How long till the £20k Evora?

[CharlieGee]

Ooof! Well played. When I (finally) get an Evora it'll be alongside my S2 111s.

[BertBert]

Just curious, how wo you choose which car to use when you have an Evora and Elise at the same time?

[CABC]

BertBert said:

Just curious, how wo you choose which car to use when you have an Evora and Elise at the same time?

i'd be interested to hear Alistair's thoughts over the coming months.
i'm 8 yrs into my Elise and 1 in the Evora.
they are quite different. i think calling the Evora a 'grown up Elise' is wrong personally, though it's more apt for 400 series.
simple blat in the countryside, Elise everytime.
The Evora gets you there more calmly and can lift its skirts up when called on to get moving. I'm enjoying both for the contrast and appreciating the differences, though the Elise will be the long term keeper.

[Lotobear]

BertBert said:

Just curious, how wo you choose which car to use when you have an Evora and Elise at the same time?

I currently have an Evora but have previously had an Elise and also a Caterham.

It would depend on why you want to use the car I think. I don't find the Evora 'fun' to drive and often can't be bothered to get it out of the garage for a blast (and I live amongst some of the best driving roads in the UK). It's very, very competent and well packaged but not what I would call a fun car to drive simply for the hell of it. It's also a big, wide, car and not brilliant for threading along back roads.

For a weekend away or tour with Mrs Loto I would take the Evora and for a weekend 'blast' I would take an Elise over it anytime.

I'm actually considering switching to an Elise, or perhaps an Exige, simply as the car is purely a weekend 'toy' and not a daily - which it easily could be.

CABC beat me to it!

[Ryvita]

Lotobear said:

I don't find the Evora 'fun' to drive

That made me blink a couple of times. Really?

I picture you now as someone who, for fun, jumps out of a plane without a parachute, riding bareback on tiger, into the wall of a hurricane, while juggling chainsaws and simultaneously conducting a phone call with a partner about going away on a business trip with an attractive colleague from the office...

[Lotobear]

Ryvita said:

That made me blink a couple of times. Really?

I picture you now as someone who, for fun, jumps out of a plane without a parachute, riding bareback on tiger, into the wall of a hurricane, while juggling chainsaws and simultaneously conducting a phone call with a partner about going away on a business trip with an attractive colleague from the office...

I was kind of anticipating accusations of heresy after that!

What I mean is it's great to drive, brilliant even, but not fun in the sense of something that's small and darty like a S1 Elise or even an original Elan.

I will go further and say that I found my Elan Plus 2 more 'fun' to drive than the Evora. That's not to say the Evora is not a great car or that it doesn't handle superbly; it's just not a 'fun' car in my personal sense of the word, though it is undoubtedly a supremely accomplished GT.

I think it probably makes a better daily sports car that it does a weekend 'toy' is really what I am saying.

[Shnozz]

Lotobear said:

What I mean is it's great to drive, brilliant even, but not fun in the sense of something that's small and darty like a S1 Elise or even an original Elan.

I think it probably makes a better daily sports car that it does a weekend 'toy' is really what I am saying.

I would agree on both counts. The trouble when assessing the Evora is many people have come via an Elise/Exige, which lets be honest are the pinnacle of what Lotus stands for.

The Evora is clearly more of a car than a toy, and yet is brilliant in itself.

It's often a sliding scale between impracticality and lightweight/directness. If you need to slide slightly along that scale for practicality (or in my case, GT abilities), the Evora is remarkable. But if you have the two parked side by side for a weekend blast, the Elise/Exige triumphs but then it should; the Evora's design spec was a more useable car with the Lotus DNA still very much within it.

Edited by Shnozz on Tuesday 20th April 15:25

[TheAlastair34]

BertBert said:

Just curious, how wo you choose which car to use when you have an Evora and Elise at the same time?

Hi,

Abit like the above reply's i dont really see them as the same car.

I wanted a comfy GT car that i could do 3000 miles to Italy and back for a summer roadtrip, i had used the Elise for that before but even at the grand age of 33 i didnt want to do it again without aircon and all our clothes in vac bags!

In short if im off out for the day with the Mrs and the dog or out shopping or for a meal ill take the Evora, a weekend blat with my mates or a nice summer evening after work for a hour roudn the local roads its hard to think of anythng better than an Elise.

Lucky to be able to have both but the Elise is worth more than i paid for it and i dont see Evora prices dropping massivly so it made more financial sense than having something new on lease, or thats what i told myself!

[Thorburn]

BertBert said:

Just curious, how wo you choose which car to use when you have an Evora and Elise at the same time?

For me, I use the Evora quite a bit, particularly if we're going to car events as a family and don't want to take two cars.

The Elise comes out for sunny roof off blasts. If they'd done a 4-seater Evora targa I'd probably have had that, but wasn't to be.

[blueg33]

My Evora were daily drivers and they were very good at it for a car of its type. I would hate an Elise as a daily

[giveitfish]

I’d agree too. For me the Evora was the ultimate car to daily, a consummate GT for my bucket-list Euro trip, and a real feel-good special occasion car too.

I also had some amazing country road drives in it, but yes an Elise is what you want for that short sharp hit of adrenaline on a country road.

In short: A-to-B is best in an Evora, while an Elise is best at A-to-A. Perfect two-car garage!

[blueg33]

giveitfish said:

I’d agree too. For me the Evora was the ultimate car to daily, a consummate GT for my bucket-list Euro trip, and a real feel-good special occasion car too.

I also had some amazing country road drives in it, but yes an Elise is what you want for that short sharp hit of adrenaline on a country road.

In short: A-to-B is best in an Evora, while an Elise is best at A-to-A. Perfect two-car garage!

I changed my Evora for a Ferrari 360 - it sort of sites between the two in terms of feel (by this i mean rawness, handling, ride and adrenaline), but is more liveable than the Elise

[giveitfish]

I think this is partly where Lotus went wrong with the Evora. It's a civilised GT that knows how to dance, but the buying public (and some journos) were then dissapointed after expecting faster and more raw mini-supercar based on it's looks and expectations inherited from the Elise and Exige.

Also a challenging market to aim at for Lotus - they aimed it squarely at people who would daily a 911, but with the best will in the world it takes a lot more bravery and acceptance of inconvenience and minor foibles to run an Evora, which does not sit well with the intended buyer.

An Evora 410GT launched 12 years ago might have done very well, but for me I prefer the softer S1.

Edited by giveitfish on Wednesday 21st April 12:59

[CABC]

blueg33 said:

I changed my Evora for a Ferrari 360 - it sort of sites between the two in terms of feel (by this i mean rawness, handling, ride and adrenaline), but is more liveable than the Elise

did you try a 400 series?
i found the 410 more 'Elise-like' and getting towards halfway between an SR and an Elise.

[TdM-GTV]

Funnily enough, this discussion sort of highlights why the S1 is considered such a high point. It's a fully useable daily sports car that will give you giggles when you drive it and you can use it for holidays, taking the dog with you or commuting... It's just a brilliant all rounder

For many (including me) whilst an Exige/Elise would be laughs to drive, it would also be awful to live with and I would not use it that much because of how I spend my time in the car. If I had the space for one alongside the Evora though...

[AlexNJ89]

Very interesting to hear so many saying they prefer the S1 over the 400. Having driven neither I can't imagine them being so different. I do much prefer the interior of the 400.

[blueg33]

CABC said:

blueg33 said:

I changed my Evora for a Ferrari 360 - it sort of sites between the two in terms of feel (by this i mean rawness, handling, ride and adrenaline), but is more liveable than the Elise

did you try a 400 series?
i found the 410 more 'Elise-like' and getting towards halfway between an SR and an Elise.

I tried a 400, a 410 sport and a 410 GT. I liked the sport, hated the seats in the 400 and 410 GT. I needed a change from an Evora was my ultimate conclusion, and no Lotus can match that Ferrari V8

[Shnozz]

I too wasn't a fan of the seats in the 400. In fact the whole car felt a bit more hardcore. On its own, not a bad thing, but as this discussion has shown, the Elise/Exige is so good as a "hardcore" Lotus that I felt the S1 Evora was a step sideways to being a comfortable GT. The 400 seemed to take a step closer back to the Exige and if I were to choose, I would have the Exige instead!

[CABC]

Shnozz said:

I too wasn't a fan of the seats in the 400. In fact the whole car felt a bit more hardcore. On its own, not a bad thing, but as this discussion has shown, the Elise/Exige is so good as a "hardcore" Lotus that I felt the S1 Evora was a step sideways to being a comfortable GT. The 400 seemed to take a step closer back to the Exige and if I were to choose, I would have the Exige instead!

so if you'd choose an exige over a 400, weren't lotus right to go 'sideways' with the S1 as a GT?

btw, i'm just shooting the breeze in the Lotus thread! these aren't the reasons for low sales.

[Shnozz]

CABC said:

Shnozz said:

I too wasn't a fan of the seats in the 400. In fact the whole car felt a bit more hardcore. On its own, not a bad thing, but as this discussion has shown, the Elise/Exige is so good as a "hardcore" Lotus that I felt the S1 Evora was a step sideways to being a comfortable GT. The 400 seemed to take a step closer back to the Exige and if I were to choose, I would have the Exige instead!

so if you'd choose an exige over a 400, weren't lotus right to go 'sideways' with the S1 as a GT?

Yes, exactly what I was saying! The S1 got that right. I felt the 400 moved closer to hardcore, of which there was already a flagship hardcore Lotus.