Me and my new Evora GT410 Sport

[LeglessAlex 95 1 Vehicles]

Hi everyone! 

 

I saw on Instagram that some TLF guys headed to Caffeine and Machine, I was disappointed that I didn't know about it and indeed, didn't know about the forum! I'm here to rectify that and get involved

 

Right! So, the story starts about six months ago with a really speculative visit to Bell & Colvill and a quick chat to Jamie. I have a feeling that I'm not the only one on this forum with a story that starts like that! I had a little bit of money and was considering maybe something second hand, but I really wasn't looking to buy. Honest. Of course, after a while chatting, Jamie introduced me to the 50/50 0% finance offer that Lotus (some? all?) dealers are offering. This, in conjunction with the 20% discount I get from not paying VAT (I get this on one car every three years) made a new Evora very very attainable. I've never been able to make up my mind if I ever wanted to buy a new car or not, on the one hand it's undeniable 'bad value', but on the other, you end up with a car that's exactly as you want it to be. In the end, the combination of it being 'my' car and at a very reasonable price was too much of a temptation and an order was placed late April, for an expected delivery date in August. 

 

Four (ish) months later, it was back to B & C for a very, very good day indeed  

 

1 hapy boi by Alex D, on Flickr

Evora Side at B and C by Alex D, on Flickr

 

Jamie was amazing when it came to organising everything and throughout the whole process, so a huge shout out to him. The hand controls were sorted before pickup allowing me to see it and drive it away the same day, which isn't necessarily a given. The full, just into six figures spec is as follows:

Evora GT410
Auto Gearbox
Touring Suspension
Sparco Seats
Rear Seat Delete
Tan Leather Upgrade
Alcantara Steering Wheel
Mud Flaps
Air Conditioning
Premium Infotainment
Cruise Control 
Sound Insulation
Centre Console Cup Holder
Lower Side Sills Colour Change
Dark Racing Green Paint
Forged Wheel Colour Finish (Bronze, not done through Lotus)

 

It's worth noting at this point that I have never driven or been in a Lotus before this, and due to needing hand controls I wasn't able to test drive this before buying. I just took it on faith and reviews that it was a good product and well, I haven't been even slightly disappointed. 

 

Okay, so Now I've had the car for about 6 weeks and 4,300 miles, some thoughts on it. Let’s get something out there in the open, I don't think this is a six-figure car. I ended up paying a fair bit less than half of the list price, and at that price point it's a bargain. but six figures? No way. Anyway! That doesn't mean I don't love my car, as I very much do. The good bits of the interior are the luggage space, the seats and the general layout. It's straightforward and everything is reachable by the driver. The much-maligned infotainment is decent, Android Auto means I have Waze and Spotify there, what more could I want? Speakers are fine too, they can be heard clearly without having to turn the volume up too much at motorway speeds. Climate control would be really nice, but I accept that most likely it's either too heavy or too expensive to implement. Seats are really nice, they seem to support me well and in the right places, I managed a 7 hour slog up to Edinburgh with no achy bits. They look cool too. Wheel is nice and dash is reasonable, although the digital speedometer is a godsend, the analogue one is not very clear I find. The tyre pressure monitoring is nice to have. Downsides of the interior are the cheap switchgear and the fact it feels a little conflicted as a car. So, it seems to be pitching itself as almost a GT when you've specced the sound insulation, touring suspension and rear seat delete. It's comfy, quiet and actually has loads of luggage space. Problem is, when you're touring, you do tend to accumulate crap in the cabin and there's nowhere to put it really. The cupholder is in a really bad position, there are no door bins and there's nowhere to put either elbow for both the driver and passenger. This is all utterly irrelevant when you're out on a Sunday drive, but all of a sudden becomes very relevant indeed when you're doing a 300-400 mile trip on motorways to get to more interesting roads. For the money, this irritates me and I think I'll work on sorting it out myself. 

 

Really though, this car is about the driving. After 500 miles of taking it easy (I swear!) and then another few hundred of not taking the piss, the running in service was completed and I was free to go nuts. 

 

Wow. Just wow. Actually, before the running in service I was blown away. When travelling from B & C back to the A3, the nav takes you down a really horrible, lumpy and bumpy NSL road. The Fiesta I have is awful down this road, the C63 Wagon is better but still iffy. The Lotus ate it. I couldn't believe that after all the hype and after everything that has been written about Lotus suspension, in my eyes it still doesn't come close to describing the reality. The car just floats down tough roads, it isn't quite delicate per say, as you need a strong grip on the wheel at times, but wow... It's brilliant. The automatic gearbox is very far from the worst out there, and when in race mode and driving aggressively it does a really good job at keeping the engine in the powerband. The acceleration through gears 1, 2 and 3 is fantastic, certainly for a road car it's hard to see why it would need to be much faster. The Cup 2s are brilliant in the dry and the whole car is whispering, talking or even shouting at you about what's going on beneath the wheels. The exhaust not is really good, although possibly it verges on antisocially loud. Something quieter is on the horizon. Cruising is easy and relaxing, at 70mph it's really civil inside. I can't claim that it's actually quiet, but it's certainly not loud. The steering is utterly fantastic, you get so much feedback about how much grip there is and what the front tyres are doing. The chassis overall is really neutral and easily caught if you do take the piss and get a little out of shape. All in all, I really struggle to see how any driving experience gets better. The car overall might be a little overpriced, but the driving experience certainly isn't. 

 

Is it perfect? No, of course not. In addition to the interior gripes, I'm thinking it could be a little faster. Does it need to be? No, absolutely not. Do I think the chassis could take an extra 100bhp? Yes, easily. Another small gripe is the exposed carbon. At the time when I discovered that you couldn't get the rear deck painted, I thought it best to go with a carbon roof and bonnet service panel, and black vanity panel behind the roof. I'm not a huge fan of exposed carbon but I thought I'd see how it went. I'm still not a fan actually, and I'm going to look into getting the carbon parts wrapped body colour, as a low-cost way of testing out if I like it or not. 

 

Other than that, the plan is to just drive it a lot. it'll be driven through the winter and I'm considering putting winter bias tyres on it like Michelin Pilot Alpin's. Now I think I've done all the chatting, have some photos! 

Lotus Evora NC500 by Alex D, on Flickr

Evora Scotland 2019 by Alex D, on Flickr

Vmax200 September by Alex D, on Flickr

Vmax200 September by Alex D, on Flickr

Vmax200 September by Alex D, on Flickr

Vmax200 September by Alex D, on Flickr

Evora Scotland 2019 by Alex D, on Flickr

Evora Scotland 2019 by Alex D, on Flickr

Now, for the eagle eyed amongst you, you may have spotted a little bit of a bent diffuser. Yep. I picked the car up on a Friday, and on that Saturday I was on my way into Kensington to meet a mate for lunch. When I was sitting at traffic lights in Twickenham, a young lad on a moped ran into the back of me. I was really quite angry, but credit to the lad he didn't leg it, he was properly insured, unhurt and called his insurance co right away to admit fault. It still hasn't been repaired partly because of commitments I had and partly becuase Lotus is a little slow when it comes to sending large parts like a full rear bumper out to the bodyshop. It'll be back to good as new in no time!

 

Anyway, that's my car, and I look forward to meeting some of you in the near future!

 

[mayevora 956]

Stunning looking Evora. Great colour and loving the gold rims. Your grin is looking mighty wide in that first pic Alex. Great to hear you are getting out using it - certainly done a darn sight more miles than I’ve done this year.

Great pics. Welcome and enjoy

awesome plate

[au-yt 335 1 Vehicles]

Congratulations Great colour combination. Good honest review , thank you.

I must also congratulate you on the interior colour ( hint pictures please) great to see a classic combo of the green and tan leather and gold wheels the car looks magic.

[The Pits 4,404 1 Vehicles]

Absolutely love the colour and spec. We met briefly at Lotus when you came to visit. Glad to hear you’re enjoying the car but not a bit surprised. Welcome yo TLF!

[Giveitfish 60]

Just checked out the VMax200 website. Did you really clock 193.43mph?!!? Wowser. 

Have seen your car before on social media, it’s a fabulous looking thing - you’ve specced  it beautifully!

It seems mad that you can’t spec the Evora 400 door cards with door bins any more. That and the missing arm rest are a step back from the S1 sadly.

[LeglessAlex 95 1 Vehicles]

4 minutes ago, Giveitfish said:

Just checked out the VMax200 website. Did you really clock 193.43mph?!!? Wowser. 

Oh gosh no, that's a mistake by them. I believe my best run was 163.43mph, which is pretty slow, but it's also not what this car's about. Between 50 and 100 it's just fab, which is the most relevant range I think for road and tight track driving. 

Thanks guys, I'll get some interior photos up. 

I met you Pits?! Woha. Well, I sure am enjoying the car, you got that right. 

[LotusLeftLotusRight 989 1 Vehicles]

You paid a fair bit less than half the list price? That would be less than the original Launch Edition Evora 10 years ago. Amazing deal!

[LeglessAlex 95 1 Vehicles]

2 minutes ago, LotusLeftLotusRight said:

You paid a fair bit less than half the list price? That would be less than the original Launch Edition Evora 10 years ago. Amazing deal!

Eh, maybe it would have been more accurate to say that I'm 'in' for less than half list. 

I'm fully aware that it's not for everyone, but the 50/50 0% finance offer is a no-brainer for me. I don't intend on keeping the car long term (well, I might, but that's not the plan), it's a way of owning a lot of car for not much money and it doesn't cost me anything. Happy days. 

[trcm 108 1 Vehicles]

Surely depreciation will hit you for 30% ish?

[SFO 107]

Interior pics please 

[LeglessAlex 95 1 Vehicles]

21 minutes ago, trcm said:

Surely depreciation will hit you for 30% ish?

Most likely a bit more. I got the car less VAT as I get that on one car every three years if I fit hand controls. 

The maths works (for me), I won't lose any more or less from financing it, it just means less outlay at zero risk, as there's almost no way it'll be worth less than £40k after two years. I reckon after two years I'll get something £58k for it if I give it back to B&C, I aim for it to have nearly 20k miles. 

The cost in depreciation will be probably something like £1k per month at worst case. If I had say leased a 911 GTS over the same two year period, it would cost me something like £2.5k per month. 

[Neil D. 29]

Cool REG

[Barrykearley 6,164]

8 hours ago, LeglessAlex said:

Most likely a bit more. I got the car less VAT as I get that on one car every three years if I fit hand controls. 

The maths works (for me), I won't lose any more or less from financing it, it just means less outlay at zero risk, as there's almost no way it'll be worth less than £40k after two years. I reckon after two years I'll get something £58k for it if I give it back to B&C, I aim for it to have nearly 20k miles. 

The cost in depreciation will be probably something like £1k per month at worst case. If I had say leased a 911 GTS over the same two year period, it would cost me something like £2.5k per month. 

Man maths at its best - just remember you only live once and some things you’ve just gotta have.

very very nice looking motor - I bet it’s an absolute hoot to thrash

[NedaSay 787]

This is one gorgeous spec.

[Bibs 10,092 4 Vehicles]

Welcome to TLF Alex. I've been following you on insta since you picked the car up. Love it, epic car and best reg ever!

[DJW 655 9 Vehicles]

Welcome to TLF .  Love the car after owning a couple of Evoras to date. 

Fully agree with you re lack of arm rest on doors.  Would annoy me if I bought a sport or GT410 and would probably end up sourcing some 400 door cards. 

Edited October 6, 2019 by DJW

[Spinney 617]

Great purchase, but then I'd have to say that, and I agree with your comments about lack of storage and the unfathomable lack of an armrest. I've fitted a zipped pocket on the outside of each seat, between the seat squab and the sill on mine which are perfect for phones, sunglasses, and coins etc. Still not overly capacious but better than nothing and very cheap on eBay.

Mine is an auto too and apart from a couple of early glitches, I'm getting on just great with it. It's the first car of this type I've owned with an auto box and whilst it isn't as smooth a change as mine and the wifes Mercs (probably not too surprising), it is still an effective tool. I kept the standard GT410 suspension which, If I'm being completely honest, makes the car a little jiggly over poor surfaces at low speed, but it all smooths out as you increase speed. I was originally going to track the car, as I did with my old V6 Exige, which is why I didn't spec the touring setup but, in fact, I've now decided not to for various reasons, so maybe I should have gone for the touring suspension after all.  

Jamie at B & C is brilliant isn't he. He has got me in to a few modern Lotus now and I wouldn't ever go elsewhere, all the time he is in his current position. A true marque enthusiast and nothing is ever too much trouble. I just wish he sold Mercs too! 

[TomE 193]

Welcome to the Lotus and Evora family Alex.  It was great to meet you at the Newlands Corner meet in August and see your stunning car.  Interesting write up and good to hear that you've been getting some fun miles done.

[21gg 354 1 Vehicles]

Love the car and the reg!

[LeglessAlex 95 1 Vehicles]

Thanks so much for the kind words everyone! I'm really enjoying the owndership experience so far, and I love how many people have positive memories/experiences of Lotus in the past, normally though a father, uncle or grandfather owning one. It's really nice to be driving a British car from a maker that has proper heritage and history!

It's been a bit of a slow month, I've only managed to out another 500 or so miles on it to tip it over 5,000 in about 80 days of ownership. Not bad going, but I could be doing a lot better! 

I'm really enjoying it, although the more the engine has freed up the less desire for more power I have. It's a much smoother car now than it was at 1,500-2,500 miles, I really cannot understand those that only ever drive their cars a couple of thousand miles and then sell it! They don't get the full experience at all. 

It's certainly going to get winter tyres fitted though, the Cup 2s have become something verging on unpleasnant the colder it's got. In the low teens it was just some slidey fun, in single digits the lack of grip is at the point where any sort of speed feels quite unsafe. 

It had a recent visit to C&M to see Phil and Laura after their #romeinalotus Exige trip. It was a story I knew nothing about and I highly recommend searching the hashtag on Instagram and checking out the story, it's really cool. I might have to do it myself some time! I love what they're doing up at C&M and I highly recommend a visit if you haven't already been. 

Anyway! Some pics. Fingers crossed the next ones I post will have winter tyres, filthy salt spray on the sills and another few thousand miles. 

Lotus GT410 at Caffeine and Machine by Alex D, on Flickr

Lotus GT410 Rear by Alex D, on Flickr

Lotus GT410 Looking Over Goodwood by Alex D, on Flickr

[Bibs 10,092 4 Vehicles]

I had to drive the one I had back to the factory on Cup 2's in this, it wasn't fun!!

[C8RKH 5,322 2 Vehicles]

Cup 2s are a nightmare, no, downright dangerous, in low temp, damp conditions. Give me zero confidence.

[LeglessAlex 95 1 Vehicles]

Bibs, that doesn't look fun at all! 

I'm definitely looking forward to getting it back from the body shop and getting it on some proper low temp tyres. Got a whole winter of noisy V6 goodness ahead of me! 

[Techyd 159 2 Vehicles]

Great introduction Alex - and great to see another happy Lotus owner enjoying their car to the full  

[LeglessAlex 95 1 Vehicles]

Been a while, time for some updates! 

I've had the car almost exactly ten months and 12,504 miles as of last night. Lets just say I took the advice that we were able to drive as far as we wanted to heart, and have been out around Sussex, Surrey and Hampshire a lot. Some thoughts on the last few thousand miles. 

Firstly, while I am very aware that I have a large amount of free time compared to most, I understand people that don't drive their sports cars much even less than I did when I first bought the car. The car has come alive since about seven or eight thousand miles, and I have considered it properly broken in since about ten thousand.

The car hasn't put a foot wrong in my ownership, and I don't expect it to given that it's late in the model cycle and the Toyota bits. The interior quality has been good in my car, no squeaks or rattles to speak of. I don't think the interior is very well thought out for a car that, to me, is more of a GT than anything else, the lack of armrests is very irritating when on the way to more interesting roads and the position of the cupholder is similarly annoying, as well as there being only one of them. I realise that this position is often dismissed as the concerns of someone that doesn't drive their car properly, but I disagree. You can't be on it all the time, and for very very little weight penalty it would be nice to have a decent cupholder and elbow rest. I've spanked my car around the NC500 and loved it, but there was still a boring, 8 hour, 400 mile schlep up there to get out the way first which would have been greatly improved by having these small things. I believe I have complained about this before but I haven't checked previous posts, ahem.

I'm considering adding them myself, the 400 door cards fit (although they're expensive) and maybe paying a visit to d:class auto to investigate a custom central armrest. In addidion to this, I'd really like a round, smooth steering wheel and to move the cruise control buttons off the wheel and onto a stalk. Thsi will need a bit of investigation and I'm in no rush at all, they're very minor things. 

Talking of modifications, I have done my first two! The 2bular exhaust was sourced courtesy of Nick at PJS Sports Cars who did an excellent job of fitting it as well as the carbon panel I bought myself. I've gone for a twin exit exhaust that should be a little quiter then standard for the track noise limits, enabling me to do my first ever track day soon! Most likely Donnington, for friendliness and run off purposes, ahem. I'm waiting for it to bed in and settle down before giving my final thoughts on it, but I'm pretty happy so far. 

The second bit was a carbon panel to replace the black plastic panel between the roof and the rear deck. This was from Elise Parts in Holland, and I'm satisfied. It's not a perfect match either weave or colour wise, and the line in the middle doesn't quite match up, but it's miles better than it was before. I'm really not very fussy about stuff like this when it's an aftermarket part, and how long do I spend looking down from above at that line anyway? No bother. Should it have been this way from the factory, or at very least been offered as an option? Of course. Lotus were proper, proper broke when they developed this car though, so I guess I'll given them a pass on that. Pics! 

Carbon roof by Alex D, on Flickr

Dat ass tho... by Alex D, on Flickr

Now, while I was at PJS, they weighed it for me... Lotus. Oh Lotus. You are supposed to make light cars, you know. The spec I have is probably the heaviest spec possible with extra weight options ticked and it had a full tank at the time, but still. 

1 lardy boi by Alex D, on Flickr

Other than all that, everything is going smoothly and I'm pretty happy with it. It would be nice if it was faster, but as it's kinda lardy, I accept it. If the decision is made to keep it then it'll be getting bumped to 500bhp as a minimum, however. 

Here are some more pics, although please excuse the condition. I'm much more interested in driving it than cleaning it, and so it's pretty much perpetually filthy. 

I've had a fetish for driving through fords recently, and here's a couple of snaps from the ford in Shilton, in the Burford area. This is long enough to get some good splash going, I might have to come back with a photographer friend for some action shots. 

Fresh out of the ford at Shilton by Alex D, on Flickr

Fresh out of the ford at Shilton by Alex D, on Flickr

I'd like to try and keep it looking like this:

IMG_20200521_121836 by Alex D, on Flickr

But really, it spends most of it's time looking like this:

At rest in Burford by Alex D, on Flickr

Here's some assorted random photos. I've got a long way to go before being able to get a decent shot of the car, but I'm trying. 

Brothers by Alex D, on Flickr

Taking in the sunrise by Alex D, on Flickr

Still working on the angles, ahem by Alex D, on Flickr

Sunrise Silhouette by Alex D, on Flickr

Edited June 15 by LeglessAlex