Lotus Emeya S

[DJP31]

Suggested I post here so here goes.

Moved to the EV dark side in '17 with a Tesla Model S. Loved the immediacy of the power, the tech and the ultra low running costs. Had a second Model S from '20 to '24 and then a Polestar 4 from '24-25. Didn't gel with is for various reasons.

Very little in the way of attractive options to my eyes. No more RHD Model S (even if I wanted one), Blobby Mercs, boring Audi's and a Porsche line up that's dull to my eye and too small.

Enter the Lotus Emeya. My only experince of a Lotus was a Europa a friend had many decades ago.

For me, it's the perfect combo of stunning looks,superb performance, all the toys you could want and stuff I didn't know I needed (!), with sumptuous comfort.

I picked up an ex demo with 1,500 on the clock and a very hefty chunk of depreciation swallowed by Lotus.

A few pics and happy to enage with anyone that's minded to.

[Leftfootwonder]

Congrats OP. I cant say I'm a fan but certainly agree that it one of the more interesting EV options. I do love the look of the rear end (ooh matron).

Hopefully you have a good dealer network experience.

[DJP31]

Leftfootwonder said:

Congrats OP. I cant say I'm a fan but certainly agree that it one of the more interesting EV options. I do love the look of the rear end (ooh matron).

Hopefully you have a good dealer network experience.

Thanks!

I'm hoping not to go anywhere near the dealer tbh. I'm not falling for the old "maintenance done by dealer" trip at £500 a time con. There's a number of well established EV indpendents perfectly capable of doing what's required.

[InformationSuperHighway]

DJP31 said:

Leftfootwonder said:

Congrats OP. I cant say I'm a fan but certainly agree that it one of the more interesting EV options. I do love the look of the rear end (ooh matron).

Hopefully you have a good dealer network experience.

Thanks!

I'm hoping not to go anywhere near the dealer tbh. I'm not falling for the old "maintenance done by dealer" trip at £500 a time con. There's a number of well established EV indpendents perfectly capable of doing what's required.

No issues keeping the warranty by doing servicing out of the network? (Not agreeing with it, I think it’s a racket!).

Lovely motor. Enjoy!

[DJP31]

InformationSuperHighway said:

No issues keeping the warranty by doing servicing out of the network? (Not agreeing with it, I think it s a racket!).

Lovely motor. Enjoy!

Thanks, I’m certainly enjoying and looking for any opportunity to drive!

I checked the manual and the finance agreement and the requirement is to have it serviced in line with the schedule, but no reference to by whom. I think it was made illegal some years ago to require this to be done by main dealers. Needless to say they will still push you down that route if they can!

[mooseracer]

I'll be very interested in how you get on with this, please do post progress updates

[Cambs_Stuart]

I saw one of these in black and it was a good looking thing. What's it like to drive? Hows the space inside?

[Skodillac]

This would be pretty much the perfect car for me, sadly I can't afford one.

Congrats on the purchase OP, I hope it serves you well. Maybe when they've depreciated to about £20k I'll be able to join you!

[DJP31]

mooseracer said:

I'll be very interested in how you get on with this, please do post progress updates

Will do. I'm 1k miles in and so far everything as exactly as it should be and works. The Tesla was pretty good, intuitive and forward thinking - but they are (or were, I'm a year out of date) prone to issuing updates too quickly and breaking as much as they fixed/introduced. The Polestar was very poor in comparsion and IMO they released the car far too early and don't have the resource to fix the problems.

The Lotus is bang in the middle, the software all works and is very snappy and on a par with Tesla for usability and ease of learning. Still a few features to go but that's always likely to be the case.

The drive is superb and the air suspension excellent. Efficiency isn't great but when refuelling at home for pennies it's no big deal, and fast charging is very fast. It's too early to post any meaningful numbers but I'll do so later.

[Dr G]

DJP31 said:

I checked the manual and the finance agreement and the requirement is to have it serviced in line with the schedule, but no reference to by whom. I think it was made illegal some years ago to require this to be done by main dealers. Needless to say they will still push you down that route if they can!

You're referring to "block exemption" in law, and it does basically what you describe with the exception of leased/rented/hired vehicles. As it's their car it's their choice where it is maintained.