Let's talk about the new bonnet/hood seal

[eriegz]

I hear you but if a dealer can't 'not drop' it every service, or lose it.... then

Agreed, this is a cop-out. Look at which design approach they use on the Aventador SVJ, a car 5x more expensive (when it was released; 10x at today's prices) than the Emira:

 

[Bod27]

When we started looking at other cars at FOS this year, a lot of the super cars had gaps , I even posted a picture of a Konigsberg that you could get your fingers in the bonnet gap . I’m not surprised the show cars seal was loose, as everyone has had a good tug at it ! Won’t bother me on mine when it lands .

 

[Autopsy]

I think one constructive suggestion would be to ask fellow forum members taking lotus driving course to take a measuring tape and get the precise length of the production bonnet.

I will happily go measure the show car’s bonnet length then by comparing two numbers we shall know if it’s about simply ripping the rubber seal off sort of deal.

 

[eriegz]

Looping in some discussions from another thread, apparently now some people are saying that there's always been a gap, and that the only change today is that the gap has now been filled with a rubber seal. Ergo, remove the seal == no problem.

However, I had my doubts about this. And indeed, looking back through all of my photos, I see a more complicated story emerge:

Blue prototype from June 2021: no gap.​

Shadow prototype from October 2021: yes gap.​

And the gap appears in pretty much all photos of Emira cars after this point.

So, what I'm guessing happened is, everyone pored over the photos of the beautiful Seneca Blue car, and didn't notice the gap appear on the Shadow Grey car, due to its darker colour.

Tl;dr: There wasn't ALWAYS a gap...​

 

[VL3X]

I think we should all be happy the production Emira actually looks 95% identical to the proto Emira. I've followed many cars from proto to production and have seen some very drastic changes! One that comes to mind was the 2013 Subaru WRX....

What we saw:

What we got:

What we saw:

What we got:

 

[Porter]

Looping in some discussions from another thread, apparently now some people are saying that there's always been a gap, and that the only change today is that the gap has now been filled with a rubber seal. Ergo, remove the seal == no problem.

However, I had my doubts about this. And indeed, looking back through all of my photos, I see a more complicated story emerge:

Blue prototype from June 2021: no gap.​

View attachment 7684
View attachment 7685
View attachment 7689
View attachment 7690

Shadow prototype from October 2021: yes gap.​

View attachment 7687
View attachment 7688
View attachment 7693
View attachment 7694

And the gap appears in pretty much all photos of Emira cars after this point.

So, what I'm guessing happened is, everyone pored over the photos of the beautiful Seneca Blue car, and didn't notice the gap appear on the Shadow Grey car, due to its darker colour.

Tl;dr: There wasn't ALWAYS a gap...​

I saw the gap on the grey demonstrator car. I just assumed the hood was fucked up because it was a rough-built dynamic prototype and the panels weren't to final spec. The hood and the bumper aren't even the same shape across the shut line on that car, and they said repeatedly that it was a rough example. Duly noted.

The blue car was the design/finish demonstrator, and it looked great! They used it in all the walk-around videos with journalists at the launch and for weeks thereafter. So that was the one that set the expectation for the public. And that car was even rough in a few spots. So I expected the production car to at least be comparable to the blue one for appearance, fit, and execution.

Instead, we seem to have been suckered a bit. The production fit and finish isn't as high as the blue prototype car from Goodwood 2021. And they're gaslighting us into thinking that it's ok.

 

[TomE]

Looping in some discussions from another thread, apparently now some people are saying that there's always been a gap, and that the only change today is that the gap has now been filled with a rubber seal. Ergo, remove the seal == no problem.

However, I had my doubts about this. And indeed, looking back through all of my photos, I see a more complicated story emerge:

Blue prototype from June 2021: no gap.​

View attachment 7684
View attachment 7685
View attachment 7689
View attachment 7690

Shadow prototype from October 2021: yes gap.​

View attachment 7687
View attachment 7688
View attachment 7693
View attachment 7694

And the gap appears in pretty much all photos of Emira cars after this point.

So, what I'm guessing happened is, everyone pored over the photos of the beautiful Seneca Blue car, and didn't notice the gap appear on the Shadow Grey car, due to its darker colour.

Tl;dr: There wasn't ALWAYS a gap...​

Your pictures all clearly show there is a gap.

A lot of those early pictures are computer renders, so you can't rely on them for dimensional accuracy.

The Seneca Blue show car (studio prototype) clearly had a gap. As did the Shadow Grey dynamic prototype.

 

[Leonard]

Your pictures all clearly show there is a gap.

A lot of those early pictures are computer renders, so you can't rely on them for dimensional accuracy.

The Seneca Blue show car (studio prototype) clearly had a gap. As did the Shadow Grey dynamic prototype.

View attachment 7696

View attachment 7697

Yes it had a gap. Was it big enough to justify a rubber gutter strip tho? I don't recall, but I'm 85% that it didn't

 

[TomE]

As stated in numerous other posts, the seal isn't there because the gap is "too big".

 

[Italiabrain]

Your pictures all clearly show there is a gap.

A lot of those early pictures are computer renders, so you can't rely on them for dimensional accuracy.

The Seneca Blue show car (studio prototype) clearly had a gap. As did the Shadow Grey dynamic prototype.

View attachment 7696

View attachment 7697

There has always been “a” gap. The recently pictured rubber strip does not remotely appear as though it would fit in the gap on these pictures.

 

[ksegg]

I’ve been wondering if Ford Focus owners have been losing sleep over their bonnet/hood gaps?

View attachment 7643

I’ve been spotting similar gaps on cars all over the pace with bonnets that meet the bumper/fender on the top like this.

P.s. the solution is D

Looping in some discussions from another thread, apparently now some people are saying that there's always been a gap, and that the only change today is that the gap has now been filled with a rubber seal. Ergo, remove the seal == no problem.

However, I had my doubts about this. And indeed, looking back through all of my photos, I see a more complicated story emerge:

Blue prototype from June 2021: no gap.​

View attachment 7684
View attachment 7685
View attachment 7689
View attachment 7690

Shadow prototype from October 2021: yes gap.​

View attachment 7687
View attachment 7688
View attachment 7693
View attachment 7694

And the gap appears in pretty much all photos of Emira cars after this point.

So, what I'm guessing happened is, everyone pored over the photos of the beautiful Seneca Blue car, and didn't notice the gap appear on the Shadow Grey car, due to its darker colour.

Tl;dr: There wasn't ALWAYS a gap...​

My guess is the June 2021 prototype has a hood that was not made to open. Literally welded shut.

As we get closer to production versions where the hood will need the ability to be opened, the inevitable gap must exist to achieve that requirement. It's the only logical explanation.

 

[Porter]

I think we should all be happy the production Emira actually looks 95% identical to the proto Emira. I've followed many cars from proto to production and have seen some very drastic changes! One that comes to mind was the 2013 Subaru WRX....

What we saw:

What we got:

What we saw:

What we got:

You didn't even give us shots of the correct generation cars. The production example there is the GV from 2012.

The concept you are showing is matched to the following generation car, which was the VA chassis starting in 2014, and some elements didn't get included in production until the VB in 2021.

 

[Italiabrain]

My guess is the June 2021 prototype has a hood that was not made to open. Literally welded shut.

As we get closer to production versions where the hood will need the ability to be opened, the inevitable gap must exist to achieve that requirement. It's the only logical explanation.The prominent gap and rubber seal aren’t present in the Matt Windle video about delays where he’s standing in front of “customer cars”.

My guess is the June 2021 prototype has a hood that was not made to open. Literally welded shut.

As we get closer to production versions where the hood will need the ability to be opened, the inevitable gap must exist to achieve that requirement. It's the only logical explanation.

The prominent gap and rubber seal aren’t shown on the Matt Windle video about Emira delays where he is standing in front of “customer cars” though. It seems like a separate and later development.

 

[kitkat]

I think we should all be happy the production Emira actually looks 95% identical to the proto Emira. I've followed many cars from proto to production and have seen some very drastic changes! One that comes to mind was the 2013 Subaru WRX....

What we saw:

What we got:

What we saw:

What we got:

Or how about the mkv Supra? lol.

 

[jamesbxxx]

At least it’s not as bad as the one I saw on the car they were using to promote the upcoming range of custom accessories! QA checking? The most accurate car?
#lotusdna

 

[kitkat]

At least it’s not as bad as the one I saw on the car they were using to promote the upcoming range of custom accessories! QA checking? The most accurate car?
#lotusdna
View attachment 7700

Oh boy, Tesla level QA.

 

[ksegg]

You know.......I'm starting to not feel too bad about Lotus "taking their time" at this point.

Use this time to fix all the early teething problems so when I get mine delivered, I won't need to deal with any of it.

But to give some folks here some peace of mind - this really isn't a Lotus "problem" so much as it's more just a new car problem. I'm pretty confident all these early issues will get resolved.

 

[eriegz]

Your pictures all clearly show there is a gap.

A lot of those early pictures are computer renders, so you can't rely on them for dimensional accuracy.

The Seneca Blue show car (studio prototype) clearly had a gap. As did the Shadow Grey dynamic prototype.

View attachment 7696

View attachment 7697

So, you're right — the blue car did have a gap with a rubber seal. That being said, it didn't seem as prominent / noticeable on that version!

So... what happened between that version and today? Obviously something's changed, for so many people (including at least a couple of YouTube reviewers) to now be asking why the new seam is so thick / prominent as compared to the old version:

"Good gap":​

"Bad gap":​

 

[TomE]

I think it may be an issue with the seal material itself.

I've seen versions where the rubber is slightly convex and comes out of the gap by a small amount, has a slightly raised profile above the line of the panels and also spreads slightly wider than the gap underneath.

I've seen other versions where the rubber is slightly concave and the centre of it sits just below the line of the two panels and the edges sit exactly with the panel edge, so it only just fills the gap.

Here's the Seneca Blue press car BVE (a nearly final pre-prod car) at Sunday's Hendy dealer event, which I think shows the concave seal:

Pic: phil flash on TLF

 

[Italiabrain]

I think it may be an issue with the seal material itself.

I've seen versions where the rubber is slightly convex and comes out of the gap by a small amount, has a slightly raised profile above the line of the panels and also spreads slightly wider than the gap underneath.

I've seen other versions where the rubber is slightly concave and the centre of it sits just below the line of the two panels and the edges sit exactly with the panel edge, so it only just fills the gap.

Here's the Seneca Blue press car BVE (a nearly final pre-prod car) at Sunday's Hendy dealer event, which I think shows the concave seal:

View attachment 7707

Pic: phil flash on TLF

If the seal looks prominent because it’s sticking out over bodywork or because it’s sticking up proud of the surface and either of those is just visually highlighting it and it’s also easily removed, then it’s a non-issue. That’s honestly what I’m hoping for as the final solution.

At the same time, that is clearly not what was going on in the pictures at the beginning of the thread with very clear side views of an enlarged gap that you could just about run a finger through without the rubber.