📓 Journals London to the French Alps

[AndyC]

Our Seneca Blue Emira V6 sports chassis is now 3 weeks old and it’s first real trip out for us. My wife and I are off to the French alps. I’m currently on “Le shuttle” under the channel after the first short (and worst) part of the journey. 60 miles London to Folkestone. The classic British summer with a wonderful wet road and occasional showers.
Operation stack on the M20 was interesting … it’s like we hit a resonate frequency on the car with the tarmac at 50mph. The car was rocking impressively like nothing else.

If you have not been on the train you get put into the large vehicles part due to the ground clearance and given it’s family getaway time lots of interested kids and parents wanted to look at the car and talk so had only 5 minutes for this!!

Will upload piccies and the interesting video on the m20 later.
Cannot wait for the French roads!
Also managed 30.9mpg so far !!!

 

[AndyC]

Here’s the video on the m20!!

 

[AndyC]

Arrived at our first destination, as expected the roads are incredibly smooth and the drive was great!

Took me a while to find a bag that fits perfectly in the boot on it’s side! It did not get too hot either.

Down to 26mpg but still surprising.

 

[Nick in Sydney]

Great to see a road trip post! This is what we need: more driving, less complaining.

 

[AndyC]

Morning clean complete … phase 2 driving soon!!!

Massive rain storm last night so this came in VERY handy!!

 

[AndyC]

What a day! It’s amazing how such a beautiful car changes your ability to park anywhere!

Managed to park in some great spots down Avenue de Champagne, Epernay, where people just want you to park at the door.

When we went to Champagne Collard-Picard turns out 2 people that work at lotus was sitting there! Ended up having a chat and learning about the new incoming changes for the base model quite a bit. Was fascinating!

6 hours of driving through the sunshine, along the side of lake Geneva. The car is surprisingly quiet at 80mph and with the French roads my wife even managed to have a sleep to show you how smooth it is.

Then when we arrived at the hotel I asked about the parking and they just said “you can park your car right here sir”, and it’s free

Even got a matching coloured drink once settled

 

[ADC]

What a day! It’s amazing how such a beautiful car changes your ability to park anywhere!

Managed to park in some great spots down Avenue de Champagne, Epernay, where people just want you to park at the door.
View attachment 29663

When we went to Champagne Collard-Picard turns out 2 people that work at lotus was sitting there! Ended up having a chat and learning about the new incoming changes for the base model quite a bit. Was fascinating!

6 hours of driving through the sunshine, along the side of lake Geneva. The car is surprisingly quiet at 80mph and with the French roads my wife even managed to have a sleep to show you how smooth it is.

Then when we arrived at the hotel I asked about the parking and they just said “you can park your car right here sir”, and it’s free
View attachment 29664

Even got a matching coloured drink once settled

View attachment 29665

Man, that park-your-fancy-car-out-front-for-free-sir thing is awesome ... I don't think it even occurred to me as a thing, and you've pulled it off multiple times in one weekend.

 

[EspritGuy]

What a day! It’s amazing how such a beautiful car changes your ability to park anywhere!

Managed to park in some great spots down Avenue de Champagne, Epernay, where people just want you to park at the door.
View attachment 29663

When we went to Champagne Collard-Picard turns out 2 people that work at lotus was sitting there! Ended up having a chat and learning about the new incoming changes for the base model quite a bit. Was fascinating!

6 hours of driving through the sunshine, along the side of lake Geneva. The car is surprisingly quiet at 80mph and with the French roads my wife even managed to have a sleep to show you how smooth it is.

Then when we arrived at the hotel I asked about the parking and they just said “you can park your car right here sir”, and it’s free
View attachment 29664

Even got a matching coloured drink once settled

View attachment 29665

Please elaborate on the upcoming Base Model changes comment.
Thanks.

 

[TomE]

Brilliant to read, love the “special parking” stories. Would be keen to hear what you picked up about Base Edition changes.

 

[AndyC]

Please elaborate on the upcoming Base Model changes comment.
Thanks.

ah apologies. The main part was lots of pointing at things saying … that’s going to be an optional extra! I honestly lost count!!! The most surprising one was the manual gear linkage view

They said the new engine is vastly better in their opinion. One worked in electronics and was confident that lots of teething issues are resolved now.

They also thanked us for supporting the brand and buying a car to support their growth. Being the only sober person there probably helped too

 

[GAVLA]

I'm enjoying your road-trip posts so far and looking forward to following the rest of your journey with interest, but what are the practical things you had to do to prepare for your trip to France - is there a driving abroad checklist you can post on this thread that the rest of us can follow?

 

[AndyC]

I travel abroad a lot driving so am very confident with the prep. There are simple things really that have changed over time but here’s the list for me currently:

1) correct number plates; you have to have a “UK” label on your car and no chance I’m sticking anything to the bodywork so got new number plates from Halfords (that are metal) cost £26 for the pair with the signup discount that free.
2) Try to fill up before you get to France; Historically fuel has been cheaper in France but it’s recently flipped. RON 98 is very common here but is ~£1.80 a litre.
3) Headlights on the Emira are flat LED so no need to worry about any headlight adjustments
4) flip the units to KPH from MPH in settings > units
5) Get a bag that fits you need the space! The medium Nike bag is a peach! You have to put it in upside down and then slide back but it’s massive and fits great!
6) get a smaller rucksack and/or vanity bag. My wife’s makeup etc would melt in the boot so we store it behind the seats in smaller bags
7) bring glass cleaner, a mid wash solution like auto glym Rapid Detailer (I’ve used this before) and a few High Finish micro fibre cloths… it needs to look it best always and in France it’s actually illegal to wash your car in public due to grey water issues
8) the Emira has the triangle and just throw in 2 high vis vests just incase - you never know when you might break down
9) I use the eurotunnel - but it’s got expensive since covid!!! So it’s not much more to just go flexiplus - great at this time of the year as not as much queuing and you get enough food to sort you for 2 meals and a good coffee that fits in the cup holders. Strange one but they also do gluten free which is important personally for allergy reasons.
10) the motorways in France are toll roads mostly. And the Emira is NOT designed to work well for this. The passenger will either need to hang out the car or just get out the car at each toll. I’d recommend an emovis tag https://www.emovis-tag.co.uk/french-toll-tags. This can save upto 30 mins at holiday peak times.
11) speed cameras! In France it’s illegal to have POIs for where they are, no system has them to alert you. However they have speed zones! You will see the zone as you enter with a big sign, the cameras however are not like the Uk, they are small either black or grey usually bollard shapes. When you get past them, that’s it in the zone! The zone can last upto ~1 mile in my experience.
12) new one for me; allow extra time for stops! EVERYWHERE people want to talk or have photos with the car! and you need to promote the Emira!
13) Bring some paracetamol; you cannot just get this in a supermarket. and it’s easier just to bring it.

 

[GAVLA]

I travel abroad a lot driving so am very confident with the prep. There are simple things really that have changed over time but here’s the list for me currently:

1) correct number plates; you have to have a “UK” label on your car and no chance I’m sticking anything to the bodywork so got new number plates from Halfords (that are metal) cost £26 for the pair with the signup discount that free.
2) Try to fill up before you get to France; Historically fuel has been cheaper in France but it’s recently flipped. RON 98 is very common here but is ~£1.80 a litre.
3) Headlights on the Emira are flat LED so no need to worry about any headlight adjustments
4) flip the units to KPH from MPH in settings > units
5) Get a bag that fits you need the space! The medium Nike bag is a peach! You have to put it in upside down and then slide back but it’s massive and fits great!
6) get a smaller rucksack and/or vanity bag. My wife’s makeup etc would melt in the boot so we store it behind the seats in smaller bags
7) bring glass cleaner, a mid wash solution like auto glym Rapid Detailer (I’ve used this before) and a few High Finish micro fibre cloths… it needs to look it best always and in France it’s actually illegal to wash your car in public due to grey water issues
8) the Emira has the triangle and just throw in 2 high vis vests just incase - you never know when you might break down
9) I use the eurotunnel - but it’s got expensive since covid!!! So it’s not much more to just go flexiplus - great at this time of the year as not as much queuing and you get enough food to sort you for 2 meals and a good coffee that fits in the cup holders. Strange one but they also do gluten free which is important personally for allergy reasons.
10) the motorways in France are toll roads mostly. And the Emira is NOT designed to work well for this. The passenger will either need to hang out the car or just get out the car at each toll. I’d recommend an emovis tag https://www.emovis-tag.co.uk/french-toll-tags. This can save upto 30 mins at holiday peak times.
11) speed cameras! In France it’s illegal to have POIs for where they are, no system has them to alert you. However they have speed zones! You will see the zone as you enter with a big sign, the cameras however are not like the Uk, they are small either black or grey usually bollard shapes. When you get past them, that’s it in the zone! The zone can last upto ~1 mile in my experience.
12) new one for me; allow extra time for stops! EVERYWHERE people want to talk or have photos with the car! and you need to promote the Emira!
13) Bring some paracetamol; you cannot just get this in a supermarket. and it’s easier just to bring it.

Excellent summary, many thanks for this! Enjoy the rest of your road-trip

 

[Eagle7]

THIS is exactly the type of thread we've needed in here! Please feel free to post more!

 

[GregD]

Really enjoying reading this thread - hope you have a great trip and I look forward to hearing more.

 

[Calran]

Looks great.

If you can be bothered, please do share locations and stops too. Planning a alps trip but no idea what are the best places/roads yet

 

[JimH]

It's a shame that Lotus don't just add (or give an option to add) add the UK identifier and flag to the plates as supplied by the factory on registration (it doesn't need the blue background any more before anyone complains about the colour! ) like they did on the early press cars etc. This is OK pretty much everywhere apart from Spain, Cyprus and Malta who still insist on a separate UK sticker.....

Driving in the EU

What UK drivers need to do to drive when visiting the EU

www.gov.uk

 

[Lotustoronto]

Awesome thread, enjoyable read.

 

[AndyC]

Ok so today … enjoyed a day in the opposite of the Champagne avenue … we went to Evian les bains. Where the water comes from!

Only got an hour in the car today after an early clean from about 1,000 bugs roasted to the front of the bumper. Cleaned off a treat but the Mrs is getting jealous of the time I spend every morning with the Emira! Had mainly the concierge asking all about the car as I cleaned it at the front of the hotel .

Drive on the south side of lake Geneva along the French strip into the swiss part. What a beautiful sweeping road with the added joy of being 2 foot from the lake if you make a mistake! Every town is 50kph but small then supposidly 80 out of the town . Road (as most main roads ”like A roads” in France) was beautifully fresh tarmac.

Tried to come back through the mountains but ended up mostly little roads that had schools in them that in France have a nasty speed bump. Also the Mrs was NOT happy with some of these bumpy roads - no sleeping for her this time

Had a elegantly dressed lady crossing the road in a matching blue coord suit who double takes the car and pointed out the matching colour which had me in stitches as she stopped all the traffic. Had one person super excited to see a lotus as he’s never seen one before; it was cute and it clearly made his day.

Time to relax (these blue drinks are nice!)

 

[AndyC]

The trip was going super good … until bang engine management light and power restricted mode … sad times

I am on the phone to breakdown - called the UK number they transferred to the AA Europe… lotus have no contract with the AA france apparently so they have been calling “Arc breakdown” who are not answering .

At least I’m at a hotel.

Will write up an awesome day later once I know someone is coming to fix the car.