Peegee355

The bolts were rock solid so no need to remove that clam. Shame they installed them at angle but just had to drill out one of the hinge holes a tad.

Just checked aircon on my 400. Nothing cool at all

The drilled holes on your disc are clogged, happened to mine

So there are 2 x part "15" screws that hold in the black grill on each side at the rear underneath the tailgate. I want to replace the screws as they have gone rusty - but, one does not unscrew as the bit of plastic (?) behind the grill that the screw goes into is going round with the screw. Any ideas? I've tried sliding a thin nail through the grill into a slot on the plastic but it does not hold it. There's one screw on each side that does this

All disassembled, cleaned up, painted and will go back in tomorrow. The bolts are captive - hurrah! But, Lotus secured one of them just off perpendicular so a real fight to remove the hinge

I would hope they've used plastic hinges! There's hardly any weight to hold. I've had mine open all week to really dry out, I'll take it apart at the weekend, Kurust it, drill some holes (larger than 2mm - thank you!) and slap it all back together. One serious upgrade. I'm also replacing some screws at the back that have gone rusty. Ace mechanic or wot

Wow - thank you. That's my weekend job

Thank you! Will let you know....

That looks innocent enough

OK, 2 obvious questions for you all. Is there are a drain hole around here to stop the water pooling around the hinge? And, if I unbolt the hinge to clean it up, will the two bolts drop out and I'll need to take the front clam off to rescue them?!!

This was my problem:

Can you switch to Sport or Race mode?

Just do you know - rang their Service department last week and their only Lotus trained mechanic has left . . .

Proof! Ta!

I'm likely way too late to this party, but is this Hebrew thing just pure PR? I mean, you read EVIJA backwards and it is AJIVE, then twist the "J" as you would see it in a mirror and it becomes ALIVE . . .

It definitely helped with me, the lag went down from a second to half a second (probably less than that but when you brake and nothing happens, then time tends to slow down!)

I feel this same way and went through what you went through. Pleasing to see this forum acting as a peer support group!

Split second yes, that is true for all the others cars I've had, in that braking is near instantaneous regardless of conditions. Not on my 400, there is a half second delay in the wet. You can get around that by riding the brakes so they are always hot and dry but that's not something I want to do

Not sure if this is your issue, but with my 400 in the wet, there is a noticeable lag between force on the brake pedal and anything happening. Might only be less than a second but it can seem like a long time! Hitting the brakes harder reduces that time till they bite. It used to be really bad and when they were inspected, the majority of the drilled holes in the disks had filled up with gunge - cleaning them out made a big difference

The 400 automatic is superb in that it is fast, has that glorious rev-match feature on downshifts, and could easily be a DSG (I had a Nissan GT-R previous to my 400 and the shift is comparable). And you can ignore all the forum posts about clutch replacements, gearbox chattering etc. The auto box is locked so don't worry about it being a slush box. A downside is that it can get confused when cold and just starting out, downshifting for a second then upshifting. I am sure the manual is more 'involving' but using the paddle shifts in Sport mode is still a hoot!

You always gotta pay for your pleasure

Remember that the paddle shift was new to road cars with the 355 so it was early days, but yes, it was Not Nice. You became used to adjusting the throttle to ease the shifts and manually shifting to Neutral in a car jam otherwise the clutch overheated. I had a targa roof which I believe was created by some bloke with a hacksaw at the factory chopping a fixed head version, took about 5 minutes to get off and on again. Everything cost £500 as a base price then multiplied up from there. The handling, in my uncultured hands, was sublime, you could gently feel the road surface through the wheel, braking felt as though you had your own hands on the discs there was so much feedback. Sheer joy. Everything on my Evora 400 is better - still love that Ferrari though.

Used to have a 355 with the F1 box. Beautiful car, never let me down, best engine sound ever. Go for it, owning a Ferrari (especially when you can't quite afford it like me) was a superb once in a lifetime experience that still makes me smile - though not my wallet.

Citizens Advice say https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/somethings-gone-wrong-with-a-purchase/return-faulty-goods/ What I'm not sure on is whether there is a difference between buying a whole item (a car, a TV) or a part for a whole item. Also the difference between parts and a service. It's easier within the first 6 months as you don't have to prove who/why it broke - but - if it was sold with a defect then you can legally claim many years afterwards - but it will be obviously become difficult to prove: "Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, goods should be of a satisfactory quality, fit for purpose and as described. My rights have been breached because the item you sold me is faulty. I would like a refund/repair/replacement." Just found this: https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/buying-or-repairing-a-car/problems-with-a-car-repair/ So the law is behind the consumer when getting a car repair done - but proving who is at fault is hard work.

Mechanic reckons it's the shock absorber failing and needs replacing. I've asked them to involve Lotus to see if they can goodwill it as the car is just a few months out of warranty and just 400 miles since the suspension arm was replaced in that same corner. Do have a concern that parts are being replaced randomly to see what fixes the problem, or, there is an underlying problem that is causing parts to fail. We will see . . .