SwissV8

My wish list (all pretty small, but the car doesn't need much improvement): - a KMH speedo with markings for real speed limits (current one has markings at 45, 75 and 105 KMH, which is useless when the speed limits are actually 50, 80 and 100 KMH) - or digital speedo switchable between mph and KMH - a heater system that produces heat in positions other than just the max setting. In fact, given that the car already has aircon, fans etc, it can't be much effort/cost/weight to turn this into a fully automatic climate control - heated seats that really do get warm - better use of the right hand instrument display. Tyres pressures are only interesting when outside the acceptable range. Oil temperature display would be much more useful - illumination of the steering wheel buttons, which are invisible in the dark - more time after unlocking the car before the immobilisor kicks in - stop the exhaust rattle And last but not least, Cabrio! Notice that none of these points relate to driving - the car drives wonderfully..... although it is pretty heavy on fuel given the weight / engine size and power.

"He also announced that a new variant of Lotus will be launched next month. " Could this finally be the Evora Cabrio?

Here's the specs from Pioneer: - BMP or JPEG files - Allowable horizontal and vertical size are 2 592 pixels x 1 944 pixels or smaller - Allowable data size is 6 MB or smaller And here's the install instructions: 1 Create a folder named “Pictures” on the top-most directory of the SD memory card. 2 Store the picture files in the “Pictures” folder. 3 Insert an SD memory card into the SD card slot. 4 Display the “System Settings” screen. 5 Touch [splash Screen]. - The “Select Splash Screen” screen appears. 6 Touch [select from SD]. - The “Select Splash Screen” screen appears. 7 Touch the image to use as the splash screen from the list. - The image is displayed on the screen. 8 Touch [OK]. - The image is set as the splash screen, and the “System Settings” screen returns.

You can change the splash screen image on the Pioneer unit yourself. I downloaded and installed an Evora image from the web, and it looks better than the one originally installed at the factory!

Hi there Will! As Bibs said, I did exactly what you're thinking of doing - swapped my 2002 V8 for an Evora S.... and despite a couple of the usual Lotus teething troubles, I love the Evora and don't regret the change at all. The advances in engineering that have gone into the Evora make a massive difference. It is much more usable than the Esprit was, far more refined, but still hugely enjoyable to drive. Whether an Evora is the right choice for you or not depends on what you're looking for from your Lotus, as the Esprit and Evora are very different in their strengths: Evora S: - very solid "modern" feel, no rattles, squeaks, or wind noise, good ergonomics, lovely materials on the interior, brilliant seats - excellent performance (though not supercar levels), disguised somewhat by the soundproofing and refinement - usable in pretty much any situation, discreet, high quality and reliable - draws admiring looks, but not too much attention Esprit: - feels like a classic, with plenty of rattles and squeaks, not so great ergonomics, old instrumentation and reasonable interior - by modern standards, the seats are more like armchairs - brutal performance, clearly from the old school supercar club, with all the necessary noise, physical attacks and smells that accompany the supercar experience - draws lots attention everywhere you go, and usage needs to be thought about before departing due to extremely low ride height, noise and attention drawn (not good for business meeting!!) So, in summary, the Evora is far more refined, usable and modern than the Esprit, but lacks some of the character and the extreme performance. In my view, the Esprit still looks beautiful, whereas I only consider the Evora to be "good looking". I wanted something more modern than the Esprit, more refined, more usable, and a little more discrete, while still offering excellent performance, brilliant handling, and rarity - the Evora fulfills all those requirement plus more. I don't regret the change, but I do miss the jaw dropping beauty of the yellow V8! Good luck with your decision!

Sorry to have been quiet for a while - I've been a bit snowed under recently (not literally, even though I live in Switzerland!). Let me clear up a couple of things here.... I love my Evora, as with every other Lotus I have owned before it, and since it came back from the last service, it has been running perfectly. Bruno at Schaffner Racing is an absolute star, and while I was away on holiday he sorted out every issue on my bad-list. The car is now brilliant, better than I ever expected, and I would highly recommend it. I agree that this thread may give a bad impression to the casual reader, but on the other hand I also believe that people should be aware of possible issues when considering Lotus ownership. It is not a mass market product, and it is not subjected to the same levels of development, testing and quality control that the major luxury brands can afford. Consequently there is a higher chance of issues than with, for example, a Porsche. However, I hope that I made my view on this clear earlier in the thread... but just to reiterate, if you are willing to accept the risk of an occasional issue, the Evora is an amazing car. In fact, I consider mine to be the best car I've owned. My hope is that, after reading this thread, the casual reader will take away the following key messages: 1. If you buy a Lotus, do so with the knowledge that the risk of issues is higher than with some other premium brand cars (although every manufacturer has its off-days) 2. If you do have an issue, there is a knowledgable, friendly and passionate community here to help 3. Lotus mechanics have demonstrated some of the most outstanding levels of customer service I've ever seen 4. There are very few cars on the planet, regardless of price, that can come anywhere near the experience of a well-sorted Lotus 5. The build quality of the Evora is actually extremely high, and a huge leap compared to Lotus' of old 6. The overall ownership experience must be extremely good, as after all the issues documented in this thread, I'm still willing to state that my Evora is the best car I've ever owned, and to drive is simply petrol-head heaven!

Hi Willi, I don't have the details yet. I'll be collecting my car when I'm back in Switzerland next week, and will get the details then. As far as I can tell though, it's only an intermediate fix, as Lotus are still saying that they are aware of the issue but have no official solution. As soon as I know moreI'll post it up.

I took my MY2002 Esprit V8 (which has an extremely low front) on the Eurotunnel a couple of times, and as Bibs says, there were no problems at all with the ramps, and the staff were really helpful. They directed me out of the main flow and loaded me onto the lower level (for cars, not trucks) of the train, where there were very few ramps. The ramps that were there were fine.... I just had to drive slowly and carefully!

Quick update as just posted up on my Comms Failure thread - I've just heard that the Comms Failure issue has been solved! It seems that the cause was simply a loose ignition relay, and removing / reinserting the relay has fixed the problem. Amazing that such a minor error could cause such a major headache! I also heard that the exhaust rattle has been fixed, but I don't have the details yet. Will post up more details when I get them.

Good news - I've just heard that the Comms Failure issue has been solved! It seems that the cause was simply a loose ignition relay, and removing / reinserting the relay has fixed the problem. This could also be confirmed, as removing the relay and switching on the ignition produces the Comms Failure message and the refusal to start. Amazing how such a small fault could cause such a huge headache, and be so tricky to track down! Anyway, when I get back from my travels in a couple of weeks, I should be able to collect a 100% healthy Evora ...... for the 1st time since I bought it!!! Can't wait

Oddly enough, it does sound better now than when it was first delivered - the vibration sound is less frequent, but when it does come, it's still loud and annoying! (BTW, switching to sport mode helps a lot as it raises the tick-over RPM, which sometimes eliminates the vibration noise). The dealer also has a Dec 2011 MY12 S IPS, and that doesn't have this problem. Mine's in the garage over the next couple of weeks to try to get all the issues resolved. The exhaust is on the list, so let's see what Lotus can do!

The noise from my exhaust sounds like a loose piece of metal vibrating at low RPM. The Lotus dealer pointed it out when I collected the car (although it's pretty loud and obvious), and said he would enquire with Lotus about it. Lotus have replied, saying it is a known issue, but no known fix at the moment. I actually really like the exhaust sound, but at low RPM it is really embarrassing as it sounds like something is about to fall off the car!

Another quick update: Solved the display problem with the Dash Command App. Seems that you have to start the App on the iPhone before connecting to the SatNav. If you do this, the Dash Command UI resizes itself correctly for the available screen space on the Nav. I also received the new Kiwi 2 ODBII interface this morning, so just gave it a quick test. All works fine, and I can get Dash Command displaying a load of OBDII data in real-time on the SatNav screen . Only problem now is, as my Evora is currently unusable due it's Comms failure errors, I can't really do much useful testing with the Kiwi

Thanks for the suggestions (which I'll pass along to the mechanic). Just a quick update: the car is now almost completely unusable . The Comms failure occurs frequently but without any clear pattern. Last week I got stuck in Zürich for about three hours as the Evora wouldn't start, and I couldn't get rid of the Comms failure message. It eventually cleared itself, and allowed me to drive home. However, after pretty much every drive, if I stop the engine and then try to restart, I get this Comms failure and need to leave the car alone until it eventually clears itself. The U0150 error is always logged when the Comms failure occurs, along with an amber skidding car light and illuminated sport mode button (plus the button above it). This indicates that the problem may be with the ABS control unit. Car is booked in to Lotus at the end of the month, where it will stay until the cause of the failure can be tracked down and fixed. Until then, my Evora is unusable

I recently posted up a thread detailing my first week (on holiday) with a brand new MY2012 Evora S, during which I described a number of electrical faults and error codes that I'd encountered during my trip. I've now owned the Evora for 3 weeks, and one error keeps coming back to haunt me (5 times so far). The error occurs when switching on the ignition. After the usual diagnostic checks, the right hand section of the dashboard display shows the message "Comms Failure EMS". ? When this happens, the car cannot be started. In fact, the engine won't even turn over. It's the same effect as when trying to start the car while the immobilisor is active. At first it seemed that this error could easily by cleared by disconnecting/reconnecting the battery, but now that the error has occurred multiple times, the disconnect battery trick has been found to NOT resolve the problem. My Lotus dealer contacted Lotus about this issue, but the response he received was: "Sorry do not know of this issue but make sure that the battery terminals are tight." So today I visited the Lotus dealer as there was an ABS warning light, and he wanted to read off the error code. While I was there, the "Comms Failure EMS" problem came back, but would not go away. No matter what we tried (laptop to reset errors, disconnect battery, check battery terminals tight etc.), the issue would not clear. We did find that we repeatedly got a U0150 error code logged, which the service manual describes as a "Missing ABS CAN bus message", but unfortunately the service notes do not provide any additional info at all about this at all, no possible causes etc. We tried to resolve this for two hours. At one point, the laptop could no longer even make a connection to the EMS over the ODBII port, and the Lotus laptop software simply reported a failure in establishing a connection with the car. Finally, for no apparent reason, the Comms failure message went away, and we were able to successfully start the car again. As I was getting short on time, I agreed with the dealer that I would take the car home and see how it went for the next couple of weeks, after which it is booked in for it's first service. The dealer will contact Lotus again and try to get some more information about the possible causes of this problem. Well, after a 50km drive home, I parked the car in our garage, stopped the engine, and then tried to start it again. Immediately got the Comms Failure message. So, I'm hoping that someone on TLF may have some knowledge or experience of this issue. If anyone does, please let me know. Any ideas would be very welcome! Thanks