Interior Exterior
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******This is the biggest line of BS I think I've ever heard. Any body shop, even a bad one, can do better than Lotus. They also seem to be able to do it all by hand, no robots. It's amazing that Joe Blows' body shop can do a better job for a $1,000 bucks than a company that specializes in "Exotic" cars. You can't really believe what you wrote, do you?******
I like my paint job. I see all sort of crummy paint jobs on all sorts of cars. And I wound up with a small bubble which Lotus is handling! Around here for 1,000 bucks you'll get a generic bang 'em out Maaco respray paint job with minimal prep, overspray here and there and so forth. For about $10,000 and up you'll start to get some very nice paint work. This is always an option for you.
The higher end Loti will have better paint, better leather, better etc. and you'll pay more accordingly. Chances are they won't be quite the twisty road terror the Elise is though.
I've had Loti going back over 20 years...the nicer ones are always owned by diy type doting owners who lovingly care for and tweak their little gems.
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This is the biggest line of BS I think I've ever heard. Any body shop, even a bad one, can do better than Lotus. They also seem to be able to do it all by hand, no robots. It's amazing that Joe Blows' body shop can do a better job for a $1,000 bucks than a company that specializes in "Exotic" cars. You can't really believe what you wrote, do you?
Yep. Joe Blow's body shop isn't painting 15+ cars a day, on an assembly line. Add in the time to heat cure the paint, and it's very hard to maintain the production schedule and still prep and paint the cars cost effectively. Or would every one like to pay several thousand more for the Elise?
The only flaw I've found with my paint is that it keeps attracting dirt and bugs...
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Around here for 1,000 bucks you'll get a generic bang 'em out Maaco respray paint job with minimal prep, overspray here and there and so forth.
You almost described my Elise's factory paint job. Only mine was a lot worse with the buffer burns/swirls marks and unpainted spots on the visible areas of the car.
I do hope you're right about Lotus doing better quality work on the newer upcoming models. Especially the new Esprit. It would be real hard for me to justify the est. $135,000 on a new Esprit with the Elise's paint quality.
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My LB paint is very, very good in all the visible places. I've had numerous compliments on the paint from many auto enthusiasts, some of them are real sticklers.
Of course, they didn't look under the overhang.
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We should complain to Lotus about design problems, but not about specs. I might not like the radio, but there's nothing wrong with it. It is what was when I paid for it.
Complain to your dealer about warranty and prep issues, like headlight aiming and vehicle damage.
Compare the car to other high-performance, hand-built cars because any other comparison is apples and oranges.
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... ahhh here we go again! - it would seem that many people would rather pay 65k for a finely fitted out elise, than the 45k price we are privledged to have access to - elise is about simple, lightweight, even cheap, means of maximum performance. personally i will take the "flaws" and be able to get into it for the price.
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You almost described my Elise's factory paint job. Only mine was a lot worse with the buffer burns/swirls marks and unpainted spots on the visible areas of the car.
I do hope you're right about Lotus doing better quality work on the newer upcoming models. Especially the new Esprit. It would be real hard for me to justify the est. $135,000 on a new Esprit with the Elise's paint quality.
It does sound like you got a really bad paint job, and if so, it should be fixed. Others (like myself) have very good paint jobs. Maybe you got the one car that day that had the paint gun plug up. Or maybe the dealer messed it up during prep. I have no idea, but you are entitled to decent paint job. It may not be as good as the paint jobs on some mass produced, machine painted, quality car, but it should be very respectable.
You said you have talked to your dealer. Have you talked to Lotus USA? I would hope that at least they would be able to help.
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It does sound like you got a really bad paint job, and if so, it should be fixed. Others (like myself) have very good paint jobs. Maybe you got the one car that day that had the paint gun plug up. Or maybe the dealer messed it up during prep. I have no idea, but you are entitled to decent paint job. It may not be as good as the paint jobs on some mass produced, machine painted, quality car, but it should be very respectable.
You said you have talked to your dealer. Have you talked to Lotus USA? I would hope that at least they would be able to help.
Actually, yes, I did speak with Lotus USA as well as Group Lotus in England. They're the ones that had the dealer apologize for my problems and offer me the free oil change.
When I was at Criswell yesterday I took a real close look at the cars on their lot. I think they had about 8 Elises in stock. They all looked pretty good except one that had a lot of overspray. Even that one looked much better than mine. So, I think you're right. I probably did got the odd lemon paint job.
Oh yea, I forgot to mention. My car also had one spot about 8 inches long and 4 inches wide on the front fender that felt like 80 grit sandpaper. I had to use some harsh rubbing compound to get that out. Ofcourse, I went all the way thru the clear coat to do it. But, after lots of polishing it did turn out pretty well considering. I did also buy some cans of paint and clear coat from automotivetouchup.com to fix the other issues. I knew when I bought the car it would require a lot of do it yourself. I just wasn't expecting this much.
If I wind up keeping my car for any length of time, I'll be getting the whole car repainted. I Just wish I wasn't having to do it on my own dime.
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Pig...how could you not have noticed that your car was finger-painted when you picked it up? You seem to have had lots of service problems too. Get the Lotus Rep, Mike Fischer involved...if there is an issue that is Lotus' fault he'll see that things are put right. You cannot expect any car to be delivered with 18 hours of car show detailing. You can't drive the car to any degree without degrading the cosmetics below concours perfection. How do you use the car exactly?
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Pig...how could you not have noticed that your car was finger-painted when you picked it up? You seem to have had lots of service problems too. Get the Lotus Rep, Mike Fischer involved...if there is an issue that is Lotus' fault he'll see that things are put right. You cannot expect any car to be delivered with 18 hours of car show detailing. You can't drive the car to any degree without degrading the cosmetics below concours perfection. How do you use the car exactly?
I picked up my car on a rainy evening. Could not really tell that much about the paint until I got it home in the garage. When I picked it up I basically walked around briefly to check for damage. But since it was raining I was hurried. Plus I didn't expect to see what I found when I got home with a new car.
Actually, It's funny you mention Mike's name. He's the guy that helped me with the dealer. I was treated terribly by the dealer until he got involved. I really appreciate his help. I think he's a good guy. I also delt with Valerie Milton-Keates the Customer Service Co-ordinator with Lotus Cars Ltd. She is the one that got Mike involved. The bottom line is that it was up to the dealer to fix the car. Because of Lotus' involvement, the dealer did formally apoligize and offer a free oil change but did not offer to fix the problem. He put the blame back on Lotus. He said that Lotus sends them a lot of cars like mine. He did say that he's shop should of detailed it before I got the car. The last word I got was that Lotus doesn't warranty paint. So It was on me to fix it.
Also, to clarify, I wasn't looking for show quality paint job nor did I expect it. My car would have to completely re-painted to get that. It was a bad paint job, real bad. I've seen other cars on lots. None of them looked like mine did. My car is Nightfall blue. Most of the rear clam looked as if someone had wet sanded it with 600 or 800 grit paper and didn't polish it out. It was completely dull. No gloss whatsoever. Very obvious. There were several areas on the car that looked like that. All of these areas had deep swirl marks. Not something you had to look real close to see but stuff that stood out from a distance. I was literally shocked when I got home. I called the sales manager right away the next morning. But Because I live 2 1/2 hours from the dealer and had to work I couldn't get it back to them for a couple of weeks. So I told him that I would try to fix most of it myself. A couple of friends came over and saw the car right after I got home and were totally freaked out over the paint issues. They were saying things like "I can't believe this is a new car, was it wrecked", "That's terrible", "I think I could've done better with paint brush". They thought I got hosed big time when they saw it. I do wish I could've looked the car over better before I took it home. I guess I assumed that if anything was wrong that the manufacture would fix it. I was wrong and I learned a hard lesson.
I've worked hard to get the paint to just look decent. Luckily, after hours of really hard work polishing I've been able to get it looking pretty good. I'm actually working on re-painting the area on the drivers door and rear quarter panel that weren't painted this weekend. Hopefully, it turns out well. I'm not a painter. But I've been reading a lot on how to blend the paint properly. We'll see.
I guess the bottom line for me is I don't feel I should've had to deal with all of this myself. I've always dreamed of owning a new Lotus. Even back in the early eighties when all of my friends in High School were lusting over Lambo's and Ferrari's I was lusting after the Lotus Esprit. Now I'm finally in a position to get one and make my dream come true. Maybe I was a little blinded at the dealership by my lust for the car. The car is amazing and I do absolutely love it. But it is frustrating that my experience with ownership was turnished in this way. If I didn't love driving it so much I would of already sold it and walked away.
For the first couple of weeks I drove the car only on nice sunny days because I was so worried about messing something up. But now I drive it almost everyday. I've had it for two months and I've now got about 3,500 miles on it. I just can't get enough of this car. It's so fun to drive.
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yeah, my headlight housings are melting!
dang!
An excellent excuse to your wife to upgrade to HIDs...much cooler operating temp
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An excellent excuse to your wife to upgrade to HIDs...much cooler operating temp
I thought the lights were melting because of the sun, not the bulbs.
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I thought the lights were melting because of the sun, not the bulbs.
Hmmm...assumed it was the bulb heat - sorry. Not to change the thread direction, but where exactly are they melting?
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******The last word I got was that Lotus doesn't warranty paint. So It was on me to fix it.******
Nonsense.
Your car was delivered nearly unpainted without gloss and with an 80 grit finish, per you. And Lotus will change your oil to straighten things out?
If Mike Fischer was involved I am quite sure you had proper, qualified attention from Lotus. Mike handles issues like this across 20 or so dealers and used to do the same for Ferrari. He is very experienced.
Something is not adding up here at all. There is more to the story than we are hearing so far, I am sure.
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I thought the lights were melting because of the sun, not the bulbs.
It is from the sun. On some cars the cover extends further out over the main lens and it doesn't cause much of a problem. But on other cars if you park facing the sun in the middle of a hot day you can watch it melt.
Lotus is aware of the problem and you can get replacement covers from your dealer under warranty. But the new ones will melt to unless you do something to stop it.
I had mine replaced be Criswell yesterday. While I was there I saw one of the cars on their lot doing it. I took Bill Buckley (the service rep.) over to the car and showed it to him. He couldn't believe it. The lens was acting like a magnifying glass and melting the cover right in front of our eyes. Anyway they gave me new covers and I'm in the process of making little covers similar to what the new Vette's use to fix the problem.
Here is a good link with details on how to fix the problem so that it doesn't happen again.
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******I took Bill Buckley (the service rep.) over to the car and showed it to him. He couldn't believe it.******
Lotus doesn't have a fix for this yet but is well aware of it per Mike Fischer the East Coast Lotus Rep. As of two weeks ago.
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Nonsense.
Your car was delivered nearly unpainted without gloss and with an 80 grit finish, per you.
If Mike Fischer was involved I am quite sure you had proper attention from Lotus.
Something is not adding up here at all.
Not quite! Actually it's a very simple story that involved me fixing the paint. I know what should of happened, but the fact is that's not what did happen. Mike was involved, and had he not been, I would of never heard back from the dealer at all. I appreciate what he did, but the fact is I've been fixing it myself because no one including Lotus has offered to fix it. As of matter of fact I'm heading out to the garage right now to put the second of paint on the areas I told you about. I do think it's look pretty good when I'm done. Although, with all the polish/rubbing compound/paint/clear coat etc. it will have cost me about $300 bucks, lots of frustration, and bunch of mans hours to correct it.
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******Not quite! Actually it's a very simple story that involved me fixing the paint. I know what should of happened, but the fact is that's not what did happen. Mike was involved, and had he not been, I would of never heard back from the dealer at all. I appreciate what he did, but the fact is I've been fixing it myself because no one including Lotus has offered to fix it. As of matter of fact I'm heading out to the garage right now to put the second of paint on the areas I told you about. I do think it's going turn out pretty good when I'm done. Although, with all the polish/rubbing compound/paint/clear coat etc. it will have cost me about $300 bucks, lots of frustration, and bunch of mans hours to correct it.******
So for $300 of materials and about three shop days of labor your paint has reached your bare minimum requirements but is still not at the level of anyl old Kia?
That is > $2,000.00 of labor and materials at common shop rates. And you are satisfied with an oil change.
Lotus DOES stand behind their paint...something is just not adding up here.
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Originally Posted by Stan
Not quite! Actually it's a very simple story that involved me fixing the paint. I know what should of happened, but the fact is that's not what did happen. Mike was involved, and had he not been, I would of never heard back from the dealer at all. I appreciate what he did, but the fact is I've been fixing it myself because no one including Lotus has offered to fix it. As of matter of fact I'm heading out to the garage right now to put the second of paint on the areas I told you about. I do think it's going turn out pretty good when I'm done. Although, with all the polish/rubbing compound/paint/clear coat etc. it will have cost me about $300 bucks, lots of frustration, and bunch of mans hours to correct it.******
So for $300 of materials and about three shop days of labor your paint has reached your bare minimum requirements but is still not at the level of anyl old Kia?
That is > $2,000.00 of labor and materials at common shop rates. And you are satisfied with an oil change.
Lotus DOES stand behind their paint...something is just not adding up here.
I've sent you an PM. There's no sense it beating a dead horse on this forum anymore. It hasn't helped me get my problems fixed. The only person that has really helped me is me.
And to answer your question, no I'm not satisfied with the oil change offer but I'm finished asking for help only to hear the blame get passed back and forth between the dealer and Lotus. Passing the blame hasn't fixed my car. I've had to do that myself.