RE: Lotus Evora GT430: Driven
Discussion
I like Lotus, always had a bit of a soft spot for them. they bad a bad reputation in the 70s with a lot of poor quality parts from BL and 900 series engine issues and this followed them around for the next decade. Things improved in the 80s with more parts coming from Toyota and the 900 series was well developed at this point.
The early 90s things were better the Esprit SE turbo intercooler was out and was one of the fast accelerating cars of its day, certainly at its price point. New Elan was out but it didn't sell as expected which is a shame I liked it, still think it' looks good today.
The Elise rebooted Lotus but they were a bit slow to capitalise, and some of the higher performance varients has some pretty half baked engine work. A new deal with Toyota got them access to high reving 190hp engines and the 111r and s/c era was in my view the cars zenith.
Along came the Evora after much delay (the words foot, shot and self spring to mind) and I personally really liked it. They done a lot of improvement on the car since then as well as bringing out the V6 Exige.
This is the probably the best lineup Lotus have had in my view, although the caveat I guess is the only other time I can rember a proper three car lineup (as in genuinely different models) was a brief period in 91/92
I do think they are moving in the right direction for the first time in a long time I look at their cars and can't see a big weak point.
In the 70s is was unreliability in the new models
In the 80s it was living down the reputation of the 70s (thought the lineup was good in this era)
In the 90s it was 4 cylinder engines in their super cars and fwd (the turbo was no longer such a shiny new concept at this point)
In the 2000s it was lack of direction and focus, aborted projects, Poor OEM high performance k series, big promises but lack of funding to make any of it happen.
In the 2010s it was survival mode, and out of that seems to have come a good lineup, hopefully they won't follow the same path of history they did the last time they had a good lineup in the mid 80s
The early 90s things were better the Esprit SE turbo intercooler was out and was one of the fast accelerating cars of its day, certainly at its price point. New Elan was out but it didn't sell as expected which is a shame I liked it, still think it' looks good today.
The Elise rebooted Lotus but they were a bit slow to capitalise, and some of the higher performance varients has some pretty half baked engine work. A new deal with Toyota got them access to high reving 190hp engines and the 111r and s/c era was in my view the cars zenith.
Along came the Evora after much delay (the words foot, shot and self spring to mind) and I personally really liked it. They done a lot of improvement on the car since then as well as bringing out the V6 Exige.
This is the probably the best lineup Lotus have had in my view, although the caveat I guess is the only other time I can rember a proper three car lineup (as in genuinely different models) was a brief period in 91/92
I do think they are moving in the right direction for the first time in a long time I look at their cars and can't see a big weak point.
In the 70s is was unreliability in the new models
In the 80s it was living down the reputation of the 70s (thought the lineup was good in this era)
In the 90s it was 4 cylinder engines in their super cars and fwd (the turbo was no longer such a shiny new concept at this point)
In the 2000s it was lack of direction and focus, aborted projects, Poor OEM high performance k series, big promises but lack of funding to make any of it happen.
In the 2010s it was survival mode, and out of that seems to have come a good lineup, hopefully they won't follow the same path of history they did the last time they had a good lineup in the mid 80s
peter450 said:
I like Lotus, always had a bit of a soft spot for them. they bad a bad reputation in the 70s with a lot of poor quality parts from BL and 900 series engine issues and this followed them around for the next decade. Things improved in the 80s with more parts coming from Toyota and the 900 series was well developed at this point.
The early 90s things were better the Esprit SE turbo intercooler was out and was one of the fast accelerating cars of its day, certainly at its price point. New Elan was out but it didn't sell as expected which is a shame I liked it, still think it' looks good today.
The Elise rebooted Lotus but they were a bit slow to capitalise, and some of the higher performance varients has some pretty half baked engine work. A new deal with Toyota got them access to high reving 190hp engines and the 111r and s/c era was in my view the cars zenith.
Along came the Evora after much delay (the words foot, shot and self spring to mind) and I personally really liked it. They done a lot of improvement on the car since then as well as bringing out the V6 Exige.
This is the probably the best lineup Lotus have had in my view, although the caveat I guess is the only other time I can rember a proper three car lineup (as in genuinely different models) was a brief period in 91/92
I do think they are moving in the right direction for the first time in a long time I look at their cars and can't see a big weak point.
In the 70s is was unreliability in the new models
In the 80s it was living down the reputation of the 70s (thought the lineup was good in this era)
In the 90s it was 4 cylinder engines in their super cars and fwd (the turbo was no longer such a shiny new concept at this point)
In the 2000s it was lack of direction and focus, aborted projects, Poor OEM high performance k series, big promises but lack of funding to make any of it happen.
In the 2010s it was survival mode, and out of that seems to have come a good lineup, hopefully they won't follow the same path of history they did the last time they had a good lineup in the mid 80s
Not sure what is wrong with a good K Series. Great engine, plenty of character and suit the car perfectly IMO. Lighter than the Toyota unit which makes a big difference on track.The early 90s things were better the Esprit SE turbo intercooler was out and was one of the fast accelerating cars of its day, certainly at its price point. New Elan was out but it didn't sell as expected which is a shame I liked it, still think it' looks good today.
The Elise rebooted Lotus but they were a bit slow to capitalise, and some of the higher performance varients has some pretty half baked engine work. A new deal with Toyota got them access to high reving 190hp engines and the 111r and s/c era was in my view the cars zenith.
Along came the Evora after much delay (the words foot, shot and self spring to mind) and I personally really liked it. They done a lot of improvement on the car since then as well as bringing out the V6 Exige.
This is the probably the best lineup Lotus have had in my view, although the caveat I guess is the only other time I can rember a proper three car lineup (as in genuinely different models) was a brief period in 91/92
I do think they are moving in the right direction for the first time in a long time I look at their cars and can't see a big weak point.
In the 70s is was unreliability in the new models
In the 80s it was living down the reputation of the 70s (thought the lineup was good in this era)
In the 90s it was 4 cylinder engines in their super cars and fwd (the turbo was no longer such a shiny new concept at this point)
In the 2000s it was lack of direction and focus, aborted projects, Poor OEM high performance k series, big promises but lack of funding to make any of it happen.
In the 2010s it was survival mode, and out of that seems to have come a good lineup, hopefully they won't follow the same path of history they did the last time they had a good lineup in the mid 80s
Same with Caterham - I think the K is a lot better than the Sigma and even Duratec.
CABC said:
it is old news David, but many here are encouraging Lotus to survive. They're in turnaround phase. Easy to take pot shots.
You might be too young to remember that not so long ago Porsche was just about bankrupt and that their plan was to cut the 911.
We all know that Porsche are now dominant, but if you happily accept that it's game over then in future that'll be the only sports car you can choose. I don't want to live in socialist Russia or China.
I love Lotus , I dislike the prices and I am target market, UK sales are VERY low. You might be too young to remember that not so long ago Porsche was just about bankrupt and that their plan was to cut the 911.
We all know that Porsche are now dominant, but if you happily accept that it's game over then in future that'll be the only sports car you can choose. I don't want to live in socialist Russia or China.
I bought a brand new top end Elise , it was £24k I think, I would buy another but vs my GT4 its dire value at £65k or £115k for the evora. I also bought an exige 2nd hand for £24k while prices have gone up I only see the top Elise as a £35k car, it’s not good enough to be worth more.
I hope Lotus bring out a nice Elise in 2020 but it needs to be a real price to tempt people back to the brand. If it’s £60k they will fail.
Every dealer has a cup 250 in stock, most have the exige sport 380 in stock, both great cars but not selling due to their price points, dealers discount esp Murray so the markets screwed for 2nd hand values, £55k Elise cups cars fail to sell at £34k less than 2 years on !
Porsche911R said:
I love Lotus , I dislike the prices and I am target market, UK sales are VERY low.
I bought a brand new top end Elise , it was £24k I think, I would buy another but vs my GT4 its dire value at £65k or £115k for the evora. I also bought an exige 2nd hand for £24k while prices have gone up I only see the top Elise as a £35k car, it’s not good enough to be worth more.
I hope Lotus bring out a nice Elise in 2020 but it needs to be a real price to tempt people back to the brand. If it’s £60k they will fail.
Every dealer has a cup 250 in stock, most have the exige sport 380 in stock, both great cars but not selling due to their price points, dealers discount esp Murray so the markets screwed for 2nd hand values, £55k Elise cups cars fail to sell at £34k less than 2 years on !
Poverty spec GT4 or is that the price without options?I bought a brand new top end Elise , it was £24k I think, I would buy another but vs my GT4 its dire value at £65k or £115k for the evora. I also bought an exige 2nd hand for £24k while prices have gone up I only see the top Elise as a £35k car, it’s not good enough to be worth more.
I hope Lotus bring out a nice Elise in 2020 but it needs to be a real price to tempt people back to the brand. If it’s £60k they will fail.
Every dealer has a cup 250 in stock, most have the exige sport 380 in stock, both great cars but not selling due to their price points, dealers discount esp Murray so the markets screwed for 2nd hand values, £55k Elise cups cars fail to sell at £34k less than 2 years on !
No matter what anyone thinks of them, being a big or niche player, I'd buy one. I had a 2011 Evora and it was comfortable, reliable, fun, economical and people loved it. For the money I'd rather have something different and a real drivers car than a mass market one. And I did high mileage in it, often more than 500 a day, and it never went wrong, let me down or missed a beat. But I'm only 5 foot ten, so admittedly, anyone over 6 foot or so may find it a tight fit. But trust me, the grin factor was well worth it.
I hope they come out with some more driver focused models with the new cash rich owners soon. I for one would not hesitate to recommend the Evora as a very usable and fun car. And I like not having a big German badge on the front, kinda inverted snobbery!
I hope they come out with some more driver focused models with the new cash rich owners soon. I for one would not hesitate to recommend the Evora as a very usable and fun car. And I like not having a big German badge on the front, kinda inverted snobbery!
petersuper said:
No matter what anyone thinks of them, being a big or niche player, I'd buy one. I had a 2011 Evora and it was comfortable, reliable, fun, economical and people loved it. For the money I'd rather have something different and a real drivers car than a mass market one. And I did high mileage in it, often more than 500 a day, and it never went wrong, let me down or missed a beat. But I'm only 5 foot ten, so admittedly, anyone over 6 foot or so may find it a tight fit. But trust me, the grin factor was well worth it.
I never found the Evora a tight cabin and I am 6'3". Regularly did Southampton > Leeds or vice versa between homes and it was always a joy. Never climbed out of it anything other than fresh. Suspension a point of amazement at being compliant when pushing on yet took the bumps so well it would glide on all but the worst surface. That said, I did think the Recaros in the Series 2 Evora seemed to sit you a touch higher, the seats felt a bit harder and the suspension a touch more sporty than supple.
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