RE: Lotus Europa

Tuesday 11th November 2008

Lotus Europa SE

The Europa was supposed to be a comfortable Lotus - but in SE form it is now more hardcore. PistonHeads finds out whether it misses the point...



Slicing through a tricky sequence of bends it suddenly dawns on me that driving Lotus's new Europa SE briskly needn't be hard work. There is oodles of grip, the car has think-steer and there is an abundance of easy power.

True, I had been concentrating, gauging entry speeds into the curves and blending out of the brakes and on to the power, but I hadn't needed to change down. Yes, a lower gear and more revs would have been even faster but if you didn't want to drive around with your trousers on fire you could ride a wave of turbocharged torque.

BMW and Audi have made fortunes selling cars that are sporty, fun to drive and easy to live with on a day-to-day basis; but driving a Lotus? Well, that requires commitment. Two years ago with the Europa S, Lotus attempted a car with wider appeal than the Elise/Exige by including softer suspension, more sound deadening, electric windows, air conditioning and a near 50% larger boot.


There was even a plusher interior, a radio with satellite navigation and anti-lock brakes for when you ran out of talent. You still had to be a limbo dancer to get in despite a higher roof and lower chassis side sills, and you needed to choose your travelling companion carefully as the g-forces a Lotus can pull on repeated direction changes catch out unaccustomed tummies.

But now the manufacturer has had a rethink and created a new top of the range version, the £32,995 SE, which depending on your point of view is a step back or a real Lotus. It's still a high speed tourer but with near instant acceleration like a proper sports car and sharper handling. It's not cheap though, costing £5,045 more than the now good value entry level Europa model, the S having been dropped.

But with upgraded ‘sports’ suspension, more power and torque and a more fashionable interior Lotus believes the SE will appeal to those who want the go to match the show. PH trekked to Lotus country – Norfolk – to see how the new model stacked up. In a pearlescent white the car looked futuristic and is definitely not a car for those who want to make a low key entrance.

The horizontal exhausts and rounded flanks have a hint of ‘06 Lamborghini Murcielago and with all the dramatic air vents several passers-by said they were disappointed the doors didn't open upwards. Like the S, the new SE is based on the VX220 Turbo which Lotus built for Vauxhall. A bigger turbocharger on the 2-litre engine takes power to 223bhp (225ps) and 221 lbs ft (300Nm) of torque, up from 197bhp (200ps) and 200 lbs ft (272Nm).


Acceleration from rest to 60mph drops by nearly a second from 5.8 seconds to just 4.9 seconds. Lotus cars have always been giant killers aided by their low weight and keen aerodynamics and with 0-100mph in about 13 seconds the SE will comfortably lose a base Cayman, and is not far off an S.

Lotus boffins reckon you could get nearly 29mpg out of the SE in mixed motoring, but the question is whether you could find the self-control? Carbon dioxide emission is up to 229g/km from 220g/km. Despite its grand touring grand ideas, you put the Europa on like a close fitting suit and have to eke out your luggage allocation as carefully as a mountaineer.

The small Momo steering wheel wouldn't look too out of place in a Formula Ford single-seater and despite the leather trim – the only bare aluminium now is the parcel shelf and the steering wheel spokes – there's still track car feel to the cabin. The SE has gained some small strapped compartments on the chassis tub and enough space to keep a couple of parking tickets in a roof pocket, but there are no door pockets.


It's wise to have your road senses on alert, even if the car is brightly coloured, because today's oblivious drivers often don't see anything so small and low. Approaching roundabouts I was slowing sooner than the car's dynamics required to allow for the drivers behind who didn't realise I couldn't see over the Armco if the roundabout was clear. Compared to the Vauxhall VX220, you can drive the Europa more neatly, while the VX is a lairier hooligan machine.

Considering the engine is ‘blown’, Lotus has managed to make it more responsive to the accelerator so you can adjust your cornering line more precisely. Exhaust powered turbos tend to destroy the exhaust note and that's true of the Europa with the added frustration that you can hear more of the not too exotic engine.

When you are really nailing it you don't have time to look at the rev counter so the change up warning light is useful but it needs to be bigger. Wind and road noise means the Europa isn't as quiet or sophisticated as cars like the Porsche Cayman S, Audi TT, BMW M Coupe or even the soon to be replaced Nissan 350Z. But if you venture on to a track those cars won't see where you went.


A Lotus makes demands on you which is fine if you are in the right mood, but you will be more tired when you reach your destination, even if it takes surgical instruments to get the grin off your face. Most of the time you won’t notice that the Europa is that bit less focused than cars like the Elise, it will happily provide all the thrills you need.

It's uncanny though how well the Europa copes with bad roads. You start to wince approaching a surface change and then find you barely felt the impact. But it's still more comfortable to drive round potholes and drain covers, just like in the original Europa in the early seventies.

If you're not used to driving a car without power steering you'll find the steering is the Europa fairly heavy at parking speeds but it lightens up considerably once the car is on the move. A sensation-robbing powered system it definitely doesn't need - you turn x degrees, the car turns x degrees with no slack.

You know exactly how much grip is left in the front tyres you instinctively know how much power to squeeze in as you unwind the steering lock. Even at what seems like silly speeds the Europa will now turn into corners without fear of the front end washing wide. If you are coming from something comparatively lardy you may even find the Europa almost too darty but you soon get used to it. The steering wheel rim feels a little skinny – it's a question of what you're used to I suppose.

The Europa feels as if it pivots around a point slightly lower and to the left of your left hip-bone and with so much of your body, from bottom to shoulders ideally supported by the well-shaped seat, you can really sense the varying degrees of grip and force working beneath you.


It could do with more padding on the side of the gear lever console because of how hard the side of my left knee pressed against it when cornering hard. Heel and toeing down the six-speed manual gearbox makes you feel like a hero, before paddle changes took over and it became a war of engineering and software rather than driver dexterity. The short throw clutch is nicely weighted and didn't get too heavy in traffic

The Lotus's steering wheel wriggles in your hands and though you learn to give it some freedom there are times when you need a firm grip to keep things on course. In the dry you can brake very hard without the anti-lock cutting in; and feel via the new four-pot AP Racing callipers gripping the bigger discs is excellent.

Bridgestone rather than Yokohama tyres were chosen for the Europa S to help deliver a smoother ride, but for the SE the company has switched to Goodyear Eagles. Lotus testers have been particularly impressed with the wet grip, but bizarrely for Britain during the test it stayed bone dry.

The car now runs 17” diameter wheels up front and 18” at the back and they fill the wheelarches nicely. Considering how skinny the seats are they are remarkably comfortable and supportive, but the steering column doesn't adjust and I had to scrunch down or the top of the steering wheel obstructed the more interesting parts of the rev counter.


If you want something for everyday use then there are better small GT cars on the market. But if you like your journeys to be both quick and immense fun then the Europa is definitely worth a look. Until the Evora arrives this is the best balance of comfort and performance available from Lotus today.

Author
Discussion

meggerman

Original Poster:

19 posts

198 months

Tuesday 11th November 2008
quotequote all
eeeeeeeeww, the front ! the wheels ! the mesh !


it looks so cheap and halfords, who are they aiming this at ? a wealthy chav with a penchant for lighweight specials that arent that special

where would he keep the 5000w sub and install + all his mcdonalds coffee tokens ?

SleeperCell

5,591 posts

241 months

Tuesday 11th November 2008
quotequote all
I have to agree that does look particularly rubbish in white, they look much better in that dark blue, those wheels are quite ugly as well.

Otherwise I quite like them, one of those cars that marks the owner out as someone who knows about cars and not just a poser.

Gun

13,431 posts

217 months

Tuesday 11th November 2008
quotequote all
I've never seen one of these on the road, do they actually sell them or are they just for display purposes?

6th Gear

3,561 posts

193 months

Tuesday 11th November 2008
quotequote all
Looks like a Chrysler Crossfire from the back
Vile

Altrezia

8,517 posts

210 months

Tuesday 11th November 2008
quotequote all
I still like these cars, and they are a bargain second hand at the moment.


matt uk

17,649 posts

199 months

Tuesday 11th November 2008
quotequote all
Bloody hell Lotus! It looks awful for gods sake. Sort it out.

Boggy

4,603 posts

234 months

Tuesday 11th November 2008
quotequote all
I'd strongly suggest you drive one, I've driven more or less all variant's of the Europa and it's a very capable car. I had the LOTRDC safety car for the weekend fantastic

Boggy

OJ

13,909 posts

227 months

Tuesday 11th November 2008
quotequote all
Hmmm, I wondered why this car was so far from home parked up in the Seven Stars at Leigh on Sunday!

Not a massive fan of the front foglight treatment but personally I think that particular car looks great in real life.

Dodgey_Rog

1,986 posts

259 months

Tuesday 11th November 2008
quotequote all
I always thought the SE looked nice in that guise, my only criticism was the rear lights, just didn't look right.

From what some people say, they're quite a good drive, must find out one day.....

neema_T

216 posts

205 months

Tuesday 11th November 2008
quotequote all
Only ever seen two in my whole life, one parked up outside a newsagents and the other at Goodwood, very good looking cars in real life

anonymous-user

53 months

Tuesday 11th November 2008
quotequote all
Slowly, ever so slowly, this car is evolving into the Lotus we want at a sensible price. The original pricing and spec' was plain silly.

Can't see an Evora on my drive from the pix, pricing and reports to date but one of these with a Toyota engine? That would be starting to get more serious.

general190

252 posts

202 months

Tuesday 11th November 2008
quotequote all
5 USA said:
Slowly, ever so slowly, this car is evolving into the Lotus we want at a sensible price. The original pricing and spec' was plain silly.

Can't see an Evora on my drive from the pix, pricing and reports to date but one of these with a Toyota engine? That would be starting to get more serious.
To get the same level of power and flexibility from a toyota lump you would have to go with ether a turbo charged vvti engine, or my preference a supercharged VVTLi engine (brilliant engine) as in the exige.

But i do recon that 2.0ltr turbo should be kept, then just fit an uprated miltek exaust system and ecu remap if you want more power? lot easyer to get high power out of the VX derived 2.0ltr turbo than it is the high revving toyota VVTLi engines which will only take superchargers upto a certain pressure before it get realy expensive because you have to uprate the internals (although they have already had to do that with the top exige's?)

Fittster

20,120 posts

212 months

Tuesday 11th November 2008
quotequote all
Altrezia said:
I still like these cars, and they are a bargain second hand at the moment.
The cheapest one for sale is 19K, doesn't seem that great a deal to me.

Mclovin

1,679 posts

197 months

Tuesday 11th November 2008
quotequote all
those rims are just wrong....so wannabe...have the mags and tv shows got it wrong or something as i thought this car was supposed to be bull crap but this review reads like its the drivers car of the century...i wish they would shelve this crap and remake the s1..

teapea

689 posts

185 months

Tuesday 11th November 2008
quotequote all
never seen one on the road,
its a pretty ugly car though must be said

elise + vx220 + fat ugly car = europa

teapea

689 posts

185 months

Tuesday 11th November 2008
quotequote all
actually thats a bit harsh its not that ugly
there's a lot worse, they look a lot better in silver

collateral

7,238 posts

217 months

Tuesday 11th November 2008
quotequote all
OJ said:
Hmmm, I wondered why this car was so far from home parked up in the Seven Stars at Leigh on Sunday!
hehe

I'm literally sat about 2 minutes from there wavey

collateral

7,238 posts

217 months

Tuesday 11th November 2008
quotequote all
Gun said:
I've never seen one of these on the road, do they actually sell them or are they just for display purposes?
I've only ever seen one, and that was probably on a test drive from the same dealers this one was from by the sound of it.

Compare that to when the Elise first came out, you'd walk out the door and fall over one

s.m.h.

5,728 posts

214 months

Tuesday 11th November 2008
quotequote all
Theres me thinking it was about the original Europa.
Now that was a pretty pretty car...

Looks like a chavved up elise to me, but Im no expert..... smile

anonymous-user

53 months

Tuesday 11th November 2008
quotequote all
general190 said:
5 USA said:
Slowly, ever so slowly, this car is evolving into the Lotus we want at a sensible price.
To get the same level of power and flexibility from a toyota lump you would have to go with ether a turbo charged vvti engine, or my preference a supercharged VVTLi engine (brilliant engine) as in the Exige.
Yup, that's the one we should be waiting for!