So, anyone test driven an Evora S yet ?
Discussion
Went out for a 'play' yesterday. It was fantastic. Although I was being cautious given the mileage and road conditions there was plenty of get up and go! I can well imagine the 'ground covering' capabilities have not been exagerated by the jounos
I also felt the gear change was much improved: solid and more direct. Other foibles such as the 'tech' were much improved and to be honest were more than fine. The interior was finished well with not a rattle, squeak, crash or bang: which given some of the road surfaces we went over was very impressive.
Overall it was 'ace'. A great big smile on my face!
I also felt the gear change was much improved: solid and more direct. Other foibles such as the 'tech' were much improved and to be honest were more than fine. The interior was finished well with not a rattle, squeak, crash or bang: which given some of the road surfaces we went over was very impressive.
Overall it was 'ace'. A great big smile on my face!
had a quick 10 mile drive in 1 today too.
was supposed to have car for 2 hours but Lotus apparently sent wrong paperwork, so car could not be registered.
had to drive on trade plates with salesman .. chap I had been dealing with was ill, so ended up going out with Alfa salesman .. who didn't know any decent roads and knew nothing about the Evora S
car had 32 miles on the clock so I didn't really push it.
however .. it feels much more powerful than the Evora .. more responsive too. Much much better power wise.
gearbox also a lot more precise, tigher and smoother. impressive.
engine noise also more rorty, and louder.
ride was more jittery, and felt much less settled than the Evora I drove 3 weeks ago. may be that the car hasn't been properly PDIed.
interior also felt fine.
need a longer drive
was supposed to have car for 2 hours but Lotus apparently sent wrong paperwork, so car could not be registered.
had to drive on trade plates with salesman .. chap I had been dealing with was ill, so ended up going out with Alfa salesman .. who didn't know any decent roads and knew nothing about the Evora S
car had 32 miles on the clock so I didn't really push it.
however .. it feels much more powerful than the Evora .. more responsive too. Much much better power wise.
gearbox also a lot more precise, tigher and smoother. impressive.
engine noise also more rorty, and louder.
ride was more jittery, and felt much less settled than the Evora I drove 3 weeks ago. may be that the car hasn't been properly PDIed.
interior also felt fine.
need a longer drive
Edited by SFO on Saturday 11th December 16:51
Had an Evora S overnight this weekend .. did about 250 miles in it. I really wanted to like it but ..
Concluded that it isn't for me:
1. engine is uninspiring .. noisy, but bland and one dimensional. No soul. Power delivery can be slightly jerky. You can't hide the fact that it's a V6 Toyota engine with the increased engine and exhaust noise.
2. SPORT button .. makes the car very jittery in 1st and 2nd gear. Throttle more responsive, but not at all usable in traffic.
3. steering feel .. don't know what the fuss is about. Not as good as Boxster. Tends to tramline over uneven and bumpy roads.
4. gearbox .. poor. One dimensional. Can be notchy, sometimes downright recalcitrant.
5. seats .. too flat. Not enough thigh or lumbar support. For me uncomfortable for anything more than 2 hours.
6. pedals .. accelerator is completely the wrong angle for me .. I was getting foot cramps. Accelerator is almost at the middle of the seat.
7. heating and ventilation .. hopeless. Kept having to adjust the temperature and blower speed. Car was colder at higher speeds than lower speeds. Blower very noisy for any effective ventilation at all.
8. radio/nav unit .. nasty. gimmicky and utterly not user friendly.
9. interior quality .. nowhere near the Germans. The demo I was in had 1300 miles squeaked a lot. And it smelt of glue.
10. rear visibility .. almost non existent.
On the plus side, ride is quite good. And it got lots of looks. And it's structurally very stiff.
It's not a £61k car (base price, with 'essential' options, you're looking at at least £66k). At most, it's a £40k car. And that's being generous.
There's a reason they are not selling. It's not anywhere near as well honed or developed as it needs to be at these prices.
Concluded that it isn't for me:
1. engine is uninspiring .. noisy, but bland and one dimensional. No soul. Power delivery can be slightly jerky. You can't hide the fact that it's a V6 Toyota engine with the increased engine and exhaust noise.
2. SPORT button .. makes the car very jittery in 1st and 2nd gear. Throttle more responsive, but not at all usable in traffic.
3. steering feel .. don't know what the fuss is about. Not as good as Boxster. Tends to tramline over uneven and bumpy roads.
4. gearbox .. poor. One dimensional. Can be notchy, sometimes downright recalcitrant.
5. seats .. too flat. Not enough thigh or lumbar support. For me uncomfortable for anything more than 2 hours.
6. pedals .. accelerator is completely the wrong angle for me .. I was getting foot cramps. Accelerator is almost at the middle of the seat.
7. heating and ventilation .. hopeless. Kept having to adjust the temperature and blower speed. Car was colder at higher speeds than lower speeds. Blower very noisy for any effective ventilation at all.
8. radio/nav unit .. nasty. gimmicky and utterly not user friendly.
9. interior quality .. nowhere near the Germans. The demo I was in had 1300 miles squeaked a lot. And it smelt of glue.
10. rear visibility .. almost non existent.
On the plus side, ride is quite good. And it got lots of looks. And it's structurally very stiff.
It's not a £61k car (base price, with 'essential' options, you're looking at at least £66k). At most, it's a £40k car. And that's being generous.
There's a reason they are not selling. It's not anywhere near as well honed or developed as it needs to be at these prices.
Edited by SFO on Sunday 20th February 15:35
SFO said:
3. steering feel .. don't know what the fuss is about. Not as good as Boxster. Tends to tramline over uneven and bumpy roads.
If the steering is really as bad as a Boxster that's pretty shocking, given that it was expected to be the Evora's USP. Edited by kambites on Monday 21st February 11:45
SFO is consistently pro-Porsche so if you're buying an Evora, don't let all the negativity depress you.
For one thing SFO, the seats are German (Recaro) so you shouldn't really have a go at that.
As for the steering being better in boxster, that's seriously just laughable. Just because you 'don't get it' doesn't mean it isn't there.
Sorry you didn't enjoy the Evora, but now you can look forward to driving Porsches for the rest of your life.
For one thing SFO, the seats are German (Recaro) so you shouldn't really have a go at that.
As for the steering being better in boxster, that's seriously just laughable. Just because you 'don't get it' doesn't mean it isn't there.
Sorry you didn't enjoy the Evora, but now you can look forward to driving Porsches for the rest of your life.
The Pits said:
SFO is consistently pro-Porsche so if you're buying an Evora, don't let all the negativity depress you.
For one thing SFO, the seats are German (Recaro) so you shouldn't really have a go at that.
As for the steering being better in boxster, that's seriously just laughable. Just because you 'don't get it' doesn't mean it isn't there.
Sorry you didn't enjoy the Evora, but now you can look forward to driving Porsches for the rest of your life.
you are of course entitled to your opinions as am I.For one thing SFO, the seats are German (Recaro) so you shouldn't really have a go at that.
As for the steering being better in boxster, that's seriously just laughable. Just because you 'don't get it' doesn't mean it isn't there.
Sorry you didn't enjoy the Evora, but now you can look forward to driving Porsches for the rest of your life.
have you driven the Evora S extensively like I did?
SFO said:
Had an Evora S overnight this weekend .. did about 250 miles in it. I really wanted to like it but ..
Concluded that it isn't for me:
1. engine is uninspiring .. noisy, but bland and one dimensional. No soul. Power delivery can be slightly jerky. You can't hide the fact that it's a V6 Toyota engine with the increased engine and exhaust noise.
2. SPORT button .. makes the car very jittery in 1st and 2nd gear. Throttle more responsive, but not at all usable in traffic.
3. steering feel .. don't know what the fuss is about. Not as good as Boxster. Tends to tramline over uneven and bumpy roads.
4. gearbox .. poor. One dimensional. Can be notchy, sometimes downright recalcitrant.
5. seats .. too flat. Not enough thigh or lumbar support. For me uncomfortable for anything more than 2 hours.
6. pedals .. accelerator is completely the wrong angle for me .. I was getting foot cramps. Accelerator is almost at the middle of the seat.
7. heating and ventilation .. hopeless. Kept having to adjust the temperature and blower speed. Car was colder at higher speeds than lower speeds. Blower very noisy for any effective ventilation at all.
8. radio/nav unit .. nasty. gimmicky and utterly not user friendly.
9. interior quality .. nowhere near the Germans. The demo I was in had 1300 miles squeaked a lot. And it smelt of glue.
10. rear visibility .. almost non existent.
On the plus side, ride is quite good. And it got lots of looks. And it's structurally very stiff.
It's not a £61k car (base price, with 'essential' options, you're looking at at least £66k). At most, it's a £40k car. And that's being generous.
There's a reason they are not selling. It's not anywhere near as well honed or developed as it needs to be at these prices.
1 - Not sure I agree, but each to their ownConcluded that it isn't for me:
1. engine is uninspiring .. noisy, but bland and one dimensional. No soul. Power delivery can be slightly jerky. You can't hide the fact that it's a V6 Toyota engine with the increased engine and exhaust noise.
2. SPORT button .. makes the car very jittery in 1st and 2nd gear. Throttle more responsive, but not at all usable in traffic.
3. steering feel .. don't know what the fuss is about. Not as good as Boxster. Tends to tramline over uneven and bumpy roads.
4. gearbox .. poor. One dimensional. Can be notchy, sometimes downright recalcitrant.
5. seats .. too flat. Not enough thigh or lumbar support. For me uncomfortable for anything more than 2 hours.
6. pedals .. accelerator is completely the wrong angle for me .. I was getting foot cramps. Accelerator is almost at the middle of the seat.
7. heating and ventilation .. hopeless. Kept having to adjust the temperature and blower speed. Car was colder at higher speeds than lower speeds. Blower very noisy for any effective ventilation at all.
8. radio/nav unit .. nasty. gimmicky and utterly not user friendly.
9. interior quality .. nowhere near the Germans. The demo I was in had 1300 miles squeaked a lot. And it smelt of glue.
10. rear visibility .. almost non existent.
On the plus side, ride is quite good. And it got lots of looks. And it's structurally very stiff.
It's not a £61k car (base price, with 'essential' options, you're looking at at least £66k). At most, it's a £40k car. And that's being generous.
There's a reason they are not selling. It's not anywhere near as well honed or developed as it needs to be at these prices.
Edited by SFO on Sunday 20th February 15:35
2 - You arent using it right. Its a must IMO, transforms the car.
3 - Again, everyone is different, but personally its the best I've used.
4 - Agree, this needs improving.
5 - I love the seats. In fact they are again, the best I've sat in!
6 - Agree, although you get used to it.
7 - Yeah its not great. Not a huge negative IMO though.
8 - Agree again, although its not half bad once you get to know it.
9 - Don't agree here, no glue smell in mine, or any of the others I've driven
No but if I had I wouldn't be a secret porschophile wasting the salesman's time. Nor my own time, with such a negative predisposition towards Lotus, I can't really see the point in driving one at all.
'Gets a lot of looks' was mentioned as a begrudging positive. That says a lot about you!
I guess it beats the scowls of hatred you're used to driving Porsches!
You are indeed entitled to your own pro-everything-porsche-ever-does view. Presumably someone, somewhere like the panamera? Maybe that's you? Personally I am very negatively predisposed towards Porsches. So for me 'not a porsche' is already a massive plus in favour of the evora.
Actually the Evora saddens me deeply because really, it's Lotus trying to copy the 911. From one of the most gifted and original car manufacturers, that in itself is tragic. Lotus, like everyone else, is envious of Porsche's sales and more importantly profit. From an engineering and design point of view the few good men in a shed in norfolk are capable of creating something far, far better than the 911, a design so hopeless and out of date, even porsche engineers themselves tried to get rid of in the late 70's! The Elise and Exige are Lotus doing their own thing and they speak for themselves (a cup 260 is more than a match for a GT3 RS for half the money round a track). The Evora is Lotus being inspired by the 911 to create a fast, capable daily usable sports car. It is hugely more desirable than a 911 to me but I wish the precious resources (probably equal to a porsche wing mirror) were spent on something less like a 911. It was all to do with some hopeless market research about the cars most elise owners migrate to being 911s. So Lotus thought, why not make them a car they can get when they have kids. In theory fine, in practice, if people want a 911, they'll get a 911. And worse is to come. When Danny Bahar was asked if he was going to make the british ferrari out of Lotus he replied 'no, more like the british porsche'. Simple answer Danny, whatever you do, everyone will want a german Porsche even more.
They need to give-up on porsche-obsessed people like SFO. The more porsche-like their cars become, the more reasons to buy the real thing. As SFO's post clearly demonstrates.
'Gets a lot of looks' was mentioned as a begrudging positive. That says a lot about you!
I guess it beats the scowls of hatred you're used to driving Porsches!
You are indeed entitled to your own pro-everything-porsche-ever-does view. Presumably someone, somewhere like the panamera? Maybe that's you? Personally I am very negatively predisposed towards Porsches. So for me 'not a porsche' is already a massive plus in favour of the evora.
Actually the Evora saddens me deeply because really, it's Lotus trying to copy the 911. From one of the most gifted and original car manufacturers, that in itself is tragic. Lotus, like everyone else, is envious of Porsche's sales and more importantly profit. From an engineering and design point of view the few good men in a shed in norfolk are capable of creating something far, far better than the 911, a design so hopeless and out of date, even porsche engineers themselves tried to get rid of in the late 70's! The Elise and Exige are Lotus doing their own thing and they speak for themselves (a cup 260 is more than a match for a GT3 RS for half the money round a track). The Evora is Lotus being inspired by the 911 to create a fast, capable daily usable sports car. It is hugely more desirable than a 911 to me but I wish the precious resources (probably equal to a porsche wing mirror) were spent on something less like a 911. It was all to do with some hopeless market research about the cars most elise owners migrate to being 911s. So Lotus thought, why not make them a car they can get when they have kids. In theory fine, in practice, if people want a 911, they'll get a 911. And worse is to come. When Danny Bahar was asked if he was going to make the british ferrari out of Lotus he replied 'no, more like the british porsche'. Simple answer Danny, whatever you do, everyone will want a german Porsche even more.
They need to give-up on porsche-obsessed people like SFO. The more porsche-like their cars become, the more reasons to buy the real thing. As SFO's post clearly demonstrates.
The Pits said:
No but if I had I wouldn't be a secret porschophile wasting the salesman's time. Nor my own time, with such a negative predisposition towards Lotus, I can't really see the point in driving one at all.
'Gets a lot of looks' was mentioned as a begrudging positive. That says a lot about you!
I guess it beats the scowls of hatred you're used to driving Porsches!
You are indeed entitled to your own pro-everything-porsche-ever-does view. Presumably someone, somewhere like the panamera? Maybe that's you? Personally I am very negatively predisposed towards Porsches. So for me 'not a porsche' is already a massive plus in favour of the evora.
Actually the Evora saddens me deeply because really, it's Lotus trying to copy the 911. From one of the most gifted and original car manufacturers, that in itself is tragic. Lotus, like everyone else, is envious of Porsche's sales and more importantly profit. From an engineering and design point of view the few good men in a shed in norfolk are capable of creating something far, far better than the 911, a design so hopeless and out of date, even porsche engineers themselves tried to get rid of in the late 70's! The Elise and Exige are Lotus doing their own thing and they speak for themselves (a cup 260 is more than a match for a GT3 RS for half the money round a track). The Evora is Lotus being inspired by the 911 to create a fast, capable daily usable sports car. It is hugely more desirable than a 911 to me but I wish the precious resources (probably equal to a porsche wing mirror) were spent on something less like a 911. It was all to do with some hopeless market research about the cars most elise owners migrate to being 911s. So Lotus thought, why not make them a car they can get when they have kids. In theory fine, in practice, if people want a 911, they'll get a 911. And worse is to come. When Danny Bahar was asked if he was going to make the british ferrari out of Lotus he replied 'no, more like the british porsche'. Simple answer Danny, whatever you do, everyone will want a german Porsche even more.
They need to give-up on porsche-obsessed people like SFO. The more porsche-like their cars become, the more reasons to buy the real thing. As SFO's post clearly demonstrates.
truth is, I wanted to try something apart from Porsche. That's why I went looking at Lotus.'Gets a lot of looks' was mentioned as a begrudging positive. That says a lot about you!
I guess it beats the scowls of hatred you're used to driving Porsches!
You are indeed entitled to your own pro-everything-porsche-ever-does view. Presumably someone, somewhere like the panamera? Maybe that's you? Personally I am very negatively predisposed towards Porsches. So for me 'not a porsche' is already a massive plus in favour of the evora.
Actually the Evora saddens me deeply because really, it's Lotus trying to copy the 911. From one of the most gifted and original car manufacturers, that in itself is tragic. Lotus, like everyone else, is envious of Porsche's sales and more importantly profit. From an engineering and design point of view the few good men in a shed in norfolk are capable of creating something far, far better than the 911, a design so hopeless and out of date, even porsche engineers themselves tried to get rid of in the late 70's! The Elise and Exige are Lotus doing their own thing and they speak for themselves (a cup 260 is more than a match for a GT3 RS for half the money round a track). The Evora is Lotus being inspired by the 911 to create a fast, capable daily usable sports car. It is hugely more desirable than a 911 to me but I wish the precious resources (probably equal to a porsche wing mirror) were spent on something less like a 911. It was all to do with some hopeless market research about the cars most elise owners migrate to being 911s. So Lotus thought, why not make them a car they can get when they have kids. In theory fine, in practice, if people want a 911, they'll get a 911. And worse is to come. When Danny Bahar was asked if he was going to make the british ferrari out of Lotus he replied 'no, more like the british porsche'. Simple answer Danny, whatever you do, everyone will want a german Porsche even more.
They need to give-up on porsche-obsessed people like SFO. The more porsche-like their cars become, the more reasons to buy the real thing. As SFO's post clearly demonstrates.
I went in to test driving the Evora with a totally open mind. I wanted to like it, I wanted something different. It didn't do it for me.
I don't know how you have extrapolated my comments about the Evora into my supposed "Porsche is perfect" bias.
I absolutely did not go wasting the salesman's time .. if anything, I wasted my own time. Surely, the whole point of test driving a car fully is to see whether it works for you. I am not about to spend circa £65k without being certain that it ticks all my boxes.
As for your "knowledge" about how amazing the Evora is, you haven't even driven one properly.
Edited by SFO on Monday 21st February 18:31
ravon said:
The Pits, I've followed your posts on various forums, are you employed by or a contractor to Lotus ?
No but I'd love to work for Lotus. They really have the talent to be the best sports car maker on earth. Sadly Danny Bahar is obsessed with turning Lotus into a luxury 'lifestyle brand'. £1000 Lotus humidor anyone? It's tragic and pathetic.My biggest problem would be that I'm told some of the people I have untold respect for up there admire the 911. I'm not sure I could put up with that!
I guess if you're that good a driver that you've mastered every other configuration you might find a rear engined car 'interesting' but for the rest of the buying public it's an outrageous insult to common sense. No other manufacturer on earth would be able to produce a rear engined car without total ridicule. Seriously, stick a Ferrari, BMW, you name it, badge on a 911 and there would be universal cries of insanity. Yes even from Evo magazine.
I much prefer the Boxster and Cayman but they are terminally dull, which isn't what I'm looking for in a sports car. I drove a Boxster S to Le Mans and back (including several laps of the Bugatti circuit). It has a terrific range of ability but it was merely good everywhere, brilliant and inspiring nowhere.
"The Pits", thank you for your polite reply. I really am a Lotus fan, I just really hate the "press hype" that follows the road cars, and believe it does Lotus ( the car company ) no good at all.
It's clear if you follow the forums that the Evora is an underdeveloped car, with many inherent design faults. If you have thirty-eight minutes to spare this video :http://www.themanufacturer.com/uk/content/9126/The_Design_and_Development_of_the_Lotus_Evora shows the internal conceit within the company. Poor old Tony Shute congratulates himself on developing the complete car in twenty-seven months. Well it might be developed to Lotus standards, but they are someone short of our German friends, as water leaks, haphazard central locking, hopeless air conditioning, hopeless gear-linkage, massive tyre wear all stand testament.
I completely understand your loathing of the Porsche rear engined concept, but it has some advantages, particularly packaging and traction. I wonder which is worse, a bespoke flat engine with a very low C of G, hung out behind the rear axle line, or a tall heavy front wheel drive installation moved to the rear axle center line. I'm not sure that old "boat anchor" obsolete Toyota ( and then adding a big heavy roots blower high up in the car ) is much better than Porsche's arrangement. I'm assuming that's why the Evora appears to decimate it's rear tyres so amazingly quickly.
Despite the 911's alleged fundamental flaws, I can think of no production car that is more widely raced with such great success.
FWIW I'm now in old age now, but am lucky enough to drive an M100, a Caterham, ( and I've recently sold a +2 Elan ) and a couple of elderly Porsches, so I do really love both marques !
It's clear if you follow the forums that the Evora is an underdeveloped car, with many inherent design faults. If you have thirty-eight minutes to spare this video :http://www.themanufacturer.com/uk/content/9126/The_Design_and_Development_of_the_Lotus_Evora shows the internal conceit within the company. Poor old Tony Shute congratulates himself on developing the complete car in twenty-seven months. Well it might be developed to Lotus standards, but they are someone short of our German friends, as water leaks, haphazard central locking, hopeless air conditioning, hopeless gear-linkage, massive tyre wear all stand testament.
I completely understand your loathing of the Porsche rear engined concept, but it has some advantages, particularly packaging and traction. I wonder which is worse, a bespoke flat engine with a very low C of G, hung out behind the rear axle line, or a tall heavy front wheel drive installation moved to the rear axle center line. I'm not sure that old "boat anchor" obsolete Toyota ( and then adding a big heavy roots blower high up in the car ) is much better than Porsche's arrangement. I'm assuming that's why the Evora appears to decimate it's rear tyres so amazingly quickly.
Despite the 911's alleged fundamental flaws, I can think of no production car that is more widely raced with such great success.
FWIW I'm now in old age now, but am lucky enough to drive an M100, a Caterham, ( and I've recently sold a +2 Elan ) and a couple of elderly Porsches, so I do really love both marques !
The Pits said:
No but if I had I wouldn't be a secret porschophile wasting the salesman's time. Nor my own time, with such a negative predisposition towards Lotus, I can't really see the point in driving one at all.
'Gets a lot of looks' was mentioned as a begrudging positive. That says a lot about you!
I guess it beats the scowls of hatred you're used to driving Porsches!
You are indeed entitled to your own pro-everything-porsche-ever-does view. Presumably someone, somewhere like the panamera? Maybe that's you? Personally I am very negatively predisposed towards Porsches. So for me 'not a porsche' is already a massive plus in favour of the evora.
Actually the Evora saddens me deeply because really, it's Lotus trying to copy the 911. From one of the most gifted and original car manufacturers, that in itself is tragic. Lotus, like everyone else, is envious of Porsche's sales and more importantly profit. From an engineering and design point of view the few good men in a shed in norfolk are capable of creating something far, far better than the 911, a design so hopeless and out of date, even porsche engineers themselves tried to get rid of in the late 70's! The Elise and Exige are Lotus doing their own thing and they speak for themselves (a cup 260 is more than a match for a GT3 RS for half the money round a track). The Evora is Lotus being inspired by the 911 to create a fast, capable daily usable sports car. It is hugely more desirable than a 911 to me but I wish the precious resources (probably equal to a porsche wing mirror) were spent on something less like a 911. It was all to do with some hopeless market research about the cars most elise owners migrate to being 911s. So Lotus thought, why not make them a car they can get when they have kids. In theory fine, in practice, if people want a 911, they'll get a 911. And worse is to come. When Danny Bahar was asked if he was going to make the british ferrari out of Lotus he replied 'no, more like the british porsche'. Simple answer Danny, whatever you do, everyone will want a german Porsche even more.
They need to give-up on porsche-obsessed people like SFO. The more porsche-like their cars become, the more reasons to buy the real thing. As SFO's post clearly demonstrates.
Interesting! I agree with you on the first part, with the Evora not being a Porsche, it was a big plus point for me. Nothing against Porsche at all, but I wanted something different. 'Gets a lot of looks' was mentioned as a begrudging positive. That says a lot about you!
I guess it beats the scowls of hatred you're used to driving Porsches!
You are indeed entitled to your own pro-everything-porsche-ever-does view. Presumably someone, somewhere like the panamera? Maybe that's you? Personally I am very negatively predisposed towards Porsches. So for me 'not a porsche' is already a massive plus in favour of the evora.
Actually the Evora saddens me deeply because really, it's Lotus trying to copy the 911. From one of the most gifted and original car manufacturers, that in itself is tragic. Lotus, like everyone else, is envious of Porsche's sales and more importantly profit. From an engineering and design point of view the few good men in a shed in norfolk are capable of creating something far, far better than the 911, a design so hopeless and out of date, even porsche engineers themselves tried to get rid of in the late 70's! The Elise and Exige are Lotus doing their own thing and they speak for themselves (a cup 260 is more than a match for a GT3 RS for half the money round a track). The Evora is Lotus being inspired by the 911 to create a fast, capable daily usable sports car. It is hugely more desirable than a 911 to me but I wish the precious resources (probably equal to a porsche wing mirror) were spent on something less like a 911. It was all to do with some hopeless market research about the cars most elise owners migrate to being 911s. So Lotus thought, why not make them a car they can get when they have kids. In theory fine, in practice, if people want a 911, they'll get a 911. And worse is to come. When Danny Bahar was asked if he was going to make the british ferrari out of Lotus he replied 'no, more like the british porsche'. Simple answer Danny, whatever you do, everyone will want a german Porsche even more.
They need to give-up on porsche-obsessed people like SFO. The more porsche-like their cars become, the more reasons to buy the real thing. As SFO's post clearly demonstrates.
Although you can't blame Lotus for aiming at the 911, where its the best selling sports car in that bracket. They obviously want to steal some of the sales from them. At the end of the day, they are there to make money!
i drove the S and standard back to back... funnily enough it was the first time for me to get really close to an evora which living in London says a lot about their exclusivity - a major plus point.
my take:-
the biggest gripe is the styling just isn't there and was way too fussy in places and totally conservative in others (subjective i know so don't bite my head off pls
) this car was a great 'land mark' opportunity and imho russell carr simply isn't at the races at all and should have been 'moved on' after the europa.
however (and before all the evora owners hire hitmen to kill me) the firm does actually have a real styling pedigree - giugiaro - thompson - of pushing the envelope which sadly seems to have been totally forgotten.
the standard car appears to do 98% of what the S does in the real world and doesn't warrant the extra spend on the S. the standard car is 'that' good and is actually interesting (at the price) considering its a 2+2. i would have had one subject to my 2nd paragraph. the S feels very quick but at that price it needs to compete on so many levels which makes things v tricky indeed.
imho the engine / gearbox combo alone in the S makes the pricing policy a bit 'awkward'. anyone coming from a 911 / boxter / audi / bmw will find the combination a little agricultural never mind the details of after sales service.
however....
what an absolutely fabulous cracking chassis and what great value a standard car will be in a years time....if you like the styling which i'm sure a lot of people do on here it will make a great purchase indeed.
finally, its great to see lotus being able to screw something together properly for once !!!!
i do wish them luck.
my take:-
the biggest gripe is the styling just isn't there and was way too fussy in places and totally conservative in others (subjective i know so don't bite my head off pls
) this car was a great 'land mark' opportunity and imho russell carr simply isn't at the races at all and should have been 'moved on' after the europa. however (and before all the evora owners hire hitmen to kill me) the firm does actually have a real styling pedigree - giugiaro - thompson - of pushing the envelope which sadly seems to have been totally forgotten.
the standard car appears to do 98% of what the S does in the real world and doesn't warrant the extra spend on the S. the standard car is 'that' good and is actually interesting (at the price) considering its a 2+2. i would have had one subject to my 2nd paragraph. the S feels very quick but at that price it needs to compete on so many levels which makes things v tricky indeed.
imho the engine / gearbox combo alone in the S makes the pricing policy a bit 'awkward'. anyone coming from a 911 / boxter / audi / bmw will find the combination a little agricultural never mind the details of after sales service.
however....
what an absolutely fabulous cracking chassis and what great value a standard car will be in a years time....if you like the styling which i'm sure a lot of people do on here it will make a great purchase indeed.
finally, its great to see lotus being able to screw something together properly for once !!!!
i do wish them luck.
kambites said:
SFO said:
3. steering feel .. don't know what the fuss is about. Not as good as Boxster. Tends to tramline over uneven and bumpy roads.
If the steering is really as bad as a Boxster that's pretty shocking, given that it was expected to be the Evora's USP. Edited by kambites on Monday 21st February 11:45
They really are that good and so it is fair that Lotus also aspire to Porsche.
FYI the Panamera is the best drive in it's class too - in fact it's an amazing drive.
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