Various defects

[Bibs]

Lotus have a big booth which is one of the last processes in the cars production which would have sprayed an awful lot of high pressure water at the car from many angles. It's very odd that your getting water in the boot, I'm intrigued as to how it makes it in there, I would have thought that test would highlight any leaks!

[Al]

Lotus have a big booth which is one of the last processes in the cars production which would have sprayed an awful lot of high pressure water at the car from many angles. It's very odd that your getting water in the boot, I'm intrigued as to how it makes it in there, I would have thought that test would highlight any leaks!

I have seen the booth in action when on the factory tour so I know what it has gone through.

I know I am not the only Evora owner to have this problem but cannot now remember who it was I discussed it with, or read it from. If you didn't go looking for this you would not see it as foam backed carpets have to be lifted. I dare say that 3 weeks sitting outside unused in a really wet Scottish autumn is a bit different to 15 mins in a booth where they are probably more concerned about passenger cell ingress.

Just to make it clear in case not in above posting I haven't yet approached dealer with these points as I was wanting to give it a bit longer to fully suss out everything. Anyway I'll be adding my thoughts to an e-mail to send to the factory as per other thread. My dealer was going to forward to somebody 5 weeks ago but I don't know who so looks like we have the correct guy now if he is responding.

[bingoking]

Al,

Sorry to hear you have had so many problems and in particular with water in the car. My heart sank when I read this and I wonder now if I have made a mistake by ordering an Evora.

My first Elise S2 ('02 Type 72)had horrendous problems with water ingress from the removable roof rails where they met the front screen. So much so that the Gold Alcantara panels on the doors were always wet in the rain and when they dried out I had a white "tide" mark. They were replaced under warranty. My car was back an forth to MMC who changed the door seals on a number of occasions, they realigned the doors to give a better seal but to no avail. I eventually wrote to Lotus and having been to the factory and witnessed the "Monsoon" test at the end of the production line, questioned why my car had not failed that test and been fixed before leaving the factory. I eventually got them to take the car back to the factory to sort the problem. They gave me a loan car whilst my car was away and when my car was returned the water ingress was very much reduced to the occasional drip when subjected to horizontal rain or a high pressure hose during washing. My current Elise ('08 SC) has had no leaks or water ingress whatsoever.

I am really surprised that Lotus has not got their act together to ensure the Evora did not have these faults and in particular the water ingress. If the air con was working that would help to clear the mist on the windscreen but why is it misty in the first place, obviously excess moisture in the cabin?

I know it is no consultation to you but I do hope yours is a one off and that water ingress is not a characteristic of the vehicle and a fault in the design! It would be interesting to hear what other owners have experienced.

If I do eventually take delivery of one it will be my main car, won't be garaged and will clock up at least 30,000 miles per year so I hope Lotus can sort out these problems and quickly before others decide to buy alternative products.

[mattmelling]

I have to say that i've not had any of the problems others have listed...other than some damp inside early one - but Lotus had told me that I would need new door seals when i collected the car - and since having that done when i had the sports exhaust fitted it's been fine - in fact it only happened once with the old seals. My car lives outside so is exposed to everything.

Al - do your door seals have cuts in them anywhere along the length of them? I think early seals had to be cut to fit properly but the new ones are effectively a sealed seal (if that makes sense).

Bingoking - all i can say is i wish i had the chance to use mine as a daily driver - i really think i'm happier when driving the Evora than I was when I had my Elise!

[Beady]

So far i have none of these problesm and the ownership experience to date has been fantastic.

My car lives 'indoors' but if there is heavy rain forecast soon i think i will move it outside for a few days as a 'test'.

will let you know the results in due course.

[sjrnoel]

Picked mine up in Sept

biggest issue i have is the Alpine unit

The concept is good but in practice it is pure crap

Reception is poor

Operation is unreliable

A replacement blackbird unit has been fitted by B&C but it is still not right it still fails to see the Ipod

A 60k car this day and age trying to do what the Evora is doing should have 4 speakers and a Sub

The evora only has 2 in the front door and no amount of imprint makes the sound good when youve finished blatting around and want to enjoy the relaxed element which ythis car does very well.

Seats are very easy to scuff mine scuffed on the way home from delivery and i dont wear jeans

Sports Exhaust now fitted

Grin permenant

[mattmelling]

Hi Sjrnorel - sports exhaust does make you grin a bit more doesn't it....

I'm sure there's a sub woofer in the back on the drivers side - but i agree it needs 2 more chunky speakers in the back somewhere for a stronger sound..

Have you used your IPOD on another car stereo system? You might need to download something onto your IPOD to ensure it's recognised by the Alpine unit.

[sjrnoel]

Hey Mat,

Yeah i pod used in boat and LR3 works fine.

Alpine sees it but not all the time

There is a sub in the back in the back on Drivers side as passenger side has fuses

The sound is crap and imprint is crap

It really wouldnt have taken a lot to improve however the concept is good

I shall be looking to some options from a specialist shortly

Lotus are to replace drivers side speaker as it is buzzing just like in B&CS dealer car

[S7 EXG]

Several of my iPods do, and several do not work with alpine. No idea why. iPhone does however work which is good as also charges. Alpine keeps dropping the auto connect Bluetooth function even though this is stlected in settings. I agree the unit is crap and my 150 quid tomtom does satnav better. A poor system choice given the options out there.

[sjrnoel]

Just found out today the replacement blackbird unit map display is stuck in France howvere the GPS indicates its working.

Cant beleive they gave it back to me like that and even motre annoyed its taken me this long to find out.

Although i live on the iow i do know my way home from B&C

Unit wont see a firmware update from Alpine ....

Its just pure utter crap....

I have a tom tom on my iphone as a app! which works perfectly

[anubis1]

Fantastic; me too... I was at Zurich Airport and the Alpine showed me to be in Paris! ...(nearby) ...

Will have a new one next week, hoping to have GPS working. By the way: I fall out the GPS in every tunnel...

and the radio is ridiculous. A.

[venevidivici]

I've had my Evora now for 3 months. It is a great looking and driving car. Unfortunately it has been at my dealer for a month. I was driving very slowly to find a parking spot, when the engine stopt. I thougt I made a mistake and tried to start it again. Nothing happened and worked for 20 minutes. After that I tried to start it again and .... it worked. I got in my car to drive home, at the first traffic lights the engine went dead again. Luckily now after a few minutes the engine worked again. Called the dealer, they did their best and collected my Evora. The problem was electronics, probably the alarmsystem. After a few weeks the spare parts were available and they changed the alarm unit. The problem unfortunately remained. At the end the dealer found out that it probably was a relais. They say its ok now and I hope so. I knew before I bought the Lotus that I would have more problems then with my former car BMW M3, but I really hope that in the near future my Lotus will be somewhat more reliable. And ofcourse that Lotus will make some changes in the heating system because even now it's quite chilly in the car. To be honest? I love the looks and driving of my Evora, but my next car will be probably a different brand; a car that is more reliable. I'm afraid Lotus is trying to play in the major league but hasn't the right equipment for that.

[anubis1]

re: Heating: I noticed that the drivers side is dimisted lower than passenger side. In general: the passenger side (right) is also warmer. So, as I read Al.'s post, it must be (left/right steering) related.=passenger side obtains more heat/air... whatever.

I run now 9000 KM and all goes perfect. Never any troubles, the car is a total hammering machine. but.. never open trunk after rain=all baggae is floaded.

One suggest: it would be good to have a mark in the front display, when lights are on. just the green light surrounding the lightbutton is not sufficient. If you drive the day throu tunnels, it happend to me that I went throu the tunnel without light, (the highway Italy-Monaco ist tunnel after tunnel, but heavy sunshine outside).A;

[bolly girl]

venevidivici - sorry to hear of your problem, I believe that your must be fairly unique since most owners have not had an electrical fault like yours.

It appears that most of the earlier model faults appear to be the central door locking (thankfully resolved), although uniformly it is agreed the Alpine Unit is pants for radio reception. They work perfectly at the factory but not in the real world...

Happy motoring

[ENUYTS]

20 000 kms ( 30 000 mls) with my white launch edition evora and ... a new surprise

have you ever saw that before !! rear deflecter attach

and a lot others problems

(sory for my bad anglais ... a lost frenchy )

[Al]

Sorry to see that Nuyts. As you may know I ripped the one off my car as well but that was self inflicted by garage door and not a failure like that. No chance it was shut down with something in the gap was there? Or vandals tugging on it which I have worried about as it is a bit "in your face" target for them if left in the wrong place.

In the photo attached you will see how the grommets are captured in a resin of some sort and the actual ABS plastic spoiler isn't damaged. Trouble is there was no way to realign and re-pour the resin so was a new one job. At least you will be under warranty as painted it was about £450 to replace.

Also sorry to hear you have a list of issues with it. I have to although slowly getting them all resolved. The LE cars certainly seem to have been early production prototypes if you ask me. PM me if you want to swap stories but do not want to post them.

[ENUYTS]

an other silly question... why the (3°) rear speaker doesn't works..

we keep out the alpine radio on mine and an other evora... the same, no conductor between radio and speaker ???

[Al]

3rd rear speaker is only a sub woofer so hard to hear if it is working. Maybe if you turn up the bass a good bit you wll hear better nd confirm connected.

Like the rest of us considering the cost of the Alpine unit and the Imprint upgrade originally the sound is basicaly crap for the price. Sit in any Nissan/Audi/Porsche (all ones I have had) with Bose and you know we have been done.....

[Justin182]

Just had a chance to read through this all.. Thanks for posting Al/everyone else.. I really hope Lotus have sorted these little things out, I guess to a certain extent they should be expected on very early cars, but should quickly be rectified.

[bingoking]

Watch this space and fingers crossed that the various fixes have made their (spelling correction) way to the production line.

Edited May 30, 2010 by bingoking