New Evora S owner - The fun begins

[TrevS]

Hi all

So I’ve been on the forum for a while asking for lots of advice and looking for the right car but wanted to start a new thread to document how I get on now I officially own an Evora.

My Evora is a 2010 Evora S in ardent Red with 35k miles. I bought it from a fellow forum member on here who’s had the car for the past 10 years and is moving onto an Emira. Previously the car was owned by Craig Moncreiff and prior to that the car was owned by Lotus. The car has the full sports racer look with the black pack actually painted rather than wrapped like a factory SR and also has some sports racer recaro’s which look great.

I’m so happy with the car. It’s been well loved and I know the previous owner was sad to see it go but it’s gone to a good home.

I’m based just outside Rugby so hopefully I’ll get to meet a few of you in the local area at some events. Thanks also to everyone that's answered all my noobie questions (more to come) you've all been super helpful.

Here’s picture of the car when she arrived after a 6 hour drive home from Scotland. I’ll try and get some better pictures over the weekend.

Thanks

Trev

[TrevS]

So as with any car there are always things you spot that you'd like to change/address so I've started doing a list of jobs I want to do over the winter. Mostly these are costmetic as I'm quite particualr with my cars.

·       Remove aftermarket front splitter

·       Remove window stickers

·       Remove vinyl wrap on fluids hatch

·       Change A pillar trims from carbon to gloss black

·       Respray the front mouth mesh grille

·       Interior door handles need retrimming

·       Look at seeing if the gear cables adjusted to improve 1^st gear selection

·       Get calipers repainted (not urgent as not terrible)

[TrevS]

The first order of business is to remove any old stickers off the car and the previous owner also test wrapped the service hatch which I'm not a fan of.

After a session with a hairdryer on the stickers she's been destickered and looking a bit more stock.

[Rambo]

It looks much better without those stickers and the vinyl wrap. I see you've managed to correctly align and fit the service hatch too 👍

[TrevS]

Looks like it doesn’t it but in fact it’s just open on the before picture and resting on the latch. So can’t take any credit for that one 😂

[jerzybondov]

On 10/11/2023 at 19:06, TrevS said:

 

It's better than I expected in a lot of ways but there are always jobs that you want to do as a new owner. I am very particular and like a more factory OEM look so after getting it home and having a look over my list is looking something like this

·       Remove aftermarket front splitter

·       Remove window stickers

·       Remove vinyl wrap on fluids hatch

·       Change A pillar trims from carbon to gloss black

·       Respray the front mouth mesh grille

·       Interior door handles need retrimming

·       Look at seeing if the gear cables adjusted to improve 1^st gear selection

·       Get calipers repainted (not urgent as not terrible)

 

Completely agree with all of these (from only having seen the back of the car!). Black pack looks great on bright colours, but fluids hatch best in body colour. Faux carbon addenda is rarely good! Front grille often gets a bit crusty.

How does it drive? What tyres have you got on it?

[TrevS]

It drives really well although I haven’t had time this weekend to get out in the car for a proper drive on roads I know.
 

In terms of tyres it’s got Michelin sport 4s’ on the rear and super sports on the front. I think I’m going to look to change the front to 4s’ to match the rears as the supersports look a bit too aggressive for normal road use. But let me know if you’d recommend something else.

[jerzybondov]

If the backs have got plenty of tread left then yes I'd match them all up to PS4S.

But if the backs are getting towards the end of their life then I'd perhaps recommend a switch to Conti Sport Contact 7. Much more recent design than the PS4S and been beating them in tests (also - cheaper!). Primary benefits being outrageous wet weather grip, and better sidewall feel (ie they make the steering feedback •even• better than it already was). 

I put them on my car and the difference was absolutely huge (although tbf I had a strange Avon / Yokohama axle mix before). 

Are you still running the original head unit in the car? Whacking one in with CarPlay makes a big difference to usability!

[EGTE]

Supersports are still a perfectly good tyre; I wouldn't change them until they get low.

[tim_marra]

The S1 does look particularly good in red 

I've had my S1 for over 11 years now and it's still a thrill to drive.

[Harey]

Looks amazing - can't beat a Red S1 Evora

[mcdonaa]

Ahhhhem....

 

😉

 

(Sorry for the thread crash 😇)

[TrevS]

Thanks for all the positive comments. Today's job was to do a bit more cleaning/tidying on the car.

First I tackled the window seals which were looking a bit milky, probably due to having some wax etc on them. I found an interesting trick which is to use smooth peanut butter on the seals. Apparently the oils in it help lubricate the seals. Worked suprisingly well.

Before:

 

After

Next job was to clean the exhaust. I don't think it's been done in a while and was looking rather scruffy. Using my drill polishing attachment and some trusty metal polish it's come up quite well.

Before:

After:

I also spent some time going over the roof. It had quite a few swirl marks in but it's come up pretty nicely. I would hate to have a full black car, I think you'd be cleaning it every 5 minutes.

Edited November 12, 2023 by TrevS

[TrevS]

The final job for the weekend was to get some kids seats sorted. I managed to find a pretty good fitting Graco high back booster from Halfords that fits well for my 4 year old and the outer grey is a good colour match for the original seat swab.

Edited November 12, 2023 by TrevS

[TrevS]

25 minutes ago, mcdonaa said:

Ahhhhem....

 

😉

 

(Sorry for the thread crash 😇)

Now that is stunning. Is this burnt orange? I do think red looks pretty bloody fantastic too.

Edited November 12, 2023 by TrevS

[TrevS]

7 hours ago, jerzybondov said:

If the backs have got plenty of tread left then yes I'd match them all up to PS4S.

But if the backs are getting towards the end of their life then I'd perhaps recommend a switch to Conti Sport Contact 7. Much more recent design than the PS4S and been beating them in tests (also - cheaper!). Primary benefits being outrageous wet weather grip, and better sidewall feel (ie they make the steering feedback •even• better than it already was). 

I put them on my car and the difference was absolutely huge (although tbf I had a strange Avon / Yokohama axle mix before). 

Are you still running the original head unit in the car? Whacking one in with CarPlay makes a big difference to usability!

Thanks for the tip on the tyres. They still have quite a bit of life in them at the moment but will have a look at Conti's when the time comes. As for the head unit it has a new pioneer unit in with carplay. Works an absolute treat

[mcdonaa]

35 minutes ago, TrevS said:

Now that is stunning. Is this burnt orange? I do think red looks pretty bloody fantastic too.

Thank you, yes - burnt orange. I love red on the Evora too... probably my favourite colour on a sports car.

[TrevS]

Today's job was a bit of tricky one. I've removed the two aftermarket splitters that were on the car which took some patience as a couple of the extra rivnuts that had been installed to hold the splitter in place weren't seated and started spinning when trying to remove the bolt. I've had to take the heads off these bolts for now and will remove them over the next few days. Overall the car is defintely not as agressive not but I'm really liking stock now.

[jerzybondov]

That really is a very clean looking car Trev - immaculate. Particularly appreciating the condition of the headlights (rare on S1s they still look this good!)

[TrevS]

Thanks Gez, I’m really pleased with the car. The headlights were refurbed not too long ago so that’s why they look so good. I’d say the front end cosmetically is the only area that isn’t perfect. The front clam has quite a few chips which I guess is to be expected so at some point I’ll have the front end resprayed.  

[Barrykearley]

On 12/11/2023 at 17:46, TrevS said:

I would hate to have a full black car, I think you'd be cleaning it every 5 minutes.

Black is amazing 🙌 - just needs an occasional wash 😂

[C8RKH]

My first Evora was an Ardent red S1 NA. I still think that colour combo is one of the best for the Evora, it just looks really good and sporty.

I also like the S1 Aqua with the cream interior, and the motorsport green with the venom red.

If I really thought about it, I'd probably say I liked the white, the nightfall blue, the persian blue....   I guess I just need to say that I like the S1 Evora lol....

[Barrykearley]

15 minutes ago, C8RKH said:

I also like the S1 Aqua with the cream interior

You can cut that sort of smutty filthy language out.

[Rambo]

Black is an absolute bugger to keep clean. Believe me, I have an M100 and a Peugeot van. Great when they're washed but 5 mins later ..... 

I have won two "2nd in class" awards in car shows with the M100 so it scrubs up well enough.

[mik]

Congrats on the purchase. 😎

Supersports are great in warm conditions (wet or dry) but become more like bars of soap below 5DegC. PS4S have all of their positive qualities without this trait.