B1 RMA

In an attempt to answer your question about why I have both Lotus and Porsche I can only say this. I set a budget and drive every car within that budget and whatever car excites me enough as a driving machine I tick, I then go into actual running costs as I am a believer in looking after cars properly. I am also able to clear my mind of any preconcieved blinkered general opinions that fly about on car forums. I take my hat off to people who buy their cars new I don't, I look at the market and set a budget based on general 50% depreciation from new and if a good manufacturers warranty is still in place all the better. I would have bought an Elise but everytime I've driven one it gives me motion sickness and at the big Lotus meeting at Donnington a while back I had to lie down for an hour because it made me feel ill after going round the track, my Boxster doesn't do that. Neither car delivers anything the other doesn't but they are different enough to want to keep both. I think racing Evoras do more for the brand than any advertising budget that Lotus may or may not have. I had my first Lotus in 1973 and have had one on and off since then, not really through brand loyalty but just because for the avaiable budget they were the best car and just recently the Boxster has qualified itself in bucketloads the same way.

Yes I'm beginning to warm to the Evora S as time passes, and once I'm bored with the Esprit hopefully an Evora S will be about £26K secondhand. As usual though Porsche have put a spanner in the works with the 991 which will depreciate quickly I expect and also be on the radar.

It’s just unfortunate that a publicity seeking ego maniac with his own agenda whetted everyone’s appetite with a vast range of products they probably knew would never see the light of day. In the meantime let’s celebrate the fact that Lotus have produced a wonderful fast road/trackday car in the Exige S which I think is good value for money . I’d still like to see the Evora evolve into something that will get the old blood pumping a bit quicker whether it be a V8 or just getting the GTE out the factory door. When I was working over at Castle Donnington last year I saw what I think was a racing Evora on track and I said to myself ‘yes that’s what they should be doing racing cars like that’ I still can't see the Esprit coming out and unfortunately by the time it does come out I'll probably be driving a bloody Yaris!

I'd have thought with a bit of subtle restyling and a bloody great spoiler it would be an ideal vehicle to metamorphose into the new Esprit as from what I understand the Evora can handle more power. The Exige S is possibly an example of stuffing a bigger engine in an existing design and from what I can see it seems to work very well

V8 Evora perhaps for the time being?

I'd have thought that exploiting a bit more power out of the current Evora to make it appeal more to dedicated Lotus Esprit owners would have been a good idea. As I'm sure many people would perhaps not be too happy with the sort of cost the car will probably be either as it will have to compete in a very tough market

Whoops bloody iphone keys

Sounds typical, mines going in this week to have the air-con radiator replaced so we are preparing to replace most of the oil cooler pipes. Also bought some lovely front discs which match the AP's already on perfectly as they are drilled too. I've kept £2-3K aside as I have to investigate the occasional trail of smoke that sometimes occurs. Don't you just love the way these cars always something to do.

Echoes of the M250 keep making me think no. On the positive side all owners of 350's and late Esprit's could be rubbing their hand together as the owners of the last big Lotus produced.

Yes it is, this is part of the Avengers set with Steed and his Bentley

I have a link to my Flikr account here the first photo is an overview of the main Corgi Lotus collection http://flic.kr/p/dJABZu

I find this a bit worrying because my daughter has decided to go to the University of East Anglia to study Plant Science and will be there for four years

I will have to take a few photo's of my Corgi Lotus collection I have 2 Lotus 11's a silver and a blue one, all mint and boxed. Several Lotus Elans including the Emma Peel white one with the Emma Peel figure a 'Tiger in your tank' and a few other Elans in the racing set plus the very rare Lotus Elite 'Flying School Set' from Marks and Spencer which an Elite is pulling a trailor with a plane on the back complete with the diarama type box of the flying school. Being a bit of a collector I have all these in absolutely mint A1 unused condition with boxes in equal condition and have built up the collection over the past 20 years or so. Just counted I have in total 24 Lotus model cars in my display cabinet.

I'm one of those people who thought Lotus pulled the plug on the Esprit too soon, I'm fully aware of possible emmision obsticles etc. I still think the last series of the Esprit were such good cars. On reflection of my posts which did stray a bit off topic what I was really trying to get across was that as many of us know many people are far to sceptical about the Lotus brand i.e. Loads of trouble etc and every time I come across someone of that opinion I always go out of my way to try and get this silly image corrected. Although the saying if you have to explain you missed the point so rightly applies and my point is that the Cayman and Boxster are two very similar cases and I thought that as owners of a Lotus you may just want to be enlightened.

The only point I would like to make which is one from a purely driving experience perspective is to drive one of these cars because like me you own a Lotus for whatever reason you see fit. Since buying my Boxster I have let several friends of mine drive my car and like far too many people including me thought of the Cayman/Boxster to either be a poor mans 911 or a girls car which I think is stupid because they are not. I have amongst my circle of friends people who own a Lotus and many other sports car brands, all who have driven my car to date have seriously re-considered their opinion and in two cases have actually decided to buy one. I'm not here to promote a Porsche on a Lotus forum but to hopefully enlighten people, but as the owner and lover of both cars and an enthusiast to boot I can assure you if you have this preconcieved idea about them you may just be wrong. I would also add that I only paid £26K (a 2008 car) for mine which has all the gizmos like active suspension and carbon ceramic brakes etc and for the money is a ridiculously good car and the best £26K I've ever spent. I've heard rumours of a 360 bhp Cayman which should be an awesome piece of kit secondhand a few years down the line. I don't care how common my car is when I'm on a twisty A road somewhere out in the countryside it's the driving buzz that feeds my hunger.

I can believe that, I am not at all happy about the N tyre business but as the warranty is so comprehensive I'll just go along with it. In answer to your question Trevor I think the new model cayman comes out in Feb/March here I think it's quite nice looking from the pictures I've seen and as with all cars like this will be an absolute bargain after 4 years think of it as being able to have two cars for the price of one albeit a used couple of cars.

Interesting to get opinions from two forum members from Germany, and I can understand that they must be as common as muck out there and the appeal of the Evora is obvious. It's also nice to be able to post opinions on two cars that tend to have strong pro and anti feelings about either car which often degenerates into something like a playground spat.

I think my plan would be the more logical, wait for a few years and get one secondhand. Can't see Lotus being that desperate as to give them away at £25K although they should consider the length of my dedication to the brand but a bit like your camping I'll not hold my breath. I suppose I could ask but I doubt if modifications would be allowed under the Porsche warranty, as I recently found out the guy I bought it off said there was 6 months warranty remaining but when I went down to the local Porsche dealership it actually has over 18 months full warranty left to run so a bit of a bonus. One thing that does really annoy me is the fact I have to stick to N spec tyres for the car otherwise no warranty now thats close to dictatorship me thinks. Plus the new Michelin Pilot Super Sports are so good on the car and have yet to get N approval, still I'll always have the excuse it was the tyres not my driving for the next year or so. Until quite recently I had exactly the same feeling about modern cars, originally I went out to buy a 2008 997 911 Turbo and the latest additions like active suspension have changed my mind about modern cars, the only thing stopping me was the depreciation factor which according to the sales guy meant a £7k loss if I returned the car in a years time. Compared to the 996 the later 997 Turbo is in my opinion a far better finished car which to a certain degree flatters the driver with all the clever on board gizmo's things like ceramic brakes give you the confidence to stop within distances you never thought possible. I hold my hands up and confess to being a convert to modern cars, but I'm way too tight to go spending my money on brand new ones though as I find the depreciation just something I can't bring myself round to swallowing.

I'll let you know by the end of the year Bibs as I have a good half a dozen trackdays booked. If there is a problem I can assure you I will shout it from the rooftops.

From my very recent discussion with my local Porsche dealer the only time they will dispute a claim is if it has been over-revved which is likely if you go from 5th to 6th but engage 4th the ECU records this as a band something or other over-rev which I understand won't be covered but you can drive your car on as many trackdays as you wish and still enjoy the benefits. Now considering I only paid £26K for the car I consider that to be pretty good. PS this was from the actual dealership technical service guy who actually phoned Porsche GB to get the simple facts for me. I may have to wait a year or two but my cunning long term plan is that I don't reckon the new Esprit will emerge therefore the existing late Esprits will steadilly gain in value so by the time I've finished getting my V8 up to what I consider pristine it should sell for good money. I could of course be wrong but I would remind everyone of the M250 which certain Lotus people I know actually put a deposit on one.

My comments were perhaps better directed at sales or marketing directors where this kind of concept may have legs. Did you know that Porsche still cover their cars with the full OPC warranty even if you do trackdays? Now there's confidence in your product, I know this for a fact as I've recently bought a car for trackday fun and it's covered. Oh and I will probably buy an Evora S when they are around the £25-27K price bracket which probably wont be that long.

Thank you Trevor, I consider that if a car also has a bit of quirkiness then thats a bonus but I think when people wax lyrical (perhaps car salsemen) about these things they should go and stand in Pseuds corner.

Nowt wrong with that! I just hope this mystical 'soul' is not being miss-sold by people being half way there in so far as being arsesouls

As a Lotus owner for a very long time I don't buy into this 'soul' thing at all. What I do get from my Lotus is a feel for the road which I can assure you my Porsche Boxster has but it just does it in a different way. After driving the Boxster I get in my Esprit and as a collector of pens I describe it this way, after driving the Porsche then the Lotus its like the Porsche is a precision writing instrument and the Lotus is a biro held together with sticky tape. Ultimately they both do what they are supposed to do and that is write. I get in the Esprit and it feels cheap with parts raided from anybodies parts bin (and don't forget that picture of a speedo half cock that GKP posted a while ago) whereas the Porsche feels precision crafted and still looks and operates in that fashion every time without fail of falter. When I first get in the Esprit all the 'jiggling' that I feel through the steering wheel after a few miles and bends all makes sense as feedback of the road surface but the Porsche does exactly the same it may well be the difference between a 2001 car and a 2008 one. As someone in the process of refurbishing my V8 both my mechanic and I look at each other and say why? on several occasions. Don't get me wrong I still love my Lotus but I choose my cars on the way they drive not by some blind passion for something I can't logically relate to perhaps I have no soul.

Someone I know who has dealings with the council informed me the other day that councils with stretched budgets have no appetite for long expensive disputes these days.