Thursday, May 28, 2009

Lotus Evora

I've just been reading a road test on the new Evora in "Winding Road" magazine. I was attracted by the photographs and I think it is the best looking Lotus to have been produced for ages. Much better than the Elise for example.
It too is powered by the Toyota 3.5litre transverse mounted V6 with the 6-speed manual gearbox. It has 39/61 fore/aft weight distribution and is apparently fantastic to drive, handling better than a Porsche Cayman for example. Torsional rigidity is also better than the Porsche as well. What does everybody else think of this little beauty?

7 comments:

Jim said...

Well, to be perfectly francis (since you ask!), I think it is just a bit too clever. There's too many nips and tucks and too many style lines, for my taste anyway. The decoration has taken over the form.
To me, fast expensive cars need to look elegant and to look elegant, the lines need to be simple, long and extremely well crafted. Most Aston Martins are good examples of this.

Bruno von Rotz said...

Certainly, the Lotus Evora is a good looking car, but it's also quite heaviy in comparison with for example the ARTEGA (from Germany, also with a V6 engine) and fairly expensive. It also seems to lack a bit of power. I haven't driven it myself yet, but I am actually a fan of the early Elise (with a weight of just a bit more than 700 kg) and there's nothing better than a light car. And of course I like all the old Lotus, the Elite, the Elan and the 11/17/23 from the fifties and sixties.

John L said...

Jim, the Evora is much more "elegant" looking than the Elise. I'm a bit old fashioned I guess. I'm still getting excited over the original Elite and the Elan.

Jim said...

John said, "the Evora is much more "elegant" looking than the Elise"
Can't argue with that! The Elise was just too small to make the "elegant" thing work and it did suffered from the "tacked on" bits.

"I'm still getting excited over the original Elite and the Elan."
I agree there too. Having just said the Elise is too small to be elegant, the Elite design says that it is possible, afterall. It's a piece of genius, in my view.

Bruno von Rotz said...

I fully agree, the old ELITE was the best design of them all. Never again probably has a small car been so good looking and elegant, something that is much easier to be achieved with long and wide cars usually.

Michael Pollard said...

The Evora has replaced the new Nagari as the car I lust after. I think its a very pretty car (sacrilege I know but much prettier than the new Nagari) and at an anticipated price of $75KUSD its in the affordable range over here in the USA. The base Elise at around $50KUSD is even more affordable and having had one scoot around me on a freeway exit like it was on rails I'd like to get behind the wheel just to see what it can do.

But if I had to really pick I’d still go for a Nagari coupe or a Lotus Elan +2.

Jim said...

Thanks for mentioning the Artega, Bruno. I went looking for it and it certainly is good looking, even elegant! And it's small in size yet it looks bigger. I reckon it would be a hoot to drive. I think Fisker is a very gifted designer.