Improving your Evora

[TBD]

As many of you know I had some rather long lasting issues with the gearbox on my MY11 Evora S (discussed elsewhere on the forum). So, while the car was in the shop in October I was considering to buy a new Evora next year to get the benefit of the improvements introduced in the MY12. Well that didn't work out as I couldn't get an acceptable trade-in for the current car.

So, after getting the car back I decided it was time to make it perfect.

The first thing I had done when I got the car new was to ditch the Alpine and get a decent system. I chose a Sony XNV-L66BT with integrated TomTom navigation, so that was already one hassle less on the road to perfection.

You can get an overview of the changes introduced in 2012 by looking at the Service parts list Not everything makes sense (you probably wouldn't want to change the full interior just to get the new leather), but there are quite a few items that make sense. Well, I finally settled for the MY12 steering wheel and the trimmed interior door pulls. Changing the door sills just to get the etched stainless steel scuffplates is ridiculously expensive.

So, then I had the roof, the front splitter and the lower sills covered in black wrap, as posted in the pictures thread.

One of the things I found very annoying with the Evora was that the dash squeeks on rough roads, especially when the car is cold. Well, I finally took the car back to the dealer yesterday and had him look at it together with some other issues. The steering wheel had always been 6° off center, which was very annoying with the new highly shaped steering wheel.

Well Timmy spent 4 hours working on the car and achieved some great miracles. Most astoundig for me was that he actually did manage to get rid of all suqeeking noises, giving the car a much more solid, Porsche-like standing. No new parts, just some special grease and personal attention did the job.

So, is the car perfect now? No, not yet!

• I have the 18"/19" wheels on, but will probably try to get the 19"/20"-combo from PB Racing in spring (wouldn't make sense right now as I've got winter tires on).
  
• I have the KomoTec Evo Stage 1 with 390 HP, but a "4" as the first digit would be nice. Maybe they manage to do a Stage 2 at some time.
  
• I still have the stock exhaust. So, if Santa is generous a Larini (or 2bular or KomoTec could be an option.
  

The one thing Timmy couldn't solve is wind noise at high speeds (above 240 Kph). We have analyzed that the wind pulls the side windows outwards from the door seal, obviously not as intended. Lotus did change the seals in 2012, but in so doing they also changed the doors, so upgrading here doesn't look like a good option. But then I am probably one of the lucky few who gets to experience these speeds regularly and below 220 Kph everything is very quiet following Timmy's fine adjustment of the door and window.

The Evora is a very classy car, easily beating most Porsches not only on performance, but also on design. The car is really worth investing some time and effort to resolve the quality gaps.

I'm sure I'll be keeping my Evora S for a few more years.

[Snoopy1969]

Thomas, last sentence ist the best one! In general the way you describe is a far better alternative than complaining complaining................................about the quality and mentioning the panamera coupe (aka 991) as the holy grail of quality

[Bibs]

All steps in the right direction, leaps in some cases! Excellent work Thomas

[jimmybondi]

Driving Lotus and asking for Porker quality...

[Justin182]

All worthwhile mods IMO!

[Sven76]

Right direction! I don't have the wind nose above 240kph, every Evora is special...

[SIMONRP]

How much of an improvement is the MY12 steering wheel? Is it sculpted differently as from photos I've seen it just looks like the centre is a different colour.

 

What sort of cost was involved?

 

Cheers

[Snoopy1969]

How much of an improvement is the MY12 steering wheel? Is it sculpted differently as from photos I've seen it just looks like the centre is a different colour.

 

What sort of cost was involved?

 

Cheers

Yes it is shaped differently but it has not the perforated leather that is shown on www.lotuscars, leather is plain

[TBD]

How much of an improvement is the MY12 steering wheel? Is it sculpted differently as from photos I've seen it just looks like the centre is a different colour.

 

What sort of cost was involved?

 

Cheers

 

Cost is around 300€ plus Installation, which you could do yourself (not too difficult). It is highly sculpted, making it ideal for the 9:15-Position (but not good if you're a 10:10-man).

 

I love it.

[Justin182]

The MY12 wheel, is thicker and much nicer to hold. I was quoted £495 fitted

[m1lum]

Can someone confirm whether the MY12 Steering Wheel has illuminated Cruise control buttons?

Edited December 6, 2012 by m1lum

[TBD]

There is no change to the cruise control buttons between MY11 and MY12. They are not illuminated

[Justin182]

I don't think the buttons are included. Just the surround, and metal plate part

[Aussie kid]

Yes I found the cruise control buttons were not illuminated and thought there was a problem here. But soon found them easy to use at night once I had used them a lot during the day - conditioned to location..

[TBD]

While I'm waiting for spring to get the 19"/20" wheels (currently have winter tires mounted) I managed to get some smaller improvements done.

 

First off, I finally got the trimmed MY12 door pulls that I had ordered in October. Certainly look much better than the orogonal plastic ones. A quick 1:1 replacement.

 

Then TomTom finally publisshed an update for the Sony XNV-Radio that replaced the original Alpine within the first week that I had the car. The update gave me the possibility to upload an individual start-up screen:

 

And, probably most important it also gave me the chance to upload an individual symbol to represent my position in the 3D-navigation screen. Guess what I chose:

I am now probably the only Evora driver who can see what the car looks like from behind while sitting on the drivvers seat!

[TBD]

Well, with spring now having come to Northern Europe I finally finished my planned improvements.

I especially love the barge boards, which not only look great but have an amazing impact at high speeds. They really glue the car to the road, giving incredible grip. Only downsides are an apparent slicht decrease in mileage (range less than 300 Km on the Autobahn  ) and top speed (thoug we did hit a GPS speed of 291.6 Kph yesterday  ). Tire wear is also sure to increase.

 

I didn't go for the 19"/20" wheels after looking at the tire prices. But, I got a set of the forged 18"/19" wheels from a friend (who bought the 19"/20" wheels) and they look perfect.

 

I also modified the gearshift with the short-throw mod, which is a real improvement.

 

Lastly I mounted a phone holder inside, so that I can play with all those nice apps. Yes, that is a photo of my car in the NAV's screen.

(No, I didn't take this one myself).

Edited April 18, 2013 by TBD

[Squidward]

love your car man...

what's the part number for the leather for pull covers? It's not on the outdated parts list I've got.

btw are your barge boards the ones by lotus (wood) or are they CF copies?

[series_one]

 

 

I also modified the gearshift with the short-throw mod, which is a real improvement.

 

 

 

Your Evora looks great.

 

How - with parts from where did you make the shift action shorter? I spoke with Lotus about this and they said they have nothing for this?

 

And per Squidward - are your barge boards the GTN ones or others? They look v good.

[TBD]

Your Evora looks great.

 

How - with parts from where did you make the shift action shorter? I spoke with Lotus about this and they said they have nothing for this?

 

And per Squidward - are your barge boards the GTN ones or others? They look v good.

See here: http://www.lotustalk.com/forums/f170/short-throw-shifter-123965/

[Kenny Simpson]

Hi, nice post. I'm with you on the changing up question. Although the 2010 car I have isn't as well finished as the later ones I can't see the value in trading up yet as it'll drive and look just the same. Plus it's now putting put 310bhp which makes quite a difference.

 

I'm interested in the Sony system, was there much work involved in changing over from the Alpine?

 

Cheers

[TBD]

Not sure the Sony is still available, I would probably go with the Pioneer otherwise. Changing wasn't a real challenge. Amazingly there are real Alpine fans on the internet, so selling that crap over ebay is actually a good deal.

Edited August 27, 2013 by TBD

[JAWS]

I updated to the Alpine INE-W920R and it's such an improvement, even over the Pioneer.

[TBD]

TIme for an update

 

After a summer spent driving the Evora i felt it was time to continue with some improvements:

• MY 2012 shift cables: when driving the two things having the most direct impact on giving you a solid feeling inside are the steering wheel and probably the gear shift. Well, the Evora steering has always been a true strength (albeit the feeling is improved with the MY2012 wheel), but the shifter was as wobbly as the gear shifts themselves. Retrofitting the new cables and shift assembly transforms this dramatically. It was an expensive exercise, but the whole thing seems fully transformed. No more guessing which gear you're in, no more looking for for the right gear, everything just as it should be on a high priced sports car. Definitively a value adding proposition.
• Real DRL's: When you are plowing through the Autobahn at 250+ Kph being recognized by cars in front of you on the neighboring lane becomes a matter of life and death. After all you're approaching them at double their speed. So, I've been continuously looking for better solution than the headlights and finally found a set of aftermarket DRL that both fit and fulfill the European legal requirements. I purchased a pair of "LED DRL Premium Line “Slim 500“" from Nolden which fit perfectly in the left and right air intakes without obstructing the airflow.
  
• BOE's new CAI: well this is on order, but coming in shortly.

Edited November 22, 2013 by TBD

[Justin182]

Nice. Did you fit the DRLs yourself?

[TBD]

Actually it was a joint effort together with my dealer.