Backstory: So a few months ago my car started having a bit of a rough idle in the mornings. Nothing terrible, but akin to a cold old school big-block, not something you'd see out of a jap 4 banger. Then about a month ago my idle started creeping up after driving for a prolonged period (anything over 15min usually). And not just a little bit, it was idling at 1900-2100rpm. No engine braking, very strange behavior.

I figured it was either an ECU issue, or something fucked up in the throttle body. Seeing as I'd just had the ECU updated this spring, it pretty much ruled out the former.

So I take it in, prepared for battle. First off, the service counter girl was one of the most drop dead, perfect 10 gorgeous girls I've ever seen in my life. And she LOVES my car (don't ask me why, its run of the mill compared to the shit they see there daily).

So I drop it off. Two days later I get a call back. "Lotus requested a full diagnostic of the car and they are looking at it" I'm told. Next day I call, Lotus has sent a completely custom ECU tune for my car. The service manager was as amazed as I was, he said he'd only ever seen that done with one other car, not a typical thing at all.

Well that didn't fix it. Next afternoon I get a call, "Well we found the problem, it's a bad throttle body". Oh, what's that going to run me? "Oh, it's covered, Lotus is overnighting it, we'll have your car out the door Monday afternoon (this was Friday at 5:30pm)".

I go to pick up my car. While it was there, I had the scheduled service done (oil, filter, and a laundry list of factory tolerance checks). My total bill came to 165 bucks. They didn't charge me for the service (which is another 200-400 bucks), threw in a hand wash, vacuum and detail, and off I went.

I was more than suprised, I was absolutely amazed how smoothly it all went. The service girl was always super prompt, remembered me, knew what I was in for, and the service guys were all top notch as well. I'd always been worried about getting ass raped taking the car in to the dealer out here (Park Place http://www.parkplaceltd.com/) because they are so high end, but the only authorized dealer within like 5 hours of Seattle. Super impressed.

8/26/2008 4:02:08 AM

I'd love to have an Elise, and if I end up with one, it wouldn't really surprise me

biggest problem is that I just don't think I can buy one over a C6 'vette at the same price or maybe even a little less.

[Edited on August 26, 2008 at 4:20 AM. Reason : but yeah...that beats the hell out of having an Evo and dealing with Mitsu.]

8/26/2008 4:19:21 AM

Quote :

"words Hai guys I drove a lotus words"

8/26/2008 5:04:30 AM

nice. Yeah, Lotus has a pretty good customer service and engineering crew. Went to a seminar at school with one of the Lotus engineers talking about textiles in current cars, mainly talked about carbon fiber and the next gen fibers. Really interesting to see Lotus working with NCSU a lot.

8/26/2008 6:24:36 AM

I've never had any problems with honda and its far from a profit per car ++ luxury brand.

Well....I do get the "its supposed to be loud like that" diagnosis a lot

Did you buy your car certified through them or from a private owner?

If it wasnt through them...I am amazed.

[Edited on August 26, 2008 at 7:17 AM. Reason : /]

8/26/2008 7:14:28 AM

more about the hot service advisor plz


they may be onto something, drop dead perfect 10 chicks could be the best thing to happen to that part of a dealership

8/26/2008 8:17:13 AM

the question is, what kind of car did they give you as a loaner?

8/26/2008 8:59:19 AM

Quote :

"is overnighting it"

dude you just got overnight parts from japan.

on a serious note thats sweet how good your experience was

8/26/2008 10:32:42 AM

pics or fail.

[Edited on August 26, 2008 at 1:01 PM. Reason : plus she gets paid for a: being HOT b: being able to remember.]

8/26/2008 1:01:22 PM

What kind of lotus does noen have?

8/26/2008 1:07:07 PM

elise

8/26/2008 1:12:30 PM

Quote :

"Did you buy your car certified through them or from a private owner? If it wasnt through them...I am amazed. "

That's exactly why I was worried and then amazed. I bought my car from a private owner outside of Washington, D.C. I've only taken the car in to them once previously, for the 9500 mile scheduled service, which they also were very fair about.

Quote :

"pics or fail."

I actually have to take it back in this week. (Turn signals stopped working, probably just a fuse, but fuck ITS UNDER WARRANTY HURRAH!)

New game for this thread:

Come up with a ploy for me to take a picture with the service desk girl. She is not only super hot, she is incredibly nice and actually knows what the fuck is going on and what she is talking about.

Actually I have an Exige.

8/26/2008 1:35:07 PM

tell her you are making a calendar for holiday gifts and ask her to pose with your car

8/26/2008 1:48:43 PM

^^oops, duke mentioned elise so i figured he knew and that's what you had

8/26/2008 1:51:14 PM

^^ BRILLIANT.

8/26/2008 2:13:22 PM

Tell her you told all your message board nerd friends that the elise dealer has the most smoking hot girl working there and they didn't believe you, so you need a picture to prove it.

Honesty is the best policy.

and I bet you could get her number out of if she's single.

8/26/2008 2:40:38 PM

Damn Noen, thats pretty sweet!

I'd love to get an Elise when I'm better set up financially. Found one on the internet the other day for sale out in Vegas. 2005 model for $29,990 with 17k miles. Sooo nice

8/26/2008 3:43:05 PM

you don't want an Elise from Vegas.

There are a lot of good deals to be found on the east coast, even in North Carolina. You just have to know where to look (hint: most of the ones on autotrader and the like are demo vehicles retired rentals, and generally beat to shit tradeins). Ebay is actually the place to go to get a good deal, you just have to be willing to shell out the bucks to go look at the car in person and make sure everything is in order.


-----------------


I have an appointment on Friday. We'll see if I can work some real life game

[Edited on August 26, 2008 at 4:49 PM. Reason : .]

8/26/2008 4:48:11 PM

Quote :

"and I bet you could get her number out of if she's single."

is it worth the risk - if you end it and she's still there....you might get a chance to visit that next closest authorized dealer that's 5hrs away

8/26/2008 4:51:12 PM

its worth the risk. it was all i could do not to pop a boner at the counter talking to her. And everytime I've called in or she's called me, I have to be sitting down

8/26/2008 4:58:22 PM

impressive.

8/26/2008 6:19:46 PM

Beautiful women can fix just about everything.

8/26/2008 9:47:04 PM

Quote :

"but fuck ITS UNDER WARRANTY HURRAH!)"

that's what i like about new cars. warranty service. as long as they don't screw anything up of course.

8/26/2008 10:11:09 PM