Harry’s Garage

[mik]

Also - is there anything less boring than a high BHP EV accelerating away from a camera? It should be but it’s absolutely

[ZedLeg]

Looks shit, points for being such an ungainly behemoth that it makes 22s look undersized though.

[Explosive Newt]

I can believe the range: my first thoughts when he was walking around it in the garage was its Cd would be dreadful and this bears that out, vs a more slippery shape like the Taycan.

[mik]

I can believe the range: my first thoughts when he was walking around it in the garage was its Cd would be dreadful and this bears that out, vs a more slippery shape like the Taycan.

Internet says drag coefficient is 0.26, which isn’t awful. Taycan is much slipperier though at 0.22.

More of a challenge is that the equation for drag includes CdA, where A=frontal area. This is the killer for big SUVs.

So whilst Harry's moan is appropriate, it's probably more a moan about electric SUV's than a moan about the Eletre. (Although displaying an exaggerated range estimate is just plain stupid).

[mik]

Using that CarSized website : no E-Tron so I selected a Q8 vs Taycan. Can't copy the side-by-side, only the individual images - but they should at least be at the same zoom level. Far greater area, and also easy to see that wide tyres have a larger impact on the frontal area of SUV's compared to more normal height vehicles.

[Jobbo]

The Taycan is hardly a paragon of efficiency anyway. Compare the Eletre to the Merc EQC (which has been panned for poor range by pretty much everyone, and that's down to poor efficiency not a small battery) and it's in the same ballpark. Only saved a bit on the Eletre by the massive battery - which is too big to fill overnight on a 7kW domestic charger (over 15 hours empty to full), particularly if you limited yourself to the 6 hours of cheap rate electricity.

I would like to see more reviews; there could have been something wrong with Harry's Eletre. Though I fear there wasn't.

[duncs500]

It's no worse or better than anything else in the category IMO, they're all ugly. The Taycan is a different kind of car.

Given it's apparently good value and has a spacious and seemingly good quality interior, I see no reason why it won't sell. All I want from this car is for people (other than me) to buy it, so that Lotus doesn't sink.

[Rich B]

It's no worse or better than anything else in the category IMO, they're all ugly. The Taycan is a different kind of car.

Given it's apparently good value and has a spacious and seemingly good quality interior, I see no reason why it won't sell. All I want from this car is for people (other than me) to buy it, so that Lotus doesn't sink.

i can't see it selling much. If you want a premium reliable family SUV, then lotus is the last name you'd choose. It's not good looking enough to compete with Porsche, it's not cheap enough to compete with the bottom of the market Kia/toyota/etc.., doesn't have the dealer network or support of Merc/BMW/Audi doesn't have the range or charging network of Tesla.

I just don't get who'd buy it?

[Mito Man]

EV Macan is going to absolutely kill this, cheaper, probably same or better range in reality, looks better, will handle better and be lighter.

[Jobbo]

I just don't get who'd buy it?

That was my initial view, but if you are in the market for a Tesla Model S/X, Taycan, BMW iX or any of the large EVs it has a cool badge, is well engineered (and looks pretty good to my eyes but I appreciate that is subjective) while being cheaper. If the efficiency wasn't so bad it would be a genuine class leader.

[duncs500]

Does Tesla have much of a dealer network? I don't know how it all works TBH, but it seems like big dealer networks are less important with these EVs.

Of course it's going to take a bit of an alternative to the mainstream approach, but I think there's plenty of people out there that prefer to have something different from their neighbours. I also think there's a fair bit of good will to the established British badges, certainly if my neighbourhood is anything to go by where people are still buying new Jags!

[V8Granite]

The first Lotus where the interior is lovely, even the screen didn’t annoy.

The back end is all out of scale with weird arches.

It’s an embarrassment to efficiency, cost wise it’s worse than a petrol V8 towing 3 tons, surely that’s a huge fail ?

If they had made a Honda Insight style electric car, good handling and amazing efficiency to show off their engineering prowess it would be something to be proud of. This just seems like the result of a group of people getting a hardon over a vision board.

Dave!

[Jobbo]

There was a Tesla shop unit (containing actual cars) in Cribbs Causeway shopping mall. My wife went there a week or so ago and said that it was now Polestar but she'd not heard of that.

Genesis didn't have any physical dealers but apparently are already pulling out of the UK market. How many dealers do Lotus have now? I looked up the ones I knew round London and they seemed to have gone, though they've opened a new Piccadilly showroom with the Eletre launch.

[mik]

EV Macan is going to absolutely kill this, cheaper, probably same or better range in reality, looks better, will handle better and be lighter.

I think the Macan is smaller than this, so yes probably better or same range, and probably lighter. Not sure how you know it will handle better?

[Mito Man]

The Lotus Mayfair dealer won’t have space there for servicing (just like every other dealer in Mayfair/Park Lane). They tend to have service centres out of town but that’s only for really big jobs. Most things they come home to you.

[Mito Man]

EV Macan is going to absolutely kill this, cheaper, probably same or better range in reality, looks better, will handle better and be lighter.

I think the Macan is smaller than this, so yes probably better or same range, and probably lighter. Not sure how you know it will handle better?

It’s claimed to be 2.2 tonnes and it’s a Porsche. Big old advantage over a mere badge engineering exercise which only has specially tuned suspension.

[Jobbo]

The Lotus Mayfair dealer won’t have space there for servicing (just like every other dealer in Mayfair/Park Lane). They tend to have service centres out of town but that’s only for really big jobs. Most things they come home to you.

I'm not sure the shop unit in a mall sales outlets have servicing either. Takes me back to Daewoo's UK launch when the official service network was Halfords.

[Ascender]

I was going to say I have no idea who will buy this, but like @duncs500 says, I can't believe how many Jaguar SUVs I see on the road, so you never know.

I'm still struggling with the whole direction of the market for these EV SUVs in terms of their styling, weight, range, cost etc.

Nice interior on the Lotus, but the exterior seems to be all over the place. I'm also not sure saying it look nice/similar to a Urus is much of a compliment.

[Mito Man]

The Lotus Mayfair dealer won’t have space there for servicing (just like every other dealer in Mayfair/Park Lane). They tend to have service centres out of town but that’s only for really big jobs. Most things they come home to you.

I'm not sure the shop unit in a mall sales outlets have servicing either. Takes me back to Daewoo's UK launch when the official service network was Halfords.

They don’t, they’re just for handover.

[mik]

EV Macan is going to absolutely kill this, cheaper, probably same or better range in reality, looks better, will handle better and be lighter.

I think the Macan is smaller than this, so yes probably better or same range, and probably lighter. Not sure how you know it will handle better?

It’s claimed to be 2.2 tonnes and it’s a Porsche. Big old advantage over a mere badge engineering exercise which only has specially tuned suspension.

Ooh - it has an totally awesumes sound generator too....