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Evora infotainment question?


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Hi! After years of fun with my current Elise I'm looking for something a little more comfy and easy to settle into but that drives like a Lotus. Also looking for a more modern interior, and the good old Elise is definitely starting to look rather outdated now! Recently got a promotion at work with a extra few hundred a month making a new car more than affordable according to this income calculator, which is what's tempted me to get myself a little present ;) Anyway - I was wondering if anyone with one of the newer Evoras (looking at 2016 onwards) could let me how they get on with their infotainment system. Our family car is a new Vauxhall Astra with a wonderful touchscreen and Apple CarPlay which has been great - I can't find anything about this about the Evora so I'm assuming it doesn't have it? It won't bother me much as long as the system is good and I can bluetooth my phone to it for music😁

Cheers!
J

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Upgrade today to remove Google ads and support TLF.

The 400 Bluetooth works OK, but it is not a quiet car, so if taking a call it is much easier in our Vauxhall Adam, which probably has the same system as your Astra. 

Sound quality is not brilliant out of the box, but can be upgraded easily and relatively inexpensively because it is all standard fit components. 

This is not where Lotus invested it’s money, but if you buy an Evora you generally won’t care. If you do, it’s easy to upgrade the ICE. I’ll do my speakers at some point but it’s not a priority for me, even as a daily drive. 

Blessed with the competence to be a slave to the incapable.

Currently without a Lotus, Evora 400 Hethel Edition in Racing Green with Red leather and 2010 Evora N/A in Laser Blue and 1983 Lotus Excel LC Narrow body in Ice Blue all sadly gone.

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It is not the most brilliant but it does work, 400 don't have apple car play in (probably getting upgraded in the GT410 but unsure).

You can bluetooth your phone, there is a USB port as well in the glove box.

Navigation works well enough for me. The screen is big.

I am not sure what else you are looking for exactly. I just flog CDs in or get the radio on and use GPS, rest a bit over complicated for me.

I took calls from the car on blue tooth and it was fine, if you keep it in low revs, no problem at all, you hear well.

Edited by PAR
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Welcome, Jack :welcome:

I’ve moved your thread to the more relevant section. 

As you’re probably already aware, an Evora of any flavour is a great, driving car. Unfortunately, the audio system is often bit of an achilles heel. The cars have a variation of double-din units (either from Alpine or Pioneer). The upside is that things are easy to change or upgrade. The downside is that they lack any sort of vehicle integration that you might be used to on your Vauxhall. 

The ‘purists’ will say that you don’t buy an Lotus for the sound system. Others try and improve things, like this:

and this:

 

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The 400 has a reasonably hi-spec Alpine system (apparently). You can plug an ipod in via the glovebox, which is what I've done. But it also (apparently) can stream music etc off bluetooth, though I haven't tried that because I'm a luddite. And it plays CDs, and actually I've used the handsfree for business conversations and the other person has said I've been perfectly clear. So it's fine basically.

You also get a stonking exhaust noise to entertain you along with a remarkably slidey rear end (on MPSS especially!) - is that what you mean by "car play" 😉 

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There's nothing wrong with any of the head units used on any of the Evora models. Yes they can always be updated, but the problem is the poor choice of cheap speakers and even poorer installation. Upgrade the speakers and put some sound baffling around them and unless you are an audiophile then jobs a good un.

( Better amps as well as speakers and you will have an impressive sound system by any standard with an oem head unit)

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At last. A man who speak with no fork tongue and total and utter common sense!

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I came into this world screaming and covered in someone elses blood. I'll probably leave it in the same way. 

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I am not concerned about the sound of the Alpine in my 400 as I didn't have high expectations and the exhaust sounds so much better, but does anyone else have issues with the Bluetooth on phone calls?

When I call anyone they find distorted but phone call is fine in car. 

Have been told likely an IPhone issue but I have 2 different models with different IOS and both same when connect up. 

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In our non lotus cars my wife and I use Android phones and the BT is generally very good. Our older kids use iPhones and the BT can be patchy - e.g. skips during music playback etc.

I just put it down to Apple and the quirks of the Apple Products not liking to play with anything that is not Apple to be honest.

In the Evora, both of the ones I have had, BT has been fine but again I am using Android phones.

I came into this world screaming and covered in someone elses blood. I'll probably leave it in the same way. 

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2 hours ago, C8RKH said:

In our non lotus cars my wife and I use Android phones and the BT is generally very good. Our older kids use iPhones and the BT can be patchy - e.g. skips during music playback etc.

Maybe because your phones are closer (in the front seats), and the kids are further away?

In my experience BT signals get blocked very easily, if I'm playing music in the Evora over BT and get out and walk around the car with the phone in hand it always cuts out as I walk around the back.

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On another note, I'd have to concur with @Bruss as I find the stereo in the car pretty good, the interface is a little slow to respond but the sound is good.

If I were to nitpick, I would perhaps like DAB, but as you'll see in other threads thats pretty easy to add if it matters to you. The other slight niggle in an Evora is there's no good place to put a phone and have it easily accessible (the glovebox is not suitable in my humble opinion), unless you affix one of those dreadful suction cups to the windscreen.

 

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22 minutes ago, trcm said:

Maybe because your phones are closer (in the front seats), and the kids are further away?

In my experience BT signals get blocked very easily, if I'm playing music in the Evora over BT and get out and walk around the car with the phone in hand it always cuts out as I walk around the back.

Is that because you have an Apple phone though?  My kids are 24 and 21 so usually my son in the front with the wife in the back.

I came into this world screaming and covered in someone elses blood. I'll probably leave it in the same way. 

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17 minutes ago, trcm said:

The other slight niggle in an Evora is there's no good place to put a phone and have it easily accessible (the glovebox is not suitable in my humble opinion), unless you affix one of those dreadful suction cups to the windscreen.

I find that one of these works very well in one of the central vents:

https://www.kenu.com/products/airframe-plus

However, the ‘phone does have to be ‘landscape’, not portrait. 

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15 minutes ago, trcm said:

The other slight niggle in an Evora is there's no good place to put a phone and have it easily accessible (the glovebox is not suitable in my humble opinion), unless you affix one of those dreadful suction cups to the windscreen.

 

If I could be so rude, the glovebox is the ideal place for a phone whilst you are driving as you should not need to, nor indeed, touch the damn thing when you are driving.  A real pet hate of mine is seeing people testing/holding/playing with their phones whilst driving.  Connect it via bluetooth so you can make and receive calls and put it in the glovebox on the usb charger.

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I came into this world screaming and covered in someone elses blood. I'll probably leave it in the same way. 

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Its not an issue with bt link as I can hear conversation ok when in car just they cant hear me.

So bad I have had to use without bt which is not good

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47 minutes ago, C8RKH said:

If I could be so rude, the glovebox is the ideal place for a phone whilst you are driving as you should not need to, nor indeed, touch the damn thing when you are driving.  A real pet hate of mine is seeing people testing/holding/playing with their phones whilst driving.  Connect it via bluetooth so you can make and receive calls and put it in the glovebox on the usb charger.

Sorry for remaining off-topic on this.

I agree entirely a driver has no good reason to hold or be prodding away at a phone, his/her job is to concentrate on driving. No argument there at all!

But leaning over to place my phone in the (normally full of junk) glovebox is a pain for me, I wish there were simply a small pocket or shelf somewhere which I could slot the phone into, I'm reluctant to use the air vent phone holders but they are indeed the best option we have it seems.

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1 hour ago, 697OK said:

Its not an issue with bt link as I can hear conversation ok when in car just they cant hear me.

This is as per my initial post and what I was getting at with "The 400 Bluetooth works OK, but it is not a quiet car, so if taking a call it is much easier in our Vauxhall Adam" so you are not alone.

Ability to be heard clearly at the other end is obviously an issue, but on the plus side, people will leave you alone while you are enjoying the drive. Regardless my phone remains in my pocket at all times.

Blessed with the competence to be a slave to the incapable.

Currently without a Lotus, Evora 400 Hethel Edition in Racing Green with Red leather and 2010 Evora N/A in Laser Blue and 1983 Lotus Excel LC Narrow body in Ice Blue all sadly gone.

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  • Gold FFM

The good news with Lotus using an "aftermarket" stereo solution is upgrading is an easy, fairly painless process. You have to be very careful when choosing replacement components due to packaging constraints, but in terms of upgrading the head unit - go nuts.

Try doing that in a 5 year old 911, you'll break the car.

James Martin (JayEmm)
Director of Photography & Car Enthusiast

Follow my Lotus adventure online! www.jayemm.com

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3 hours ago, Colin P said:

 Regardless my phone remains in my pocket at all times.

On vibrate I would have a guess too.

I came into this world screaming and covered in someone elses blood. I'll probably leave it in the same way. 

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10 hours ago, C8RKH said:

If I could be so rude, the glovebox is the ideal place for a phone whilst you are driving as you should not need to, nor indeed, touch the damn thing when you are driving.

FYI but the Waze app (on your ‘phone) will knock the spots off any navigation option on any factory/aftermarket headunit. 

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Agreed. Apologies I was more thinking of calls and texting. Likewise you could use it for Torque etc.

I came into this world screaming and covered in someone elses blood. I'll probably leave it in the same way. 

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I upgraded my Evora 400 to one of the newer Alpine head units with CarPlay. Great if you are an iPhone user and give you a really nice and easy to use interface. Just don't expect the touch screen to respond quite like your phone... easier to use the directional up/down arrows to scroll lists if you want to retain your sanity.

I wish there was a simple 'stick on' remote I could attach to the steering wheel to just control volume up/down but otherwise it works just great. Having come from cars without great audio the default set up sounds good to me (I haven't changed the speakers or applied the suggested audio setting changes).

In all honesty though, the engine provides all the sound track you will need. I mostly find CarPlay useful for reading out text messages and responding to them with Siri or taking incoming calls.

On the subject of phone in the glove box, that's all my glove box contains... but I do have a tendency to forget it when I get out the car and then have to walk back to collect it later. :D

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I have an Isle of Man parking disk and a nano USB stick loaded with every bit of music I own in mine. 

Blessed with the competence to be a slave to the incapable.

Currently without a Lotus, Evora 400 Hethel Edition in Racing Green with Red leather and 2010 Evora N/A in Laser Blue and 1983 Lotus Excel LC Narrow body in Ice Blue all sadly gone.

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2 hours ago, Bibs said:

I have gloves in my glove box. #traditional

I trust the are beige leather with white string uppers mate! 😀

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