Wednesday 4th March 2015

Lotus - Geneva 2015

The revised Evora does its best to stand out surrounded by the stars of Geneva

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Lotus has a small stand in Geneva, and an equally small line-up: the Elise 220 Cup and the new Evora 400. And although we'd love to tell you that the pairing was drawing the crowds five-deep, that would be an exaggeration. An unfortunate bit of positioning saw the stand right next the McLaren's, complete with bouncers and a velvet rope to limit the gawkers.

Better in the metal/GRP than initial pics suggested

Despite that, there was certainly a polite level of interest in the Evora, though. And although we're still not really sure that Lotus's claims the car is substantially new can be borne out by the reality of something that looks pretty much identical to its predecessor from 30 feet away, there's certainly lots to like about it. The new cabin is indeed far easier to get into and out of thanks to the lower and narrower sills and the interior fit and finish is vastly better than before. There's still not much headroom - wearing a helmet in here is going to feel tight even if you're only of average height - and the central touch screen for the Alpine entertainment system feels more Corsa-at-McDonald's grade than £70,000 sports car. But it's certainly a decent go given what we suspect was a very, very modest development budget.

The proof will definitely be in the driving.

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Click here for the PH Geneva news hub!

[Frimley111R]

Love the interior but it does seem to me to have a very Italian look and feel to the design.

[MrTappets]

Can't really see much strategy going on in the restyle - looks a bit like they just threw vents and creases at it and hoped for the best. Still, that interior actually looks great from the pictures and I've no doubt it could give the new Cayman GT4 a hard time on a track. Think I'd still have the Porsche, mind you. This has got a whiff of run-out special about it, which probably isn't what you want on a "new" model.

[CTE]

Don`t understand the comment about the crash helmet room...there`s loads of headroom?

[TTmonkey]

The main thing wrong with this car is the price. It doesn't have cutting edge technology, it doesn't have a bespoke engine.... so why would you pay £70,000 plus for it?

Lotus should stick to making cars at a price point that the majority of its fans can aspire to owning.... and that's £40k or less, to me.

I mean... £70k..... you just would spend that elsewhere, wouldn't you....?

[TTmonkey]

CTE said:

Don`t understand the comment about the crash helmet room...there`s loads of headroom?

Yes, surely that's a factor of the height of the driver? My son in law is 6'8.... I suspect he isn't going to fit.

[LogicSnap]

Finally! lotus fan alert. So to sum up the only thing you could find to dislike was the Alpine ICE? Genuine question now, for someone that doesn't sit in lot of different cars for a living, who supplies the tech behind Ferrari/Pork/Aston etc infotainment? Not talking about the bose/burmeister audio element as that's self explanatory etc i mean the actual satnav/touch screen element? What 3rd party system would you expect at this price point? I am assuming all current manufactures don't re-invent the wheel and develop proprietary sat nav/touchsceens?

side note as current user of the maligned Alpine in the Evora (not the blackbird one) I think its very good. Takes Full UK post code can touch and scroll on the screen, easy to add updates and took me 2000 miles across France, Switzerland, Italy without missing step. Was amusing sitting in Annecy and touching "Home" in the menu worked it out no probs, including directing to ferry terminal. Was miles better than messing around with mates idrive set up in X5, only took ages and didn't work

[Civpilot]

Front bumper is OK, but overall it looks like it should be on a 'tuner' stand (quietly utters "Mansory" ).

I just don't get what Lotus think this will do, no matter how great the drive is it is still visually too close to the old Evora... And that wasn't exactly a sales success when it had a starting price of £54k. Is this car really almost £20k better?

Lotus Evora 400 for £70k plus options..... Or Porsche Cayman GT4 for £65k plus options? As much as I like Lotus as a company there isn't even a choice in there.

I would hate to see Lotus go, but I honestly think this is not going to work. I hope I'm wrong and they sell loads... but I just don't see it

[MiniMan64]

Front looks better.

Back looks worse.

[TTmonkey]

Civpilot said:

Front bumper is OK, but overall it looks like it should be on a 'tuner' stand (quietly utters "Mansory" ).

I just don't get what Lotus think this will do, no matter how great the drive is it is still visually too close to the old Evora... And that wasn't exactly a sales success when it had a starting price of £54k. Is this car really almost £20k better?

Lotus Evora 400 for £70k plus options..... Or Porsche Cayman GT4 for £65k plus options? As much as I like Lotus as a company there isn't even a choice in there.

I would hate to see Lotus go, but I honestly think this is not going to work. I hope I'm wrong and they sell loads... but I just don't see it

Or Nissan GTR for just over 70k?
911 Carrera ?
M3?

[British Beef]

For £70k name another car at Geneva that comes close to this, looks, performance and practicality?

A Cayman GT4 has 2 seats less and no more performance, yet will likely cost more when optioned up.

Limited head space with a helmet and the branding of the head unit, is this really all the negative that can be leveled at this car to render it a failure.
Not 2 items I care to much about when buying a sports car I must confess.

[anonymous-user]

I like the idea of the Evora, but the body design isn't very cohesive to my eyes. As if there is a front, a middle and a back, and they've all been drawn by different people then pushed together. This *seems* to look a bit better on that score.

[LogicSnap]

Civpilot said:

Front bumper is OK, but overall it looks like it should be on a 'tuner' stand (quietly utters "Mansory" ).

I just don't get what Lotus think this will do, no matter how great the drive is it is still visually too close to the old Evora... And that wasn't exactly a sales success when it had a starting price of £54k. Is this car really almost £20k better?

Lotus Evora 400 for £70k plus options..... Or Porsche Cayman GT4 for £65k plus options? As much as I like Lotus as a company there isn't even a choice in there.

I would hate to see Lotus go, but I honestly think this is not going to work. I hope I'm wrong and they sell loads... but I just don't see it

I am not sure it was just the visual element that hampered Evora sales 1st time around, but please can we stop with the 65k GT4 talk. Have a look on the configurator, its easily 75k+ car. Evora 400 will be the same perhaps a shade less as the options are less. Cant fault Porsche approach on base price vs what you actually pay for it but its false to say "look how good gt4 is for 65k as those cars are not available or if you did manage to get one, its re-sale would be junk.

Evora N/A was released in 2009 so 6 years of inflation makes it 63k so its really only 6k more and has higher spec (S/C) LSD etc so 70k base is probably exactly what you expect. All non lotus buyers want all Lotus cars to be 35k and then complain it uses other manufactures parts, bizarre!

[British Beef]

TTmonkey said:

Or Nissan GTR for just over 70k?
911 Carrera ?
M3?

M3 - BMW coupe, looks like every other M specd car on the road. Plays engine noises through stereo.
911 Carrera S for similar performance, for a chunk more cash.
Nissan GTR - if performance is your soul priority, not much comes close to these.

[twinturban]

In a more objective world Lotus would sell about 10x more Evoras.

Evora 400 would be the ideal thing to drive while waiting for your Cayman GT4 or GT3RS.

Best of all, when you discover the GT4 doesn't live up to the hype you can sell it for a profit and keep the Evora!

[gashead1105]

LogicSnap said:

I am not sure it was just the visual element that hampered Evora sales 1st time around, but please can we stop with the 65k GT4 talk. Have a look on the configurator, its easily 75k+ car. Evora 400 will be the same perhaps a shade less as the options are less. Cant fault Porsche approach on base price vs what you actually pay for it but its false to say "look how good gt4 is for 65k as those cars are not available or if you did manage to get one, its re-sale would be junk.

Evora N/A was released in 2009 so 6 years of inflation makes it 63k so its really only 6k more and has higher spec (S/C) LSD etc so 70k base is probably exactly what you expect. All non lotus buyers want all Lotus cars to be 35k and then complain it uses other manufactures parts, bizarre!

I think you either 'get' lotus or you don't and can only ever aspire to a Porsche. For me, I always wanted one, finally bought a second hand Exige 3 and a bit years ago and have just traded it in for a brand new V6. I drove an Evora a few weeks ago as well and much preferred it to the 997 that is also in my extended family. I think the 400 looks great, will undoubtedly drive brilliantly and, as with all Lotus' is a complete bargain. It's not competing with a GT4 (that's the Exige's job and I'd rather have an Exige any day of the week), it's competing with the 991 Carerra S which is some 20k more. I've definitely got one on my wish list for a few years time.

[otolith]

TTmonkey said:

I mean... £70k..... you just would spend that elsewhere, wouldn't you....?

It's a bit cheaper than a base 911 with 50bhp less, and a far more exciting looking car. If you want a 400bhp 2+2 from Porsche you'll have to find another 15k.

[otolith]

British Beef said:

A Cayman GT4 has 2 seats less and no more performance, yet will likely cost more when optioned up.

And is basically a specced up version of a car that starts at under 40k. People's perceptions of value for money are bizarre.

[twinturban]

It's a 400bhp, 1400kg car that's as fast around Hethel as their 345bhp, 1176kg car.

Very impressive given they use the same brakes.

It is also much more comfortable, luxurious, practical and set up supremely well for road use.

Edited by twinturban on Wednesday 4th March 16:07

[anniesdad]

Civpilot said:

Lotus Evora 400 for £70k plus options..... Or Porsche Cayman GT4 for £65k plus options? As much as I like Lotus as a company there isn't even a choice in there.

The GT4 isn't an option, if you haven't been told you're getting one by now, you can't get one...in the UK in RHD at least.

I agree with the point in principle though, having had a Lotus Evora N/a and numerous Porsche's there is no comparison in build quality. The Evora is a lovely car to drive and feels very special, to the driver and also to the public at large. But £70K is a lot of money and I think there's better value to be had elsewhere. It does pain me to say that, it really does as I'm all for buying British but for not a lot more money soon I believe you'll be able to buy an early McLaren 12C...and yes, I know that's a used/new argument right there.

[swisstoni]

I miss the supercar worrying, Ferrari stylist shaming Lotuses of the past. I hope they manage to get there again.