The Evora 400 Diaries

[JayEmm]

@Ccd I came to that exact conclusion. I totally agree about enjoyment being more important than outright numbers sometimes, but it's important for the makers and for a lot of people. I would personally be a bit pissed if I bought an R8 because it's no quicker than a TT at road speeds and it's got the same interior!

The first gen R8, I totally agree on the interior. Also if you don't get one with loads of carbon options it just feels like a cheap interior. The Evora isn't much slower, really - and yeah it's miles more practical.

[DJW]

Also the standard exhaust on R8 is so quiet at normal speeds / revs. Unlike the Evora, there is no switch to open up the exhaust.  

[Ccd]

JayEmm:

In Bibs long term review, the most important thing he said, for me, was how good the Evora is on public roads.  From all accounts, the Evora is fun to drive at legal (or near legal) speeds.  There are a lot of cars out there, that only become interesting or fun when you flog them.  You just can't flog a car on public roads and expect to keep your license.   I need a car that is fun no matter where I am going-quick run to Starbuck, a highway drive, or mountain roads.  Too many reviewers base their reviews on the track and twisty mountain roads-that is not where most of us drive most of the time.  

And while I'm complaining, let me give a quick rant about the Evo Car of the Year.  The 911R was sold out the day it was introduced and shouldn't have even been in the competition because it was a sold out limited production car.  I am SOOOO tired of all the reviews of the 911R.  The press should be reviewing cars you can actually buy!!!

[C8RKH]

1 hour ago, Ccd said:

There are a lot of cars out there, that only become interesting or fun when you flog them.  You just can't flog a car on public roads and expect to keep your license.   I need a car that is fun no matter where I am going-quick run to Starbuck, a highway drive, or mountain roads.  Too many reviewers base their reviews on the track and twisty mountain roads-that is not where most of us drive most of the time.  

 

And over here in the good ol' UK if the politicians and liberalists have their way we'll be facing life in prison for an accident where someone was killed as a result of us driving too fast!

I keep thinking of a 400, I really do. Especially a red one

But the other side of me keeps saying don't do it as my current NA Evora is bloody fast on normal roads and any faster is just, well, err, overkill.  

So I am looking at investing the £40k+ cost to change in a track car (VX220 already bought and upgrades planned) and now I am looking at a Formula Ford to go racing in as I don't think it will be too long before any fun on the roads becomes hard to get.

At least I live in Scotland where we have some of the worlds most wonderful roads and scenery and currently not many people to clog them up unlike in England. Especially the south of England which is just a shit place to be if you want to get anywhere in a car. I mean the M25 is so full of brain dead muppets it grinds to a halt every other 30 minutes or gets closed due to some silly accident. And that's before we get the road rage, the middle lane hoggers and the numpties on their phones etc.

All that in Scotland will of course change soon when Brexit has finally happened, and then the SNP take us Independent and back into Europe so all the people in Europe who cannot get in the rUK will just go to Scotland instead and clog up the roads....  Argh......

It's time to move further North to Iceland me thinks. Although if they lose their trademark court case they may have to change their name to something else

 

 

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

Poundland?

[PaulCP]

12 minutes ago, LotusLeftLotusRight said:

Poundland?

Having been there 2 weeks ago (Iceland not Poundland ), I think "Expensiveland" would be much more appropriate 

[Danelaw]

1 hour ago, C8RKH said:

It's time to move further North to Iceland me thinks. Although if they lose their trademark court case they may have to change their name to something else

In their language their name is Island, so I don't really see what all of the fuss is about - "you've got a supermarket with the same name as the one you use for our country!". If we had a less successful language there'd be no issue. I wonder if secretly they want to buy the supermarket chain to sell us frozen fish.

More seriously in my view is the fact that Lotus Car Rental is a major car rental company in Iceland but they don't actually rent out any Lotus cars... http://www.lotuscarrental.is/rent-a-car-in-keflavik

[Chris J]

4 hours ago, Danelaw said:

In their language their name is Island, so I don't really see what all of the fuss is about - "you've got a supermarket with the same name as the one you use for our country!". If we had a less successful language there'd be no issue. I wonder if secretly they want to buy the supermarket chain to sell us frozen fish.

 

I believe Iceland the supermarket chain was owned by the Icelandic banks shortly before they went bust in 2008 or thereabouts...

 

I think Iceland the country's issue has been with Iceland the chain taking Icelandic companies to court for using the word Iceland in their names.

[Danelaw]

Well they are using our English language spelling rather than their own...

but I guess it is a bit cold-hearted of the supermarket chain perhaps they should just chill and be cool.

[C8RKH]

They were not owned by the Icelandic banks but did have some, not all Icelandic shareholders until around 2012 I believe.

As ever a simple story is usually so much more

 

[purso]

On 04/12/2016 at 11:45, JayEmm said:

 

I believe @BP81 is currently enjoying the torque of a V12 Aston!

 

With a Big cheesy ear to ear grin

[MartynB]

On 12/2/2016 at 17:07, JayEmm said:

Cheers. One worrying item which has resurfaced is the hideous clicking noise made when the car is on left lock. Its been tended to and the remedy was the same as before, cleaning the hubs... but I am concerned that it can come back so quickly. 

James, it might be worth mentioning that this used to be a problem on Mazdas, MX-5 and RX-8. Here's the TSB for it on the RX-8.

http://www.rx8club.com/attachments/series-i-trouble-shooting-95/146306d1254561264-tsbs-technical-service-bulletins-snapping-noise-when-turning-low-speed-18-wheels.pdf

It may well be what they've already done as the first fix. In which case them doing it again with slightly more aggressive grit abrasives might help. I know I had to do that on my MX-5 that suffered. Also note that Mazda actually upped the torque figure on the wheel bolts as part of the TSB. Maybe worth double checking the torques on yours.

HTH

[JayEmm]

Not precisely my symptoms, but damn close. Close enough it could well be it. I may forward this to Lotus because thus far they still haven't given me a proper explanation for the cause of the noise yet.

[Spinney]

For years I have successfully used a thin smear of copper grease on the hub/wheel mating face of all my cars with alloys to prevent the old problem of wheels corroding on to the hub. Could this help prevent the noise as described in that Mazda service sheet?

[phil flash]

It depends on whether the wheels are hubcentric or lugcentric. Lugcentric wheels had a bit of clearance to the boss in the hub centre and used tapered seat nuts or bolts to centralize the wheel. Hubcentric wheels slide tightly onto the boss in the hub centre to centralize the wheel and bolts with flat washers or nuts that were threaded tubes that went inside the wheels holes, again with flat washers under a head, to just clamp the wheel to the hub.. Hubcentric alloys could be a nightmare to remove when they corroded on the hub. If it was a maintenance job I used to slacken the bolts and go for a drive throwing the car around to shake it loose. Couldn't do that if it was a puncture so it was 'a get angry and kick it around' situation.  Aluminium suffers galvanic corrosion from copper salts so copper grease is less suitable than 'ordinary grease' on hubcentric alloy wheels.

In recent years I've been confused by Lotus who state their wheels are hubcentric but use tapered seats in the wheels and tapered seat bolts which is a lugcentric characteristic..

Discs are usually hubcentric but I've seen some that rely on the M6 countersunk setscrew to hold it in the correct position for the wheel bolts to then clamp the whole arrangement. Friction is needed so any slippery coating or grease should not be present on discs or wheels.

 

[phil flash]

On 12/6/2016 at 13:31, Ccd said:

And while I'm complaining, let me give a quick rant about the Evo Car of the Year.  The 911R was sold out the day it was introduced and shouldn't have even been in the competition because it was a sold out limited production car.  I am SOOOO tired of all the reviews of the 911R.  The press should be reviewing cars you can actually buy!!!

You may be able to soon ....porsche-under-investigation-over-emissions-testing

Haven't seen it in the main news channels yet but it's in today's on line magazine of the Institute of Engineering and Technology. I'm a member but think the link will work for everyone.

[JayEmm]

^^I was going to say I'm fairly sure this was automatically going to happen as Porsche don't develop any of their own diesels - it's all shared with VAG.

In Evora news, I may have a light at the end of the tunnel as far as seats are concerned. Fingers crossed, etc.

[auRouge]

Get that seat fixed and go sort this out!?

Eng vs Ger ?

Starts well but gets bogged down after shifting into 2nd and 3rd gear against the Audi in the 3rd race...? Sounds like a hot clutch and transmission towards the end?

The stats kind of back up the race, Evora quicker of the mark but the double clutch helps zee Germans!?

http://www.zeperfs.com/en/duel5638-5526.htm

Is this guy slipping his clutch or is that just the way the car reacts to full throttle in the third race? Or is it the Chaps driving?

(Close your eyes when the 911 appears?)

[ramjet]

Now go racing around corners.

I just don't get drag races. For instance, I highly doubt the Audi wagon is stock, so the result for me becomes quite meaningless.

[C8RKH]

I'm assuming the Evora was a manual?  It does show the difference the double clutch gearboxes make and there is no doubting they are "consistently" faster off the mark.  But then, if drag racing is your thing, you wouldn't buy a lotus as you'd prefer 4wd, DCT, etc...

As has been said, now introduce a few twisty bits and a few heavy braking areas and let's then see what it looks like.

Unfortunately though, people will see these videos and think the Lotus is the slower, inferior car.

We can talk all we want about driving pleasure. Dynamics. Ride, Etc.  But unfortunately for most of the fart brains out there they will just see who was first past the cone and make a HUGE assumption as to which is the better car.

Ho hum. Out of all the cars shown, the ONLY one I would want to buy is the Lotus.

[JayEmm]

I've seen an alternate version of that same video. You guys have probably seen my attempts at drag "racing" (not racing if warranty department are reading!) - I never had any issues with clutch slippage - in fact I beat a lot of cars off the line which had masses more power because even with AWD they were struggling for traction. After 30mph they usually took over pretty quick.

As Andy says its not the Evora's forte, but I was interested to see how fast she'd go in a safe and legal environment. I was very impressed. What I think is really important about the Evora's circuit ability too is not just its ultimate speed but its durability - the components are all designed to take track work, the car doesn't overheat, the brakes don't fade, the tyres are correctly loaded up and last very well. The article I posted recently about the Focus RS really vindicates the extra money spent on a Lotus in terms of depth of engineering and quality components if you want a track machine.

[auRouge]

We buy Lotus for the thrill of driving, I only added this YouTube for a bit of fun. Real life performance 

1 hour ago, C8RKH said:

I'm assuming the Evora was a manual?  It does show the difference the double clutch gearboxes make and there is no doubting they are "consistently" faster off the mark.  But then, if drag racing is your thing, you wouldn't buy a lotus as you'd prefer 4wd, DCT, etc...

As has been said, now introduce a few twisty bits and a few heavy braking areas and let's then see what it looks like.

Unfortunately though, people will see these videos and think the Lotus is the slower, inferior car.

We can talk all we want about driving pleasure. Dynamics. Ride, Etc.  But unfortunately for most of the fart brains out there they will just see who was first past the cone and make a HUGE assumption as to which is the better car.

Ho hum. Out of all the cars shown, the ONLY one I would want to buy is the Lotus.

So true. This YouTube demonstrates an old school burn off from the traffic lights... It doesn't of course show the thrill of driving.

The stats are frustrating these days, unfortunately adding twisty bits doesn't improve things... The Merc and Porker are faster around a track.

Lap times are all well and good but we all know it's a lot of bull as it doesn't show how satisfying and fun it is to own something unique, hand built and rare. 

 

[auRouge]

As james says a Focus RS kicks arse these days, but given my follically challenged haircut I'd look a right thug / dealer in one! No thanks?

 

[JayEmm]

Been quiet on the Evora front for me, but some sort of end is in sight as today I *think* we pinned down a fix for my seat problems once and for all...

[Macetrix]

After reading some of the issues you#ve had James I cant help but think to myself 'What have I let myself in for?'

Does anyone have a list of the items which should be checked on the 400 or have been recalled and due a change? I mentioned the seat runners and MAF sensor cable to my dealership and the response I got was that both were checked and were okay... though after stepping out of the car I do remember hearing a slight creak.. 

Keep at it James, persistence will prevail and don't back down until you are 100% happy with the outcome.