Are Evoras in dealers yet?
Discussion
spoke to Hadley Green today who reckon they'll be getting their demonstrator early August.
Bit disappointing logisitically that Lotus spent all that money on the faceless people thing, manage a great overall press launch...and then cant quickly provide demonstrators to capitalise on any interest generated.
Bit disappointing logisitically that Lotus spent all that money on the faceless people thing, manage a great overall press launch...and then cant quickly provide demonstrators to capitalise on any interest generated.
Nightmare said:
Bit disappointing logisitically that Lotus spent all that money on the faceless people thing, manage a great overall press launch...and then cant quickly provide demonstrators to capitalise on any interest generated.
Agree! I spoke to dealer the other week and we had this exact converstion, his view was 'what do you expect, its Lotus' with a shrug of his shoulders! They are truly hopeless at this kind of thing. First principle of advertising and launching is don't do it until you can satisfy demand!!!Twit said:
Nightmare said:
Bit disappointing logisitically that Lotus spent all that money on the faceless people thing, manage a great overall press launch...and then cant quickly provide demonstrators to capitalise on any interest generated.
Agree! I spoke to dealer the other week and we had this exact converstion, his view was 'what do you expect, its Lotus' with a shrug of his shoulders! They are truly hopeless at this kind of thing. First principle of advertising and launching is don't do it until you can satisfy demand!!!I went to have a look, but was told their car was out on a jolly with the dealer principle, so i'd gone all that way and it wasn't there. I know they have to run it in etc, but surely this can be done out of office hours, whats the point of having your only car out of the customers view??
Test drove an Evora today. I agree it's too pricey when loaded with necessary options, but forgetting that it's a great car. Soaks up bad surfaces just about as well as anything I've driven, great balance, tons of grip and much better looking in the flesh, IMO.
The Evora's immediately a step above anything else from Lotus quality wise, though elise etc will still have their attractions for pure driving. Personally I'm not bothered if the switches are not quite in the right place etc, other than the impact that might have on sales because I'd hope Lotus do well enough to keep building good cars. (I've owned cars for years without ever knowing where all the switches were!)
Will be interested to see residuals, reliability, long term build quality and when they make it faster. You can feel there's a platform there for something that will knock just about everything else into long grass - the ride for a start is amazing for any car, never mind a sportscar, and although limits are going to be pretty far away 95% of time on roads, it's got immediate "chuckability" (technical term) that's going to be good on track. Apparently closer ratio gearbox is an option in next month or so, definitely would go for that if you're going to drive it rather than cruise on motorways.
So, I'm thinking I'd definitely have one, maybe early next year, then bought a copy of Autocar on way home - group test with Evora, Cayman. Don't read on if you want to know the ending...
Anyway, they drive Evora, jump into a Cayman and say it suddenly feels second best. The Evora beats Porsche on "handling, ride, braking and steering", the Porsche does have "better pedals and pedigree", so...the Cayman wins..??
That's part of Lotus' challenge, and haven't helped themselves by making the headline price look like it's £60k instead of £50k with launch edition, and also the failure to deliver quickly enough to early adopters, who are about to get cars just as summer finishes. Great car, not so-good marketing (or marketing alignment with delivery) and could still do with more attention to niceties. The good bits work enough for me, hope it works for plenty others as well.
The Evora's immediately a step above anything else from Lotus quality wise, though elise etc will still have their attractions for pure driving. Personally I'm not bothered if the switches are not quite in the right place etc, other than the impact that might have on sales because I'd hope Lotus do well enough to keep building good cars. (I've owned cars for years without ever knowing where all the switches were!)
Will be interested to see residuals, reliability, long term build quality and when they make it faster. You can feel there's a platform there for something that will knock just about everything else into long grass - the ride for a start is amazing for any car, never mind a sportscar, and although limits are going to be pretty far away 95% of time on roads, it's got immediate "chuckability" (technical term) that's going to be good on track. Apparently closer ratio gearbox is an option in next month or so, definitely would go for that if you're going to drive it rather than cruise on motorways.
So, I'm thinking I'd definitely have one, maybe early next year, then bought a copy of Autocar on way home - group test with Evora, Cayman. Don't read on if you want to know the ending...
Anyway, they drive Evora, jump into a Cayman and say it suddenly feels second best. The Evora beats Porsche on "handling, ride, braking and steering", the Porsche does have "better pedals and pedigree", so...the Cayman wins..??
That's part of Lotus' challenge, and haven't helped themselves by making the headline price look like it's £60k instead of £50k with launch edition, and also the failure to deliver quickly enough to early adopters, who are about to get cars just as summer finishes. Great car, not so-good marketing (or marketing alignment with delivery) and could still do with more attention to niceties. The good bits work enough for me, hope it works for plenty others as well.
Thanks for your write up footsoldier - very interesting. The Cayman's brake pedal is stunning, the best I've tried in any car. From the Elises that I've driven this is Lotus' weak point, so I wasn't surprised to read that. I'd say Lotus make up for it with a linear steering rack (really high tech, that! Porsche - can you keep up?), compared with Porsche's non-linear version.
I'd argue over the pedigree point that Autocar make. I love Porsche motorsport heritage (908, 917, 956, 962 etc), and have all the models, posters etc, but Lotus mean more to me (Colin Chapman, Jim Clark, monocoque race cars, ground effect, Lotus 49, 72). I guess that's maybe a personal point though,
I think the word that Autocar are really looking for, but are scared to say, is not pedigree, but "kudos". The Porsche badge just means more because of its luxury well built image - it's like buying a Rolex watch. Lotus, on the other hand, have a reputation of Lots Of Trouble Usually Serious, and it'll take a while to shake that off.
All I care about is which is better to drive
I'd argue over the pedigree point that Autocar make. I love Porsche motorsport heritage (908, 917, 956, 962 etc), and have all the models, posters etc, but Lotus mean more to me (Colin Chapman, Jim Clark, monocoque race cars, ground effect, Lotus 49, 72). I guess that's maybe a personal point though,
I think the word that Autocar are really looking for, but are scared to say, is not pedigree, but "kudos". The Porsche badge just means more because of its luxury well built image - it's like buying a Rolex watch. Lotus, on the other hand, have a reputation of Lots Of Trouble Usually Serious, and it'll take a while to shake that off.
All I care about is which is better to drive
C43 said:
Hi Footsoldier
thought you would enjoy it. After your comments on the Europa brakes what did you make of the Evora ones. The ones on the car I drove were very strong indeed. Should easily stand up to any track day.
cheers
C43
Brakes much better, and first impressions are that they're comparable with anything else you will get on the road - R8 etc. Like most other things on the Evora they feel like they could cope with a lot more than is being asked of them. thought you would enjoy it. After your comments on the Europa brakes what did you make of the Evora ones. The ones on the car I drove were very strong indeed. Should easily stand up to any track day.
cheers
C43
Having said that, I didn't get the chance to test them properly at the limit or repeated heavy use. But, I'd be sure they would stop me at the first junction if I forgot to go easy on a cold morning, unlike Europa!
Cheers
shoestring7 said:
RobM77 said:
I'd say Lotus make up for it with a linear steering rack (really high tech, that! Porsche - can you keep up?), compared with Porsche's non-linear version.
Yeah, right. Mules like the 968CS and GT3s, all ruined by 'flawed' non-linear steering racks. 
SS7RobM77 said:
shoestring7 said:
RobM77 said:
I'd say Lotus make up for it with a linear steering rack (really high tech, that! Porsche - can you keep up?), compared with Porsche's non-linear version.
Yeah, right. Mules like the 968CS and GT3s, all ruined by 'flawed' non-linear steering racks. SS7The point is, nobody ever noticed (and the same for the GT2/3 Porsches). And possibly if you were able to turn down your analysis function, you might enjoy driving more.
Ss7
shoestring7 said:
RobM77 said:
shoestring7 said:
RobM77 said:
I'd say Lotus make up for it with a linear steering rack (really high tech, that! Porsche - can you keep up?), compared with Porsche's non-linear version.
Yeah, right. Mules like the 968CS and GT3s, all ruined by 'flawed' non-linear steering racks. SS7The point is, nobody ever noticed (and the same for the GT2/3 Porsches). And possibly if you were able to turn down your analysis function, you might enjoy driving more.
Ss7
I'm actually quite a relaxed and natural driver, I don't over-analyse thigs as it may appear sometimes. I just find that the steering gets in the way of my driving. When I test drove the Cayman S last (I dearly wanted one, so test drove it twice to make sure!) I ran over a grass apex on a hairpin and I nearly put the car into the middle of a roundabout on another occasion!! As one should, I complete the turn-in in one action at the start of a corner, knowing in my mind exactly how much lock to put on. Obviously my mind can't compute the non linear part of the rack (I'm not that clever!), so in tighter turns I instinctively put on too much lock. The effect is that I apex about 6 inches tighter than I expected to. I dread to think what opposite lock is like!
Great cars though - one day I'll buy one and try and source a linear rack from somewhere.
As I said, it's just a personal gripe. My team mate in racing has a Cayman S and has never mentioned the steering on it. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend a Porsche to someone, but personally I just can't get on with the steering.
RobM77 said:
shoestring7 said:
RobM77 said:
shoestring7 said:
RobM77 said:
I'd say Lotus make up for it with a linear steering rack (really high tech, that! Porsche - can you keep up?), compared with Porsche's non-linear version.
Yeah, right. Mules like the 968CS and GT3s, all ruined by 'flawed' non-linear steering racks. SS7The point is, nobody ever noticed (and the same for the GT2/3 Porsches). And possibly if you were able to turn down your analysis function, you might enjoy driving more.
Ss7
I'm actually quite a relaxed and natural driver, I don't over-analyse thigs as it may appear sometimes. I just find that the steering gets in the way of my driving. When I test drove the Cayman S last (I dearly wanted one, so test drove it twice to make sure!) I ran over a grass apex on a hairpin and I nearly put the car into the middle of a roundabout on another occasion!! As one should, I complete the turn-in in one action at the start of a corner, knowing in my mind exactly how much lock to put on. Obviously my mind can't compute the non linear part of the rack (I'm not that clever!), so in tighter turns I instinctively put on too much lock. The effect is that I apex about 6 inches tighter than I expected to. I dread to think what opposite lock is like!
Great cars though - one day I'll buy one and try and source a linear rack from somewhere.
As I said, it's just a personal gripe. My team mate in racing has a Cayman S and has never mentioned the steering on it. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend a Porsche to someone, but personally I just can't get on with the steering.
One thing that cannot be said about Porsche Cayman steering is that it isn't linear. I've driven some cars with over assisted or variable assisted steering as well as an S1 Elise and I really can say that for me there is more linearity and consistency in the inputs and weights on a Cayman barring anything but the Elise. Certainly if I've ended up missing an apex its been entirely my own fault not because I wasn't able to place the car properly, which wasn't the case in the RS4 for example. It is a little light perhaps but that's what people like these days I guess.
Now back on subject I would love to test the Evora, from what I've read I may want to part ex the pork there and then, but then theres the cost and practicality aspects... hmm second hand is the ways forwards so I can't really justify trying one just yet.
Mikeyboy
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