That dealership never quite seemed to commit to being anything other than a mid/hi range used car store with one or two Loti hanging around out front.

I miss Autostrada.

 

They just told me they were moving but not going out of business.

 

I heard from an insider in early May that the owner was considering discontinuing the Lotus franchise because he wasn't making money at it. He supposedly was continuing his high end used car business.

 

wtf,

its an epidemicanic:anic:anic:anic:rotfl:shrug:

 

its an epidemicanic:anic:anic:anic:rotfl:shrug:

No, its a step in the right direction. That is a joke of a dealership.

 

Who's next? :shrug:

 

There are some obvious changes in the works right now, but please don't let this discourage you. I will be here on the service end as well as in sales and Jeff will continue to be the tech, we have no plans of leaving. Unfortunately, this is all I can offer as of now. The service department is still open and will continue to be. We are still schedualing cars in for work and are operating at 100%. I will keep everyone informed as much as possible.

 

This is not a good sign with the other dealer closing. I just cant believe people posting on this board could be so callous to diss a dealership possibly closing.

 

In my opinion, a small, local dealer is certainly better than no Lotus dealership! I started this discussion out of curiosity, not to stir up concerns about a trend of dealer struggles. There are dozens (at least) of Lotus cars in the Austin/Central Texas area, so I know there's a market for the service--at least for warranty work--on existing cars, if not for sales on new cars. Hopefully, whatever changes are underway will keep the Lotus franchise intact.

 

are you guys at all tied in with Lotus of San Antonio? I have needed some work done on my Esprit and those guys here in SA are a joke, they have no idea and have had no idea why my CHECK ENGINE light keeps coming on and when they say they fixed it (4-5) separate times, it comes on 5 miles down the road. They went through changes in service recently and those guys took a class from the original service guys, ugggg! where can I get help, and I mean, good HONEST help without ripping my eyes out and replacing parts that don't fix the problem? ( i'm done with that kinda crap)

 

I experienced the same problems and its worse for me because I'm a spoiled expat from Michigan that had a dealer that would jump through hoops for me. I now take my car to Soulspeed in Austin as a result of the advice I received from others here. I couldn't be happier. These guys know what they are doing.

 

Other then being a Lotus franchise, we are not associated with the San Antonio dealership. I would be more then happy to schedual in a time for you to bring your Esprit by. Shoot me an email LELOPEZ210. Jeff works on Esprits quite often and is very familiar with their quirks. Scott you are correct about the need for work here in central Texas. I have at least 27 "regular" Lotus customers. The Franchise is staying intact, and i will continue to be here for any of your service or sales needs.

 

The guys at soulspeed are actually very good friends of mine. I speak very highly of Jasper and Jensons work as I know they would of mine and Jeff's.

 

so maybe someone can tell me what might fix this problem since the guys in SA can't...
OKAY, so here's what I got. The code is P0447, CONTROL SYSTEM VEN-CONTROL CIRCUIT OPEN-EVAP CANNISTER STUCK CAUSED BY CARBON BUILDUP. They replaced the cannister and after driving off, light came back on. They also replaced some vent/shut/valve non-stk and that didn't work either. They also replaced the gas cap with what they told me was a GM part. Light still came on...has any one had this problem and what fixed it?

P0447 "Vent Control Circuit Open"

 

I'd start a new thread, most of the folks that might be able to help you won't be reading this one.

 

i'm new to this, point me in the right direction?

 

Fair enough. Go to the top banner, click "forums." When the browser takes you to the list of forums click the one that you think best suits your category. For example "Lotus Esprit" which is the sixth one from the top. Then click the "new thread" button near the upper left part of the page. Hope this helps. Btw, PM sent.

Joe

 

Cruised by today.. all signage gone except a 'For Sale/Lease' on the property. Some cars there, but no Lotus (Exige & Esprit as of last week)

Guess I'm too late to grab the Exige for a song..

 

We still have our Lotus Inventory, its is not out front. If you drive by today you will see the lot is clear of all vehicles. They have been moved. I wanted to let everyone know that the service department is still fully operational here at the current location and will continue to be for a few weeks. If anyone is in need of services, warranty or not, please don't hesitate to contact me via email and I will be more than happy to schedual you in. As I posted earlier Jeff and I have no plans of leaving Lotus Cars.

 

So where is the new location?

 

What Lotus' do you currenty have in inventory?

 

I know they have a black 07 Exige S. If I wasn't building my 4/5 car garage with attached house (should have an architect by the end of the month) it would be mine. It's just really hard to justify trading in a fantastic 06 Exige for an 07 Exige S.

 

You know Rich, there is a simple solution to that lack of an "S"

 

So how long are you guys planning to do warranty work for cars?
2 dealers in 2 years?

Cripes...think I might need to ditch the car and just buy a bike.

 

Yeah, Jasper, I know. I'm addicted to the awesome Lotus warranty right now.

 

We will continue to Service all vehicles here at the current location until the move is complete in roughly 6 weeks. The lot is empty but the service deparment is still here! We are 100% able to perform all warranty work on your cars as well as have 100% access to all Lotus Parts. Jeff and I are still operating under all Lotus Cars guidelines and under the guidence of the Lotus Field Engineers. We have decided to run some service specials until the move is complete. Please don't hesitate to still consider us for your needed services. I am not able to disclose yet were we are moving, but we are staying in Austin

 

Will you continue to do warranty work at your new location?

 

Yes we will continue to warranty work at the new location as we will still be a "Lotus Franchise". I can't emphesize this enough though, we are still here. Please call or email if you need anything.

 

Whew - thanks!

 

Supposedly the owner of LOA was offered a bunch of money for his location so he sold it and is currently busy trying to finding a new location. The doom and gloom crowd may be disappointed.

 

Well that explains the for sale signs out front, the fact that they hadn't been paying salespeople commissions for the past few months, and them calling asking if we wanted to buy the lifts (for more than they paid for them) last week. Glad we got that cleared up.