RE: Lotus Evora 400 spec announced

[stuno1]

For me lotus is now an aspirational brand since the introduction of the evora. It represents quality, style, performance and many other attributes I find desirable in a sports car. Yes they got and continue to get marketing wrong and I agree that needs to be addressed but as a desirable sports car I love the evora.

[Impasse]

Good old Harris, never one for siding with any marque. Ever.

https://twitter.com/harrismonkey

Monkey said:

Jean-Marc Gales says the Evora 400 is 'a true supercar'. Bit worrying that the boss of a sportscar company doesn't know what a supercar is.

So Chris, what exactly IS a supercar? Answer limited to 100 words please.

[truck71]

Impasse said:

So Chris, what exactly IS a supercar? Answer limited to 100 words please.

Is he still about, thought he'd retired?

[RYH64E]

Itsallicanafford said:

...but the car is only part of the equation. Find a Lotus dealer and go and have a look around. Then go to a Porsche dealer.

I went to my local Porsche dealer, walked around for twenty minutes being completely ignored by the sales staff despite being the only 'customer' in the building, and left. Visited my local(ish) Lotus dealer, spent the afternoon chatting to the staff and looking at cars (Lotus and Aston Martin), and bought a new Elise S. I had intended to buy a Cayman S, and had money burning a hole in my pocket, but the whole Porsche experience just pissed me off.

[AlistairF]

Cruise in a sports car?

Absolutely! The need it not a function of the car but the driving environment. I have just done a 1200 mile trip to Scotland and my Evora S which was faultless and awesome! But getting to Scotland was 400 miles of motorway and cruise was helpful.

I am in my mid 50's and to be honest my personal creaks mean I need to shift my legs around a bit so cruise helps keen me fresh in prep for the fun twisty bits!

[Axionknight]

AlistairF said:

Cruise in a sports car?

Absolutely! The need it not a function of the car but the driving environment. I have just done a 1200 mile trip to Scotland and my Evora S which was faultless and awesome! But getting to Scotland was 400 miles of motorway and cruise was helpful.

I am in my mid 50's and to be honest my personal creaks mean I need to shift my legs around a bit so cruise helps keen me fresh in prep for the fun twisty bits!

I'm 27 and agree with you totally - like it's a big deal anyway, does it add any weight? I doubt it. If you don't want it don't spec it and if you buy second hand and it's there, ignore it if it bothers you, hardly busting anybodies gut is it?

[RYH64E]

I was surprised to find cruise control fitted to my Elise, it's invaluable when driving through average speed enforcement zones, just set it to the limit and don't spend two weeks worrying whether you still have a driving license...

[sealtt]

RYH64E said:

I went to my local Porsche dealer, walked around for twenty minutes being completely ignored by the sales staff despite being the only 'customer' in the building, and left. Visited my local(ish) Lotus dealer, spent the afternoon chatting to the staff and looking at cars (Lotus and Aston Martin), and bought a new Elise S. I had intended to buy a Cayman S, and had money burning a hole in my pocket, but the whole Porsche experience just pissed me off.

Same thing happened to me, I wanted to go for a Cayenne so asked for them to give me a test drive or demo car for the afternoon, they said sure, took all my details, then never called.

I since bought a new Range Rover Vogue, and very pleased I did!

Must say at my last experience, testing a C4S, the service was perfect though... so guess it depends a bit on luck of the day who is there.

[daveofedinburgh]

Having not read the entire thread, I apologise if this has been covered already...

Chris Harris pointed out today on Twitter that it's somewhat worrying that the boss of Lotus has publicly referred to this as a 'Supercar'.

I would tend to agree, particularly given that it appears to be a lack of awareness rather than just hyperbole/ sales speak.

I have no doubt that the car itself will be a fantastic package, but I get the sense that it will be great in spite of the top brass at Lotus, who are continuing the saga of shaky, directionless leadership at the company.

[Oilchange]

Eh? Everything they have done in the last 2 years has put Lotus on the road to profitability. I don't think you have done them justice at all and the current leadership is far from 'shaky and directionless'.
I think you are one of the many that either likes to have a dig or simply hasn't got a clue. Or both.

[truck71]

Oilchange said:

Eh? Everything they have done in the last 2 years has put Lotus on the road to profitability. I don't think you have done them justice at all and the current leadership is far from 'shaky and directionless'.
I think you are one of the many that either likes to have a dig or simply hasn't got a clue. Or both.

Ah but Chris Harris said so, got to be right...

[bencollins]

otolith said:

Impasse said:

This car must be awesome if all PH can whinge about this time is cruise control. Where's the demands for a 150mph stripped out MX5 rival for 38p?

They will be along shortly.

[otolith]

Car company in hyperbole shocker.

Was Harris equally bhy about Alfa's insistence on calling the 4C a supercar? Must have missed it.

[DonkeyApple]

daveofedinburgh said:

Having not read the entire thread, I apologise if this has been covered already...

Chris Harris pointed out today on Twitter that it's somewhat worrying that the boss of Lotus has publicly referred to this as a 'Supercar'.

I would tend to agree, particularly given that it appears to be a lack of awareness rather than just hyperbole/ sales speak.

I have no doubt that the car itself will be a fantastic package, but I get the sense that it will be great in spite of the top brass at Lotus, who are continuing the saga of shaky, directionless leadership at the company.

I doubt many would argue in defence of the claim but out of interest why do you believe it to be a lack of awareness rather than PR hyperbole?

I would also question the claim of 'continuing the saga of shaky, directionless leadership' as the evidence points to the exact opposite.

[98elise]

Itsallicanafford said:

As i see it, the problem with this car is that even if it is the best car in the world, the majority of the car buying public, of which genuine car enthusiasts are a small minority, will not spend £70K+ on a Lotus. And Lotus should know this by now.

I'm sure you are right, but I can never fathom why this is the case.

True racing history with multiple F1 wins, a world class engineering department, true driver cars etc, yet there is an attitude that they shouldn't be selling "expensive" cars.

How much is a Noble these days, £200k?

I think Lotus should be building a halo car and charging the earth for it. People would then be falling over themselves to buy a "cut price" 75k Lotus.

[DonkeyApple]

98elise said:

I'm sure you are right, but I can never fathom why this is the case.

True racing history with multiple F1 wins, a world class engineering department, true driver cars etc, yet there is an attitude that they shouldn't be selling "expensive" cars.

How much is a Noble these days, £200k?

I think Lotus should be building a halo car and charging the earth for it. People would then be falling over themselves to buy a "cut price" 75k Lotus.

Primarily because for the last twenty years Lotus themselves have relied on 'cheap' as their marketing back stop. So they've attracted a segment for which this is important and also conditioned everyone with their 'It's cheaper than a xxxx' reasoning etc.

The actual fact is that when you look at the Evora, how it is made, where it is made, what it is capable of then £70k is clearly cheap as chips. It's a bit of a bargain.

My single issue with the car is that I don't like the looks. I think it looks cheap and that's its problem. Sure, stick it next to any mainstream Porsche product and it looks exciting and sporty but the moment you start putting it next to real supercars you can see immediately that it looks dumpy, a bit clumsy and not really in the same league.

My personal view is that we live in a very visual world and one where people shop by numbers and comparatives rather than by direct, subjective feel of a product and that if Lotus redesigned the body of this car correctly then everyone would suddenly see that it was extremely cheap for what you were buying.

However, at the same time you are still more likely to see a Lotus parked in a car park next to Fords and Vauxhalls than you are to see them parked outside the type of poncy venues where a lot of other exotica gets dumped in order to display wealth, success and enormous sexual stamina.

[wevster]

Impasse said:

Good old Harris, never one for siding with any marque. Ever.

https://twitter.com/harrismonkey

Monkey said:

Jean-Marc Gales says the Evora 400 is 'a true supercar'. Bit worrying that the boss of a sportscar company doesn't know what a supercar is.

So Chris, what exactly IS a supercar? Answer limited to 100 words please.

He seems to have it in for Lotus at the moment, there have been a lot of tweets from him lately criticising the brand.

Not quite sure what they have done to upset him but he seems to have lost he objectivity when it comes to Lotus.

[DonkeyApple]

wevster said:

He seems to have it in for Lotus at the moment, there have been a lot of tweets from him lately criticising the brand.

Not quite sure what they have done to upset him but he seems to have lost he objectivity when it comes to Lotus.

He was massively pro the Exige. Just seems to not think too much of the Evora.

[Jellinek]

unpc said:

Jellinek said:

Interestingly the Evora 400 US price has been announced at the same time. It's $89,900. That equates a fraction over 58k GBP today.

At 72k (GBP), the US RRP would be a whopping $111,553, but given the ZO6 Stingray has a $79k base price, 650bhp and does 29mpg, I guess Lotus is being realistic and has opted for very slim margins on US sales.

So it's the same price there. US price does not include sales tax and ours includes 20% VAT.

Hmmm, Sales Tax rates in the US are between generally between 4-6% depending on the State, so this would put the cost at about 95k. How is this the same as 111.5k? Or is this chump-change for someone of your means....

[Jellinek]

DonkeyApple said:

wevster said:

He seems to have it in for Lotus at the moment, there have been a lot of tweets from him lately criticising the brand.

Not quite sure what they have done to upset him but he seems to have lost he objectivity when it comes to Lotus.

He was massively pro the Exige. Just seems to not think too much of the Evora.

I think I understand his point of view. The Evora is constantly compared to the Cayman not the 911 (by hacks and the public alike) and despite all the recent "supercar" marketing to change perceptions and justify the proce hike, only a couple of days ago Top Gear released a story comparing the new 400 to the Cayman GT4. The problem is that the Evora was launched too close to the Cayman price range and the Esprit slot stands vacant. No amount flannel is going to convince customers that they are buying anything other than a quick sports car imho.