Evora market watch, for discussion and to help those searching!

[PaulCP]

My 9 year old grandson sits happily in the rear for long distances and he's not small for his age. The only thing I would say is that he is more comfortable, and the seatbelt fits safer, without a booster seat. On a booster seat his head is close to the roof and the seatbelt doesn't hold properly in the places that it should

[ephancock77]

Where does the source say its an adult in that diagram? Judging by that pic that bloke driving sure as hell wouldn't fit in the back would he lol?

 

 

 

 

[ephancock77]

17 minutes ago, Stuno1 said:

You are right they are usable for small children. A ten year old may be pushing it. Agreed about the reviews, they don't review the rear seats for their intended purpose. They are wonderful cars. Have you driven one yet?

Not yet Stu, in my head I've got it as a bit of a no-brainer already that I'll love the Evora having come from an Elise 111R. As much as I've loved my previous two Elise's (both daily drivers) the practicalities of the car and lack of creature comforts eventually wears thin, perhaps its an age related issue lol.

One of the only things that actually concerns me is whether I can get it in the garage, according to lotus's official measurements of the car it should just about fit.  Its difficult to tell from pictures but my garage looks no different to yours width wise and I see yours makes it in okay so fingers crossed.

[C8RKH]

I'm old and fat and just bought a VX220. That was an age related issue - I want to grow old disgracefully haha.

I have the Evora "book" at home and will re read the why 4 seats bit and who aimed for. Defo was not just kids though

 

[Stuno1]

@ephancock77I can't recall the exact dimensions but the lotus clears the garage at the doors (most narrow section) by about 3 inches each side so it is tight. Once in it is wider. I do have foam on the driver side so as to not smack the drivers door on the wall. It works well enough. 

[ephancock77]

Going by the Lotus Evora S1 brochure, it implies that the rear seats are for kids more so than adults.

[Colin P]

4 hours ago, ephancock77 said:

Where does the source say its an adult in that diagram? Judging by that pic that bloke driving sure as hell wouldn't fit in the back would he lol?

 

 

 

 

Slightly larger image of that rendering (which by the way was the first picture I ever saw of an Evora and resulted in my Excel going up for sale in 2009) It is fairly clear in the larger image that the lady in the back is at least a teenager.

[Taylor]

The 'teenagers' knees are also wedged firmily in the back of the guys and looks like he has a steering wheel in his leg not to mention no consideration in the diagram for the drivers seat?

I struggle to fit my lad in, in his car seat to be fair and to be honest don't use the back seats other than to throw my coat on the back.

[Inkyfingers]

My 5 and 2 year olds love the Evora, but only for about 45 minutes, after which they get claustrophobic, start screaming and pulling my ears.

[Danelaw]

Personally I don't really care what the target design was. There are two rear seats with seat-belts so I can legally drive with four people in the car and at times that is very useful.

Space in the rear is a bit of a squeeze, and anyone 6-foot plus would have to be a contortionist, but my daughters are 5'7" and 5'8" and will fit in the back. We've driven for 8 hours a day 4-up on several occasions and just stop every 2 hours to stretch and rotate seating positions. As my eldest daughter is now at university we regularly drive 3-up and that is relatively luxurious then and something which is just not possible in most sports cars.

The rear seats are not perfect, but they give you options and mean you can enjoy a sports car with your family. Find where the limit is for yourself - don't let people put you off  by saying "max 10-year old kids" or "max trip length of 10 minutes". My children were all over that age when I bought the evora and are older now and still enjoying it.

[Taylor]

I don't think people are putting other people off, they're just being realistic.

You must have a bigger version than me though. 5.8 foot person in that back for 8 hours ? Thats punishment ???

[blueg33]

I took my daughter and her friend (both 16) to my daughters prom in the summer.  Daughter in massive dress in the front, friend who admittedly is short at just over 5ft in the back.

 

[Danelaw]

28 minutes ago, Taylor said:

I don't think people are putting other people off, they're just being realistic.

 

I hope people aren't being put off, but for me the nearest Lotus dealer was 2 hours drive away and I don't have much time for test drives so I might well have just decided the Evora was a non-starter from what others have written. Instead I saw it as a remote possibility, the kids proved they could fit even though they're not midgets and it became a dream that I was lucky enough to turn into a reality. As a normally sensible person it seemed mad, but we've never regretted it.

When we're doing long trips we have a choice of cars, but often they prefer the fun of the evora over the tedium of a saloon or people carrier. Even now as young adults they play the 'who looked', 'who played it cool then turned around' game, and we have arrived at some places and found we're getting filmed getting out of the car. It's most definitely not the most comfortable rear seats for people over 5-foot, but it's got its compensations and is definitely more fun. 

For my wife and I we can visit our eldest daughter at university and take her out to lunch - not legally possible with a 2-seater and something that allows us to use the car just that bit more than we otherwise could. 

[Taylor]

Don't get me wrong, having 4 seats in a car like this can be incredibly useful but to be seriously realistic here I think its practicality is somewhere between your experience and most other peoples experience where myself and others included can only reasonably fit 2 small children in the back reasonably comfortably (if those words even typically describe this scenario).

Even with the passanger seat all the way forward, my partner struggles to be comfortable for much longer than 30 mins or so.

Thats not a negative statement, just a reasonable experience given the space back their.

Put it this way, you would not buy one to be an everday family saloon, it would be prety selfish but for short journeys it can transport children and relatively small adults.

Plenty of vids and pictures on the net to help people decide the back seat practicality.

 

 

[Danelaw]

I don't disagree with that, but like the picture you've posted above many of those on the net are the more amusing or extreme examples. The odd thing is my daughters choose to drive across Europe in the car when I offer to fly them out instead, and they and my wife are all a few inches over the official UK average height for women. I'm also around 5'11" but should start shrinking now so that could improve matters...

The front seat passenger has to provide as much space as possible, the the rear-seat passengers take their shoes off to allow more flexibility and scope to adjust seating positions, and it works for us. It could work even better for a shorter family and if the statistics are to be believed there should be several.

I'd also say it brings us closer together as a family in all ways. In a Lotus a journey becomes a road trip adventure that in a people carrier is really just commuting. Like many adventures there are compromises to comfort, but the shared experience makes it worthwhile.

The Lotus eclat I had was probably a more spacious car, but for me the evora 2+2 space compromises are near perfect. A little more room would be welcome, but not at the cost of a larger and heavier car.

[Taylor]

Taking your shoes off to get your feet under the seat is a good tip.

My partner is average height too but does struggle to sit comfortably when someone is in the front, as such 95% of the time its used as a 2 seater and the back seats as luggage. I'll try and get a picture next time we're out!

You can actually fit 3 people in the back. From one extreme to the other ???

In the interests of a true reflection here are some other pics I found but as always people need to test them for their own practicalities.

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

Surprised no one seems to mention the headroom. That will be the limiting factor for my kids.

[Taylor]

It is limiting for adults yes. Like I say it has its limits in its practicality. Where those limits are will depend on how you want to determine whats comfortable and reasonable and whats not.

In my opinion its comfortable for small children but as @Danelaw mentions they find it comfortable enough for European journies with 4 people on.

[Danelaw]

My experience is that women will sometimes choose to sacrifice comfort to be slaves to fashion. I'm lucky enough that my wife and daughters are prepared to sacrifice comfort for the fun of going places in the evora.

My advice is to get your children playing twister and hide'n'seek (squeezing themselves into small places) - perfect training for being Lotus passengers and then your ability to use the car will be much enhanced. Alternatively you can just resort to bribery.

[TomE]

Pictures of my kids in the back of a launch Evora in their car seats have been re-posted many times.  Now aged 10 and 15 they are still fine in the back seats for a long journey, though the older one will soon be too tall for comfortable headroom (currently at 5'5").  It helps that both me and my wife are 5'9" so are fine with the seats fully forward to maximise the rear legroom.  I've had suitcases and multiple cases of wine & beer on the back seats and regularly transport my road bike in the back.  We love the practically of the 2+2 and if the Evora had been only 2-seater or 2+0 we'd have been off to another brand.  We have a family barge but for our second car I need to be able to transport at least me plus both kids and the Evora works great.  I agree it's very dependent on sizes of the adults and kids plus what compromises you'll accept, so do go and try it out for yourself.

[Inkyfingers]

l always sing the praises of the the Evora, but can't imagine making anyone sit in the back for 8 hours, that's pretty hardcore.

Took one of mine out today, safe to say she still loves it.

Edited December 28, 2016 by Inkyfingers

[Danelaw]

You guys are starting to make me feel like a bad father!

[Gm77]

@Danelaw - no need to be concerned. We went 4 up to Manchester. No stops. And that's four hours for us. No complaints from the children, and felt much more like a family outing than when we did the same trip in a CRV. 

[Danelaw]

16 minutes ago, Gm77 said:

@Danelaw - no need to be concerned. We went 4 up to Manchester. No stops. And that's four hours for us. No complaints from the children, and felt much more like a family outing than when we did the same trip in a CRV. 

Suddenly I don't feel so alone and with a 4-hour stint you're my heroes - I think the longest we've done 4-up is around 2 hours and 20 minutes. We normally aim for just under or around 2 hours when we have a long trip to do or shorter stints when it's just in the UK.

[Stuno1]

Useful chat and pics here. For me (and many others it would seem) a key attribute of the Evora is its ability to carry kids.