The Evora 400 Diaries

[gregs24]

It's important to put the rose tinted spectacles away though. My dad had a Morris Oxford in the 1970's that rusted away and was scrapped in 5 years and 50,000 miles. That replaced an Austin 1100 that had lasted 6 years. My son has an 06 plate Fiesta with 90k miles that still drives like new with no rust and no reason to think it will not carry on for at least another 5 years.

I remember the furore when Jaguar released the XJ40 and said it had a design life of 60,000 miles and 6 years - it turned out that was much longer than the competitors at the time.

The used car market cannot be shrinking as more cars are being registered new than ever before and they all become second hand eventually !

[Danelaw]

I agree there are more cars being registered and some of them last much longer whilst still being in very good order, but cars are also scrapped and written off far more readily as uneconomical to repair. This has happened because a relatively minor prang can set-of airbags and the insurance company then don't like the cost of replacing the air-bags and the dash which was blown up.

 

 

[JayEmm]

Exactly. Cars aren't being scrapped because they're no longer fit for the road. They're being scrapped because that warning light is going to cost £1500 to put out the correct way and the whole car is worth £500.

 

[Neal H]

A few years ago I had a Vauxhall Zafira piece of sh!t as a daily driver. One day the Traction Control light popped on, and while I couldn't have cared less about whether the TC worked or not it would have been an MOT failure. Dealer diagnosed a faulty abs control unit and Vauxhall wanted £1600 + VAT for a replacement unit plus the labour to fit it. The whole car was worth less than £2k so I basically threw it away (put it out of its misery), so yes, modern cars are disposable.

[pickle]

46 minutes ago, Neal H said:

A few years ago I had a Vauxhall Zafira piece of sh!t as a daily driver. One day the Traction Control light popped on, and while I couldn't have cared less about whether the TC worked or not it would have been an MOT failure. Dealer diagnosed a faulty abs control unit and Vauxhall wanted £1600 + VAT for a replacement unit plus the labour to fit it. The whole car was worth less than £2k so I basically threw it away (put it out of its misery), so yes, modern cars are disposable.

 See, there's always a silver lining 

[JayEmm]

Confirmed today, I have a new pair of seats being made for the Evora and they are NOT Sparco or Lotus made. I am very happy.

[Gm77]

I can double confirm it James. I should be finished on them this evening. I'm just waiting for the glue to dry!?

[chylld]

2 hours ago, JayEmm said:

Confirmed today, I have a new pair of seats being made for the Evora and they are NOT Sparco or Lotus made. I am very happy.

Buckets?

[JayEmm]

Yup - more info will be released soon but I am working directly with a seat manufacturer to get a pair of seats that work and fit perfectly in the Evora -  they will be fixed back seats, hence my comments about the car going 2+0 @C8RKH

They will be more supportive and comfortable than the Evora 410 seat, in my opinion they suit the car perfectly. You will sit considerably lower (my guess 25-40mm) than the Sparcos.

Once they are done anyone with a 400 will be able to get an, "off the shelf" part that should work a treat

[phil flash]

2 hours ago, chylld said:

Buckets?

[Snoopy1969]

S1 Recaros are one of the Highlights of the Evora in daily use, esp on Long runs....just my 2p (sure, very expensive, I think that wa the main reason to Change them, the "lightweight Story" is half of the truth in my eyes...)

just my 2p

[Inkyfingers]

I also love the S1 Recaro seats. Not only are they very comfortable, but they also seem to wear quite well.

[JayEmm]

I am also a very big fan of the S1 Recaro seats, but that's NOT the route I am going down...

I agree it was money, not weight or "regulations" that was the motivator for the change. Very sad, I cannot imagine how much money this "saving" has cost them

[Danelaw]

6 minutes ago, JayEmm said:

I agree it was money, not weight or "regulations" that was the motivator for the change. Very sad, I cannot imagine how much money this "saving" has cost them

Agreed, next stop Ikea?

The Recaro Sportster CS seats are getting quite common in some landrovers and fast hatchbacks, but I'd have preferred Lotus to go for an upmarket version with Carbon Fibre and perhaps titanium frames - comments on this forum just today prove that buyers want something a bit special and I think most will pay a bit more if they can see where the cash is going.

[Neal H]

In defence of the Sparco's...

Now the creak has been fixed (new seat frames), the Sparco's are fine. Comfy over distance, and hold you in place better than the S1 Recaro's. I don't view them as a retrograde step - the same seat is basically used in the the new Ford GT and Koenigsegg.

I'm intrigued to see what you will be fitting though James...

[mcx]

Car back today and.....

..... the seat no longer creaks!  Also fan working ok as well.

[JayEmm]

@Neal H The Ford GT and Koenigsegg use the correct Sparco version of the seat, which is carbon fibre backed and trimmed in much nicer leather, not fibreglass backed and with cheap leather on it. Lotus asked for a cheap version of the seat, they got it.

It is frustrating that it has taken a ludicrously long amount of time to resolve the problem, but Lotus have had far too long to fix it. I must commend JCT600 for finally becoming very pro-active in resolution of the situation.

@mcx I hope your car stays that way, but FYI I had mine back "creak-free" about three times. It always came back.

[mcx]

@JayEmm Oh ye of little faith..  

[JayEmm]

Not little faith, much experience.

[Danelaw]

@Neal H really good to hear it is fixed as a problem. At least I hope it is a permanent fix. I think some also argued the Sparco seats gave more rear foot room, but feedback on the S1 recaros was good so it was perhaps a bit daft to change something where there were no real issues and customers were happy.

[JayEmm]

One story I did hear regarding the Sparcos which I would like to believe, is the management didn't like how common the Recaro Sportsters were, and didn't like the fact you saw them in many cars.

Doesn't excuse the lack of testing/QC on the Sparcos

[Arregueti]

^ Hopefully that thought process will not be repeated if they need to decide about Toyota engines...

[Neal H]

@JayEmm Did they fit the new spec seat frames though?

@Danelaw I completely agree there was nothing wrong with the Recaro's, I was very happy with them in my S1 Evora. I don't mind the switch to Sparco though, I think they look less bulky, more 'sporty' in the car and seem equally comfortable. The creaking problem was very unfortunate and very annoying!! Hopefully it is now permanently fixed (fingers crossed!), mine were done a while ago and so far so good

 

[JayEmm]

@Neal H yes, my car was probably the first to get the fix. I didn't actually know until a couple of months after. Lotus kept mentioning there was a "new design" for the seats, so I thought great. Then the service bulletin was mentioned. Then it was revealed that my car had actually been upgraded long ago.

It is actually my passenger seat which is worse. It's insanely bad, don't need to be cornering or anything - if there is someone sat in it the thing is constantly moaning.

[C8RKH]

I have a very nice set of black Evora S1 Recaro CS seats if any of you 400 boys fancy an upgrade.