over the weekend for asking why, in the pictures we all saw over the weeked,
we did not see signs of much production

The other thing I have since noted, think I have only seen one car with FE wheels on.

From what @TomE post the other day, Matt Windle wrote "the seat was still not there for us so we were iterating but it is close now" Tom posted this Friday gone

Yes I know things need ramping up, working out..... But that is what I thought they had been doing since January, we saw plenty of VP cars built, so people had be practicing putting cars together already.

If last Friday 11th March they still working on iterations of the seat ? What is it they putting in finished cars, clearly not the finished seats.... so clearly no finished cars yet ?

I know, they want to get things right,
I know plenty at Lotus have put long hours into getting to this point

 

[TomE]

Careful, i got shot down over the weekend for asking why, in the pictures we all saw over the weeked,
we did not see signs of much production

You didn't get shot down - the MD of Lotus directly answered your question and explained why.

Production ramp up means very few production cars built or in build during Week 1 (last week). So in the pictures from Saturday the majority of cars are not production cars. They are late stage validation cars which started build prior to production commencing.

 

[TomE]

Who'd have thought the one thing engineers at Lotus, a world renowned sports car brand and engineering solution provider, struggled the most, is a seat?

Attention to detail and wanting to get it right. They know how people are going to jump on everything they produce, right?

 

[Eagle7]

Attention to detail and wanting to get it right. They know how people are going to jump on everything they produce, right?

Ain't that the truth lol!

 

[Niffty951]

Is there any more info about the Emira seats and how they may differ from the Evora seats in terms of shape/padding?

I'm concerned as I'm very keen on the Emira, may have an option on an early order slot, but seats are very important to me and the Evora 400 seats were very poor. Like a flat board where your weight lays with no shape and limited padding. Fine for up to 1hr drive but no good for a day trip to Anglesey (~4hrs from me). I broke my back many years ago and although it's never caused me any long term issues/limitations, it can get upset by a lot of time in the wrong seat. I've had to sell a new car at a great loss in the past due to the seats giving me trouble on long drives.

I currently drive a 911 with sports option seats and have always found them to be top of class for back support & padding. I saw the Prototype Emira in Harry Metcalf's Emira buying video had 996 sports option seats in it so that's a good sign for me about where they may be benchmarking (maybe even that they could be fitted after market).

I'm really hoping the 12 way adjustability will include some adjustable lumbar support and that padding will be up over the Evora 400

 

[Porter]

I'm really hoping the 12 way adjustability will include some adjustable lumbar support and that padding will be up over the Evora 400

Padding is definitely up compared to the Evora seats. Whether they can be compared to the Porsche or even BMW sport seats still remains to be seen.

 

[VL3X]

Is there any more info about the Emira seats and how they may differ from the Evora seats in terms of shape/padding?

I'm concerned as I'm very keen on the Emira, may have an option on an early order slot, but seats are very important to me and the Evora 400 seats were very poor. Like a flat board where your weight lays with no shape and limited padding. Fine for up to 1hr drive but no good for a day trip to Anglesey (~4hrs from me). I broke my back many years ago and although it's never caused me any long term issues/limitations, it can get upset by a lot of time in the wrong seat. I've had to sell a new car at a great loss in the past due to the seats giving me trouble on long drives.

I currently drive a 911 with sports option seats and have always found them to be top of class for back support & padding. I saw the Prototype Emira in Harry Metcalf's Emira buying video had 996 sports option seats in it so that's a good sign for me about where they may be benchmarking (maybe even that they could be fitted after market).

I'm really hoping the 12 way adjustability will include some adjustable lumbar support and that padding will be up over the Evora 400

With 12 ways, I'd certainly expect lumbar adjustment. I really just want side bolster adjustment so I can be hugged in the corners. The roadshow car seats were luxury sofas compared to the Cayman GTS seats.

 

[kitkat]

Does anyone know if the Emira seats have integrated airbags?

 

[JimH]

Does anyone know if the Emira seats have integrated airbags?

Looks like it here .....

 

[kitkat]

Looks like it here .....

View attachment 6182

Good find, thank you!

 

[orclean1]

i can tell ya the seats are made at Hethel any longer

 

[digilotus]

i can tell ya the seats are made at Hethel any longer

Are or are not?

 

[orclean1]

sorry they are not made in hethel any longer and you will seen the difference in workmanship , not as good IMO

 

[digilotus]

All discussion and observation at the Hethel factory to date identified that the seat frames are imported from Lear and the foams/seat covers are installed onto the seat frames at Hethel.

Are you saying this is now all outsourced and finished seats are sent to Hethel for installation?

 

[VL3X]

sorry they are not made in hethel any longer and you will seen the difference in workmanship , not as good IMO

We're going to need a source for this claim...