Matt W

My battery, almost 3 years old, is shot and now holds charge for less than a week. Any recommendations for where to get a replacement of the stock part? Not interested in a lightweight as likely selling the car soon. Anyone else had a battery fail quite so soon?

Just dropped my Exige off for warranty work and was looking on the forecourt, Pre reg Emira seem to be £90k+, with autos going for £93k. On Auto trader you can buy the same with very low mileage for £75k. You'd need to be insane to buy a new one.

Thanks for that, I did think it was a new dealer, I'm near Cambridge, so I think it will have to be a round trip to Silverstone.

My Exige needs to go in for some warranty work to replace a headlight and fix a broken switch. Anyone any dealings with Lotus Hatfield for service? I refuse to step foot in JCT600 in Bradford ever again, and Oakmere weren't much better so this is the next closest for me, unless I drive 80 miles to Lotus Silverstone.

Has anyone else noticed the fuel icon filler triangle on the FE dash is on the wrong side? Well this is a major problem, I pulled in to get some fuel today and searched high and low down the passenger side for the fuel filler and it just wasn't there. Panic mildly set in that I wouldn't get home. Luckily I just caught a glimpse of it on the drivers side and all was good. I guess technically it's pointing right, but on my mini the triangle is on the right. But I was thinking, if enough of us make a warranty claim on this terrible flaw, will Lotus spring into action and fix it, along with unlocking the rest of the dash???

Do you really think lotus will bother with further versions of the Emira. It was a cash cow whilst they move to the luxury market. Why would they create themselves a support and development headache when they’re moving to EV saloons and suvs which will make them more money? MG are doing a great job in the mid range sector, I can’t imagine Lotus will do anything other than cockup their move, they’re clueless with service and support and show no signs of resolving the issues, richer customers will be even more demanding.

From the Harry’s Garage review the auto box in manual mode looked pretty ropey, short ratios and sluggish shift doesn’t look like a lot of fun. But that whole review was pretty lame, they spent a lot of time going over the niggles. For what they’re now asking, the car looks poor value and not overly engaging, but looks nice. You pays your money …

I don't really understand why anyone would order an FE now. Get on AT, find one of the many unsold, low mileage cars that will probably match your spec, if not listed phone the dealers to find one of the many unlisted cars, and save yourself a fortune off new and a wait.

If two pieces are cast together, doesn’t that make them one piece ?

That would be great, the only bits I need are the locating pins. The upper bit of part 18.on the diagram above.

Thanks both, as you suggest I need the locating pins, I'll get a couple which will do the trick. Thanks again for your help.

Sorry this is a request for pics again, at the rear underside of the carbon access panel, are there any supports attached to the front clam? The rear of my panel I just fitted looks too low and it has some lateral movement. Looked on the lotus parts website and there does look to be done sort of support, but the parts diagram not to clear what fits what car. Thanks!

That’s perfect thanks. Looks like the inner edge folds into the gap where the headlight glass is. Many thanks!

I've just got hold of a pair of the black headlight surround decals, the fit seems a bit odd and I'm wondering if they need trimming? Does anyone have any closeup pics of 410 or 430 cars with them fitted? Thanks!

Day in the Dales... Very few about, lots of standing water though. But beautiful and clear.

Looks like a break in the rain today, so going to get out into the Dales. Anyone else still out there over winter?

This is exactly my issue with Lotus. I had the same problem with a delayed car and virtually no communication, then it suddenly arrived and in the excitement I even decided to overlook the dealer had put only a tiny bit of fuel in... Anyhow you have a new car and it's exciting and you get on. And then something goes wrong and suddenly you're faced with third rate dealers, no parts and no reply to messages direct to Lotus. Eventually the only way to get mine fixed was paying a local independant who has been brilliant. And then my car went wrong again last week and I'm forced back to the useless dealer network. I've been watching what's going on with the Emira and nothing seems to have changed. Lotus has a long long way to go, I wouldn't touch them again.

My near side front indicator has the odd moment when it refuses to work. If it works at the start of a drive it's fine, if it fails at the start of a drive it won't fix itself. So seems to be related to switching things on, anyone had similar? This is in a late 2021 S3.

Yes, but the Emira looks fast, and your neighbours will think you bought a Ferrari (as might the RS3/A45 driver as they overtake…) 🤪

So if type approval is late, presumably post July 22, does that mean speed limiters will be in the released cars?

I'm not sure I'd agree with ALL dealers being exemplary, JCT in Bradford were truly abysmal (I've never heard anyone saying anything positive about them); losing my keys (I was in reception for 40 mins watching them try and find them), I had to remind them what work they were doing several times as they lost the job card, no general communication, I had to chase everything, Oakmere had multiple attempts to fix my issues before I took it to an independent who then fixed it. Then there's general parts availability and pricing (£300+ for a piece of replacement aluminium grille I can get for £20), issues which have never been resolved, maybe Emira parts will actually be kept in stock? There may well be decent dealers, I have heard only positive things from B&C, but my less than a year old Exige will never go near a main dealer unless its serious warranty issue. It sounds like you had an really positive service, which is great, but I've not heard of many cases like that.

Nothing here has been thought through or planned properly it seems, Lotus is continuing as it has for years with clueless customer support, especially once they have your money. What's should be more concerning is this is the 'new' sales process, wait until there are issues with cars, and 'new Lotus" customers discover how utterly abysmal Lotus aftercare and dealer networks are, as I can't for a second think Lotus have considered that part of their offering.

My Exige was similarly delayed last year, due June, arrived end of October, I asked about taking delivery in spring and was pretty much refused. Gladly we had a mild winter so was able to get some use, but frustrating it spent a lot of time stationary. Slightly cheekily I asked if there was anything they could go to 'soften the blow', to which the dealer agreed to honour the original deal of the first inspection service remaining free (which is free anyway) and 1/4 tank of petrol...

I know this has been discussed to death, but just doing a bit more digging and I'm curious if the issue is the unit recognising the camera, or it switching on? Looking at various other forums, it seems the AiM unit triggers the reverse camera on illumination, on pin 9 of the delphi connector, if it's seeing the camera and not triggering, maybe a switch could be wired in? If the camera isn't even recognised then, no chance I guess.

It's making sense now, do you recall the morse code at the start of the Emira teaser adverts? Seems he was busy communicating back then.