Evora 400 - Creaking drivers seat - how many waiting for fix ??

[DJW]

Love my Evora 400 but the creaking drivers seat is driving me mad (video attached).

Have raised with dealer, but from seeing other threads on here it appears others have the same problem .   So how many are waiting for a fix ??

Why oh why do Lotus keep shooting themselves in the foot by releasing cars with faults that should have been picked up in testing of the cars .

 

Edited August 3, 2016 by DJW

[CocoPops]

Oh err! Not had that (yet) @ 1350 miles.

hard to tell what you're doing or how much force is needed to make it creak.

[DJW]

One hand on upright bolsters pushing and pulling to the side with little force.  Driving round any corner at any speed will induce that noise. 

Had similar problem on S1 Evora that was fixed by greasing adjustment cog for seat plus runners.  Different seat this time though. 

Edited August 3, 2016 by DJW

[mcx]

I'm at 1800 miles, had creaking seat since around 850 miles. Gone into Hofmann's today to have this looked at plus a couple of other things. 

[JayEmm]

There are civilizations deep within the Amazon whose only knowledge of the white man is that his Evora's seat has been creaking for the last 4,500 miles, with five attempts and twelve days spent trying to fix it thus far.

I will be the first to get the new revised seat to try, apparently. I pray it works.

Interestingly @DJW it is very difficult to get mine to make noise when static. On the move it's every right handed though.

[waofner]

similar problem- nearly from the start.

what about the "mark II" seat improvement i read about in another thread?

 

[mawheele]

@Jayemm Do you know how long the Mk2 seat has been in circulation? Sounds like its new-new based on your note above.

[Andrew C]

Can I join the group of Creaking seats please 

[JayEmm]

1 hour ago, Andrew C said:

Can I join the group of Creaking seats please 

Wow, that was quick - your car's nearly brand new isn't it?

@mawheele and @waofner, to my knowledge the V2 seat has not yet arrived at Hethel, or I would have one already. My car was due to get the new seats last week, and went in to have them fitted, but the parts have not yet arrived.

I am told they should be in this month. Of course, I have no idea if these seats are going to be an improvement, but can only hope that they are. Lotus have been aware of the issue for some time I believe and this seat has been tailored specifically to fix this issue. But we'll see.

[Neal H]

I doubt they are going to want to start replacing seats under warranty! There must be an easier fix than that, they just haven't found it yet.

[JayEmm]

Five separate attempts to fix my seats - including by the factory themselves - and they still creak. You think there's a simple fix? I don't.

There are quality control issues and then there are design faults. This is a design fault. It should not have been allowed in the first place.

If you consider that they have redesigned the seat, that would imply to me that they know about the problem and they knew about it months ago. My conversations with various dealers would back this up.

[DJW]

9 hours ago, Neal H said:

I doubt they are going to want to start replacing seats under warranty! There must be an easier fix than that, they just haven't found it yet.

If problem is with Sparco (eg supplier) , it will cost Lotus nothing other than labour to change seats over ?

Edited August 4, 2016 by DJW

[JayEmm]

I expect there will probably be a legal argument between the two along the lines of

"Hey you sold us these seats that didn't work properly"

"Yeah but you approved the seat"

"Yeah but you designed it"

"Yeah to your specifications"

"Well they've all gone wrong"

"Well you should have told us that before you ordered a thousand of them"

[Bibs]

That aside, it's still the suppliers problem. Lotus would have specced a seat not to creak, and Sparco have supplied once which does, a lot. 

[JayEmm]

I have asked the question as to whether the V2 seat has made it's way into production yet, or whether the one I am waiting for is "the first" as it were.

I'll also ask if there is an easy way of identifying the revised seat, will be very handy for future reference no doubt. I expect that given time the passenger seat in these cars will do the same, but may take considerably longer depending on how often we carry passengers.

[booboo93]

This what happens when you try and cut costs, mine has been back to the factory for this and other faults, but alas all still there.

[JayEmm]

Yes, I can't help but feel on this item in particular they've really cut too far. As far as I know there is nothing that can be done to the current seats to fix the creaking, other than to replace them outright with new items. I am told I'll be among the first to get these, but the date for this is currently unknown.

[Neal H]

There's lots of talk about a cut too far. Clearly they shouldn't creak and this does appear to be a design issue that needs rectifying.

Creaking aside, I would view my Sparco seats as excellent. They look good, they're supportive and comfortable, and they're very nicely trimmed.

The previous generation Recaro's were notorious for bolster wear, not just in the Evora but also in the Renaultsport Clio's and Focus RS's.

[JayEmm]

Personally - and it is a personal opinion - I don't think the leather being used in the cars is that nice. I seem to be in a minority who have had their bolster wear but the leather doesn't have the nice supple feel I expect from a good leather.

There's plenty of it, which is certainly nice - plastics are very few and far between in the interior.

[Neal H]

Mine has the alcantara interior so I can't comment on the quality of the leather used, but my early impressions of the alcantara interior are very positive.

[JayEmm]

To be honest, I really don't like alcantara and try to avoid it wherever possible. I'm sure it's a technically superior material to leather but I just don't like the stuff! So no idea on whether the Lotus alcantara is good or bad.

[DJW]

Well I'm doing charity rides for Sporting Bears at Rockingham next week.  The rides are gentle but both seats are going to be creaking like mad plus passengers can video their run.  Embarrassing for me and Lotus, as this stuff will end up on social media as people share their experiences .  

Can't let the charity down though  

 

Edited August 10, 2016 by DJW

[DJW]

So took another petrolhead friend for a passenger ride in car yesterday.

He loved the car in principle but was staggered at the creaking seats on a £70-80k car, based on the fact sub £10k cars don't do it.  His over riding feelings were he couldn't buy a Lotus if their quality control is that poor..

ive started making excuses not to give rides to friends now, as it's just plain embarrassing  

I need a Porche for passenger rides....or any roads with turns. 

Edited August 10, 2016 by DJW

[JayEmm]

@DJW IF you think that's bad, imagine what it's like when your car sounds like the suspension is broken whenever you make a hard left turn.

Nothing like turning up at a car show with everyone watching and then your car goes "crack crack crack crack snap snap snap snap"

[Neal H]

I do agree that we shouldn't have to be making excuses for these kind of faults on a £70k+ car. I'm guilty of it because I really love the marque - hand built, low vlume, etc, etc.. Hopefully the dealers will be able to respond in the right way and have a replacement or fix available in the very near future.

It doesn't change the fact though that the Evora is a sensational driving machine, which is basically why we buy them over the competition. But if Lotus want to expand production numbers they have to appeal beyond the core enthusiast, and to do that they have to make them bug free!