Poll: Lotus Emira Discussion

Who is going to buy one?

  • Yes V6 FE Manual - 5k paid

    Votes: 12 30.0%

  • Yes V6 FE Auto - 5k paid

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Yes i4 DCT FE - 2k paid

    Votes: 3 7.5%

  • Still thinking about and NO deposit paid

    Votes: 19 47.5%

  • 2k Deposit paid but making no decisions yet, holding out.

    Votes: 6 15.0%
  • Total voters
    40
Mine is coming up two years old and I've not even put 4k miles on it. Quite a bit of that is because Lotus had it so long because of the starting issues (which isn't resolved but hasn't caused me an issue in months). It's got the second service on 4th April. One thing that I find strange is how they don't seem to know what options are with the cars; I bought the service pack (glad I did as they quoted £780 for this service) which cost me £1,500 for 3 services, but the fact they gave me a figure shows they don't know what options I have (and they do know because they serviced it last year) - this is Bristol Lotus (I wish I'd chosen Silverstone really, but Bristol is a bit closer).

The only other issue I've really had with it is the doors and bubbling which were replaced whilst it was in for the starting issues.

Lotus customer service is incredibly poor from my experience and you often just get ignored.

I still really like the car and it's a head turner that looks far more than it's price. I've got no plan to get rid and if I did, it will just cost me mroe as I'd get something daft like a Lambo/McLaren. This year/summer I will be trying to get my B5 RS4 back on the road and I started stripping the front off last weekend to replace the cambelt when it's a little warmer...
 
The configurator has been updated with the base models and options, V6 specced to first edition levels with black pack and Alcantara steering wheel (no tracker or homelink) comes out at..

mxnhkKM.jpeg
 
I think Lotus are dreaming if they think they are selling many over £100K! £70-80K yes...anymore than that the build quality is just not there sadly.
 
Brok said:
The configurator has been updated with the base models and options, V6 specced to first edition levels with black pack and Alcantara steering wheel (no tracker or homelink) comes out at..

mxnhkKM.jpeg
Click to expand...
Ha - I've literally just done this. Mine, with the extra insurances, tracker a few other bits OTR was £81k.
 
inflames said:
Yep, certainly is. I have many friends still working there, from what I hear the majority of staff got letters saying they are at risk.
Click to expand...
I took VR at the start of the year, been bumming around living off my redundancy payoff since then but still feels like I made the right decision.

Losing this many people at once, I’m not really sure what’s going to be left, they’re either going to end up with a manufacturing facility with no support functions (Presumably farming all that kind of thing out to the wider Geely group) or barely enough people to build cars, with the intention of ramping back up again if/when demand picks up.
 
Last edited:
kaiowas said:
I took VR at the start of the year, been bumming around living off my redundancy payoff since then but still feels like I made the right decision.

Losing this many people at once, I’m not really sure what’s going to be left, they’re either going to end up with a manufacturing facility with no support functions (Presumably farming all that kind of thing out to the wider Geely group) or barely enough people to build cars, with the intention of ramping back up again if/when demand picks up.
Click to expand...
I took VR too 3 months ago, during the last round of redundancies, only because I was put into a pool of 1. My department was decimated leaving only 1 person left. We all said it was to close it down in 6 month or a year later. I was bummed out, but looking at it now think it was the right choice and I found a new job already so iam one of the lucky ones.

Completely agree, think it will just turn into a Geely manufacturing hub for their Chinese cars. Well more like assembly of the last few bits to say built in Europe. Or they will run the place on a skeleton crew, to keep the lights on, until they choose to start another program or close Hethel down.

The issue with that is, they have lost all the skilled and talented workers the last few years. Those that came from the midlands I doubt they would come back again.
 
Yea they were supposed to be a 60k+ car and at that price it looked amazing.

Same thing happened with the Elise really. At 25k there was just nothing else with that level of performance at that price. By 2023 at 55k it felt like they were pushing it.
 
Last edited:
Nasher said:
Yea they were supposed to be a 60k+ car and at that price it looked amazing.

Same thing happened with the Elise really. At 25k there was just nothing else with that level of performance at that price. By 2023 at 55k it felt like they were pushing it.
Click to expand...
Great value is good for the consumer but probably not good in terms of return on investment for the manufacturer, especially a relatively small one.
 
Nasher said:
Yea they were supposed to be a 60k+ car and at that price it looked amazing.

Same thing happened with the Elise really. At 25k there was just nothing else with that level of performance at that price. By 2023 at 55k it felt like they were pushing it.
Click to expand...

If you look at costs, inflation etc. over that period it’s understandable and perhaps unfortunate. All cars are now much more expensive, with perhaps the exception of heavily subsidised imports. In terms of value, Elise was still good imo as there’s not much else out there like it and used values remained strong, so unlike a lot of new vehicles, including the Lotus EVs, there wasn’t a massive depreciation hit to consider, making it decent value even at the higher price point.

I’m biased as I’m holding on to my factory order Sport 220 until I’m not allowed to or can’t drive it anymore! Still haven’t driven anything close. Such a shame but sort of inevitable. I’d like to see a reposition to building small, lightweight sporty EVs. It is possible, just the market isn’t quite ready for them in the UK yet in my opinion. I mean, the range of my petrol Elise isn’t amazing… As technology is improving, there will be a point where that niche exists. Just have to see if Lotus is still there to capture it. I hope a bigger automotive who is more visionary picks them up.
 
alex24 said:
If you look at costs, inflation etc. over that period it’s understandable and perhaps unfortunate. All cars are now much more expensive, with perhaps the exception of heavily subsidised imports. In terms of value, Elise was still good imo as there’s not much else out there like it and used values remained strong, so unlike a lot of new vehicles, including the Lotus EVs, there wasn’t a massive depreciation hit to consider, making it decent value even at the higher price point.

I’m biased as I’m holding on to my factory order Sport 220 until I’m not allowed to or can’t drive it anymore! Still haven’t driven anything close. Such a shame but sort of inevitable. I’d like to see a reposition to building small, lightweight sporty EVs. It is possible, just the market isn’t quite ready for them in the UK yet in my opinion. I mean, the range of my petrol Elise isn’t amazing… As technology is improving, there will be a point where that niche exists. Just have to see if Lotus is still there to capture it. I hope a bigger automotive who is more visionary picks them up.
Click to expand...

An EV just isn't going to be the same though. The sound is part of it. You can feel the engine through your chest in the Elise (you can in the old ones at least). It adds to the rush.

An electric one is just going to be a lot of wind and tyre noise. Which is probably why you don't see many convertible EVs. They are all super insulated to cut those noises out.
 
Last edited:
I don’t disagree…

My Elise certainly you feel the engine (vibrations, sound and unfortunately a bit of heat to fight with the air con). I love the supercharger noises too…!

However, we won’t be allowed to build and sell fossil fuel vehicles, so better Lotus work some magic on whatever tech is available than just throw in the towel? Maybe they concentrate on retro vehicles and maintenance of ‘classics’? There are some options but carrying on building vehicles that pollute from tailpipe and also don’t meet safety standards is probably not on the table unless the whole world gets more mad.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom