Test Drives

[MJON]

August the 4th for me on the Hethel track, unless they cancel the program. All the earlier dates were cancelled but they’ve got my money and haven’t informed me otherwise as yet. 🤔 Come to think of it they’ve also got some money for my car and haven’t….🤐

[tailslides]

I am due to drive the Emira on July 23rd and they haven't said it's cancelled, honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if it is scrubbed, communication is something they still seem to have difficulty with. I have a local hotel booked and an eight hour slog to take the drive so I would prefer to avoid a wasted journey. 

[MJON]

Hopefully @tailslides your still on for it. Their website bookings page hasn’t changed for some time now, showing 4th August and thereon still with available slots, which I find surprising as I would have thought greater demand? Will be calling them well beforehand. If yours goes ahead please let us know 👍

[tailslides]

I will be calling Hethel on Monday as the cut-off for my hotel is 19th & will update afterwards. 

[tailslides]

It's on! Hannah and Stewart have confirmed the Taste of Lotus is going ahead on Saturday 23rd July, I feel privileged to be on one of the first events, they even have a car with my specification to try 😄

[MJON]

That’s great news @tailslides Enjoy 👍

[electro_boy]

@tailslideshow was it? 

I am going this Friday to the Lotus Driving Academy.  Will report back with a track test drive report! 

[tailslides]

Very good experience, I drove the Hethel Yellow touring and Dark Verdant sporting cars.

Nowhere near long enough for a full understanding of the capabilities but impressive all the same.

It has given me reason to question my choice of Magma Red as a couple of colours really look good.

Have a great time, it's well worth it 👍

[ramjet]

On 29/06/2022 at 08:04, alvitdk said:

Hi new here from Texas. Just placed an order ( I know I am let to the party) after waiting for the last 6 month on my Porsche GTS 4.0 allocation and stumbled across this marble of a sport car. Placed my order, of course another 18 month minimum wait, but still enjoying my 981 S for time being and looking forward seeing all those gorgeous deliveries you guys will take way before me, good luck!

Dealer in Dalles claims first demo Emira will arrive by September for a test drive, looking forward to it!

Welcome to TLF.

You should duck over to the Introductions  area and say hi in there as well.

What is your spec that you have selected or are thinking about?

[Emiralust]

Has there been any news from dealerships like bell and colvill as to when their demonstrator car turns up? And any news as to the order of who test drives them or the arrangement of this. You'd hope it's offered in order of deposits and we are going to be contacted

[TomE]

I've not had confirmation from a dealer yet (mine is B&C) but have been told by Hethel the demo cars are due to UK dealers in August week 2 and 3.  There has certainly been evidence they were mid-build over the last few weeks when people have been doing factory tours.

Customer Care have confirmed the dealers have been asked to prioritise early deposit holders first for test drives, if people want to do that before having to commit to their order.  I'm not sure if dealers will contact us or we contact them.  People in the first few months of deliveries have been asked to nominate a dealer for ongoing servicing even if not getting delivered there.  It may be covered in the update due out this week - but that's the same update that was due last week, the week before and the week prior to that.

[Emiralust]

I asked Antonia at B&C and sounds like their demo won't arrive until late August/early September in line with customer deliveries starting. She said "we" will be in touch when they are able to organise test drives, so sounds like the dealer will contact you

[electro_boy]

Hi all,

I'm back from my day at the Lotus Driving Academy doing the Tailor Made Advanced experience day.

In summary ... What a lovely car Lotus have made, I think it ticks all the boxes that Lotus want out of the new car; it is more appealing to the mass market but still has the essence of a true Lotus.  Well done all at Lotus who made it happen! 

The car is beautiful to look at with so many design touches, a little swoop here, a vent over there a little flick in the body work ... absolutely amazing to look at.  I got a quick look at the Emira at Goodwood FoS but at the LDA they had a spare car parked out the front so anytime you were not having your turn driving you could go and ogle at its beauty.

The inside is very nice too.  I'm a little out of touch with what a £60-80K car interior should feel like but to me it all feels and looks very nice inside.  I had a little twiddle with the buttons and trim and everything felt solid and well put together with a quality and well judged weight.  My S1 Evora interior looks lovely but you can tell its a little flimsy but absolutely no issues on the Emira.

Now to the bit you are all waiting for .... the handling ... (Please note I only tried it on the Hethel track not on the road)  ....

Its a very nice handling car, I tried both the sport chassis with cup2 tyres and the touring chassis (didn't check what tyres this was on).  The sport feels a bit stiffer and has less roll and more grip but the touring was absolutely no slouch in the corners and gave a very rewarding ride around the track.

The handling is very stable and predictable.  Does the Emira have a wider track than the Evora?  It felt like the wheels are further apart and made a more stable platform, might be in my head by thats how it felt.  They've hidden the weight of the engine and supercharger better than my Evora.  I was much less aware of the heavy lump sitting out at the back and high up in the Emira.  Again dont know if this is chassis setup differences or engine mounting differences to the S1 Evora?  I can feel the back end in the Evora making its self known and wanting to come round a bit more on lift off compared to the Emira, which had more stable balance.   The breaking was phenomenal too, very powerful brakes, and very stable under high braking, it tracks nice and straight and minimal dive too.  I was far more confident late braking and using a bit of trail braking to get the front end to turn into the chicane than I have been in my previous jolly around Hethel.

The steering I think uses a different rack to the S1 Evora, it felt lighter and had a bit less feedback compared to my Evora but its still very good compared to modern rivals.  I think the steering feel and weight is better suited to daily driving and the mass market.  While my Evora's steering is also assisted it is on the heavy side and I think your average person might get put off by the busyness.  With the Emira, you could still place it accurately and you still had that magic Lotus feeling of the car pivoting around you in corners but the steering was just lacking a bit of the feeling of weighting up in corners.  Going through Clark and Graham Hill sections I don't think it dances around the corners as much as other Lotus' but the very good handling manners and composure does mean you have good confidence in pushing the car to its limits so the stopwatch may end up saying you are quicker even if your heart rate doesn't.

The clutch pedal was much lighter than my Evora which will suit daily driving better.  The brake pedal felt better than the Evora.  Mine has a few mm of dead travel and then the brakes engage the Emira has none of this, the weight was lighter but I didn't feel I was lacking in any feedback.  Similar for the accelerator, its got a lighter weight to it but wasn't overly light and I got used to it very quickly and had no issues with it.

The engine note has low bassy sound to it.  Overall volume is lower than previous V6 Lotus cars but I think thats expected for a new car also will get under noise regs on track days better than the older V6 cars.  I noticed the lower rev limiter, occasionally running into the limiter, the power delivery is very linear and keeps rising all the way to the redline, you don't feel the crescendo and the power tailing off like on my NA Evora so keep your foot in and stay in gear only to hit the limiter.  Was a bit of a weird one, one one hand its got loads of torque and keeps pulling, on the other its lacking emotion.

Either I have an incredibly well judged right foot or the traction control is very good.  Coming out of the Rindt hairpin and Andretti I could happily bury the throttle without fear of running wide into the barrier or loosing the back end.  But at no point did I feel the car was restricting me, it always felt like it was working with me and assisting to achieve on a common goal; get out of the corner safely and as quick as possible.  As a novice I could happily leave it on all the time on track knowing it's helping to reduce the risk of bad stuff happening while also giving me that hero feeling.

Overall what a cracking car, yes its not as raw or communicative as Lotus cars of the past but its a very fun car to drive on the track.  It has bags more feedback and emotion compared to most modern cars so it really is a joy.  But also its all packaged up in something that is well built and a better quality interior than before, and generally something thats far easier to get on with everyday.  Hats off Lotus, well done! And congrats to Emira deposit holders I think you're going to have many miles with smiles! 

[TomE]

Thanks for the comprehensive and thoughtful write up.  Evora comparisons very useful too.  Hurry up Lotus and deliver some customer cars!

Do you remember if you were in Tour or Sport drive mode on track, or a mixture?  I wonder if that had a bearing on your impression of traction control and stability exiting Andretti for example.

[Bibs]

Great write up and sounds like you had a lot of fun

6 hours ago, electro_boy said:

 Does the Emira have a wider track than the Evora?

2 inches!

 

[MJON]

Just completed a whole day at Hethel. Separate driving sessions on both North and South circuit. Really well run, two excellent instructors. Close up to GT4, Eletre and lots of Emira’s. Visit to Classic Lotus and full factory tour. It’s currently on shutdown which allows you to see more. Many of the build and QC processes are a major step up from previous. The painting is using the latest equipment and the finish is excellent.
A great day, drove both Sport and Tour set up, the car handles very sweetly in both although you could feel a firmer ride in Sport but not dramatic. Had no issues with clutch weight, gear changes or brake feel and the steering is superb. Have gone for I4FE but could certainly live with the V6.  Personally, I preferred tour as for Uk roads it’s more than capable. I won’t be asking for my deposit back 😊

[Bibs]

[TomE]

Did they explain why the factory is currently on shutdown?  We all know about the parts supply problems, but they had been building the dealer demo cars recently.  Factory tours last week suggested they were part-building customer cars then parking them up to await fitment of the handful of delayed bits.  These seemed to be mostly ancillary items, such as sun visors and exhaust finishers.

Usually Lotus have a summer shutdown, like many manufacturing firms.  I wondered if they might handle that differently this year so they could keep building what they could.

[MJON]

Most manufacturers have a annual shutdown, it’s normal and the one time that most staff can take a break, more importantly it’s when any maintenance or re-jig of factory is completed (there were a lot of people working around specific tasks) it was also evident that there were a lot of additional body parts made, painting completed and just held, plus they are storing a number of cars awaiting final components. So really don’t think that building more cars through shutdown is helpful as non could as yet be fully completed. In a manufacturing environment that’s the worst scenario as the additional logistics, manpower, time and cost is crippling and once components come through, you can’t recommence building more cars as your resources are finishing off the part builds. Lots of activity in all other areas of the factory. All manufacturers are struggling with component supply, for example, company buyers are having to enter international auctions on a regular basis just to bid for supply of chips!
Lotus will get there but the combination of the early launch, a new car/factory/people/suppliers, the immediate high demand (for Hethel) and the World turmoil. Just a Perfect Storm.

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

Yes and a long time ago, most of the staff would have made their holiday bookings for this shutdown period, so Lotus can’t just haul them all back in again, just because production has had to be put back.

[MJON]

 

Don’t know if this will duplicate sound and sight very well. They are on the South circuit. It hasn’t so scrubbed the post. 🙄

 

 

 

[Bibs]

@MJON email the vid to bibs@thelotusforums.com and I'll get it working for you 👍

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

Maybe Lotus should organise a coach trip to Belgium for all early UK depositors? 🤣

[exeterjeep]

I take it you mean , all go for a drive in the first customer car delivered to Belgium.

[TomE]

It looks like most/all of the cars delivered in Belgium are customer cars rather than dealer demos.  The cars appearing in Germany, France and Italy seem to be demo cars.  All a bit strange.

A few EU-spec cars arriving in the US to add to the Shadow Grey car attending LOG41, then touring the US and Canadian dealers for viewings and test drives for early deposit holders, starting next week.

At this rate the UK demo cars and test drives will be the last to happen.