Newbee - premium pack or not?

[BluBamboo]

Hi - I'm new to the forum and I am hoping for some advise.
I currently have an evoque and would like swap it for an evora and a commuter car, currently a 55 plate Saab 93 aero auto is looking good which will leave me with c£32-33k for the evora.

So my question - should I wait for an evora with premium pack, or just get one without and then get the dash, seats etc re trimmed next year, along retrofited heated seats? Thinking £2k should cover it....

Any advise would be appreciated!

BluBamboo

[blueg33]

Mine has premium pack and as its a daily driver I think its worth while.

The arm rest is useful, I think the leather rear seats and leather lower dash panels plus leather sills make the care feel a bit more special, but its not a deal breaker.

I would look more closely at thinks like condition, seat wear (especially the bolsters) and concentrate on gear change quality, clutch operation, water ingress etc.

Awesome cars in any flavour, but make sure you drive a few as the gear change can vary massively. Under warranty mine had 2 lots of replacement gear cables before it was right.

[EuropaSman]

BluBamboo said:

So my question - should I wait for an evora with premium pack, or just get one without and then get the dash, seats etc re trimmed next year, along retrofited heated seats? Thinking £2k should cover it....

BluBamboo

Regarding the Premium Pack, it's a nice to have, although you do get a lot more leather as has been mentioned previously - I got lucky when I found my Launch Edition as it came with all three option packs.

Moving on to heated seats, reading my copy of the service notes (dated July 2012) I found the following quote:

"Heated Front Seats:
From ‘11MY VIN BH_11178 front driver and passenger’s heated seat option is available. The seats are heated and thermostatically controlled to maintain a maximum temperature of 37 ± 3 °C. Single touch switches are located in the fascia panel inboard of the steering column and will illuminate amber when depressed the seats will continue to be heated and the switch remain illuminated until either the seat heater button is pressed for a second time or the ignition is switched off. The heated seat function will always default to ‘off’ at the next drive cycle."

Unfortunately, I can't find the wiring in the wiring diagrams in the service notes, but this implies that the wiring isn't there for heated seats on the early cars, i.e. pre MY11,(as well as remote boot release from the dashboard which is something I'd have liked on mine)." For the definitive answer on this the best man to contact is Neil Turner in Lotus Customer Services; great guy and always very helpful.

[Sumsion]

I believe the speci is important but do not get sucked into a high spec car when the underlying problems with the car are hidden by the high spec .
The Evora for me is a perfect car and my daily driver ( except for shopping in Newbury ) . As other people have found finding a good car in this price range is difficult .
Good luck with your search !

[blueg33]

Mine is fine for shopping Must be a benefit of the premium pack

Mind you, its not for shopping its for driving

I wanted all 3 packs, all the main issues sorted and was pleased to find a car with everything done,
under warranty mine has had:

Gear change cables x 2
new door seals
new instrument pack
new door handles and mech
new headlights
new clutch (2k miles old when I bought the car)


All thinks that many cars had to have sorted, but some of the low mileage ones I saw hadn't had done, or hadn't had the issues flushed out.

Plus my car has the benefit of barge boards and tubular exhaust

[Lazydonkey]

To my mind premium pack is nice to have but not a deal breaker at all. If you are happy with black leather than you arguably don't need it.

As others hvae said i'd be more keen to ensure the issues / niggles are fixed and the rest of the spec is sorted.

I don't have premium pack, my best mate does and i can't say i get into his car and feel like i've missed out. Although heated seats would be nice, it wasn't worth the £3k premium to get into a MY11 car. The cars are thin on the ground so it's best to be open minded when it comes to some aspects of colour and spec - and buy on condition!

Edited by Lazydonkey on Tuesday 19th May 08:26

[CocoPops]

For me, the least important pack was premium.

Sport + Tech definitely needed imho.

[Toaster]

CocoPops said:

For me, the least important pack was premium. Sport + Tech definitely needed imho.

^^^^^^ +1 and of course condition

[BluBamboo]

Thanks for all the advise guys. Just took out a 2010 with premium pack and it was nice, but with 40k on the clock there were quite a few scuffs.

Can you tell me how different the interior of a 2011 none premium car would be - where is leather missing, Is it just the rear seats and lower door - wondering if I should consider a newer one with the less mileage but no premium pack and get it retrimmed. Especially as I found a place in Manchester that will fit heated seats, but the switch will be on the lower part of the seat, not using the Oem switches.

Cheers
BB

[blueg33]

Non premium will not have the stitched leather sills (very visible), and have cloth on the lower dash. IMO Zig you haven't been in s premium you wont notice, if you have you will.

Buy on condition first. Mine has 57k miles and no scuffs

[Toaster]

Leather on the sills can get scuffed more than material and I think a well sorted sport and tech you wouldn't be dissapointed

[blueg33]

Toaster said:

Leather on the sills can get scuffed more than material and I think a well sorted sport and tech you wouldn't be dissapointed

Yes you need to be careful getting in and out. Mine is ok, so me and the previous owner have clearly taken the care necessary.

[BluBamboo]

I've just seen this one I like the spec and price, but I've not seen this colour in real life - what's the general consensus (ignoring that colour choice is very subjective....)

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/l...

Also, how hard has it been for owners to source the forged alloys - do they need to come
From lotus as I'm guessing that's rather pricey.....

[BluBamboo]

I've just seen this one I like the spec and price, but I've not seen this colour in real life - what's the general consensus (ignoring that colour choice is very subjective....)

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/l...

Also, how hard has it been for owners to source the forged alloys - do they need to come
From lotus as I'm guessing that's rather pricey.....

[blueg33]

BluBamboo said:

I've just seen this one I like the spec and price, but I've not seen this colour in real life - what's the general consensus (ignoring that colour choice is very subjective....)

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/l...

Also, how hard has it been for owners to source the forged alloys - do they need to come
From lotus as I'm guessing that's rather pricey.....

Looks OK, not a main dealer, he was vague about whether the gear change cables have been done, likewise the clutch an many of the early cars had a clutch fault that needed doing under warranty.

[C43]

drive it, that is the best way of knowing if the cables need doing or not. If the gearstick springs easily across the gait then it is ok.
they all seem to free up with mileage anyway.

C43

[blueg33]

BluBamboo said:

I've just seen this one I like the spec and price, but I've not seen this colour in real life - what's the general consensus (ignoring that colour choice is very subjective....)

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/l...

Also, how hard has it been for owners to source the forged alloys - do they need to come
From lotus as I'm guessing that's rather pricey.....

On the subjective thing. I like the colour combination, my daughter said

"Its just like a water melon"

[Gravel]

BluBamboo said:

I've just seen this one I like the spec and price, but I've not seen this colour in real life - what's the general consensus (ignoring that colour choice is very subjective....)

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/l...

Also, how hard has it been for owners to source the forged alloys - do they need to come
From lotus as I'm guessing that's rather pricey.....

Obviously this is entirely my opinion but having seen the Motorsports Green at Silverstone Lotus, it utterly stunning - I'd suggest you go see for yourself. These cars are so rare that you'll probably need to do some legwork, unfortunately!

[Toaster]

Gravel said:

Obviously this is entirely my opinion but having seen the Motorsports Green at Silverstone Lotus, it utterly stunning - I'd suggest you go see for yourself. These cars are so rare that you'll probably need to do some legwork, unfortunately!

Just think of the Drive home though

[EuropaSman]

Regarding forged alloys there is a recon set from the Southwest Lotus Centre on Ebay. Tempted myself to have them as a spare set to swap at will the cast alloys on my Evora.

Ebay link:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lotus-Evora-Forged-Recon...

Edited by EuropaSman on Sunday 24th May 13:37