electro_boy

Anybody know what the consumer rights are regarding warranty work that wasn't fixed properly first time round and now require further work but warranty has expired? I would say its reasonable to suggest the work wasn't completed to a satisfactory quality and this further issue is related and should be fixed as part of the warranty work.

I think the advise said previously on the forum still stands. If you have the time, money and skill to consistently drive lap after lap to fine tune your setup then I think either option Ohlins or Penske will produce similar results. Both are highly regarded brands and have a very good reputation in top tier motorsport disciplines. I think in absolute performance there will be little to choose from. I think it comes down what price you can get them for in your locality and what after sales and servicing support you have in your locality. ie if there is a highly regarded Penske service centre down the road from you and the nearest Ohlins place is 250km away then Penske might be preferred.

@TheKevlarKid was the new Alpine in the running at all? Or are they all sold out due to the limited numbers?

Has there been any hints at when the all new Lotus will be out? What are the current best predictions saying? If it's 2 years from now, then I don't know if EV tech will have come on enough to make a genuine viable sports car so I think that will still have a ICE but maybe in hybrid form. If its more like 4 years from now then the EV tech may have been developed enough to get the weight down and power density high enough so you can rag the car around the country lanes but still get a decent range out if it. So I can see that one possibly being a full EV sports car.

I'm certainly no Evora expert but don't think I've seen Penske dampers being mentioned in this forum before? Certainly the two brands are highly regarded in motorsports and I'd say are comparable in terms of product quality and performance. But unless I have the expertise, time and budget to properly tune my suspension I would probably go for Ohlins as these have been used many times on an Evora so you have some idea what are the ball park settings for the damper. With the Penske dampers you'll be starting from scratch.

The one time I've used the emergency boot release the cable was stuck in the extended position and didn't retract back to the unextended position unless I threaded the cable back into its hole. (hope that made sense). So check the cable is retracting back. Other than that ... You could try disconnecting the pneumatic thingys so the boot won't stay up on its own accord, it'll drop back down closed?

I think it was on Money Saving Expert website or something similar that said the magic date for insurance quotes was 21days before renewal gets you the cheapest quote. I used to be with Admiral many years ago and every year the renewal quote was a joke, I'd ring up to complain and get an explaination and each time they would be "oh so sorry it must be a mistake!" and then reduce it to something competitive. After a few years of doing the dance I got bored and went else where that just gave me a straight renewal quote with the dancing around.

Article says the Straton GTE's drop 100kg from the standard Evora. Sorry if its been done before but can someone in the know, briefly explain how the weight was lost?

As far as understand yes you can open close the boot as many times. It’s not an “one off” release system just an inconvenient manual release system. Can’t believe the saga continues. Hope you get your issue resolved. Incase it helps I have a endoscope you are welcome to borrow. It’s wireless and connects to android or Apple phone to see the video. Happy to post it out to you.

Thanks Colin, for that price it’s a no brainier to get PPF. Even more annoyed at my self for removing the old film and bit getting new one out on! Doh! Oh well live and learn!

As you’re local to me, you are very welcome to pop over and have a gander at my car and see the damage it’s had in 2 years and ~15k miles and make a judgement. Also out of interest what would be a ball park figure to get ppf on the front bumper?

Yep the front will get chips without the PPF. When I first got my car (2010 S1) it had the original PPF and the edges had started to dirt in and were very obvious and looked crap so I asked for it to be taken off. The car looked much better with out the obvious lines but yes as mentioned it picked up chips and I really regret taking the old film off and leaving it unprotected. After about 15K road miles and 5 track days ... I have one large chip just under the badge, which started to flake off and become worse, so I really need to stabilise it at least if not fix it properly. But otherwise there are a few smaller chips on the front bumper and the car looks used but not terrible and desperately in need of a respray. I guess it comes down to personal preference and how close to concourse finish you like to keep your car. I think next not the list of things to fix on the car is the front bumper paint and get a PPF. I have barge boards on my car so the side and wheel arches are protected. I did have my car ceramic coated and I find it really helps to keep the contaminants from damaging the clear coat and dirt just wipes away very easily with a damp cloth and the glossy shine is easily restored with out too much elbow grease. edit - I think Colin was implying 10K miles before you get enough paint damage that you need to respray the car. Not £10K for the cost of a respray.

CAI & exhaust headers give the S1 NA engine a fantastic sound if a little on the loud side for some UK tracks. I think it should have come from the factory like that. With the option of quieter back box for people who want to track their car. Things for the future ... I like my S1 interior but there are a few blemishes. The airbag cover one spot where the leather has bubbled up and door handle covers are a bit loose and there are one or two rattles. I'd like to have a full interior strip down, re-trim with plusher leather and better finishing and screw everything back tightly to remove the rattles. But those things just melt away when I'm out on a drive so I'm not sure how motivated I am to get a re-trim. I've started tracking my car a little bit and I am learning to be a better, faster driver so maybe some suspension upgrades to make the car feel better on track? but even with the stock suspension there is still a lot time left in the car due to my lack of skill. So I'll try and focus on spending money on becoming a better driver first and resisting the urge to spend it on new shiny gear. If I won the lottery and money was no object - I would get carbon fibre S1 clam shells made up to lighten the car and maybe some carbon wheels and ceramic discs, li-on battery .. again all to try and lighten the car.

I totally understand people being nervous and pessimistic about tech creeping into Lotus cars. They way it’s traditionally done in cars has resulted in reduced driver engagement and feel and an increase in weight. So for sure be concerned about the future of Lotus. but... there are some companies that like to think out of the box like Koinesegg (sorry that’s probably spelt wrong) who I think are on the cutting edge but I think (never driven one obvs) they are still engaging cars to drive. The tech is used purely to increase performance. Oh! and also the fact that Popham keeps saying current Lotus values and DNA is top of the list and something they are striving to keep in the new cars. So for me that negativity is quashed ... until they release the cars or real hard evidence of what the new cars will be like. Then I’ll happily get the torch and pitchfork out and march to Lotus HQ in an angry mob when the cars are big heavy luxury barges.

I don't think anyone is saying don't speculate. I think they're saying let's not automatically think it's all going to be crap and against the Lotus values. Regarding what features would be unacceptable ... I'll keep an open mind and say it's more about how you implement and use the feature, so won't discount something straight away. But anything that detracts from the Lotus DNA would not be acceptable in my books. If the cars became heavy and had little or no thought on use of aerodynamics or driving feel that would all be very sad. Sure if Lotus suddenly say the next flagship car will be a 4 door saloon with massaging chairs, auto parking and 4 zone climate control all weighting in at 2000Kg ... then I will be very sad and disappointed in the direction Lotus are heading. Applying pure speculation on my behalf because there's been about 2 sentences said on the automation side of things. To me it sounds like a having a driving coach in the car with you, showing you quicker lines, better technique and hopefully getting round the track faster. I hope you still have to drive the car and perform the actions its telling you otherwise whats the point?! But maybe if your braking point is way too early into one corner, it might modulate the brake to not apply as much pressure as you asked, turn the steering a bit differently than you asked as your entry speed is higher. Some sort of indication would appear on heads up display or something... So the driver is aware the car took some action and some modification of technique is required and the driver knows what to change on the next lap. Now I'll admit that, applying this much automation in car will add some weight and remove a lot of feel and communication with the car which the whole point of buying a Lotus but lets hope the engineers can come up with solution to this? Lotus have a track record of thinking out the box and coming up with some amazing solutions to problems.... Obviously if I bought the 311 or its replacement in 20 years time I'm clearly an experienced driver very seriously into track days and after that very raw race car feel and I won't be expecting this feature built in or even an optional extra. But I if bought an Espirt or its replacement in 20 years, I might be after something less track focussed and happy to accept +50kg weight penalty for this feature.