Evora - new website
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Discussion

Lichtgestalt

Original Poster:

67 posts

230 months

Tuesday 14th October 2008
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Just got an email from Lotus announcing the launch and a website www.lotusevora.com with specs and option packs.

Tuna

19,930 posts

314 months

Tuesday 14th October 2008
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Looks like the old website to me. The Options list has been available for a while, and has been on the Knol for a few weeks.

http://knol.google.com/k/andy-lock-farm/lotus-evor...

There are now also links to PS3 in-game video of the Evora and colour selection which give fairly photo realistic views of the car.

bencollins

3,574 posts

235 months

Tuesday 14th October 2008
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1350kg kerb weight. Hmmmm.

C43

666 posts

228 months

Tuesday 14th October 2008
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100kg less than my S4 Esprit, and that went like stink....

bogie

17,100 posts

302 months

Tuesday 14th October 2008
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C43 said:
100kg less than my S4 Esprit, and that went like stink....
exactly...and how many horsepower was the Esprit? ..wasnt the last V8 'only' 350bhp ?

people and car mags rave on about any super saloon with 300bhp ish, so anything 100-200Kg lighter with the same power should be errrr...just fine wink

people always want more power, Lotus could bring it out with 400bhp and people would still be moaning about its not fast enough for this or that ...lets wait and see how it drives before complaining too much smile

Edited by bogie on Tuesday 14th October 13:21

LivinLaVidaLotus

1,626 posts

231 months

Tuesday 14th October 2008
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Well said Bogie, Lotus has never been about big power, it's been about being lighter than rivals and superior handling, and I've no doubts on both fronts there.

The Pits

4,290 posts

270 months

Tuesday 14th October 2008
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anyone know how or where to get hold of the gt5 prologue evora download?

Edited by The Pits on Tuesday 14th October 18:33

Lichtgestalt

Original Poster:

67 posts

230 months

Tuesday 14th October 2008
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If you already have GT5 you just need to go online and download the latest update for GT5

Saied

1,575 posts

249 months

Tuesday 14th October 2008
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Lichtgestalt said:
If you already have GT5 you just need to go online and download the latest update for GT5
The Evora's gearing is sooooooo long in GT5.

rico28

88 posts

220 months

Wednesday 15th October 2008
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Saied said:
Lichtgestalt said:
If you already have GT5 you just need to go online and download the latest update for GT5
The Evora's gearing is sooooooo long in GT5.
But if you turn off all the driver aids then the handling is great smile

kambites

71,599 posts

251 months

Wednesday 15th October 2008
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LivinLaVidaLotus said:
Well said Bogie, Lotus has never been about big power, it's been about being lighter than rivals and superior handling, and I've no doubts on both fronts there.
I suppose it depends on what you consider the rivals to be. It would seem that it's no lighter than a Cayman and only a tiny bit lighter than a 911 C2.

Tuna

19,930 posts

314 months

Wednesday 15th October 2008
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kambites said:
LivinLaVidaLotus said:
Well said Bogie, Lotus has never been about big power, it's been about being lighter than rivals and superior handling, and I've no doubts on both fronts there.
I suppose it depends on what you consider the rivals to be. It would seem that it's no lighter than a Cayman and only a tiny bit lighter than a 911 C2.
Without digging up the article, I'm fairly sure Lotus have said that the Evora is definately lighter than the Cayman (150Kg?) - there seems to be a difference of opinion as to how you weigh a car (and similar disucssions when the Porsche is compared to the GT-R). Popular opinion seems to be that Porsche weigh their cars in a fairly stripped down form - no options etc. In comparison, the options list for the Evora isn't going to make a huge difference to the overall car weight, however you specifiy it.

The other factor may be one of chassis stiffness. The Evora is meant to be 2.5 times stiffer than the Elise - which will benefit handling and probably overall performance, but does tend to have a weight penalty.

As ever, it's all just speculation until the production car is test-driven. The 1350kg weight is an estimate from the prototype - I doubt that the final car will be a million miles from that figure, but until it's given an official figure we won't know, and we certainly won't be able to guess the absolute performance.

bencollins

3,574 posts

235 months

Wednesday 15th October 2008
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kambites said:
LivinLaVidaLotus said:
Well said Bogie, Lotus has never been about big power, it's been about being lighter than rivals and superior handling, and I've no doubts on both fronts there.
I suppose it depends on what you consider the rivals to be. It would seem that it's no lighter than a Cayman and only a tiny bit lighter than a 911 C2.
Agreed the elise platform is significantly lighter than rivals and walks the Lotus talk of "performance through lightweight".
1350kg? Verba non Acta? It is certainly no worse than steel monocoque rivals, but is it better? IMO no. That´s 450kg up on the Elise platform and well into average territory. Doesnt mean the car is bad though, just not lightweight and outwith "performance through lightweight".

Tuna

19,930 posts

314 months

Wednesday 15th October 2008
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bencollins said:
kambites said:
LivinLaVidaLotus said:
Well said Bogie, Lotus has never been about big power, it's been about being lighter than rivals and superior handling, and I've no doubts on both fronts there.
I suppose it depends on what you consider the rivals to be. It would seem that it's no lighter than a Cayman and only a tiny bit lighter than a 911 C2.
Agreed the elise platform is significantly lighter than rivals and walks the Lotus talk of "performance through lightweight".
1350kg? Verba non Acta? It is certainly no worse than steel monocoque rivals, but is it better? IMO no. That´s 450kg up on the Elise platform and well into average territory. Doesnt mean the car is bad though, just not lightweight and outwith "performance through lightweight".
Depends on what the car delivers though, doesn't it? The Elise chassis has a good reputation, but is now being outclassed by rivals on the track. The Evora is also two feet longer than the Elise, has full carpeting, improved NVH, more/complex electronics and so on.

The Evora is a completely different proposition to the Elise - you might as well compare it with a Caterham and ask why it's so heavy.

Gooby

9,269 posts

264 months

Wednesday 15th October 2008
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LivinLaVidaLotus said:
Well said Bogie, Lotus has never been about big power, it's been about being lighter than rivals and superior handling, and I've no doubts on both fronts there.
Well said,
I am so bored with the Audi / BMW / Merc race to get a gazillion BHP under the bonnet with W12 engines and 4wd. Do they drive any better?

Colin set speed records with 47bhp, great aerodynamics and light weight.

The current price of fuel and desire to lower emissions is the best advert for what Lotus has stood for since its inception.

LivinLaVidaLotus

1,626 posts

231 months

Wednesday 15th October 2008
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Tuna said:
Depends on what the car delivers though, doesn't it? The Elise chassis has a good reputation, but is now being outclassed by rivals on the track. The Evora is also two feet longer than the Elise, has full carpeting, improved NVH, more/complex electronics and so on.

The Evora is a completely different proposition to the Elise - you might as well compare it with a Caterham and ask why it's so heavy.
A lot of people seem to be missing that point, that it's a bigger car, it's not like it's the same size as an Elise and put on 450KG - it's longer, taller, wider, bigger wheels, 2+2, bigger engine, more refinements including sound proofing - which is heavy when done properly.

bencollins

3,574 posts

235 months

Wednesday 15th October 2008
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I was making three points, perhaps not very clearly.
1) The Elise is significantly lighter than its rivals, while the Evora appears to be the same weight as its rivals. Therefore the claim "performance through lightweight" looks dubious.
2) It is a big step change of mass between the 2 seater and 2+2 model, 450kg or 50% extra, especially comparing the step change between the Cayman and 911 (even accounting for 2 extra cylinders in the lotus case).
3) The Ally spaceframe in the Elise appears to reap weight saving rewards versus steel monocoque rivals, in the 2+2 chassis there doesn´t seem to be any significant advantage. It will be interesting to compare the Evora chassis stiffnes versus 911/cayman.

The Evora can certainly outmanoeuvre rivals in terms of exclusivity and character etc.
The 1350kg is taken from the Lotus website link someone supplied earlier.

Gooby

9,269 posts

264 months

Wednesday 15th October 2008
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Weight of the chassis is not its only "top trump" statistic. The elise chassis is incredibly light but the 911 chassis is 60% stiffer. Not quite sure what to derrive from that apart from I know which I like...

kambites

71,599 posts

251 months

Wednesday 15th October 2008
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Gooby said:
Weight of the chassis is not its only "top trump" statistic. The elise chassis is incredibly light but the 911 chassis is 60% stiffer. Not quite sure what to derrive from that apart from I know which I like...
60% stiffer gives you the same amount of the flex if the car weighs 60% more though (which it does, roughly).

Tuna

19,930 posts

314 months

Wednesday 15th October 2008
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bencollins said:
I was making three points, perhaps not very clearly.
1) The Elise is significantly lighter than its rivals, while the Evora appears to be the same weight as its rivals. Therefore the claim "performance through lightweight" looks dubious.
Ok, so comparing the Elise with the MX5 (1,095 kg) it's say 200 kilos lighter. Now, strip out the carpet, sound deadening and heavy seats from the Mazda and I'd bet you could get fairly close to the Elise weight. The performance through light weight isn't being achieved through magic pixie dust that only Lotus know about - the chassis is certainly light, but the overall weight of the car is down more to paring back the specification than super materials and design.

When you come to rivals of the Evora (ie. basically Porsche), do you think that they don't care about light weight too? In that regard, the playing field is much more level as (1) Lotus' rivals will be saving weight wherever they can and (2) the target market will not put up with reduced specification just to save weight.

I think people are making a bit much of Chapmans' famous quote - it's not a law that Lotus are obliged to follow at the expense of all other attributes of a car. However, it does appear to be offering some benefit in the Evora - Lotus have quoted class leading mpg and emissions figures, as well as claiming that the Evora is lighter and 'usefully faster' than the Cayman.

bencollins said:
2) It is a big step change of mass between the 2 seater and 2+2 model, 450kg or 50% extra, especially comparing the step change between the Cayman and 911 (even accounting for 2 extra cylinders in the lotus case).
Um, yes - have you been in a 50K car recently? No-one in that market puts up with noise, rattles, bare metal and thin plastics. The Evora isn't a bigger Elise.

bencollins said:
3) The Ally spaceframe in the Elise appears to reap weight saving rewards versus steel monocoque rivals, in the 2+2 chassis there doesn´t seem to be any significant advantage. It will be interesting to compare the Evora chassis stiffnes versus 911/cayman.
If the other figures in this thread are correct, the Evora chassis is about one and a half times stiffer than the Porsche.

bencollins said:
The Evora can certainly outmanoeuvre rivals in terms of exclusivity and character etc.
The 1350kg is taken from the Lotus website link someone supplied earlier.
Yes, the 1350Kg is Lotus' own figures for the prototype car. They have said (and say in all of the Evora literature) that this will be updated when full production cars are built. No-one is expecting a big change, but comparisons with other manufacturer's cars are difficult as they have different views as to how the DIN figure relates to production vehicles.