MPx

...and by shear coincidence we went with friends to the Aerospace Museum today - and saw all the devotees having their anniversary dinner under the front fuselage - thought you might be there Sparky! Great day out actually ...

I had my Bike suspension set up there by Steve in the HEL Performance site so was up and down that road loads of times to test various setting. Imagine my delight when Jess directed me there on my Eletre test drive route. Nice fast B road that I actually knew quite well!

The highlands of Dorset?? Over the border in the highlands of Somerset what you describe is much like the life that Lionel now leads. Dont know much about the reliability of post 94 youngsters...but when used as my daily my '86 G-car seemed to go "better", but it still doesn't really go wrong and of course it was also 30 years younger then. They really don't give much trouble if you make sure they have an annual service regardless of milage and that includes all of the described checks, not just the oil change. Also new belts every 4 years - again regardless of use. One of the few outings I do each year is to Castle Combe and enjoy some gentle track action. In 2022 I managed to blow the engine and have just got it back from its rebuild. It blew because the wastegate was rusted siezed and it would have overboosted - blew a chunk (actually 2 chunks) off piston 1. That sort of seizing up with rust is a consequence of lack of use. Affects the ultra shiney garage queens just as much as any other car. So usage is best, but careful maintenance and proper checking and acting on what you find is a good enough second. No different to a 1600E.

30/4/22 - Blew Lionel's engine at Combe 1/12/22 - Eventually got a slot to drop off Lionel with PNM for a rebuild 22/11/23 - Finally rebuilt and picked up today. Drove the 300miles home with a big grin on my chops all the way...

Already posted elsewhere but to repeat, I've found the AutoEmergencyBrake in JLR cars to be a real menace. Has happened in both my old 5.0SC and my latest SVAD. Cruising on a dual carriageway/motorway. Coming up behind a slower vehicle and busy enough to need to time your maneuver into a smaller gap in the overtaking lane. Indicate, start pulling out, but the car detects a collision situation and jams the brakes on - that properly scares all surrounding vehicles and me even more. Similarly on the adaptive cruise...seems to be working fine, then happen to be at exactly the wrong distance behind a lorry - him in the inside lane, me in the overtaking lane - and when the road bends right the radar places it in front, despite us being in different lanes, so the car jams on the anchors. Madness - and of course very dangerous if I'm being followed. The alarm sounds and illuminated stuff flashing on the dash is very Jonesy "dont panic" causing exactly the opposite effect. Of course the one time I actually needed AEB through being a numpty and not concentrating it did absolutely nothing and I hit some poor woman's car at just under 1mph - which presumably it could have easily avoided by applying the brakes half a second earlier than my surprised jab, but it chose not to for some reason. So thanks for that!

There's a bit of fluff about being greeted and presented to (interrogated even?), but its generally worded as an exclusive opportunity to jump the queue and acquire a stock Eletra or Emira...

Update on that....got a letter today (late post in the sticks!) from Conor Horne UK&Ireland Director assume of Hendy not Lotus??? Anyway its my invite to the 75th anni event at Hendy between 22nd and 25th Nov. Annoyingly we're busy those days so I wont make it....but the exciting part is the 22nd should be the long awaited pick up of Lionel from PNM...

Interesting, did you get anything Keith? Obviously we have both had our Eletra test drives - so maybe nothing more to see here. Mine following a (single) Hethel email/invite. I've not had any recent emails or been invited back so maybe I didn't make a very good impresson! Although, on the day, Lloyd kindly invited me back any time....

...and more importantly Cliff's S4S. But sadly Lionel is out of shot. 'Twas a good show, enjoyed that!

Says this listing no longer available when I just looked...

Sadly thick cloud in sunny Somerset

First post has to be approved by a mod Barry. Most often Pinky does it but Spud can as well I believe - should happen within a day or so. Once first go is approved you can post away...tho as Justin found it doesn't really support pictures so you'll need a companion pic host and link from there in IMG tags.

I see that Barry Ely still has his 8k miler up for a fiver under £60k in the latest Club Lotus mag. I'm not sure he really wants to sell it as its not on his website - maybe too much fun at Combe. Looks like a bargain against some of those!

Yes many (not sure about all) can be disabled if the central screen works - but as Keith says you have to do it every time which is annoying and time consuming. Not possible on my drive as the software "needed an update".

Well that was fun....had my test drive today. The base model black one at Hendy Exeter. I guess I'm part of the target market for this since I drive an SVAD Range Rover - so a 2.5 ton very big car with over 550BHP. On the other hand, I'm old and really don't like the way cars are heading with so called driver aids and screen based switch gear. So how did it go. This is the fourth Eletre I've sat in. It was nicer than the pre-production pinky grey thing they had here pre-launch but not as nice as the green production car they had at Thruxton. Although initial impressions were going well - I quite like the weird key card on the B pillar to unlock, pop out handles - but there were quite a few banana skins. Its not as high as the Rangie so easier to get in - although that translates to a less commanding position on the road. Its comfy with lots of seat adjustment so easily able to get an ideal position. Relatively easy to adjust mirrors but admittedly with prompts as its not just a matter of a rocker switch and joy stick - which has been fine in all cars for a couple of decades - now needs lots more flicks and presses of various bits of the same switch on the steering wheel. The now ubiquious large central screen was a complete pain. Jess must have had to say a dozen times or more that the screen needed an update as it threw up errors and froze while trying to demonstrtae various settings. I did ask why they hadn't applied the update if that was all that was needed - apparantly it has no signal to get it over the air and the workshop hasn't had time to do it. Hmmm! Anyway torment over I was able to drive off and was directed on a lengthy test drive with lots of variation in roads - fortunately I knew several of them that offered a more spririted drive location. The car is quick. In my hands the all important to me 30-70 (50-100 on private roads!) was excellent and in this base model felt very much the same as the SVAD. Of course no lovely V8 sound to accompany but no less impressive at all. Didn't really push on the twisties, but wasn't hanging about and it was well up for rapid progress - didn't feel as heavy as the Rangie although it is ! So I loved it dynamically and no doubt would love the R even more. Those that say the base/S are plenty fast enough have just not got used to SUVs with that power yet. More is always better! But its bristling with driver aids which do anything but aid. I had almost constant bonging - how annoying is that! You have to drive right in the middle of the lane. Get closer to either the side line or centre line and the bonging starts - that's not touching them its just not central between the lines. Make the heinous error of trying to actually cross a line without indicating and its a fight with the steering wheel. Fran was playing with the screen which had all sorts of animations showing other cars/vehicles/people/animals etc in realistic live positions around us and with the road markings flashing away as I strayed too close or over anything. How it is you're not allowed to touch a mobile phone on pain of death almost but having a wide screen animated TV to look at in the centre consol is not only considered safe, but a driving aid - its completely beyond me. Fortunately the HUD duplicates some of the info on the screen so i was actually able to look at it. Speed/limit/cruise etc I'm used to. The road markings flashing in time with the bonging were apparently indicatiing where I was going wrong. There was another symbol (20 in a ring) which I couldn't see doing anything, but Jess suggested it was due to a previous test driver setting a 20 mph speed limiter. That may be so, but fortunately it didn't have any impact on my drive. As we have an i3 I'm used to electric propulsion and regen allowing one pedal driving - assuming you allow a reasonable distance in front and have your anticipation hat on. The Eletre has four settings (the i3 just one) and setting 4 is what you need to drive with one pedal in urban like settings - it all works well, except it doesn't actually stop, once you're almost stopped the regen appears to switch off and you coast forward - quickly got used to needing to brake at the end but surprised me a couple of times early on. The weirdest bit though was that regen appears to switch off if you're travelling more quickly. Jess suggested anything over 50mph. So on dual carriageway I'm cruising up behind someone and lift expecting regen to slow me only to find nothing happens and I have to make a quick stab for the brake. Again something you would quickly get familiar with but why do that? I'd like the pedal to do the same thing every time not sometimes regen and sometimes not, the dynamic difference is very marked and makes it much harder to stay smooth. All too soon my drive was over (about 30 mins) and we were back at Hendys. Easy to park up even in their tiny spaces with all the cameras and aids. We then spec'd up "my" R at about £135k. That's a good whack lower then the current model L460 Range Rover (and they no longer do the performace version anyway). But overall I still prefer the (older L405) Range Rover (over the base model Eletre) but maybe I'll return when they get an R demonstrater and see if that can turn my head.

Same old really. If its on the public road then it needs tax/insurance. If its not then you can do what you like. It has always been thus.

Well done Keith - hope its a good one. Sadly I had to cancel mine today. F has been Covid positive for the last week or so and this morning I tested positive too. B****r! Our first go at Covid, F does most of the interfacing with the great unwashed while I stay at home so she was always more in the firing line but we've gotten away with it for three years. I guess once its in the house its hard to avoid although I know Bibbo has a couple of times.

Good advice Justin, but this time I didn't. If I'm going to talk to a broker, its odds on they'll make me cross and I like to have somewhere else to go if I want to end the call. Didn't feel I did this year so just paid up...

Well the two Lotus were much the same this year as last and indeed for the last several at around £100 each ...but I must say I feared the worse for the other two given some of the horrors I've read about on the SpeakEV and FullFat forums. The one that most lived up to the hype was the i3. The renewal quote came in at £329 up from £215. Over 50% uplift seemed a bit strong so got onto the Meerkats, Go Compare and Confused. All started way higher - over £400 so renewed where I was for £329. The Range Rover (SVAD) is slightly unusual in that I had an embarassing ding in Dec '21 so lost some noclaims and had to pay £736 last year up from something in the £400s. This year the renewal came though at some huge four figure number but back on the comparison sites it was easy to get it down and eventually paid £679. I'm guessing being geriatric but not yet doolally and living in the middle of nowhere has its advantages in this game. All four cars for both me and F to drive were less than my Mum has to pay for her old Fiesta ... but she is 90 this year!

That's my position. I went to the Hendy/Lotus launch event (as you did) and I told Lloyd/Elliot that I was interested. Then I got that email from the factory to book a slot, so I did!

Oooer that sounds like fun... Since my test is booked for the 10th does this mean I get extended or is it special customers only???

Had a great time - some unusual cars, great turn out, and fun catching up with everyone. Phil claims that Cygnet is worth £40k - a lot of wonga for an old Toyota city car!

Long time ago Spud...and we kept most of it off the track!

Hopefully you also checked the coolant level? Drop in temp suggests lack of coolant where the sendor is. Poss air in the system or just not enough runny stuff? Not sure if its the same on the S4 but on the G-cars the system needs to be bled to eliminate air - various methods: Sparky even told me about a bleed tap that I didn't know existed - doh! Method I use, when the car is cool if not cold, I get the car on a very steep slope so that the back of the car is way higher than the front. Take the cap off the metal header tank and run the engine on idle til the thermostat opens. Watch the bubbles come out of the canister and once that stops and its just liquid to the brim, switch off, cap back on and fill the plastic expansion tank to the marked level.

I hope to get there, but will be late morning and only if little or no rain forecast. I did call them to ask if they could do a CTS change on the M100 but no answer came the stern reply so not sure if they are up for work on the day this year or not - have since done the CTS change myself and will use the run down as a test. Saw that Ben has made the lifestyle change. That won't have helped Phil's retirement plans!