USA/Canada Delivery Thread

[FEGuy]

Lotus is never gonna tell us what changes they made.

Unfortunately I think at this point they’re more concerned with getting these cars sold than with throttle response/peak power/driveability.

They’re gonna clean up whatever they need to clean up at any cost.

Just my thoughts, I’m a pessimist.

No, you're a realist.

The post above yours suggesting Lotus would ship all the cars back to the UK rather than mess with the tuning or peak HP is one of the dumbest things I've ever read on a car forum. They've had over a hundred million in inventory (with non-refundable deposits) sitting dormant for going on three months. They will literally do anything to get them to pass so they can be sold.

Lotus is now a public company and the longer this drags out the longer their balance sheet is fucked and they actually risk insolvency. Geely has made it clear they don't want to infuse more capital. The whole thing continues to be an utter mess.

I know we all love the car and the brand but the business side of this has been utterly and completely mishandled. You can only laugh at the company and its leadership. Given what communication has been thus far, no one will ever know what they did to force pass these cars.

The big winner here is Jubu. I bet they sell a lot more tunes this year than they originally forecast.

 

[DCRAM]

? What did you expect? Dallas is selling unclaimed cars for 13k over new price.. Any dealership would welcome the opportunity to make more money….

Personally my car is at the dealership so I am patiently waiting

That's what I expected since that was the agreement from the very beginning, i.e. a refundable deposit...was just answering a question someone asked.

 

[Arkham]

No, you're a realist.

The post above yours suggesting Lotus would ship all the cars back to the UK rather than mess with the tuning or peak HP is one of the dumbest things I've ever read on a car forum. They've had over a hundred million in inventory (with non-refundable deposits) sitting dormant for going on three months. They will literally do anything to get them to pass so they can be sold.

Lotus is now a public company and the longer this drags out the longer their balance sheet is fucked and they actually risk insolvency. Geely has made it clear they don't want to infuse more capital. The whole thing continues to be an utter mess.

I know we all love the car and the brand but the business side of this has been utterly and completely mishandled. You can only laugh at the company and its leadership. Given what communication has been thus far, no one will ever know what they did to force pass these cars.

The big winner here is Jubu. I bet they sell a lot more tunes this year than they originally forecast.

lol, clearly they won't ship them back, just as I'm sure they won't tune down the 400hp versus make other needed adjustments. Man this forum got really rough today over some anonymous guy on Facebook saying his dealer is flashing cars without any proof. Hopefully tomorrow gets back to normal

 

[drjazzsk]

If for some reason the hp and or low end torque etc is reduced, I'm out. I already feel the low end power is semi inadequate and slow to uptake. I can't imagine what a diminished response would be like and thinking that would be ok. The ECU tunes seem like a big gamble to me while under warranty. Plus the costs are a bit ridiculous on the upper JUBU tunes. Anyhow, should be interesting how this progresses. Still waiting to see what the Base configuration and costs are going to be in comparison to the FE.

 

[PsymonR]

If this new report is correct, I truly hope only option 1 or 2 will occur. If reports surface of poor drivability/rev hang after the re-flash, I will very likely cancel my order as I simply cannot justify the cost of this vehicle if it now has poor drivability. Other manufactures (specifically one starting with "P") have been able to tune their cars with good drivability and don't have rev hang like a civic.

I hope any tuning they have to do to the car to satisfy CARB doesn't adversely affect how the car performs for you guys, but one thing to bear in mind is that the 2GF-FE engine was first released nearly 20 years ago. As a result there may not be as many options available to Lotus to tune the car to CARB's liking as on say a Cayman that will have a more modern engine.

 

[BobbyG]

Similar experience when I went to the dealer to buy my GTR in 2018. Asked a sales guy to open the door and he said "that's a six figure car, we don't open the door for everyone." Found another dealer a week later with the color I wanted, flew there, and drove the car home.

I hope any tuning they have to do to the car to satisfy CARB doesn't adversely affect how the car performs for you guys, but one thing to bear in mind is that the 2GF-FE engine was first released nearly 20 years ago. As a result there may not be as many options available to Lotus to tune the car to CARB's liking as on say a Cayman that will have a more modern engine.

Isn’t the current European emissions requirement stricter than the current CARB standard?

If the above is true, why would Lotus need to alter the engine performance to meet CARB when they have already met the Euro standard?

I‘m probably taking a simplistic view of a complicated issue.

Maybe the flash contains updates/fixes for known problems not related to emissions

 

[drjazzsk]

Incidentally the online configurator changed again. They changed some of the pics and the way it navigates. They also made the steering wheel options free...no more $530 charge for alcantara steering wheel etc. The base configurator still not available.

 

[PsymonR]

Isn’t the current European emissions requirement stricter than the current CARB standard?

If the above is true, why would Lotus need to alter the engine performance to meet CARB when they have already meet the Euro standard?

I‘m probably taking a simplistic view of a complicated issue.

I don't know the specifics of the difference between regulations, it may be that CARB isn't as strict overall but that there is something in the minutiae that is causing issues.

 

[CHEESE]

Incidentally the online configurator changed again. They changed some of the pics and the way it navigates. They also made the steering wheel options free...no more $530 charge for alcantara steering wheel etc. The base configurator still not available.

Alcantara steering wheel was a free option when I ordered my FE1, along with almost everything else. The only not-free options were black pack and vehicle tracker. Did that change with FE2?

 

[benjh1028]

It’s well known the Toyota V6 is an absolute powerhouse and a bit of detuning would only help in taming that beast!

 

[drjazzsk]

Alcantara steering wheel was a free option when I ordered my FE1, along with almost everything else. The only not-free options were black pack and vehicle tracker. Did that change with FE2?

Yes. At least every time I configured it, it showed an extra charge. Up until now

 

[DerTheDer]

Alcantara steering wheel was a free option when I ordered my FE1, along with almost everything else. The only not-free options were black pack and vehicle tracker. Did that change with FE2?

Not true. Alcantara was a cost uograde.

 

[LuckysDad]

Nope. Warranty for 3 years, you’re gonna need it.

This

 

[brainf18]

Incidentally the online configurator changed again. They changed some of the pics and the way it navigates. They also made the steering wheel options free...no more $530 charge for alcantara steering wheel etc. The base configurator still not available.

Wrong. Configurator still shows a $530 charge. I know Forums are for information sharing. But it would be great if that information was correct from time to time...

 

[Deeznuss]

What is interesting is that the configuratior now includes more options: sport petals, alcantara headliner, open mesh gear linkage, etc.
These options are all ticked for you as they are included in the FE package however for anyone considering going for a base model you can now see what in all probability will be your ability to customize your car to taste. These changes to the configuratior would lead me to believe the Base model is coming soon (but it’s Lotus so who knows).

 

[Porter]

Lotus is now a public company and the longer this drags out the longer their balance sheet is fucked and they actually risk insolvency. Geely has made it clear they don't want to infuse more capital. The whole thing continues to be an utter mess.

I know we all love the car and the brand but the business side of this has been utterly and completely mishandled. You can only laugh at the company and its leadership. Given what communication has been thus far, no one will ever know what they did to force pass these cars.

While I generally agree with a lot of your sentiment in this post, you have some key details wrong.

For example, the IPO... The sports car company was not part of the public offering. Only the EV company (China plus a few small groups in UK) was included in the IPO. The car company at Hethel and almost everyone in it, including Emira production, are not in the IPO and exist as a separate entity.

 

[Aero]

Beware the Ides of March.
Lotus may stab us in the back...again.

Meanwhile at CARB.

 

[DF_Toronto]

Alcantara steering wheel was a free option when I ordered my FE1, along with almost everything else. The only not-free options were black pack and vehicle tracker. Did that change with FE2?

I’m fairly certain alcantara wheel was always extra, not the seats.

 

[DF_Toronto]

What is interesting is that the configuratior now includes more options: sport petals, alcantara headliner, open mesh gear linkage, etc.
These options are all ticked for you as they are included in the FE package however for anyone considering going for a base model you can now see what in all probability will be your ability to customize your car to taste. These changes to the configuratior would lead me to believe the Base model is coming soon (but it’s Lotus so who knows).

Not new - the second configurator you’re looking at showing that has been out for close to a year. It’s just random which website version takes you to which (you could always google to find the newer one) and maybe they’re correcting the links to all take you to the new one now…a year later . This is the way.

 

[ATSAaron]

? What did you expect? Dallas is selling unclaimed cars for 13k over new price.. Any dealership would welcome the opportunity to make more money….

Personally my car is at the dealership so I am patiently waiting

Is that $13k over the old price or the new price?