Automotive

Evora first impressions

 

Evora first impressions
Don Corson

Silky smooth power.

Summed up in 3 words that is the result of the first month with Evora.
Of course the comparison is direct with Elise before.
A very different car.  Evora is much more versatile.  Whereas Elise just loved mountain roads, the highway was less her domain.  Above about 100kmh the wind noise becomes very tiring.  On the highway Evora is simply quiet and contemplating.  What I hadn't expected, however is that Evora is just as happy on the mountain roads, with much added spice.  Power.
Whereas you could floor Elise at just about any time without grave consequences, with Evora one learns quickly of the necessity to modulate the pressure with the right foot even with traction control turned on.  Coming out of sharp hairpin curves, for example, is simply another experience.  You can cause oversteer at will, with or without traction control.

Evora's suspension is more comfortable than Elise's, whereby one could not really say that Elise' suspension is uncomfortably hard.  What both cars share is the fact that the suspension is always under control and the wheels planted firmly on the ground.  Lotus simply has the suspension down pat.  As the seating is higher in Evora one has less of the famous Elise go-cart feeling. But it is easier to get in and out.  There is a little body roll in the curves, but I would claim that is sticks to the road even better than the Elise.  Does having a wider stance make the difference through the curves, or is it the claimed 4 times stiffer frame of the Evora?  The number of country roads where I can just dial in the speed limit and drive without slowing down at all has increased some more with this vehicle.

The road holding is fabulous, but the motor is not any less good.  The Toyota supplied naturally aspirated V6 as tuned by Lotus takes the gas without hesitation and loves reving high.  I find myself driving at much higher rpms than I have in the past or is needed just to have the quick response and silky sound. The sound goes from almost inaudible when cruising at Swiss highway speeds, to a warm growl when demanding power at lower rpms to a controlled snarl when pushing at high rpms.  The biggest impression is the silky smoothness (am I repeating myself?).  At all regimes and demands the motor takes the gas eagerly without hesitation.  The shifting feel of the Toyota supplied 6 speed transmission is in a completely different class than the Elise, but that isn't hard.  That connection between the shifting stick and the transmission itself is one of the Elise' weakest points.

The interiour is nicely done, but not outstanding.  The Riccardo seats are, however, outstanding giving great support and sufficient padding for long trips.  Of course the added space will make packing for long trips much easier.  Most of that added space is a shelf behind the seats.  The 2+2 version of the Evora has that space upolstered like seats, but I don't think that anyone over 8 years of age could ever fit on those seats so the packing shelf is more useful.

What are the negatives?  The buttons on the dashboard are all illuminated, but completely unreadable except at night.  You have no idea if the lights are on or off, for example.  The "entertainment center" from Alpine is one of the most difficult things to use I have ever seen and I can not find a way to turn off the voice giving directions on the navigation system.  And of course the gasoline consumption is about 50% more than Elise.  Have you ever seen a speedometer where the tick marks are spaced every 15kmh and not every 10?  It takes some getting used to. 
Do these things have anything to do with the driving pleasure? No.

As a talking point the Evora seems to draw even more comments than Elise did.
(An aside: there is a woman at work in the accounting dept. who has been there at least 10 years.  I have never seen her smile or heard her say a word even though I always say bonjour as one does when we cross in the halls. The other day we crossed in the hall, she had a wide smile on her face and asked if she could borrow my car!  So she can talk, but no way!)

The Lotus Evora has touring car qualities that the Elise does not.  This makes me think that I will be keeping it quite a while longer.  Up 'til now I am very pleased with this new acquisition.

Just to share some of my pleasure below are two videos.  Heading up to our local mountain and then back down again.  At least some nice pictures of the beautiful countryside in Canton Vaud.  Note the last pictures of the first video in the parking lot of the elementary school in Bullet.  That school has the best view of any school I know and the whole valley side is windows.  It's a good thing I didn't go to school there.  I wouldn't have learned a thing, just looked out the window, even more than I did in my school.

Don


(PS: there have been complaints that the video server DailyMotion has long ads before the clips.  This appears to be only in the US and I am told that a standard brouser ad blocker takes care of the problem.  Sorry for the inconvenience.)