RE: Lotus Evora 400 :Driven

[Toaster]

otolith said:

The EC figure is 90% fuelled plus a 75kg driver. The DIN figure is 90% fuelled.

"the mass of the vehicle, with its fuel tank(s) filled to at least 90 % of its or their capacity/ies, including the mass of the driver, the fuel and liquids, fitted with the standard equipment in accordance with the manufacturer's specifications and, where they are fitted, the mass of the bodywork, the cabin, the coupling and the spare wheel(s) as well as the tools;"

Thats a very nice definition and can it be assumed that the Lotus figures would be closer to the EC figure?

[sunsurfer]

Oddball RS said:

Ok, so here goes as a multiple ex Lotus and Porsche owner.

...And if we stop Porsche bashing for a minute, IF you had this kind of money burning a hole in your pocket and you have just taken one of these for a test drive, where is your next stop going to be? lets be honest.
...

I would possibly take the Evora. As the article suggests it is clearly a contender against the Porsche 911 and Cayman.

[kambites]

Toaster said:

Thats a very nice definition and can it be assumed that the Lotus figures would be closer to the EC figure?

Lotus quote with fluids but without a driver; or at least they used to. Not sure how much fuel they put in. Either way, they're pretty close to DIN weights.

[Pauly-b]

Toaster said:

Choose your figures carefully I do believe you are quoting unladened (Dry weight) Lotus are talking Kerb weight

The following is for the Cayman R manual and PDK

Unladen weight (DIN)

1,340 kg

1,370 kg



Unladen weight (EC)

1,415 kg

1,445 kg

Edited by Toaster on Tuesday 28th July 11:27

That's interesting where are those from? The DIN weights from the Cayman R brochure are 1295kg and 1320kg respectively....

[Moulder]

chrispj said:

Moulder said:

I test drove an Evora S and didn't come away thinking that was a bit slow or that didn't handle very well. To me it just wasn't a 60k car. Obviously this is subjective but adding 15% to the price to make it a bit quicker is neither here nor there as that wasn't where I (or judging from the comments of most other people) felt it lacked.

Out of curiousity, do you think of a Golf Gti as a £30k car or a Fiesta ST as a £20k car, or (no offence), like most of pistonheads are you 15 years behind the actual cost of cars today?

I think you are being a bit harsh saying 15% to the price to make it just a bit quicker as they have apparently spent a lot of effort working on the areas that most people think it lacked (access, interior quality).

No offence taken. Whilst I don't think "23,000 notes for a RAV4, madness, that's Range Rover Money" cars do now seem expensive. For me all that means is I look for comparative value, e.g. to me if a Golf GTI is 30k then my SLK at 38k seems comparatively cheap. I can appreciate they are different cars with different purposes, maybe a clearer comparison (without getting into the premium brand discussion) would be 17k for a base Sportage seems good value versus 30k for a base Evoque (or 23K for that Rav4).

If anything I think the above hinders rather than helps Lotus, the more expensive something becomes (even in line with the competition) the greater peoples expectations will be. Rightly or wrongly I suspect most people see Lotus as a niche brand and not something they would usually consider, to change this they need to dominate in one area and for most people this would be price (and performance) as opposed to just performance.

This was why I put up with the foibles of my TVR, for price/performance at the time there was nothing out there like it, with the Evora there is.

[Toaster]

Pauly-b said:

That's interesting where are those from? The DIN weights from the Cayman R brochure are 1295kg and 1320kg respectively....

Apologies it was the Cayman S http://www.porsche.com/uk/models/cayman/cayman-s/f...

[Vee12V]

With aircon and stereo re-equipped the Cayman R was 10kg lighter than the standard car. Hardly an achievement now is it.

Edited by Vee12V on Tuesday 28th July 12:16

[blueg33]

There are a lot of statements being made by people who have never even been near an evora let alone the 400.

Reviews are alwsys coloured to one degree or another so can't be fully relied on.

If you haven't driven one, be open minded until you have.

I was dead set on a 911 as my new daily driver, I drove both, Porsche first, but within 2 minutes of driving the Evora it was a "no brainer".

[Tuna]

blueg33 said:

There are a lot of statements being made by people who have never even been near an evora let alone the 400.

...

I was dead set on a 911 as my new daily driver, I drove both, Porsche first, but within 2 minutes of driving the Evora it was a "no brainer".

The biggest difference between the Evora and Evora 400 launches is the number of dealers available. I think that'll have an impact as the armchair pundits easily outnumber the actual owners at present. There's no excuse not to at least go and sit in one.

It's notable that Hexagon in London are a long term Porsche centre, but have signed up (pretty enthusiastically) to add Lotus to their line-up.

[Pauly-b]

Vee12V said:

With aircon and stereo re-equipped the Cayman R was 10kg lighter than the standard car. Hardly an achievement now is it.

Edited by Vee12V on Tuesday 28th July 12:16

Really? I thought aircon was about 15kgs and radio 3kgs so it would still be about 37 kgs lighter?

Sure I read the doors saved 15 and carbon buckets another 10 or so but obviously could be wrong..

[XBOW]

blueg33 said:

There are a lot of statements being made by people who have never even been near an evora let alone the 400.

Reviews are alwsys coloured to one degree or another so can't be fully relied on.

If you haven't driven one, be open minded until you have.

I was dead set on a 911 as my new daily driver, I drove both, Porsche first, but within 2 minutes of driving the Evora it was a "no brainer".

Same here although vs a brand new Cayman S PDK with all the toys. Walked away with an Evora S as the smile factor was so much greater.

Come on naysayers, go drive one ....costs you nowt, apart from probably swallowing a bit of pride when you realise how good the cars are I thought Pistonheads was about passion for driving, not badges

[Le TVR]

StottyEvo said:

Lotus have built their brand on being lightweight and they aren't even the lightest in the class.

Disagree.
Lotus have built their brand on handling, chassis and suspension.
If you had driven one you would know that chasing comparisons on numerical data is pointless.
It feels so planted that I found myself breaking harder and later than in any other car I have driven and even then it was giving me the assured feedback that it didn't consider that I was even trying.

That would be exemplary if it came out of one of the megacorporations let alone a relatively tiny UK manufacturer.

[Tickle]

XBOW said:

Same here although vs a brand new Cayman S PDK with all the toys. Walked away with an Evora S as the smile factor was so much greater.

Come on naysayers, go drive one ....costs you nowt, apart from probably swallowing a bit of pride when you realise how good the cars are I thought Pistonheads was about passion for driving, not badges

Not forgetting squishy dashes and plush heater knobs

[Vee12V]

Pauly-b said:

Vee12V said:

With aircon and stereo re-equipped the Cayman R was 10kg lighter than the standard car. Hardly an achievement now is it.

Edited by Vee12V on Tuesday 28th July 12:16

Really? I thought aircon was about 15kgs and radio 3kgs so it would still be about 37 kgs lighter?

Sure I read the doors saved 15 and carbon buckets another 10 or so but obviously could be wrong..

My quote is probably over a standard R (without PCCBs, optional LW seats, etc), but 15 from the doors alone seems massive?
The -10kg was from removal of sound deadening IIRC.

[justboxsters]

The Crack Fox said:

They've built (another) drivers car with proud heritage, fresh styling and fantastic performance and keep lots of Brits in work. I wish folks would spend less time wking over German switchgear and more about the important things that matter. Opening the review with "Poor Lotus Evora" doesn't help, now, does it?

This,

I think it's great, I'd have one over a boggo 991 Carrera with no options. This looks ace out of the box. The back end is a bit too fuzzy for me but the rest is great. 8/10.

Edited by justboxsters on Tuesday 28th July 12:50

[blueg33]

XBOW said:

blueg33 said:

There are a lot of statements being made by people who have never even been near an evora let alone the 400.

Reviews are alwsys coloured to one degree or another so can't be fully relied on.

If you haven't driven one, be open minded until you have.

I was dead set on a 911 as my new daily driver, I drove both, Porsche first, but within 2 minutes of driving the Evora it was a "no brainer".

Same here although vs a brand new Cayman S PDK with all the toys. Walked away with an Evora S as the smile factor was so much greater.

Come on naysayers, go drive one ....costs you nowt, apart from probably swallowing a bit of pride when you realise how good the cars are I thought Pistonheads was about passion for driving, not badges

I forgot to add, that last month I test drove the Cayman GTS as I was thinking it had to be better than my Evora, the pdk box was great, but I went straight off to the Lotus dealer to buy an Evora SR

(my Evora has 60k on it so I am upgrading to a lower mileage car)

[DonkeyApple]

Deviating slightly but heading back to the original question as to why on Earth journalists keep referring to Porsche products in their articles on the Evora, I wonder how much the 'click rate' drops on an article when Porsche isn't mentioned?

[Pauly-b]

Vee12V said:

My quote is probably over a standard R (without PCCBs, optional LW seats, etc), but 15 from the doors alone seems massive?
The -10kg was from removal of sound deadening IIRC.

Just had a quick look at Car - They're saying 15 for the GT3 Alu doors, 12 for the standard carbon buckets and 5 for the Spyder alloys.

There's a couple of threads on here as well which list it as well - Take your point though It's very easy to add weight back in..

[Pauly-b]

XBOW said:

Same here although vs a brand new Cayman S PDK with all the toys. Walked away with an Evora S as the smile factor was so much greater.

Come on naysayers, go drive one ....costs you nowt, apart from probably swallowing a bit of pride when you realise how good the cars are I thought Pistonheads was about passion for driving, not badges

They're fab things to drive... In the end it came down to an Evora and the car I bought.. Would have been delighted with either of them... I went to and fro each of them for a while...

[Jellinek]

otolith said:

kambites said:

However pathetic they might be the Evora does have two more seats

Changes back there - the seat is almost a foot wider, though I guess head and legroom are more issues than width. I did read somewhere that the new front seats have improved the rear legroom.

2009



400

Quite shocked how low-rent the rear of the 400 looks. I had to double take to realise which was the "upgraded" one. The 2009 interior looks far more opulent imo. An interesting move given the criticism of the interior quality on the original. I assume they have de-spec'd the rear to reduce weight and cost and have spent some of that money on the front?