Five Hot Laps in the New Lotus Evora

[scannon]

The local Lotus club had a track event today at the High Plains Raceway. Ferrari of Denver who is also the Lotus dealer brought along a new Evora. During the driver's meeting it was announced that seriously interested people (i.e. those with lots of $$s) could get a ride.

 

Not being one of their targeted demographic I didn't think much about it but later in the day the fellow in charge of the car was running low on fuel so I offered to trade him the 5 gallons of fresh 91 octane in my spare gas can for a drive, not to be confused with just a ride. I also mentioned it was my spare helmet he had been using all day while giving rides.

 

He kind of put me off but later agreed so we dumped the five gallons in the tank and he handed me the key. I asked if he was coming with me and he said no! I grabbed a friend who was admiring the car and off we went.

 

First impression was that is the WORST shifter in a sports car ever. Long throws, no feeling for whether you were actually engaged and a general vagueness. Totally out of character with the rest of the car. The car had an optional "sport" six speed manual transmission.

 

On the track however, the handling and brakes were very impressive. Precise steering as you would expect from a Lotus and right now, OMG I braked way too soon for that corner, braking performance.

 

I pushed it harder each lap but was not feeling like I was finding the limits. I did get a little understeer on an off camber turn, easily caught and on with the turn.

 

Straight line performance was just OK, I was seeing 110 mph at the end of the long straight however my Miata was getting 122 mph with a slower exit off the last turn onto the straight. My Caterham has hit 130+ on this same straight. All speeds above are indicated, not clocked. The Evora needs at least another 100 hp to live up the the $80k price.

 

Would I buy one? Yes, if they sold for $35k and they could give it a better shifter. For $80 I'd rather have a Porsche Cayman S and $20k left over.

[Kitcat]

Nice to read an honest review.

 

Hopefully the shifter was an anomaly, but there is no denying the lack of serious power. A new M3 would bury it at the track, for $20K less.

 

IF I had the money I would consider it anyway: I love how it looks and, unlike the Cayman, there won't be one on every block.

[scannon]

Here's a response concerning the transmission from another forum where I posted the same review.

 

"The transmission came from a Toyota diesel truck, and the so call sport transmission just has different 4th, 5th, and 6th gear. Oooh, and Lotus already revised the linkage...I guess there were only so much they can do."

[rnr]

The shifter is an issue that Lotus has been dealing with for a while beacuse they are reusing gearboxes that were designed to be used in FWD applications and the various linkages have to be turned around. The Elise has a pretty crappy shifter as well.

 

This version of the Evora is pretty much a GT car and not a track car. Its designed to sell to people who want a sporty 4 seat coupe that is not a 911. It is not for serious track work - the next version which is be a supercharged 2 seater should do much better at the track.

[Slimjim7]

Anthony7 (Tony with the Birkin for sale) just took delivery of his Evora, all in all he said he loves the car but has problems with the shifter, he hopes that it will be resolved at service.

I had issues with the shifter on an Elise, always a bit sloppy and often baulked at 3rd.