Scottish Elises

Hi Guys,

Well after some months of summer *caugh*cuagh* - fun in the Lotus... then some extended issues with the car ( help on here was amazing ) I decided it was time to look for something else...

Got myself a little SLK350, full sports suspension pack and all the toys - and the lotus has now gone.

I will pick another one up next year - no doubt but for now, I would like to thank everyone for the help in diagnosing and helping out on the issues i had.........well apart from the jack i put through the side of the car ( Idiot ) hahah

Will continue to be on here though - as the banter and projects on going are great

Cheers
Izi

Izi,

That's the spirit! And we'll forgive you for the Merc...for now...if you do keep your promise to get back in a Lotus next "summer".



Glad you are enjoying it here. Some of us now feel unable to leave...a bit like Hotel California...

Campbell

will be an exige or evora s next year - the V6 sounds interesting..... so lets just wait and see if they can get the quality sorted.

Love the look of the Evora s - but build quality really put me off.

Lets see what the coming months bring for lotus... exciting times

izibecoz wrote:will be an exige or evora s next year - the V6 sounds interesting..... so lets just wait and see if they can get the quality sorted.

Love the look of the Evora s - but build quality really put me off.

Lets see what the coming months bring for lotus... exciting times

Hope I am not counting my chickens here but been really pleased with the quality of the Evora. Been a couple of niggles but had more problems with lots of other cars.

The good thing is that Murray's are excellent at sorting them out, which is what makes the difference. Suspect that I would not have had as much dedicated service if I went to Porsche/Mercedes/BMW - probably just treated like a normal punter.

Hope you get back to the marque soon

Cheers
George

My 911 4S never missed a beat - and it was solid - Granted the delaership was a bit of a pain in the arse... but quickly moved away from them to getting serviced etc elsewhere.

The comment in regards to the Evora build - was when I was down getting work done to the Lotus, Craig showed me round the red one---- opened the boot and all the carpet had fallen away from the body work.. glue showing ( took pics ) etc etc. just not what i would expect from 60k car! Especially when just out the back there is Aston delaer with plety sub 60K cars that have abuild quality like no other!

Anyway - lovely looking car - and I am sure they will... or have sorted many of the issues by now

C

izibecoz wrote: Especially when just out the back there is Aston delaer with plety sub 60K cars that have abuild quality like no other!

You're kidding, right? Some quality horror stories floating about with Aston build kwalitee... Trim stays on but the gearbox falls out - I know which bill I'd prefer!

Shug wrote:

izibecoz wrote: Especially when just out the back there is Aston delaer with plety sub 60K cars that have abuild quality like no other!

You're kidding, right? Some quality horror stories floating about with Aston build kwalitee... Trim stays on but the gearbox falls out - I know which bill I'd prefer!

rofl

hahah -- ok so bad comparison

but anyway - you pay 60K for a car... regardless of brand - i would expect it to be tip top... and even more so when in the dealers showroom!!

Love the evora S in white... simply stunning car... but depreciation etc put me off a "new" one.. but thats just like all new cars i suppose.

Will wait till next year anyway - then see what lotus have on offer... looks like they have a pile of new toys about to hit the streets

I paid £25k for my Elise, twice what I'd paid for my most expensive car prior to that :shock

12 years on, all the trim is all still attached (OK so there wasn't much to start with!) and I think the only rattles are now from window mechs which just need their mounting bolts tightened. And one from inside the dash which 15 mins with radio removed would surely sort quickly enough. (This is because fixing balljoints and replacing the steering rack have cured practically every other rattle it had!!)

However, it's the way the thing drives - and has always driven - which represents the VFM for a lowly sort like me. I just put fresh discs and pads on the back last night, took it for a shakedown, and thought "wow...what a car".

Lotus put their time and money into assembling cars which drive by thought control. The bits that need quality to achieve that aspect are well engineered and generally well put together. Maybe awkward to replace, but well put together all the same!

They don't do plush, and this is one of the reasons many fear for the future of this crazy 5-car lineup. However that said, a German bloke is hitting all the interior fitters with a big cane right now and it's rumoured to be getting better.



PS - there is one clonk that my NVH Dept (aka Robin Iddon) is still puzzling over but it's been there for years so we are not too worried

izibecoz wrote:The comment in regards to the Evora build - was when I was down getting work done to the Lotus, Craig showed me round the red one---- opened the boot and all the carpet had fallen away from the body work.. glue showing ( took pics ) etc etc. just not what i would expect from 60k car!

Agree that daft things like this shouldn't be happening.

13 years ago, I was in a position to buy my first 'sporty' car (The Fiat 127 GT I owned at uni doesn't count as 'sporty' )

Went to see a TVR Chimaera at the main dealer in Edinburgh, and was hugely disappointed to see the crusty box section chassis, carpets peeling off the transmission bulkhead, and wood on the dash delaminating.

Being told TADTS put me right off - Didn't even bother test driving it - Went and bought an Elan SE instead (oops! ), although that did lead to me ending up joining SE1.

I'm sure the next generation of Loti will have sorted the QA issues out. (fingers crossed!)

When I was at Lotus Silverstone the other day I whiled away the time by looking closely at the (many) Evoras they had for sale. Now I've driven the car a couple of times and it's sublime but the quality just isn't there for the price being asked. It's the wee simple things that get my goat e.g. On three of the cars the Lotus nose badge showed terrible discolouration of the yellow and a bubbling and blistering across the surface. I know it's broadly trivial but it's so easy to get this right so to not do it just smacks of cannae be arsed and would make the less enthusiastic buyer think twice I expect. Hey ho.

That aside quality needs to be designed and engineered in from the start if it isn't there's only so much that can be fixed on the production line and I'm pretty sure there is a huge amount of focus on this.

It's always going to be difficult for low volume production to match the quality of those with larger development budgets. I'm not sure how my first ever car fits into that theory though - an AXGT - environmentally friendly to the extent that it was designed to fall apart and recycle itself, and if there was anything left it would go on fire (twice)! So after the AX build quality has to be really bad before I notice. Having said that I do like the Audi interiors - just a nice place to be.

When it comes to quality control it's interesting to watch the series of videos produced by Ferrari for the 458. The number of checks, both automated and manual to make sure every tiny detail is correct is immense. The engine one is fasinating but all are as interesting with regards quality control. Actually makes you wander if they make any money from these cars! Seems to take an army of people and robots. Could be seen as overkill but results ate pretty good. Surely lotus is going to have to emulate these procedures if they're going to compete with the big boys cause I'm sure the porsche factory is similar.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdWx1OVf ... ata_player

Ali

It's mass production techniques. The way I see it there are far to many checks in place things should be done right first time. you can't inspect in the manufacture of better parts