My first 30 hours or so with the GT410 Sport

[Spinney]

I hope you aren't all bored with this yet, but thought I'd start a fresh thread about my impressions of the new car having spent 30 or so hours with it now, plus include a few more pics.

As you can imagine, I've been out driving in the sun today and I just get more and more impressed with this car. I think the build quality when compared with Exige, is streets ahead in terms of fit, finish and materials used. My comment yesterday about the CF trim insert on the passenger sill lifting up is, I now believe, nothing to do with Lotus themselves. Because Lotus rather bizarrely don't include a DAB antenna even though the headset is DAB enabled, Bell & Colvill use a local supplier to retrofit one and lifting the CF trim today I could see there is a screw underneath which probably holds the main sill cover on. What I think happened is the guy who does this work probably pulled the CF trim away to gain acces to this screw but in doing so, rucked up the double sided tape thus causing the trim to not sit back down properly. It wasn't evident when I collected the car but then with the car in the warm sunshine all day, it must have caused it to come away. Anyhow, a quick 5 minute cleanup and new double sided tape later, all is well again. As for the aircon I mentioned yesterday, I think this will need some attention. When switching on the aircon, there is a click, like a relay kicking in but no noticeable change in engine idle speed or note, which there is on my other cars. After a 30 minute drive with a thermometer fixed to a dash outlet and the aircon on, the temperature didn't fall below ambient, but hey ho, it'll get sorted.

Now to the driving experience itself and oh oh oh, what a superb car this is. The ride and roadholding over some of my favourite roads is superb and the steering feel is simply sublime. I'm obviously not yet using all the revs but it's very clear this is a quick car, putting you in licence losing territory frighteningly quickly. It's still early days but I'm already deeply in love with this car!

 

More pics

 

[KAS-118]

So you're pleased you got the Lotus rather than the McLaren then 👍

[Spinney]

You could say that! 

[Dulcinea]

How are You finding the gearbox?

[Spinney]

I’m still getting used to the gearbox but at times I find the downshifts a bit on the jerky side. I must say that the paddles change gear surprisingly quickly, given this is a torque converter gearbox. It doesn’t always immediately respond to a manual shift but I think that is just me getting used to the correct change point. 

Overall though I’d say it’s still work in progress from my viewpoint of getting the best out of it. 

[Techyd]

Really glad you’re liking it! I don’t think the pictures do it justice but they still look stunning!

It will be interesting to compare gearbox notes at some point too, I’m guessing changes have been made to it over the MY12 IPS...??

[london_v]

2 hours ago, Spinney said:

I’m still getting used to the gearbox but at times I find the downshifts a bit on the jerky side. I must say that the paddles change gear surprisingly quickly, given this is a torque converter gearbox. It doesn’t always immediately respond to a manual shift but I think that is just me getting used to the correct change point. 

Overall though I’d say it’s still work in progress from my viewpoint of getting the best out of it. 

Gear shifts are faster in race mode 😉

[Spinney]

Yes I have tried that and you’re right. 👍

[pete757]

I think that colour combination is stunning! 😎

The interior looks very classy (what is the exact trim colour called) and very 'GT'...

Next stop Monaco perhaps... that would have it well run in!

 

[DBG]

Congrats mate! Appreciate the write up, look forward to hearing more about ownership as you have more time in the seat. 

[Spinney]

5 hours ago, pete757 said:

I think that colour combination is stunning! 😎

The interior looks very classy (what is the exact trim colour called) and very 'GT'...

Next stop Monaco perhaps... that would have it well run in!

 

Simply called 'Light Tan'. I rather unashamedly took inspiration for the combo from a mates car he had restored several years ago and which I loved from the first moment I saw it. It was a 1965 Ferrari 500 Superfast, an awful car to drive, but I thought it looked very classy in that colour scheme so stored it away in the back of my mind until now.

 

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

Is that Superfast HCY700D (Chassis No. 6661SF)?

Another RHD one KYY500C (Chassis No. 6659SF) turned up at our local car show a month ago. The owner has a 275 GTB as well.

They're pretty much the Holy Grail of coupé Ferraris. Why did you find it so awful to drive?

 

 

[Spinney]

It was KSF 500 that once belonged to Harry Hyams of Centrepoint fame, I believe. As with a lot of old classics it was one of those cars that is best left to ones memories, as in, never ever meet your heroes as you will almost certainly be disappointed! 😉 A lovely car to look at and sit in and it had been very well restored, despite the Hyundai paint colour, which was the nearest the restorer could get to original. 😂 I wonder if the current owner knows the humble origins of the paint?

It was sold after a couple of years and as with most old Ferraris, went on to make big bucks through the classic auction houses. 

I'm sure in its day it was a great drive but the gearbox was obstructive, the steering very heavy, it was noisy and the brakes just didn't work that well, but that's how they and many similar cars were in their day. I'm sure if I were to be reunited with my much cherished 1963 Lotus Cortina today, I would be massively disappointed in so many areas. A few years ago I decided I should scratch a long term itch and buy an E Type so tested one for sale near me and couldn't believe how bad it was in so many areas, so thinking it was just a poor example, I tried another 3 from various other dealers but nope, they were all as bad. 

Its not until you drive an old classic that you realise just how far we've come in car dynamics over the ensuing years.

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

Thanks KSF500 is apparently Chassis No. 6673SF.

[Spinney]

You clearly have more knowledge than I on the subject. I was merely an interested bystander whilst my pal was going through the throes (and pain) of having it restored from the very poor condition it had been allowed to get into by previous owners. There were quite a few interesting side stories that came to light during the process. Do you or have you ever owned one or are you just a marque and type enthusiast?

I know it's a thread drift but as it's my thread, I'm allowing it.

[DJW]

15 hours ago, Techyd said:

Really glad you’re liking it! I don’t think the pictures do it justice but they still look stunning!

It will be interesting to compare gearbox notes at some point too, I’m guessing changes have been made to it over the MY12 IPS...??

  Night  and day difference.  Did circa 7k miles in my 400 Auto, all in manual mode and mostly in sports mode.  Gearbox was excellent and very fast changes.  Auto blip on downshifts never got boring

Still baffled why they didn’t put same software map in Auto boxes for Exige, as would have been epic, 

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

45 minutes ago, Spinney said:

You clearly have more knowledge than I on the subject. I was merely an interested bystander whilst my pal was going through the throes (and pain) of having it restored from the very poor condition it had been allowed to get into by previous owners. There were quite a few interesting side stories that came to light during the process. Do you or have you ever owned one or are you just a marque and type enthusiast?

I know it's a thread drift but as it's my thread, I'm allowing it.

Slightly beyond my means sadly. I only have a Mondial T cabrio. I always lusted after the Superfast, having received the Complete Ferrari book by Godfrey Eaton as a school prize-giving gift. There’s always been something mystical about the 500 Superfast, not least the name, cost, rarity, alleged top speed and celebrity owners. It was the Bugatti Chiron of its day. All other V12 Ferrari road cars of the day aped parts of its styling, but none quite pulled off the look of the real thing. By the way your friend’s old car used to be painted maroon (Rubino) for some years before it got its Hyundai blue.

[Spinney]

Yes, I did see it in that maroon before the restoration, but we all thought the original blue, or as near as they could get to it, was better. Interestingly the original interior was finished in the tan Connolly hide which was looking rather sad and in need of a lot of work but remarkably, after much investigation, he found the successors of Connolly still had some of the original hide batch used in the interior of his very car! It was enough to retrim the seats, so in terms of originality, you can't get much better than that.

[trcm]

I wish Lotus would put some more detail on the great flat expanse of the doors, but I love that tan combination, gives the 4xx interior a much needed uplift !

[pete757]

Indeed...

Uplift...

Possibly an 'Elise S1' cutout of the door to connect with the engine air intake panels...

A 'proper' facelift'... not just replacement front and rear bumpers'... 

[EGTE]

Lovely car.

[Spinney]

5 hours ago, trcm said:

I wish Lotus would put some more detail on the great flat expanse of the doors, but I love that tan combination, gives the 4xx interior a much needed uplift !

Only thing I would like different in the doors would be some sort of oddments storage. The glove box is pretty useless and won't even hold the rather small service booklet folder so I've improvised the internal oddments storage with a couple of wallet type bags I found on eBay a few years ago. Here's a pic of one of them fitted in my Exige. I had one on each side and they were great for storing mobile phones, sunglasses and wallet etc whilst driving, so I've now adapted them in the same place on the Evora. Don't yet have any pics of them fitted though. 

They've got two zipped sections, one open section plus a net storage pocket on the front as you can see from the pic and jolly useful they are too. Although you can't see from the pic, they are fitted in place to the side of the sill so they don't slide back and forth.

 

[SFO]

Lovely interior 😍

[Blackngolds3turbo]

Sorry to add to the thread jacking! @LotusLeftLotusRight The Mondial T is a great car! We might be a little biased though, having a Mondial T coupé!

[pete757]

9 hours ago, Spinney said:

Only thing I would like different in the doors would be some sort of oddments storage.

 

The S1 Evora has lovely side door storage... well enough for sunglasses, wallets and mobile phones anyway! A bottle of water fits nicely between the seat at the higher side door sills as well!