RE: Lotus Evora: PH Buying Guide

[mnx42]

I have only ever seen three but one of those I see nearly everyday. It's a black one and IMO isnt the best colour. The orange one in this thread looks awesome. All in all I think it's a good looking car that (clutch replacement aside) seems reasonable to run.

[otolith]

P(poster makes an inflammatory and incorrect assertion) ∝ 1/P(poster has filled in his garage)

[Spunagain]

Shnozz said:

Did you retain the original Alpine rear camera when you fitted the Pioneer? I have an issue to resolve whereby the camera isn't working with the Pioneer unit (hasn't since swapping them) and neither the iphone connecting lead.

I wonder if needs a new harness to configure these two and searching for info as many appear to have swapped the Alpine head unit for the Pioneer one with no such issues.

Not sure, mine was factory fitted, I understand it was a prototype to assess the Pioneer. But I have seen under the dash of an Alpine car and the Alpine seems to have lots of different modules, whereas the Pioneer is all in one.

I have had my IPad running via the lead and via Bluetooth, so it sounds like something is not right.

[Lazydonkey]

Spunagain said:

Not sure, mine was factory fitted, I understand it was a prototype to assess the Pioneer. But I have seen under the dash of an Alpine car and the Alpine seems to have lots of different modules, whereas the Pioneer is all in one.

I have had my IPad running via the lead and via Bluetooth, so it sounds like something is not right.

The very earliest alpines had a load of separate modules, but the later version was more standard all in one unit. Both are utterly ste though. Mine was replaced with a pioneer and has been excellent.

EDIT : Standard camera worked fine with new unit. Until it failed. lol

Edited by Lazydonkey on Tuesday 5th May 08:44

[blueg33]

In defence of the Alpine, the sat nav is good. I have used mine to cross Europe with no issues. It talks too much though!

[stuno1]

chelme said:

Comparing the LFA V10 to the Camry V6 is laughable...

If you read the posts I am referring the comparison of the principal not the engines.

Stu

[Uncle John]

One of my neighbours has a red one, and it looks stunning.

If you are on here it sounded nice when you were reversing it into your garage yesterday!!

[chiark]

Fantastic cars, and I was sorely tempted to replace a 996... But unfortunately my kids couldn't fit, even at a pinch . (11 and 8 year old boys)

This has to be one of the least useful pieces of information though - "clutch is £440 + fitting". Fitting is not only an engine out job, it's basically dismantle the rear of the car! 40 plus hours at least. Reckon on 3 grand minimum in labour.

It is a consumable, after all, and that's a shocking amount of money. Would be nice if you updated the article perhaps. Other than that, I'd love one of these!

[Lazydonkey]

Murray Lotus in Edinburgh quote £2,750 for labour and parts. Still expensive but not £3k in labour.

Although that's expensive for a single item it is balanced by the more regular bills are MUCH lower than the competition.

[Moospeed]

chiark said:

Fantastic cars, and I was sorely tempted to replace a 996... But unfortunately my kids couldn't fit, even at a pinch . (11 and 8 year old boys)

This has to be one of the least useful pieces of information though - "clutch is £440 + fitting". Fitting is not only an engine out job, it's basically dismantle the rear of the car! 40 plus hours at least. Reckon on 3 grand minimum in labour.

It is a consumable, after all, and that's a shocking amount of money. Would be nice if you updated the article perhaps. Other than that, I'd love one of these!

Sounds like a repeat of the build process
of a previous Lotus. When they built the 340R they started with the battery and built the rest of the car around it.

[kambites]

Moospeed said:

When they built the 340R they started with the battery and built the rest of the car around it.

I used to work with someone who found that out the expensive way.

The Evora's clutch wouldn't really be an issue if they hadn't somehow managed to screw up the clutch assembly process on early cars so they failed after a few years. I've never had to replace the clutch on any car I've owned.

[trooperiziz]

I'd agree with all the comments from the owners on here, I had an Evora S for a year and loved it, even if the boot did fill with water every time it rained

One thing not often mentioned but a good tip, the power fold mirrors were something like a £350 option from the factory, yet all cars are wired up for them, the only thing you need is the mirror switch from a Ford Mondeo for about £20. It's a 2 minute job to fit if you don't have them.

[BenWRXSEi]

All this talk of the rear seats and no pictures!



(from Google)

Anyone know how they compare to, say, the rear seats in a Porsche 996? They don't look too bad...

[kambites]

BenWRXSEi said:

Anyone know how they compare to, say, the rear seats in a Porsche 996?

The Evora's are significantly smaller.

[BenWRXSEi]

kambites said:

The Evora's are significantly smaller.

Blimey, didn't think that was possible! Thanks

[kambites]

BenWRXSEi said:

kambites said:

The Evora's are significantly smaller.

Blimey, didn't think that was possible! Thanks

The legroom is similarly non-existant but the Evora has severely restricted headroom as well and I don't remember that being much of an issue in the 911. I suppose you could argue that you'd never put an adult in the back of either so headroom is a bit of a non-issue though.

[angelicupstarts]

HustleRussell said:

daytona365 said:

Why thank you sir, though Id prefer 'informative'.

I'm sure you would- however, miraculously you managed to be less informative than the article itself.

HA ..Love it !

[chiark]

BenWRXSEi said:

Anyone know how they compare to, say, the rear seats in a Porsche 996? They don't look too bad...

They are a lot smaller, as said above. My kids could get in the 996 without issue, and we did some 4 hour journeys in it 4-up without complaint, but they could not fit in the Evora. Unfortunately. If you want a laugh, try and get in yourself: I'm 6', and I could sit in the back of the 996 with only minor discomfort. I literally could not get in the Evora. (Cue video of someone taller saying "I did"!)

The new Evora launched at Geneva has more space in the back, and they've made 'em look a lot more like the 996 seats. Less padding, for sure, but more useful.

[BenWRXSEi]

chiark said:

They are a lot smaller, as said above. My kids could get in the 996 without issue, and we did some 4 hour journeys in it 4-up without complaint, but they could not fit in the Evora. Unfortunately. If you want a laugh, try and get in yourself: I'm 6', and I could sit in the back of the 996 with only minor discomfort. I literally could not get in the Evora. (Cue video of someone taller saying "I did"!)

The new Evora launched at Geneva has more space in the back, and they've made 'em look a lot more like the 996 seats. Less padding, for sure, but more useful.

Thanks chiark. Idle specuation really for when the OH's 996 eventually gets moved on. Not that we really need back seats, but useful to know

[ITP]

Lazydonkey said:

Murray Lotus in Edinburgh quote £2,750 for labour and parts. Still expensive but not £3k in labour.

Although that's expensive for a single item it is balanced by the more regular bills are MUCH lower than the competition.

That is a lot for a clutch (less than i thought though for 40hrs labour) but with the rest of the stuff appearing to be more niggly stuff and not big money, it still looks like a winner to me. Looking at the overall picture, with the depreciation being low, maybe 1.5/2k per year if bought a few years old, its still appears much cheaper than many similar cars overall. That's if overall cost of running a car like this is a big enough factor in buying of course.

For example, general consensus seems to be you would be a bit foolish to run a gen1 997 without a porsche warranty. How much is that? £1200/year?, That £3600 straight away, plus higer depreciation, plus it wouldn't cover you for wearing your clutch out anyway.......