Lotus Evora 400

[Trevsked]

Who as actually ordered or intends to order soon?

Trevor.

[ramjet]

I wonder why the Aussie website only mentions the Evora and the S. No other Evora?

 

By the way Trevor, I'd really like to.

[Trevsked]

Me too but wondered of all the talk on here, and we are among the most enthusiastic lotus buying fans, who actually is going to dig deep and pay £80k for an Evora? There has been no shortage of GT4 buyers and not enough cars despite the critisism coming from this forum.

 

Trevor.

[Snoopy1969]

As mentioned before - the Forums all called for a more agressive design - now you got a much more agressive design......and also a title by JMG as a "supercar"

 

When you have a look at the vid of the development Story of the Evora and watch the Statements of the Magazine / press guys I think some of their positive Statements come from the "GT car / a not so agressive car fits in the Zeitgeist" judgement.

 

In my eyes the actual despriction is maybe a move in the wrong direction, for me the Evora, whether in NA or S Version, ever was a GT, a sportscar that is as much a sports car as possible while able to deal with the "real world" / ability to work as a (nearly) daily Driver. Actually esp the market that bought good used NA models will not be provided with cars as in the past. 

 

I hope that the "Supercar for under 100K" title help sales but it neglect the real Qualities of the first Evora (I never got a bad reaction using the car for Business esp not from my Clients) in my view - another question of course would be if there is a market for "GT-cars / practical Sport cars" anymore.................

[Arregueti]

I am afraid that in Euroland it is going to be tough to sell Evoras in the short term. I bought my car two years ago and, if bought today, I would have paid 8,000 euros more, simply because of the exchange rate GBP/Euro.

[The Pits]

There are a lot of speculators fuelling the Porsche frenzy at the moment Trevor. Porsche have limited supply to begin with, there will be a long waiting list and they will churn them out in big numbers next year no doubt using Ferrari's old trick of saying there's a 2 year waiting list and ringing you up 6 months later with 'Sir, we may have a car for you.'

 

I don't have an order for the Evora 400 only because I'm waiting for the Exige 400. But I would far (far!) rather have an Evora 400 to a Cayman GT4. The 987 series Cayman is not a good looking car to my eyes and the GT4 bits haven't done much to change that. Electric steering is a deal breaker for me too, while better alternatives exist.

 

The Cayman has been a complete flop by Porsche standards - until the GT4 at least. They sold far fewer Cayman GTS than Exige S last year. I think buyers aren't seeing the GT4 as a Cayman, but more a cheaper way of getting into a 'GT' car.

 

It's great to see such a clamour for a manual-only car and I actually think the Porsche frenzy will turn out to be a good thing for Lotus. While the GT3RS are put into storage, buyers will want something they can actually use on the track without fear of damaging their investment. Most GT3RS owners would probably want a GT4 for regular track use but if they can't get one they might consider running an Exige or Evora while they're on the waiting list. That's fine by me!

 

[Al]

Who as actually ordered or intends to order soon?

Trevor.

 

I'm hearing a few Scottish buyers are waiting until they have seen in the 'flesh' which is next Monday for many of us, before placing deposits.

 

I'm unfortunately in the midst of a house build so any itches are going to have to remain unscratched.    However that means the once again mentioned Roadster/Targa top version will be coming out about the time I'm back in the market.......   

[Snoopy1969]

Relating to the actual Price you have to pay at a German dealer for a brand new Sprtsracer today, Exchange rate Pound to Euro and the upcoming Price of the 400 (ca 79.000 GBP I think) you can say that the 400 will be roughly 20K Euro (inc. VAT) more expensive than today - but we will have to see how that come out........

[Trevsked]

As always the Scot's are strong buyers of the latest Lotus, good on you. I think like yourselves I will see if I'm wowed by the 400 next Tuesday and then address the horrible finance implication :-).

Trevor.

[Snoopy1969]

@@@Jonny: the P C GT4 is a "981", not a "987".....just for the love for the Detail.....;-)

 

(but in the end it is just another car not ordered....:-)))))

 

I got the Impression the main use of the Gt4 is to create a Hype in Forums - modern form og Marketing, in the former days they went R A C I N G

[The Pits]

Quite right Willi, I actually prefer the look of the 987 Cayman, hence the confusion!

 

Agree about the marketing, they are really in charge at Porsche these days. I really like the manual-only statement though. Smart too to differentiate it further from the PDK-only GT3.

[Snoopy1969]

Yes I Agree, the "Manual only" Story is clever (by the way: save the Manuals!!!!) , not to Forget that the Cayman itself is relatively disappointing in sales compared to Boxsters and 911. So the actual Marketing has done a big step Forward to change this. I do not know about the current delivery Situation in Germany but when you read the playground than you must get the Impression Porsche (in GB) is playing "Rolex daytona" (create a exorbitant "want" by saying: we have a looooooooong list...)

 

The next step in Marketing is: you will get your car...maybe....when the factory will work again...what may happen or not......

(that was unfortunately no Marketing but roughly speaking the Situation in Hethel when I was waiting for my car in 2012......)

[Advantage]

I popped into Geneva yesterday and had a bit of a mooch around the very small stand.

Elephant in the room time and possibly a somewhat incredulous statement ahead:

The Evora 400 doesn't look particularly different to its initial incarnation when viewed in the flesh.

Bear with me. Yes, I do appreciate that it's not the same but the new front and rear bumpers aren't dominant features of the car and it is still "just" an Evora. I doubt that an uninterested party would be able to differentiate the two cars in isolation. In the same way that an Aston Martin DBS is identical to a V8S to the man on the street, this evolution of the Evora doesn't warrant the accusations of radical styling.

Hopefully the more engineering based changes will move this model closer to greatness.

[Trevsked]

I fear you may be spot on there, we will see on Tuesday.

Trevor.

[RODOLPHESPRIT]

Need to be See it whith my eyes

[Gravel]

Me too but wondered of all the talk on here, and we are among the most enthusiastic lotus buying fans, who actually is going to dig deep and pay £80k for an Evora? There has been no shortage of GT4 buyers and not enough cars despite the critisism coming from this forum.

 

Trevor.

 

Are there any Lotus dealerships actually in central London? That's where the biggest concentration of money is in the UK, and unless people can actually see an Evora, I doubt it would occur to them that there are more interesting choices than just another Porsche...

[Bibs]

I'm not sure if it's public yet but there's one opening soon with branches in central and north London. 

[auRouge]

I popped into Geneva yesterday and had a bit of a mooch around the very small stand.

Elephant in the room time and possibly a somewhat incredulous statement ahead:

The Evora 400 doesn't look particularly different to its initial incarnation when viewed in the flesh.

Bear with me. Yes, I do appreciate that it's not the same but the new front and rear bumpers aren't dominant features of the car and it is still "just" an Evora. I doubt that an uninterested party would be able to differentiate the two cars in isolation. In the same way that an Aston Martin DBS is identical to a V8S to the man on the street, this evolution of the Evora doesn't warrant the accusations of radical styling.

Hopefully the more engineering based changes will move this model closer to greatness.

Was the interior better? Looks will divide as ever but did it feel like an £80k car?

The performance is there now... Brakes and handling were excellent before and have been further uprated so should be incredible but is the quality as promised?

[Advantage]

The interior is obviously stylistically different to its predecessor, but "better"? Difficult thing to quantify, although there doesn't seem to be the handy passport sized storage gap between side of the dashboard and the upper doorcard any longer and some would consider that to be an improvement. It's still a long way from a mass market manufacturer's clip together fit and finish.

 

While I'm thinking of it, here's a quick snap which possibly shows the modified sills in some context. The (random) chap in the driver's seat was only about 5' 8" and didn't appear to be a regular marathon runner. Hopefully this picture with a real person inside will give the changes some scale:

 

[brightoncorgi]

So current Evora owners with rear seats. How much space is there in the rear for passengers?.

Just asking for a friend...

 

More than an XK or 911 and it's flat seating.  Our dog like it more than the XK.

[hedgerley]

The LEGS contingent arrives tomorrow from Scotland. Pretty sure there will be some vigorous debate on the flight home. Looking at that photo what strikes me is the size of the stand compared to when I went in 2012. Its about the size of the coffee bar this year!

[21gg]

Was there saturday, its look a lot better in the flesh as per the original. All in all I like it although before hand I wasn't sure. You don't even notice the sill now. Made me laugh that many other cars including Caymen GT4 , McLaren etc were all worse than the current one to get in and out of!

 

Gav

[DJW]

[Bibs]

2/10 for effort. It's 40% new too, not 66%! Just sayin'... 

[The Pits]

To be fair he didn't mention Porsche once. I suppose we have to be thankful for that!