Evora 400 simply dreadful

[johnpwalsh]

32 minutes ago, Simon on tour said:

Not yet. I was in pool this weekend. I will go for a drive later and try to leave my previous problems out of my mind.

Good, glad to hear you have not completely given up on her. Not yet anyway. Hopefully your issues will be sorted without having to go through legal or other wise. Silverstone have a good reputation and hopefully its just been a clash of minds over what is a real issue and what the real expectations of a low volume enthusiasts car. Whatever the outcome. Good luck.

[Barrykearley]

Nah - I'd give up on it and just swap it for an esprit. Preferably and S4 with motorshow connections would be advisable 

[DJW]

Had 3 different cars from Silverstone that have each needed some fettling under warranty and they've always been very accommodating. 

[gregs24]

I bought a car from Silverstone and they were brilliant. How could you not notice the door shut line when you first drove the car ? There are plenty of Evora's there to compare it with !

You also post a picture of a small part of the engine bay to compare with a larger view of the Porsche - I'm sure a close up of part of the Porker engine bay would be equally unattractive.

I suspect the 'legal action' will cost more than the depreciation on the car - so I hope you are having fun with it.

[Big Ed]

Is there a degree of fishing here by the OP? Many mackerels caught!

I'm not one to sit on the fence, so......

shit, or get off the pot please. This is a forum for people that like Lotus cars. You have had many offers of assistance and advice from well respected forum members. Yet your story has no substance. 

My 981s driving seat didn't squeak because it didn't go around corners like my 400 with a 6'5" 19 stone chunk strapped to it. I have no trouble with views from the wing mirrors but the rear window is a little small

Naturally, I wish you all the very best . Genuinely. 

[franjipane]

I mentioned previously about the usefulness of a thread like this, what I was alluding to is that it may work against you in any legal proceedings regarding the car and any perceived issues.  Not a solicitor, just guessing that neither party wants any bad press while the resolution is being discussed.

[Breeze]

However you want to look at it, a hand assembled car will never be the same as a car assembled by robots. All lotus cars have a few quirks. You either like them or you don't. If you don't, buy something else. 

My younger brother....I'm bragging here...has a Porsche. He bought it about 25 years ago for £5K.  The entire family thought he was completely stupid.  Who's laughing now...Its a 356 Speedster...a real one!...rattles squeaks like a ba*stard though. ?  Still, horse for courses and at least its not a Panhandle.

[Snoopy1969]

Well I am tired of the never ending complaints like that in General  -  if you buy a handbuild car you get (more or less) what you have ordered. After 5 Years of (happy) ownership I would say that I got what I have expected - only better.

Also I would like to stress the fact that a lot of Porsche guys complain that the modern Porsches (996 upwards) do not have the same "Soul" as before in the aircooled times - what do we recognize? Within the air-cooled era the cars were a lot more "handbuild" and most of the things like Ventilation, wiper etc were "non optimal" like today with the "vw-group"-Standard rules

[waofner]

that's the point!!

[utubecomment21]

I wish people would simply admit their fanboyism ... it would make life so much easier.
 

I've never understood the 'chubby' for Porsche as the reliable choice. Let's be honest, how many times have Porsche been taken to court over various issues, mainly engine related … against say ... Lexus? That doesn't sound like a company that kicks out reliable gear to me! As for squeaks and rattles, every Porsche I've sat in has made me glad to get back into my 16-year-old Toyota ... literally in the case of my Porsche. But there again, every Porsche (owner) I've known had their bank account drained with Porsche mechanical issues.

Even back in the 80's, my friends dad who had a 911. He (friends dad) finally gave up and got a BMW. I've known plenty of people with 924's, 944's, & 968's ... less said the better! But the final straw broke when both my brother and cousin bought their Porsche's around the same time. My cousin was smart and got rid soon as the problems came, which was fairly early in the cars' life. However, my stupid brother kept on going and was greeted with much unreality, a blown engine @ around 60k, bits of the car falling off, and more hideous unreliability & almost constant £1,500 repair bills. To say the local dealer and Porsche UK were unhelpful, would be putting it mildly. And this is where the danger of true fanboyism kicks in. To this day, if you were to ask my brother about the car, he'd say; "It's fine, it's reliable"! It was many things, but reliable it wasn't! Finally, gleefully, he got rid ... but by the time he did, the car was worth less than his used undergarments. 

Hands up, the imbalance of Porsche to Lotus owners I've known is immeasurable, and mine's a GTR/skyline if you're asking ... but after witnessing, for the last 40 years, every Porsche/owner I've ever known, having gone through many mechanical issues and build quality problems, I have to confess that I'm not convinced, not because I don't like them, I think they're very handsome cars, but reliability and mechanically, I've never even felt a twitch from my wallet for one.

So please, let's dispense with the total and utter myth about Porsche build quality, again, especially in the slew of various legal actions being taken against Porsche, and just admit that but for some misguided notion, only as Porsche, GTR, BMW, Merc, Jag, Ford, Rangey etc ... will do ... whilst totally ignoring the mass of imperial evidence to the contrary!

[Whitey]

Strange way to resurrect a  3 year old thread about an Evora 400 !!

[C8RKH]

Agreed but in general I agree with the points raised.

[jep]

I think it should be more widely known how awful the Evora 400 is. They especially have major issues with big bills once 4 to 5 years old.

Justin

PS. please see my WANTED advert for a 400 IPS (2015 or 2016 ideally).

[pete]

Is that common then

[C8RKH]

Oh no, I wouldn't say Evora 400's were common... 

 

[pete]

not the car!

[TdM]

This resurrection does allow me to address one point that I've noted come up a few times on different threads...

 

What's wrong with the gearbox noises? I really like them, all the mechanical noises makes it sound more like a proper car.

[C8RKH]

2 minutes ago, pete said:

not the car!

I knew that 

[Barrykearley]

7 hours ago, jep said:

I think it should be more widely known how awful the Evora 400 is. They especially have major issues with big bills once 4 to 5 years old.

Justin

PS. please see my WANTED advert for a 400 IPS (2015 or 2016 ideally).

Hate to say it - but the ips ones are far more expensive since they don’t have the problematic clutch 

[62dave]

It think this is true of the S1 but doesn’t seem to be the case with the 400. I was told by a couple of the dealers the 400 autos have to be priced a little lower than the manual for them to sell. When I bought my 400 last summer I could have got a better deal on a similar age auto

 

[au-yt]

The sad part about this whole story originating in South Australia by an unhappy prospective owner who just happened to be best mates with a motoring jurno. and with all news papers to enhance sales, it was turned into an "alarmist story"... don't get me started...

The story in "The Australian" news paper in either hard copy or on line but you cannot access it on line with out a subscription. and the resolve is unknown and the following is all that appears in google

"Lotus quick to jump to defence but slow to resolve issues

www.theaustralian.com.au › life › motoring

 

 

Aug 17, 2019 - Last year he test drove a Lotus Evora 400, which is 299kW in a 1395kg plastic car ... as a 'characteristic' of the gearbox in question and not a fault. ... Staying in South Australia, it was good to see reader Peter Barry pick up an ..."

 

As far as I am aware its the only time any one has had a winge about this.

 

As for EVORA 400 clutches I probably am the test case, with 40,000 miles on my Manual 400 same clutch

[utubecomment21]

Sorry to resurrect, I just had a bee in my bonnet that day. However, German cars, I just don't get it! I heard the other day someone say that back in the 80's cars weren't that reliable and that things are better now, but I'm not sure I agree.

Aside from the ridiculous prices for options on German cars … and it does seem to be German cars that have such ridiculous and extensive options lists ... but if you look at;

Mercedes -  downturn in quality in the 90's and through the naughties ... weren't they 27th out of 29 i the New York Times reliability survey or something stupid?  ... from lets say the SLR107 to the current crop of SL's. The newer versions are hideously unreliable and costly to maintain … and I'm not just talking about Hoovies near $20,000 to get his SL straight.

BMW - Name me an M car since the E30 M3 and E34 M5 that hasn't had anything but catastrophic engine issues, let alone electrical issues? And please don't tell me the S55, because one could answer; Crank Hub … along with the other electrical issues.

Porsche - As I've said, they were bad back in the day, but again, how many lawsuits have they had over various mechanical issues?

But now you're greeted with overblown/overpriced warranties, indifferent dealers, indifferent Central office staff. You take your car in 'cause it's got grinding gears, only to have the keys passed back to you 6 weeks later with an excuse of; "The mechanic couldn't replicate the problem". Or when a widget blows, you find out that it's not covered by the expensive warranty you shelled out for … and the smug dealer says: "But we've managed to get you a new widget" ... like you got the car for free.

 

The new one for me is 'Fault Codes'. I've seen many people take their cars in and have been told it's this or that, and they pay out hundreds if not thousands, only to find the original faults hasn't cleared. Saw that on my friends BMW X5 with over heating issues. She needed a new thermostat ... "Oh you need a new accelerator pedal sensor" ... (I kid you not)  ... she needed a new thermostat ... "Oh, you need a new temperature gauge on your dash" ... she needed a new thermostat ... "You need to replace the tyre sensors" ... what, change the tyre sensor to fix an engine heating problem ... she needed a new thermostat. Fourth visit, she got a new thermostat ... problem solved!

 

So no, I don't think manufacturers have address reliability issues because it's not in their interest to do so, in the face of huge profits. What I feel they've done is to make cars go faster, stick a bit more plastic bits on to look nice, for example, occasionally adding a strip down the side, give it a name of 'Special Edition' and tell the market there's only going to be 50 of them made ... then to charge an extra £20k for the pleasure … or to publishing Nürburgring times ... yeah, like the average person can drive like that

But the press are also complicit as they accept incentives to write good things about them. Look at Autocar, Auto Express and the like, a vast majority of their content is based on German cars!

 

Do I like modern cars? Hands up I think the 992 is a handsome car, and I also appreciate the new Alpines. I'm tempted by a Merc E43 AMG (the six, not the 8!.) But as for the likes of Alpina or Brabus, sticking a body kit and changing the leather isn't going to help with the underlying engineering problems! As for Porsche, I've just witnessed too much to ever really take them seriously, less so now they're owned by VW.

 

Now back in the 80's I remember my dads turbo blew on his Saab 900 Turbo ... but that was at 160k miles. And my dad used to race Saab's, so he wasn't exactly light on the loud peddle! Would I trust a modern BMW Porsche or Merc turbo to last 160k miles? Maybe there are a few out there that have made it, but on a mass scale, no!

 

 

And I'll end with this, and I'll try to limit my French … but after witnessing the cr@p my brother went through with his Porsche, I'll leave with this. Porsche UK, they really don't give a F

 

Edited July 3, 2020 by utubecomment21

[pete]

You do realise this is Lotus forum

[Dave Eds]

Guess he don't give an F Pete.......

[C8RKH]

He probably thought he was on SELOC.