HELP / INFORMATION REQUIRED !!!!

[nixoni]

HOWDY ALL!
I'm fairly new to the site and this is my 1st post, so forgive me if I'm asking questions already answered.
This is my 2nd week of having the beast after taking delivery of it last friday (Silver/19"/Half Leather/AirCon/ and can I just say that Its a far better car than the cooper s/cabrio & R32 all of which I have had vast experiences of.

1st - I was wondering if anyone now or when they got theirs think that the engine sounded awful? how should I say? Tappety? Sort of loud ticking/tapping sound! Very diesel engine like!
2nd - Did anyone get offered the oppertunity of a re-tune @ 1000 miles? where they take the car back to lotus (i think) and re-tune the engine and change the oils to a better oil (as the one put in at manufacturing is a lot thinner than most available @ retail.
3rd - I was wondering if anyone has or know if you can change the silver looking dash. The part that surrounds the CD player/aircon unit to a much better looking black or carbon fibre one?
4th - Does anyone else think that the only thing that looks to have been rushed on this car is the dashboard lights? They have put in a nice speedometer/tachometer light (nice bright white color) and they have the CD display in a horribe orange thats the same as the standard astras (looks pretty cheap) Do you know if you can change these cheap orange lights to a white colored one to match the speedo and any ideas where and costs.
6th - what cleaning products to most of you use for the dash board?
I know you'll probably have stopped reading by now but hopefully you can all give me the benifit of your experience and answer my Questions.
Cheers the noo
Ian

[mad for it vxr]

hi ian tony here,
ref q1-no probs with engine noise had mine from new now 600 miles if it continues take it back.
ref q2-re-tune please send further info about this as i have not heard this before.
ref q3-sorry i have no info to date sorry.
ref q4-no can answer sure somebody on here hopefully can.
ref q5-i have personally diamondbrited by car two stage process bought items on ebay works well no need for regular polishing just washing.

[m4rtc]

Hi Ian
I just picked mine up today, also silver with 19's, ive put 220 miles on it since. I think I know what you mean about the tappety sound although i only noticed it when i had the bonnet up. Unless its very obvious, i think its normal to have a very slight tappet noise. As for the other questions sorry no idea.

[nixoni]

cheers guys,
I think that the noise is louder than it should be! Need to get it back!
Need reasons to go back first as the dealer didnt polish my car for me picking it up as it was raining 3 days solid (which I found really Sh*tty) but too shy to say "hey polish this ya bass!" and my vxr matts seemed dirty which I wasnt too happy about but also not really the type of guy to go down and scream as I got a years road tax and a tank & half of petrol! (long story)
But I dont have details of the re-tune as this is information that I was advised of? But not sure if it was true? I was hoping someone else could advise me

[fletchVXR]

q 1 no problems with engine noises so far after a month of owning her
q2 no never heard of this before in all my life :-O
q3 u can get a carbon dash made for this which a few places i know of do this, or you can easlly film it yourself
q4 dont know if you can change the display colour, if you did im sure someone mentioning this would be a big computer software removal or update which COULD cause problems (however dont quote me on that, sure the guys will clarify me on that one!)
q5 i use the polish (mr muscle lol) and then a smoothe trade wax to give it a wet look, and doesnt make it sticky!
Hope this helps (somewhat)
Fletch xxx

[Sparky]

I'll try to answer as best as possible the first two questions
1st - I was wondering if anyone now or when they got theirs think that the engine sounded awful? how should I say? Tappety? Sort of loud ticking/tapping sound! Very diesel engine like!
- The tapping may well be the injectors as they can sound noisey but best check with dealer or the tappets may not be pumping up as required.
2nd - Did anyone get offered the oppertunity of a re-tune @ 1000 miles? where they take the car back to lotus (i think) and re-tune the engine and change the oils to a better oil (as the one put in at manufacturing is a lot thinner than most available @ retail.
- There is no reason for a re-tune at 1000 miles and is not required , unless of course you are re-mapping. The oil used I understand is a 5-30 fully synthetic long life oil and although it is good to change does not need to be changed for 20k or one year.
HTH

[S3 VXR]

Just one point, Lotus had absolutely no part whatsoever in the development of the engine, so retuning by lotus ? Lotus worked only on the handling and suspension as documented.

[Aussie]

2nd - Did anyone get offered the oppertunity of a re-tune @ 1000 miles? where they take the car back to lotus (i think) and re-tune the engine and change the oils to a better oil (as the one put in at manufacturing is a lot thinner than most available @ retail.
Mate your dealership will carry out your servicing, Lotus wont help you out as they dont have the equipment to service/tune our cars, most of us will recommend you change the oil at 1k

[nixoni]

It was just a rumour I heard matey! I never heard anything like that from my dealer.
Cheers