The Evora 400 Diaries

[JayEmm]

So, the 400 is reasonably good in wet weather. And by wet weather, I mean ridiculous, unbelievably, torrential rain. I don't think I would have volunteered to turn the TC off but she got me home without issue after yesterday's festival. Was horrendous on the A14 - wakes from other cars washing over the front of the Evora!

[JayEmm]

The next time someone in the USA complain's about Lotus' lack of a dealer network, please show them this:

McLaren's dealer network (above), Lotus' below

[C8RKH]

That is really useful Jayemm. I wanna retire to Florida and looks like I'll be well served.

I mean, I don't understand what they're Whining about. Like, up here in Scotland, in the whole darn country, we only have 1 Lotus dealer. I mean, for crying out loud even the sheep get better options than that....

 

[JayEmm]

Quite right @C8RKH - I frequently point out we have only one official Chevrolet dealer left in the country and that's with the entire might of GM. The Corvette would sell like hotcakes if only they put some marketing effort in, even in LHD form.

[Ccd]

I will continue to complain about the dealer network.  Lotus and McLaren are at two different price points.  Lotus will have to continue to expand its USA network and it will be challenging with only one car.  Living in the DC area and having a choice between Pittsburgh and Princeton, NJ for the closest dealers is ridiculous

[mawheele]

Check out Ferrari. I'm guessing, but I believe they may have even fewer. Around the San Francisco area - where there is all the Facebook and Google money - they have 1. When I popped in recently the sales guy said they may be closing.

[ramjet]

It's Ferrari. Who cares. (I say that hoping I haven't offended you if you own one?)

[JayEmm]

I would expect Ferrari to have a larger number of dealerships, they usually tend to pair up with Maserati.

McLaren and Lotus probably sell a similar number of cars a year, so I think it's a valid point. I should also add that as long as you are using genuine parts then Lotus will not consider your warranty voided if someone else works on it (unless they break something, of course)

EDIT: Ferrari have 53 dealerships in "The Americas"... so that includes Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Brasil as well as the USA

[Instinct_NZ]

Looks like your videos are going down well @JayEmm as they are now being copied by 'Britney Spears' on youtube...
 

 

[JayEmm]

I wonder why they stole my least popular video...

[JayEmm]

Here's a nice little interview I did recently. Jack The Super Car Kid - a young lad living with autism, who has a love of cars that lets him come out of his shell. His dad's been trying to get him as many car-related experiences as he can and helping raise awareness of autism at the same time.

 

[CocoPops]

Got bored after 10mins with that one, sorry James.

i'm sure it's very difficult with autism, but he (and his dad) come across as quite privileged, with the amount of things they've been able to do whilst using autism as a badge.

[JayEmm]

That's alright, can't win 'em all. The main aim was to hopefully raise a bit of profile for the guys, but we had very limited time and dates, it was also very difficult for me to plan as I have worked with a number of autistic people before and the spectrum is very wide - an interview's never easy, especially not an unscripted one!

I've got an airfield driving day booked for the 16th and a high speed run day booked on the 25th, so hopefully will be back to normal service soon. I also want to do a few more videos on the Excel too. I'm just ferrying so many cars around at the minute, it's mad

[CocoPops]

Oh and bring back the 400 exhaust noise in the intro!

 

[JayEmm]

I do plan on doing that, I need to re-record it though. My cameramen have been off doing other things for a while and seeing as I don't pay them I can't make any demands of their time, so it's been just me for the recent videos. Not a hardship, but I much prefer it when I'm able to present properly.

[purso]

Nice thing to do I thought it was good.

[JayEmm]

...and just as I'm starting to forgive this car for it's many issues... the passenger side seat release breaks. The little leather strap has half-come-out of it's moorings. Joy.

[Bibs]

Thug! 

[JayEmm]

It was the missus! And to top it off, it was after I gave her a lecture about her habit of pushing the seat all the way back whenever she gets in the car, despite the fact she's not 7' tall. With the seat right back it's impossible to get to the lever, so you have to just move the damn thing forwards to where it started...

[JayEmm]

Well, the morning's job was to fix the seat pull and fix it I did. Not exactly a factory-approved fix, but will work for as long as I need it to. It seems to repair the thing properly you'd need to dismantle the whole seat. I'm not sure that's even possible - you'd need to remove the covers... not sure how attached they are

[Barrykearley]

I've got a load of spare cable ties 

[C8RKH]

15 hours ago, JayEmm said:

It was the missus! And to top it off, it was after I gave her a lecture about her habit of pushing the seat all the way back whenever she gets in the car, despite the fact she's not 7' tall. With the seat right back it's impossible to get to the lever, so you have to just move the damn thing forwards to where it started...

So user "miss"-use then. Hopefully you'll forgive her eventually. i wouldn't and I'd never let her back in the car again if it was me. But I realise, not everyone is as nice and tolerant as I am.

18 months of Evora ownership, some 7k miles, and my wife has been in it, er, twice!  Long may it continue as who needs a man shed when I have my Evora... My little oasis of calm. My pleasure Island. Ain't no way she's getting in to destroy it!

[JayEmm]

This afternoon I have been mostly applying PTFE lubricant to the back of my seat. Seems to have worked, for now.

[Bazza 907]

Oooh er missus

[JayEmm]

Just now, Bazza 907 said:

Oooh er missus

If only it were more romantic than a fat sweaty man stuck in the back of a very small car swearing a lot and spraying chemicals about the place