My factory visit/experience

The Oily Bits S2 Specific Topics
1

Hi All

Just got back from the factory and thought I’d share my experience with anyone whose interested.

Dropped my car off 3 weeks ago for some upgrade ‘work’.

Collected today

Rewind to 1 month ago

After toying with ‘aftermarket’ parts/providers and speaking to some of them I decided to speak to the factory to get a balanced view. Spoke to Russell & Rowland at length and after doing the numbers and looking at various pro’s & cons I decided to get the work done by the people who know the car best. With the current 15% discount available to Lotus Club International members the minimal extra cost of going to the factory was far outweighed by the benefits. Got a firm quote for all the work I required & some additional suggested work.

Back to today

Spent an enjoyable afternoon nosing around the workshops & chatting to various people. Blagged a ride with Danny in a 2-11 - what a car . Got to be on my toy list for the near future.

Paid my bill - as per quote. No hassle/haggling etc.
(lost track of how many times I have turned up to pick my car up having not slept for days before wondering what the garage have added to the bill etc )

Got my car back washed & looking like new. Clear explanation of what the new parts would do & anything I needed to do going forward.

Overall a very enjoyable day. You may be wondering when I am going to get to the point.

Here we go

Why do we take our cars to dealers who did not design/develop them in the first place for upgrade work where in most cases costs are very similar & if they go wrong lots more ?

If these other dealers were much cheaper I could understand it but @ �70 per hour including VAT at the factory why would you ?

Ford charge that for my diesel Galaxy

Aftermarket parts can often be as expensive as the original ones but are not necessarily the same quality & could adversley affect other original parts. I’ve done 2 brake ‘upgrades’ using aftermarket products and still ended up buying from Lotus.

The most important thing I learned was that before I do anything else to my car I will call the manufacturer for some advice - which is great value as it’s all free !!!

All of the above is my personal opinion/experience so no death threats please

2

So what did you have done?

3

Work Done

Larger Injectors
ECU Reflash
Accusump
TRD Clutch & Plate
TRD airbox & Filter

As I said with the current LCI discount of 15% this work cost no more than going to a specialist.

The LCI discount of 15% applies now & reverts to 10% from 1st June.

Chris

4

A very nice list. Which reflash was it, Cup 260?

5

I’m confused, did you go direct to the Lotus factory?

6

Lotus Sport offer servicing and upgrades direct.

E-Brochure Here

7

Nice one Chris

Russ Gibbons is a top bloke - very knowledgeable & helpful

8

Interesting, do they have a site?

I’d like some more poke from my S at some point!

9

That e brochure is effectively their site. Accessible from the main group lotus site here

10

This is the Group Lotus website - if it helps

11

Damn - beaten to it

12

I’m going there!

13

I’m going there!

And what are you having done?

14

I’m changing my mind all the time Will, We’ll see!

15

Lotus Sport offer servicing and upgrades direct.

E-Brochure Here >

I’m sure not all possible upgrades are mentioned there… Chris talks about a reflash for the GT and upgraded injectors. Chris were you on the 220 package or did you do the upgrade from the 243 package?

16

Hi Nico

I went from 220 to the 243 upgrade. The 255 upgrade would have been even bigger injectors, new larger intercooler & some magic in the ECU.

After speaking to Russell the actual potential BHP gains were starting to look at costing between �500 - �1000 per extra BHP.

He suggested driver training first & maybe fitting slicks would be a much better way of spending my cash to improve perfromance.

So that’s what I am going to do !!


Chris

17

Blimey that is a lot of money per hp, I consider the amount I have spent to be just reasonable for the gains I have made which is about �1k per 12hp or so…