Nelly

Evora prices held firm for ages but prices have certainly dropped a bit on early cars now - quit dismayed to see a few in mid £20k's recently. I may have seen the previous owner mention in the market thread how much he misses his old NA, and with prices low he may be tempted to get another. Is it worth mentioning to him (although it won;t be long before he sees this I am sure!).

Agree Dave, I think your assessment is spot on. Special editions are always going to command a premium, just on rarity alone.

There is also a gold one on Car & Classic for £34k https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C1018602 Seems previous owners didn't like black sills either. Three S2's for sale at once is rare, all at strong money. Anyone think they will get to these prices?

Lotus Elise. Other than the drifting roundabouts at 25mph, it fulfills all of the above. Its the best fun you can have under 60mph IMO, in fact I have often thought of moving the Evora on and getting another, especially with the weather as it has been recently.

I actually think the speed limit should be kept at 70 mph - on the basis that most people will always try and push a little more than they are allowed (just look at some lockdown behaviour), I believe 80-90 mph is common place on our motorways. By putting it up to 90, that little push will then end up around 100 - so by keeping it at 70 its helping to keep everyone around the speed most of us feel the limit should be, (as already suggested earlier in this thread). Just my view, and not based on any studies or articles. Clearly this prick was using the quieter roads as an excuse to max his car in the thinking there would be less traffic, what pisses me off about this is that, similar to drink driving, these people very often survive their own accidents and end up killing someone innocent.

Complete agree Jonny @The Pits with both your most recent posts, but the above is the one reason I was underwhelmed with the Elise announcement. I very much believe there is a market for the Elise, its more relevant today than it was when launched so wouldn't have cost too much to bring up to date, surely? Your imaginary Elise above would have been epic.

Just been reading about this on Facebook, general opinion was its a scam advert - 1988 V8? They also have two Porsche 911 for sale at exactly the same price.

Hate to say it, but underwhelmed was the exact word I was thinking of..so no its not just you. I read a comment on another site about typical Lotus, special edition of existing old cars and I had to agree. Its a weird one, dynamically and as a drivers car it still very much cuts the mustard.

Can't argue with much on the last few posts on this thread - as mentioned staggering variety of used car choice at the £80k - £130k region. I think the delays are what concern me the most - great there is all this new investment, but we have the halo car first (Evija) which most mere mortals won't be able to afford, whereas the rest of the range which desperately needs updating won't be done, as we now know, for at least another year, maybe more if the virus continues its effect. I fear Lotus are being left so far behind. I very nearly said on my comment on the US LOT thread what someone above mentioned about Bahar, his plan may not have happened by my god was there something to be excited about. The sportscar market has its own echelons and I always saw Lotus in with Porsche, at the lower end - fine by me, it means used cars fall into my price bracket. I remember seeing the Evora launch and hoping one day I could get one. The fact that McLaren are also in that bracket now is a little false, by rights they shouldn't be but low confidence/reliability and over supply looks to be killing used car values. I follow @JayEmm's channel since his Lotus days and he has done some very interesting videos on McLaren following a recent dual purchase by his friends - worth watching, and quite shocking. Still, a lottery win would definately see one in my garage.

Trouble is, I believe the mass market does want this and increasing volume is one objective. Other than a new car next year and keeping a V6 engine, very much a PR exercise. Some terrible questions (you get the company top brass in view and all you can do is ask about diagnostics!!!) I suppose it was always unlikely too many secrets would be revealed. @Bibs, great effort keeping a neutral face throughout - I think my jaw would have hit the ground on a couple of occasions.

Totally with you @LOTUSMAN33, here was mine - puchased with 103,000 miles on the clock as it was the only one I could afford: Went Orion 1.6i Ghia afterwards as mid nineties and insurance was going crazy (I was early 20's) but ideally wanted to go XR3i and then RS Turbo Escort,

I lust after a Mk2 Fiesta XR2 as I had one back in the day and loved it - my fave of all cars I have owned, so I think you are bang on with the first comment. I also wonder about the older cars - I have no interest for anything pre 60's really, and as the older generation who cherish these older cars pass on I don't know if there is going to be much of an appetite to keep them going - I may be wrong, but surely the desire for a classic is a car you lusted after or once owned. So if you have no connection to it, why take it on? Finally, I have seen a lot of Esprits advertised for silly money because "classic prices are high" but they tend not to sell for anywhere near the asking price.

@AndyPG Short term no, which is where I am at the moment but was told benefits would belong term for durability and ease of starting over time.

I have, and was recommended to by another forum member who is legendary on the early cars.

Have often wondered, as an Evora owner, why it failed given as stated above many times how universally praised it was. Given how petrol heads are the main people who buy car mags, you would have though that would have done the job and Lotus PR would enforce it. A few fake years in F1 didn't make any difference, so whilst there was little advertising there was some major brand exposure. I think its down to perceived quality, look at Harry Metcalfe's recent review of the GT410 sport - loved it. but moaned about the interior, and rear which is so important and focused upon. Given how IMO Skoda and Alfa where the other two companies with perceived quality issues and both have largely shaken them off, what can Lotus learn? Well, I think not having a decent owner has really hampered Lotus. My Skoda is basically a VW in all but name so huge part sharing has solved that, take the last few years out of the equation but when would Lotus have ever wanted to use anything out of a Proton? Of course it also saves on cost, I think Audi's handling of Lambo has been perfect - let them do what they do best and use the parts bin to sort out the bad stuff - generally interior bits. Geely should do the same. Going back to the original line, maybe Lotus should have done a new Esprit instead of the Evora, albeit a 2+2 was clever but quite a small market. I only have one as its the bigger model of the range, and not because of the seating. I am not knocking it, but the Esprit had (and still does as far as I am concerned) have an aura and history which the Evora had to build for itself, and I think had largely failed - Fiat didn't have to try too hard when they re-launched the 500.

Really late to the party on this one, hope everyone is well and as per others glad you are on the mend Kevin and sorry to hear you were poorly. I have been furloughed since 1st April, and have to say its been great not having to do all the travelling - in fact one of the issue I have had is keeping the company Skoda battery charged up as its only going out once a week to the shops. The Evora can go three weeks between charges but the Superb can't. Have done loads at home, painting fences, cleaning patio.garage door and cutting hedges - so nice that that the weather has been so good. I have also done some work on the Esprit gearbox leak so that's nearly sorted - all being well plan is to bring it to the next meet whenever that is so you can admire my engine bay plumbing before we talk about again at the William Walker.

Easy one for me this, Are we going to see a new Esprit any time soon?

OK, was more in reference to this thread rather than the whole forum. Should have known it would be on here somewhere already.

Surprised no one has posted this - other than the Diablo, I have never seen him smile so much

Cheers Gordon - most helpful. My service is due in the summer, depending on what happens over the next couple of months. My local Toyota dealer happens to have a Lotus dealership (Snow's Hedge End) so that may also help.

@rabidh - can I ask where you got the parts from please? I am looking to do this on my 2010 Evora and can't find any UK source for the parts, all my search results are US based. I am not sure any other cars n the UK use this engine (maybe a Lexus model might, but certainly no Toyota's), so probably not surprising I am drawing a blank.

How strange, I have been looking at exactly the same thing., and also struggled. My car is May 79 so I have had t wait until 1st April for it t catch up despite the fact the car will be 41 years old next month. Was going to go to the post office tomorrow. Strange the DVLA website recognized it doesn't need an MOT but still wants to charge me £285 for a years duty.

Thanks Andy, should have expected that to be the case really.

I am also in the same situation, furloughed as of tomorrow. I am getting two full weeks pay and two 80% weeks pay in April. Also wondering about how the £2500 is going to work in terms of tax and NI. Ironically, my Esprit is already SORN - have been holding off because it should, as of tomorrow, be tax exempt as it hits the 40 year old criteria, so the plan was to get it back on the road in April but little point in doing so now.

I got a neighbour in my close that indoor cover from Classic Additions for his Skoda, and he is very pleased with it. That was around £100 I think. I get cats on my drive and the Evora (which lives on the drive) has a Stormforce cover on which has (touch wood) so far stood up to them sleeping on it. I have however also added a couple of those cat repeller's which also keep them away, so I would suggest those too. £15 each and well worth it. My company car on the other hand has a whole raft of scratches on the bonnet where one of the little $hit$ obviously jumped up when it was wet, slipped and started scrabbling for grip. That happened a week after I got it which went down well at work.