May 23, 2013

Lotus Evora Long Term Test – Sport & Paddles

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I've driven this particular Evora for the best part of 3 months now and it's certainly got me hooked. Perhaps it's the summer weather (those 3 or 4 sunny days we've had this year!), perhaps it's the fact I'm near the end of the year long loan of Evora's from Lotus or perhaps it's that when in Sport mode and using the paddles this car is hilariously quick and great fun to drive! Whichever it is, I'm finding that 'just popping out for a quick drive' is a common utterance, a destination is not required and just-for-fun driving is the essence of what this car can … [Read more...]

Lotus Evora Long Term Test – MY12 Evora S IPS

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Moving on from the Evora IPS to the MY12 S IPS was a good opportunity to remind myself of the many changes promised to the car last year. It was also nice to get back on summer tyres from the Yoko W-Drive's which were starting to suffer from the warmer weather so the P-Zero Corsa's were welcomed with open arms! With all the upgrades focussed on the driver and making the car a more attractive ownership prospect you can't fail to enjoy the experiences the MY12 has to offer. In the cabin, the new steering wheels is a pleasure to hold and looks very racy, much in line … [Read more...]

Lotus Evora Long Term Test – It wasn’t meant to be this good

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I may have already mentioned my dislike for automatic transmissions in a previous update and I'll maintain that dislike but with a 2 IPS based caveats, namely the steering wheel mounted paddles and 'Sport' mode! Paddles are fun, they're engaging and almost as enjoyable flipping up through the gears as dropping a clutch and feeling the power delivery in a manual car. It's nice, it makes me feel like an F1 driver! Keeping 2 hands on the wheel makes a lovely change through demanding corners and left foot braking becomes a much easier and rewarding proposition too. This … [Read more...]

Lotus Evora Long Term Test – Winter Tyres

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I think people thought me mad. Seeing a mid-engined sports car out in thick snow, especially a rear wheel drive one earned me more looks and interest than if I'd been driving along with the car in flames. Usually this would be well deserved, my Esprit with open differential would spin up a wheel at the first chance leaving me stuck on even the flat in the cold. The Evora has the advantage of traction control, an electronic diff and most importantly the Evora IPS Long Term Review car is fitted with the original equipment Yokohama W-Drive tyres in 215/40 R18 on the front … [Read more...]

Lotus Evora Long Term Test – Intelligent Precision Shift

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After 3 months of supercharged goodness the next quarter year will be spent in an automatic Evora. Yes, an automatic. I know, I thought the same too as I've never been much of a fan of automatic gearboxes and the Evora IPS uses a torque converter, often referred to as a slush box as the clutch is replaced by a hydrodynamic fluid coupling attached to a planetary gearbox. If you want to know how a torque converter works, check out this website. The alternative, as is seen on the upcoming Elise SPS is a automated manual gearbox, these are now available in single and … [Read more...]

Lotus Evora Long Term Test – Supercharger

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Having taken delivery of the Evora S it was only a few short days until the first few thousand miles were racked up with a couple of decent trips undertaken, one to Frankfurt and another to Devon. Unfortunately on the 3rd trip in the car, ironically heading to it's home in Hethel we came a cropper as we explained in the last update! Now we're in another Evora S which is a slightly different spec to the Burnt Orange Evora S. Configuration Evora S 2+2 £60,300 Wheels Diamond Cut Design £2,300 Exterior Equipment Bi-Xenon … [Read more...]

Lotus Evora Long Term Test – All change

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Unfortunately this months update isn't much of an update due to wildlife. The stunning Burnt Orange Evora delivered by Martin Donnelly lasted but a few weeks until on a quiet and calm Sunday drive up to Hethel the car meet with a deer just off the A140. Every knows that deer travel in pairs, apart from me that is and when I narrowly avoided one bouncing out in front of the car I had no expectation of his number two following closely behind. As a testament to the crashability of the Evora, it's up there as a success I'd say. Hitting a Muntjac deer at around 50mph … [Read more...]

Lotus Evora Long Term Test – Moving on up…

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After 3 months and 5,000+ miles in the Evora NA it's time to move into something a little more pacey! Before I go into all the details though I just wanted to wrap up the final month with the canyon red car, the very one Mr Alesi himself so famously graced in 'that' picture. Over the period of time I've had the car, it was good, very good. In terms of what I expected from the car it covered its bases and then some especially with regards to it's dynamic ability on the roads and how easy it is to drive well. The ride and handling is very true to form of a Lotus if not … [Read more...]

Lotus Evora Long Term Test – Day after day…

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...after day after day. That's what I'm finding this car is quite handy for. Yes, it's a performance car and yes when you want to go really fast you can but when you want to pop to the shops, when you want to nip to see a friend it's very, very easy to jump in the Evora and just drive it. I know it's a car and that's what cars are for but with a performance car sometimes it's not ideal for these sort of journeys as it's often too much like hard work making sure you warm the car properly before revving too high, it's too much hard work getting in an out of, it's too … [Read more...]

Lotus Evora Long Term Test – A month of Evora-ing!

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I've driven supercars for some time, I've owned Esprits for over a decade so am used to cars which corner well. At least I used to think so... hasn't technology moved on! In the month I've had the Evora I've had the chance to cover the better part of 3,000 miles so far which has been fun. A trip to Wales the first weekend I had the car allowed it to experience heavy rain (!) and it didn't leak which is good. In fact, it's composure in very heavy rain and standing water is very good, certainly in part thanks to the DPM I'd imagine making me feel like I'm doing all … [Read more...]