Who else fancies an evora s?

[The Pits]

I have a feeling its going to be very, very special to drive, not much more expensive than a well equipped standard car, and one of the last few great drivers cars available with a manual gearbox.

It would be a wonderful car to own while i wait for the new elite!

[The Pits]

From Lotus's website:

Evora S Technical Specification

Model Evora S
Engine Mid mounted, transverse 3.5 litre DOHC V6 VVT-I
Emissions See below due to wheel options
Transmission 6 speed manual
Chassis Modular lightweight bonded aluminium structure
Steering Lotus tuned hydraulically-assisted power steering
Suspension Forged aluminium double wishbone suspension
Bilstein high performance gas dampers
Eibach coaxial coil springs

Performance data
Standard wheel option

Fuel consumption - urban
14.5 l/100km
Fuel consumption – extra urban 7.4 l/100km
Fuel consumption - combined 10.0 l/100km
CO2 Emissions 235 g/km

19/20” wheel option

Fuel consumption - urban
14.6 l/100km
Fuel consumption – extra urban 7.6 l/100km
Fuel consumption - combined 10.2 l/100km
CO2 Emissions 239 g/km
Max power 350 PS / 257.5 kW @ 7000 rpm
Max torque 400 Nm / 295 lb ft @ 4500 rpm
0-60 mph 4.6s
0-100 km/h 4.8s
Maximum speed 172mph
Vehicle mass (unladen) 1437kg

[The Pits]

If it's £9k on top of the base standard evora price then that's a steal.

Though I would imagine there are desirable extras to add to that too.

Edited by The Pits on Thursday 23 September 11:33

[The Pits]

Actually the S will be little changed over the standard car, which was designed from the start to easily accommodate the extra power. Apparently the brakes, suspension and chassis are all more than up to the job, which is why Lotus are able to keep the cost of the S down.

Other than the extra straight line enthusiasm, it will be very similar to the standard car to drive. Which is, of course, an entirely good thing.

Besides in a few years time you'll be able to trade yours in for a 400bhp Evora R or convertible, while the rest of us will have to make do with our 'S's!

[The Pits]

One gripe I have with Lotus is the current colour range.

No dark metallic green? A disgraceful oversight.

Especially when you see this:



Also no metallic blue apart from the rather naff Laser blue.

Poor show Lotus, hopefully you'll add a few new colours for the S.

[The Pits]

Lotus's current website mentions BRG and that is a solid colour, not metallic.

[The Pits]

That's good to know because I for one would love a dark metallic emerald green.

But how much? Presumably more than Lotus's 'premium' colours and they are very expensive as it is!

[The Pits]

The evora looks unexpectedly good in orange. I'd be tempted by burnt orange over the chrome variety but I guess if you're going orange you may as well go all the way. My rule is light colours dark wheels and vice versa. So black wheels are a must.

I'm told dark metallic green is entirely possible and I also love that dark blue one that's for sale at b&c right now, which is also off the colour (and desireability) charts.

You're wise to not wait for the reviews, they are likely to be glowing and then everyone will want one and there will be a waiting list!

Despite being totally overshadowed at the motorshow I think the evora S will go down as one of the greats and a real giant killer. Imagine if Honda did a 345 bhp supercharged nsx? They'd still be waxing lyrical about it now.

[The Pits]

Are they different wheels to the standard car? The Paris show car had different ones, hopefully those are the ones you're getting as they look fantastic. 20" wheels are forged I suspect which are much more expensive. Congrats though, sounds like a really nice colour combination.

[The Pits]

Owing to a lack of pictures of silver evora's with black wheels I had to resort to photoshop.



and here's one with the forged wheels.



hardly a £2k improvement! For looks I prefer the standard wheels.

here's the colour I'd like if Lotus will let me have it:

Edited by The Pits on Friday 29th October 09:47

[The Pits]

Did you, like me used to own a Sagaris?

If so I reckon the Evora S will be getting close to Lotus's version of the Sagaris. Shouldn't be far off in a straight line and even better round corners. I can't wait to try one.

[The Pits]

I think if you're seriously considering orange you should go for it. you'll always be glad you did. A man who wanted orange is unlikely to be glad he went for silver, perfectly acceptable though it may be. The car does suit white too though. It's a bit annoyingly fashionable at the moment but ever since 'the spy who loved me' white has been a good colour for a lotus.

[The Pits]

Nice review. As expected, glowing. But how and where did you get hold of it? It's not even on autocar's site yet!

[The Pits]

If the standard Evora is fast enough (which I'm sure it is in the real world) then the new Esprit is likely to be OTT. They are talking a minimum of 550bhp in a similar all up weight to the Evora. It will be uncomfortably rapid.

Given I like manual gearboxes I have no choice but to get an Evora. Which is likely to go down as Lotus's last manual car.

[The Pits]

I think the Evora S will be very close to a Sag in a straight line and even better round corners. A good bit more usable as an every day car too.

It doesn't have the drama of the Sagaris to look at but it should be sensational to drive. Hopefully very reliable too.

[The Pits]

08sag said:

Well my order went in this week. Hoping to have in my garage on New Years Eve so I can start to play on 1/1/11. Cant wait.

Congrats, you beat me to it. What colour and spec did you go for in the end? I'm still waiting for a quote on an off piste colour. Hopefully it will be Indy green like the evora gt4 cup racer. Undecided about the yellow stripes. Might just go for the yellow coachline. Other thought is to go for reflex charcoal to match the Tuscan. I reckon it'd look good enough to eat in that colour but it's likely to be pricey.

[The Pits]

I take it SFO from your posts elsewhere that you're no longer interested in getting an Evora.

However I would like to know where you get your information from regarding free tech packs etc.

As for my Evora I've decided to wait and pay the dreaded extra VAT as that way I can get the spec I want. I'm very keen on the 'suedetex' interior as per the Paris show car (see my 'paris show pics' thread for details). I'm told this will be available next year. Hopefully so will the carbon bits and pieces. I'm looking for a March delivery, after the salt has been washed off the roads. At the moment it's all go for Indy Green with yellow vinyl stripes as per the Evora GT4/Cup car. I'm certain it will look astounding with the new wheels.

Given you can have any colour you want for £2k, what would other pher's ultimate colours be out of interest?

Black and Gold JPS homage?
Bond Esprit Turbo Copper Bronze? (this has already been done for a photoshoot)
Current F1 car livery?
Black with Lotus sport stripes (yellow and silver)
Esprit Sport 300 Metallic yellow?

I know at least one will be Chrome Orange and I have to agree it's an inspired choice. For some reason I can't fathom Chrome Orange works better than Burnt Orange too.

[The Pits]

hats off Justin for resisting the urge to post another picture of your car!

here's that Copper Bronze one.

[The Pits]

SFO said:

The Pits said:

I take it SFO from your posts elsewhere that you're no longer interested in getting an Evora.

However I would like to know where you get your information from regarding free tech packs etc.

Not sure how you came to that conclusion re:Evora. I am intrigued by Lotus. Am driving an Elise SC this weekend for a couple of hours, followed by the Evora S when it becomes available. I will then decide whether to swap the Boxster for a Lotus.

Anyway, the dealer (who has so far been excellent) I have been talking to says that Tech Pack (£2550) is free for Evoras ordered by year end (not sure if this is a dealer discount or a manufacturer promotion -- didn't want to waste salesman's time as don't know whether I am buying). He also says that it is possible to avoid 20% VAT even for Mar 2011 delivery if you pay the VAT amount on the order value by year end. This is consistent with VAT as I understand it .. once a VAT invoice is issued (so you benefit from the 17.5% rate), the VAT is payable to HMRC. Dealer pays HMRC for the VAT for the order and is therefore cashflow neutral.

Colour wise, either Apsen White with Paprika leather or Liquid Blue with Oyster leather.

I didn't really want to get into that here but just to explain my comment, you were pretty scathing about Lotus build quality on an Evora you viewed recently. Hopefully that car is not representative of the more recent, better built cars. But I hope you enjoy your test drives. Don't worry if the roads are wet. Elises are great fun in the wet. Try to find a nice big, quiet roundabout and do several laps until you can start to feel how responsive the car is to applications and lifts of throttle. Their exquisite balance is easier to experience on wet roads as you have to go so much quicker when it's dry to unstick them. The Elise also has an understeer saftey net built in. As Clarkson eventually found out on top gear, that is not all it will do. Handling-wise the Elise's repertoire is considerable, but clumsy inputs can get you into this safety net as I found out on my first Elise test drive. I just threw the car at a corner aggressively eager to try out the famous Lotus roadholding and it understeered wide, alarmingly towards an oncoming lorry. Lifting off naturally trimmed it's line by my instinct was to stay on the power which didn't help at the time. If this was my only experience I'd have written the car off as an understeering pig. As mentioned, it's a safety net (Lotus wanted the Elise to be accessible for drivers of all skill levels), if you're not clumsy you'll have no idea what I'm on about. Just explaining my roundabout thing as the elise needs a lift to trim it's line and to get the rear mobile, as you'll naturally find on a large, quiet, wet, roundabout!

Sorry, very off topic! Justin220 I was just expecting you to slap a picture of your car and was surprised to see a red Sagaris instead. I also think your colour choice is way better than the best of a bad job. I still haven't ruled it out myself!

Cheers for the info about deals and VAT etc, given it's not in any way 'shaming' can you not mention the dealers? No worries if you'd rather not. There's only a few left, I can ring them all!

[The Pits]

OK thanks, apologies for my unwarranted derogatory remarks on the other thread too.