📓 Journals The EM12A LS Diary – V6 Auto FE

[EM12A LS]

So today is the day I finally pick up my car, it’s been 660 days (1 year, 9 months and 21 days) from deposit to collection, I'm on the train to Norwich and though I would start an Emira update..

It all started on the launch night, when I with other Lotus enthusiasts joined the ‘virtual launch’ of the Emira, I was immediately taken with the car, slept on it and put my deposit down the next morning. I viewed the car a few days later at Goodwood and was very pleased I had committed to it.



My order Journey;
7th July 2021 – Order placed I’m a priority Costumer
Magma Red,
no black pack,
black alloys and red brakes,
tan leather,
black leather steering wheel with red insert,
V6 engine, Auto gear box

October 2021 2nd deposit to secure my priority build slot
December 2021 your car will be available for you in June 2022
January 2022 ‘June, 2022 and the anticipated delivery of your new Lotus Emira is now just a few months away.’
April 2022 ‘we are pleased to inform you that your new Emira will be ready for handover in July 2022.’
June 2022’ As a valued Emira customer, we want to share a short film from Matt Windle, Managing Director, Lotus Cars. It was shot last week at the new Chapman Production Centre at Hethel, Norfolk – the home of Lotus sports cars. ‘
August 2022 ‘As a Lotus priority customer, We are pleased to let you know your Emira is now scheduled for production in October 2022, meaning delivery is likely for November 2022 ’☹
November 2022 ‘I can confirm your Emira is scheduled for production in March 2023’ ☹
January 2023 ‘Protect Your New Lotus Emira’ received
January 2023 ‘I can see your order was schedule for build in March with delivery in April. This has since been updated to a February build with delivery in March’
January 2023 ‘We can confirm that your Emira is scheduled for production in March 2023 with delivery in April ☹’
March 2023 ‘You're almost at the finish line, the chequered flag is in sight.’; ‘YOU’RE ALL DONE! Great news! You've done everything you need to and now it's down to us. We'll get back to you just as soon as we can. ‘
13th April 2023 ‘New invoice from Lotus Cars Limited’
28th April 2023 ‘Collection Day’

Like almost all of us, the journey has been long and we’ve had to put up with a number of setbacks.

It’s frustrating that the positive messaging of Priority and Valued Customer have not been followed through and information and updates have been vague, generalised and un personnel, but as a lotus owner over the years I know that the driving experience will offset this part of the journey.

The one problem with waiting so long is the worry beads come out but hopefully all will go well, and there will be many happy miles of motoring to come.

I would like to thank the Customer service team for always being polite and courteous they have done a great job in difficult times with it seems very little sharable information from Lotus HQ. I’ve made more than a few calls over the past couple of years for better explanations on the delays and hold ups and I think they deserve a big thank you.

This forum is brilliant and congratulations to the moderators who have built up a really useful website for us to use, input into, vent frustrations, share stories and fill in a lot of the blanks that Lotus should have filled in.

I will add my updates as I go along.

 

[Eagle7]

So today is the day I finally pick up my car, it’s been 660 days (1 year, 9 months and 21 days) from deposit to collection, I'm on the train to Norwich and though I would start an Emira update..

It all started on the launch night, when I with other Lotus enthusiasts joined the ‘virtual launch’ of the Emira, I was immediately taken with the car, slept on it and put my deposit down the next morning. I viewed the car a few days later at Goodwood and was very pleased I had committed to it.
View attachment 25848


My order Journey;
7th July 2021 – Order placed I’m a priority Costumer
Magma Red,
no black pack,
black alloys and red brakes,
tan leather,
black leather steering wheel with red insert,
V6 engine, Auto gear box
View attachment 25849
October 2021 2nd deposit to secure my priority build slot
December 2021 your car will be available for you in June 2022
January 2022 ‘June, 2022 and the anticipated delivery of your new Lotus Emira is now just a few months away.’
April 2022 ‘we are pleased to inform you that your new Emira will be ready for handover in July 2022.’
June 2022’ As a valued Emira customer, we want to share a short film from Matt Windle, Managing Director, Lotus Cars. It was shot last week at the new Chapman Production Centre at Hethel, Norfolk – the home of Lotus sports cars. ‘
August 2022 ‘As a Lotus priority customer, We are pleased to let you know your Emira is now scheduled for production in October 2022, meaning delivery is likely for November 2022 ’☹
November 2022 ‘I can confirm your Emira is scheduled for production in March 2023’ ☹
January 2023 ‘Protect Your New Lotus Emira’ received
January 2023 ‘I can see your order was schedule for build in March with delivery in April. This has since been updated to a February build with delivery in March’
January 2023 ‘We can confirm that your Emira is scheduled for production in March 2023 with delivery in April ☹’
March 2023 ‘You're almost at the finish line, the chequered flag is in sight.’; ‘YOU’RE ALL DONE! Great news! You've done everything you need to and now it's down to us. We'll get back to you just as soon as we can. ‘
13th April 2023 ‘New invoice from Lotus Cars Limited’
28th April 2023 ‘Collection Day’

Like almost all of us, the journey has been long and we’ve had to put up with a number of setbacks.

It’s frustrating that the positive messaging of Priority and Valued Customer have not been followed through and information and updates have been vague, generalised and un personnel, but as a lotus owner over the years I know that the driving experience will offset this part of the journey.

The one problem with waiting so long is the worry beads come out but hopefully all will go well, and there will be many happy miles of motoring to come.

I would like to thank the Customer service team for always being polite and courteous they have done a great job in difficult times with it seems very little sharable information from Lotus HQ. I’ve made more than a few calls over the past couple of years for better explanations on the delays and hold ups and I think they deserve a big thank you.

This forum is brilliant and congratulations to the moderators who have built up a really useful website for us to use, input into, vent frustrations, share stories and fill in a lot of the blanks that Lotus should have filled in.

I will add my updates as I go along.

My only suggestion is to rename the title of this thread from

"The EM12A LS Dairy – V6 Auto FE"​

to The EM12A LS Diary - V6 Auto FE

Unless you plan on delivering milk with your car, I believe this is a typo, yes? And congratulations on your new car!

 

[TomE]

I’m assuming it’s a typo in the title and have changed it. I don’t think the OP can edit the thread title after posting.

Looking forward to hearing about your collection experience and initial driving impressions. There are a lot of collections from Hethel today, so probably a few more journals to follow.

Thanks for the feedback about the forum. I always felt the balance on here between frustration and excitement would shift once cars started getting delivered.

 

[action_turtle]

My only suggestion is to rename the title of this thread from

"The EM12A LS Dairy – V6 Auto FE"​

to The EM12A LS Diary - V6 Auto FE

Unless you plan on delivering milk with your car, I believe this is a typo, yes? And congratulations on your new car!

Taken 660 days to deliver my milk, I'm starting to think I should change milkman! Wife is having non of it though.

 

[EM12A LS]

My only suggestion is to rename the title of this thread from

"The EM12A LS Dairy – V6 Auto FE"​

to The EM12A LS Diary - V6 Auto FE

Unless you plan on delivering milk with your car, I believe this is a typo, yes? And congratulations on your new car!

Thanks for spotting that

 

[EM12A LS]

A little late in updating my diary and thanks again for the dairy spot.

So collection day didn't quite go plan, but I have to say the Lotus team in Scott and Sam did a brilliant Job.

I would definitely recommend pick from Hethel, its a brilliant experience, the factory tour is very comprehensive and informative and the presentation and reveal of the cars is done very well.

Unfortunately when my car was being taken out of the show room area, Sam noted that the steering was heavy, so while we went and had a sandwich the car was checked over and a problem with the power steering was identified (see thread by others on this). So I wasn't going to be able to take my car home.

Thankfully Scott was quick to the rescue and availed me off his Emira a Manual Sports in Silver which I was able to take home with me until my car could be fixed. So whilst disappointed not to take my car home I was able to drive an Emira out and what an amazing car it is.

Fast forward a week and I was finally able to pick my car up a week later than planned but with a whole week of Emira driving experience under my belt I had much less to worry about driving home. The problem did seem to be a faulty power steering unit which I understand was swapped out.

Driving a completely different specification from my order for a week was a real bonus and it was great to allow me compare my choice with the manual and I'm pleased to say that for me I've made the right decision. The manual is brilliant (it had 1500 miles on it) and on open roads and in no traffic is second to non in driving engagement, but at slow speed and traffic the clutch and gear change that are so engaging at speed are not so much fun.

The auto on the other hand takes the hassle out of the day to day driving and for me is just as engaging (although limited to 4k revs at the moment) in manual mode on the open road and will be just as much fun.

I'm pleased to say that in the first couple of hundred miles the car has performed perfectly and I can't report any issues, its a pleasure to drive, super eye catching and a whole load of fun awaits. Its great to be back in a Lotus and worth the frustrating wait.

 

[EM12A LS]

The 1000 mile update
6 weeks in and I've tripped over the 1000 mile milestone, its come at a great time and I'm really enjoying the motoring.

The Good News - This is a brilliant car
Its all good news, I love this car, its great to drive has a wonderful road presence and really is an all round daily car, coming from a 911 Turbo it really ticks all of my boxes. All of the driving so far has been urban driving I've had an average of 23.6mpg and a rather disappointing 31mph average speed (which I'm not convinced is right and seems low), I've kept to the recommend 4000 rpm with plenty of variability in my driving and it definitely rewards higher rev drives, i think now I've hit the magic number I will look forward to a little higher revs, but frankly its very capable at 3-4000 rpm
The auto box is very smooth and in sports mode the engine and gear change are very sweet and with the auto change down sounds amazing, handling and drive are great and the tour chassis seems to suck up so many bumps, its much better than I had expected.

The not so Goods News
Other than a couple of frustrating niggles (see below) that should have been picked up at collection I have no complaints.
Firstly I noticed that the ceramic coating was poorly applied and have the car booked in for it to be redone, its thankfully not very noticeable in sun light (which we've got an abundance off at the moment) but on dull days the faults are quite clear.
The second and more frustrating one is the AC cooling isn't working very well, I'm told it needs some more gas, its booked in for a check over, in a week or so what I have discovered that for a simple chap like me who has topped up AC on others cars, the re-gas port is buried behind the drivers wheel arch which means you need to take the wheel off and remove the lining to access the port. If got this wrong please let me know.
Both items will be pick up under warrantee which is good, but its frustrating that it needs two trips to the dealer to get these simple issues resolved.

Without the above I would have given my first 1000 miles a 5 star rating, but given the above its only 4.5 stars

Roll on many more happy miles of Lotus motoring, Goodwood Festival of Speed is next on the list, with a road trip to the isle of man looked in September.

 

[TomE]

Great to read your feedback after several weeks getting to know the car. Frustrating about the ceramic coating - yours was a factory collection but was the coating done by Lotus prior to collection or by your detailer afterwards?

If you want to meet other forum members at Festival of Speed, add your name and which days to the thread here:

Goodwood Festival of Speed 13-16 July

Last year we had a thread for GFOS attendees and several people met up during the event. Repeating again for this year. Please post which day(s) you are attending and I will maintain a consolidated list in this post. Nearer the time I will create WhatsApp groups for each day so we can keep in...

www.emiraforum.com

I'm over on the Isle of Man in July. It's a fantastic place to do a Lotus road trip. Look forward to hearing how the Emira handles it.

 

[EM12A LS]

Hi, the ceramic coating was done by the factory and to be fair they haven't quibbled its going to be re-done in a few weeks by my local dealer, just frustrating.

I'm at Goodwood on the Saturday so I'll add myself to the list

 

[EM12A LS]

So this update is a mixed story of good and bad, having gone from being very pleased almost straight after my last update things went wrong very quickly.

My car went in for the AC failure to be reviewed, it was re-gassed and returned, but almost as soon as I drove it home the AC failed again and I started to get to numerous dashboard errors and system failure messages. After getting my car back to my local dealer, I was shocked to be told that after further investigation water had been identified in the wiring loom and there was a heavily corroded connection / junction box that would need to replaced.

At this point I went back to Lotus and they agreed to re-patriate my car back to Hethel for the repair works. I was told by my dealer that it should be a couple of weeks work but it took 7 weeks before I finally got my car back. Just in time for a few weeks of summer motoring.

The following items / issues have been addressed

• Wiring Loom - Body & Front Harness's, ABD Unit & associated works
• Air-Conditioning not working
• Rear Lamp cluster to be replaced
• Front Bonnet - front seal & seal beside window wiper to be repaired
• Paint Correction / Guardex - various locations, roof, drivers door, rear quarter panels ++
• Safety Recall July 2023 - Window Wiper Motor replacement
• Safety Recall July 2023 - A pillar Trim tether installation
• Associated Software updates

Ignoring my obvious disappointment Lotus responded promptly and arranged for a decent hire car, which was swapped to an Emira after a few weeks, so looking on the bright side I’ve had the opportunity to compare Manual and Auto once again. As with so many others, communications with customer services was not smooth and despite asking for a factory contact I was left to go via customer services for each update and, no surprise, updates and information were limited and vague.

So for the third time I returned to Lotus for a pick up a few weeks ago and I’m pleased to say I’ve put a 1000 miles on it in just a couple of weeks taking it to the Goodwood Revival and the Isle of Man and without wishing to jinx my forum updates the car has performed faultlessly. Its been a perfect drive, motorway performance sits at 30mpg and cruises very nicely, on the Isle of Man roads its handling and performance exceed my driving skills, power and accelerating are great and the auto box, is awesome very smooth and quick and the manual mode is brilliant.

So 2500 miles in, I’m happy again whilst frustrated at the time with the initial problems, lotus resolved them without quibble and as promptly as I believe they could have done, customer services once again are the week link having to chase them at each stage.

Hopefully no more issues, just lots of happy motoring to come.

 

[eriegz]

So this update is a mixed story of good and bad, having gone from being very pleased almost straight after my last update things went wrong very quickly.

My car went in for the AC failure to be reviewed, it was re-gassed and returned, but almost as soon as I drove it home the AC failed again and I started to get to numerous dashboard errors and system failure messages. After getting my car back to my local dealer, I was shocked to be told that after further investigation water had been identified in the wiring loom and there was a heavily corroded connection / junction box that would need to replaced.

At this point I went back to Lotus and they agreed to re-patriate my car back to Hethel for the repair works. I was told by my dealer that it should be a couple of weeks work but it took 7 weeks before I finally got my car back. Just in time for a few weeks of summer motoring.

The following items / issues have been addressed

• Wiring Loom - Body & Front Harness's, ABD Unit & associated works
• Air-Conditioning not working
• Rear Lamp cluster to be replaced
• Front Bonnet - front seal & seal beside window wiper to be repaired
• Paint Correction / Guardex - various locations, roof, drivers door, rear quarter panels ++
• Safety Recall July 2023 - Window Wiper Motor replacement
• Safety Recall July 2023 - A pillar Trim tether installation
• Associated Software updates

Ignoring my obvious disappointment Lotus responded promptly and arranged for a decent hire car, which was swapped to an Emira after a few weeks, so looking on the bright side I’ve had the opportunity to compare Manual and Auto once again. As with so many others, communications with customer services was not smooth and despite asking for a factory contact I was left to go via customer services for each update and, no surprise, updates and information were limited and vague.

So for the third time I returned to Lotus for a pick up a few weeks ago and I’m pleased to say I’ve put a 1000 miles on it in just a couple of weeks taking it to the Goodwood Revival and the Isle of Man and without wishing to jinx my forum updates the car has performed faultlessly. Its been a perfect drive, motorway performance sits at 30mpg and cruises very nicely, on the Isle of Man roads its handling and performance exceed my driving skills, power and accelerating are great and the auto box, is awesome very smooth and quick and the manual mode is brilliant.

So 2500 miles in, I’m happy again whilst frustrated at the time with the initial problems, lotus resolved them without quibble and as promptly as I believe they could have done, customer services once again are the week link having to chase them at each stage.

Hopefully no more issues, just lots of happy motoring to come.

Thanks for sharing this update, and great pictures!

 

[action_turtle]

Fair play on sticking with it, glad you are now happy with the car!!

 

[EM12A LS]

3500 miles in and still very much enjoying my Emira, I though I would add a couple of action photos from our Isle of Man trip, sadly the weather wasn't the kindest, but my son and I had a lot of fun visiting the IOM and motoring festival was very enjoyable.

I'm loving the V6 auto box, its great drive and performs very well, no more glitches or issues, just a lot of fun motoring.

 

[TomE]

Great pictures. The Sloc is one of my favourite roads on the Island. I've not been for the Festival of Motoring - would you recommend it and what activities did they organise?

 

[EM12A LS]

Tom

See their website @ www.iomfm.com it has all the details on it, and sets out what is arranged it is over 3/4 days and plenty to do with a wide range of cars attending, I think next year is already booked out, I actually found it via the LDC trips.
Its definitely worth it if you are first timer to IOM, its very well managed and there are a number of drives out which were a lot of fun, we had to much wet weather which put a dampener on it and kept speeds down (probably not a bad thing) but when the sun did come out it was really great to drive parts of the course.

 

[EM12A LS]

The First Lotus Emira to the Artic Circle a Scandinavian Driving Adventure

So, I’ve always enjoyed a driving trip, and done many in the past, and traveling to the arctic circle has been on my list for a long time.

Having bought from my Emira V6 Auto a year ago I thought it was time to put my travel plans and the Lotus to the test and at the beginning of the year with my travel organiser [email protected] we booked a 12 day trip traveling trip through 5 countries and to also coincide with the summer solstice.

Our journey consisted of the following itinerary.
Day 1 – Harwich via overnight ferry to Hook of Holland
Day 2 - Hook of Holland via Germany to Copenhagen
Day 3 - Copenhagen via overnight ferry to Oslo
Day 4 - Oslo to Ostersund
Day 5- Ostersund to Arjeplog (summer solstice)
Day 6- Arjeplog via Arctic Circle to Grong
Day 7 - Grong via Trondheim to Averoy
Day 8 - Averoy to Geiranger
Day 9 - Geiranger via Breheimen National Park to Larvik
Day 10 - Larvik ferry to Hirtshals to Billund
Day 11 - Billund (Lego) to Bremen
Day 12 - Bremen to Hook of Holland to Harwich to Home

There is so much I could write about this trip, I was able to share the driving with my son, which was great as it broke the traveling down and gave him his first taste of , some of the days where to long and whilst the roads are generally amazing we often ended up in convoys of camper vans and lorries which slowed progress, don’t under estimate journey times in Scandinavia we should have added at least 3 or 4 more days to break the trip down.

How was the car? the Emira is definitely a grand tourer it eats up the miles in comfort we shared the driving which is must, with no fatigue after a good days driving, we had one issue with the boot which didn’t fully shut one morning and would neither fully shut or open and we had to find the emergency boot pull to open, but other than that it has behaved perfectly. tour and sport modes are great, sport was perfect for the twisty roads and tour simply perfect for the boring bits.

I love the auto gear box, it is slick and smooth very responsive and goes through the gears very nicely, in tour mode there is a tendency for the auto to upshift quite early but a pull on the paddle or a switch to sport mode solves that issue. The car easily outperforms this drivers abilities so I’m afraid there isn’t much by way of critique here.

Niggles in all honesty it’s hard to find any, the boot shape is annoying and despite soft bags it didn’t take as much as I’d hoped but the shelf behind the seats more than makes up for the space, but other than that in my view this is one of the best sports cars I’ve owned and it will be in my garage for many more years.

Some Stats

Total journey 2877 miles 4630km (I have now completed 9500 miles in the car)
1276 miles 2052km to the arctic circle (from the Hook of Holland)
Average Full Consumption 33mpg
Top Speed 120mph on the Autobahn
9 Ferries (no issues with ride height on entry and exit ramps)

 

[NoelT]

Hi @EM12A LS - thanks for sharing the trip. It sounds like an excellent time was had by all. Where in Essex are you located, and do yo know of any local car meets that are worth attending?

 

[EM12A LS]

Hi I'm based near Chelmsford, there is a small group of other Emira owners that occasionally meet up and there is the www.lotusdriversclub.org.uk who organise various events in the region.
If you are local very happy to meet up one evening for a drive and met

 

[NoelT]

Hi I'm based near Chelmsford, there is a small group of other Emira owners that occasionally meet up and there is the www.lotusdriversclub.org.uk who organise various events in the region.
If you are local very happy to meet up one evening for a drive and met

Excellent, I am in Rayleigh, so not too far away. Let me know when everyone is meeting up and if okay I'd be delighted to come along. It would be good to hear more about your trip!