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Evora 400 Reviews & Videos


DaveC72

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Just to clarify a couple of points mate. 

Those look like the correct seats with side airbags. The gearchange was never plastic on any Evora and the previous car has an adjustable steering column. It's not a race exhaust, it's standard, just 0.5" bigger bored. The reason there's more room in the back is that there's now room under the seats for feet whereas there wasn't before and also that the fuel pump has been relocated, it's not due to thinner cushions :)

They do sound amazing though, you will have a wonderful June :thumbup:

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  • 5 weeks later...
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I just saw this video, published yesterday. A shame their mic hasn't been setup/placed properly.. but all 400 videos are good!

 

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James Martin (JayEmm)
Director of Photography & Car Enthusiast

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That it does. I have yet to hear a 718 or the new 911 in person, but if it's anything like the M4 they'll have just substituted volume for character.

James Martin (JayEmm)
Director of Photography & Car Enthusiast

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnXP0Odm6E0&list=PLomxRDGB-WNRO9UzSsvOEnFJFQ1M1rn6U

1:51:29 Cayman GT4

1:55:80 Evora 400

1:47:52 GT3 RS

1:43:38 Radical RXC Turbo 500

2:00:84 Honda Civic Type R

1:45:06 Lambo Huracan

1:42:627 Porsche 918 Spyder (lap record)

...

Edited by geartox
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38 minutes ago, brightoncorgi said:

Doesn't look too impressive compared, no?

What, a road car (on road tyres) compared to track day specials and a hypercar (on track tyres)?

Looks ok to me. 

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1 minute ago, Bravo73 said:

What, a road car (on road tyres) compared to track day specials and a hypercar (on track tyres)?

Looks ok to me. 


Everyone will compare the Evora 400 to the Cayman GT4 and say the 400 is nothing special unfortunately.

If the car is not from the UK or Italy; it's not worth talking about.

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Well, then 'everyone' isn't comparing apples to apples. The Ev400 should be compared against it's actual rival, a stock 911 Carrera. 

I imagine that the Ev410 times will be much closer/better to the Porker GT3 & GT4 times. 

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3 hours ago, brightoncorgi said:

How does that lap time compare to other cars?

It's a pretty poor result, esp compared to the GT4 which is its real sales competition at least here in AU (both are $200k, 911 is $300k).

The gearbox (esp the botched shift) definitely slowed it down as well as a lack of grip (both front and rear) on turn-in. I'm already planning a set of track wheels/tyres for my 400 as the street rubber gets severely punished on track... my S did 4 trackdays and only 8000km total before the rears needed replacing.

Have I ever wanted a GT4 though? No, because it has no rear seats, has a stupidly shallow approach angle, has no auto option (although PDK is coming) and Porsches in general are common as muck around my area.

Above all however I picked the 400 because it was the best package for my needs. But this won't matter to a buyer who never gives it a look in (let alone a test drive) because online youtube tests show it's one of the slowest performance cars for the money.

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2016 Evora 400 | Signature Silver on Red Alcantara

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Look again at the driving and compare the too. The GT4 was, in my humble opinion being driven flat out and the gearbox used to elicit every ounce of advantage. the 400, well, a couple of fluffed gear changes that actually cost a lot, and a desire to keep it in the lower gear approaching a corner to reduce speed in and speed out. I'm no expert, I'm no skilled driver, but I detected what i thought, but obviously cannot prove, was a "holding back" there. Given on one hand my lack of skill, on the other my natural prejudice to favour Lotus, i might be wrong, but i suspect the real time difference is nowhere near what it looks. Watch the videos again closely and make your own mind up.

I think yet again, Mr. Porsche has been out and about to oversee things.

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I came into this world screaming and covered in someone elses blood. I'll probably leave it in the same way. 

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9 hours ago, brightoncorgi said:

Doesn't look too impressive compared, no?

If you mean that Porsches mid engined hi performance super car slaying possibly best car ever only managed to be 4% quicker than lotuses 2+2 gt car, then yes I'm not impressed and would have expected the gt4 to be significantly quicker. 

As to how he drove it. Merde.

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Black n gold

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9 minutes ago, Stubox said:

If you mean that Porsches mid engined hi performance super car slaying possibly best car ever only managed to be 4% quicker than lotuses 2+2 gt car, then yes I'm not impressed and would have expected the gt4 to be significantly quicker. 

As to how he drove it. Merde.

That is how we see it. Unfortunately the public is going to think "hmm same price, but the GT4 is faster around a track with less power. I guess Lotus isn't what it used to be" which translates to the GT4 selling out and the Evora 400 not selling very well.

The Lotus needs to be driven a certain way to extract the most from it and while I believe it is capable of a much better time, the reality is probably that the GT4 handles better and its capabilities are more accessible to someone of average talent. When I get my 400 I'll do a back-to-back test with my friend's GT4 and we'll see what a Lotus driver thinks of the Porsche and vice versa.

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2016 Evora 400 | Signature Silver on Red Alcantara

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Would I not be right in thinking that the Evora comes on Michelin Pilot Sports (not even Super Sports), and the GT4 comes on Pilot Sport Cups?

I've seen more than one comparison where a car that shouldn't be at an advantage has been found to be faster on a track because it's got mad tyres on it.

I believe when the E46 CSL came out it was something crazy like 30 seconds faster round the nurburgring than the stock item, but I do recall it famously made you sign a waiver if you bought it with the cup tyres that if you drove it in the rain and crashed it was your fault!

I recently saw a comparison of the new Civic Type R against the slightly older designed Megane RS, the RS beat the Civic around the track and the presenter's suspicion was it was the fact the Honda had sensible tyres and the Renault had the cups.

James Martin (JayEmm)
Director of Photography & Car Enthusiast

Follow my Lotus adventure online! www.jayemm.com

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As a point of curiosity, I just used Porsche's configurator to spec a basic 911 Carrera to what I would consider "equivalent" to a 400's spec. That meant:

Xenon lights, bucket seats, parking camera, sports exhaust, heated seats, cruise control, leather extras inside (because I haven't yet seen a single 400 without an upgraded interior). Sat nav I believe is standard.

The total for that car came to £84,390. Which I believe is more expensive than it is possible to spec a 400 to, without going heavy on the exclusives list. That being said, Porsche will probably offer a much healthier discount than Lotus tend to.

The base 911 is 30hp down on the 400, but 50nm of torque up. IT's also about 35kg heavier in manual form.

For those curious, the 911 Carrera S is an £86,000 base price (the regular 911 was £76 with £8k of options). The S is 420hp, 500nm, only a few kgs heavier than the normal 911. However at that price, bucket seats and a sports exhaust take you into £90k already.

James Martin (JayEmm)
Director of Photography & Car Enthusiast

Follow my Lotus adventure online! www.jayemm.com

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Yeah. I don't think the Porsche price is an "OTR" price either. I can assume that's probably another 2k.

All of the 400 specs I have looked at have usually fallen between 75 and 79, you would have to add an auto box to get it into the 80s - but the PDK box is the same amount. That being said, PDK is exceedingly good for what it is.

Given the fact that the basic 911 C4s is £90k, the one I saw the other day somehow had 25 grand done in the options list.

James Martin (JayEmm)
Director of Photography & Car Enthusiast

Follow my Lotus adventure online! www.jayemm.com

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I know I'm wasting my time, but I will try one more time.  The Evora is a road car you can take to the track.  Fast track times are nice, but the Evora will succeed or fail based on its performance on the street, not the track.  If you want a track car you can use on the road, Lotus would be happy to sell you an Exige.  

Manufacturers use track times, 0-60 times, hp figures to sell sports cars.  But the qualities of a great sports car for the road are really more subjective.  How well does it involve the driver?  How does it sound.  Are the controls setup properly for a sports car, etc.  If it were just a matter of track times, 0-60 and hp, I could just mod the crap out of my current car for one hell of a lot less than the cost of a Lotus.

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4 hours ago, JayEmm said:

Would I not be right in thinking that the Evora comes on Michelin Pilot Sports (not even Super Sports), and the GT4 comes on Pilot Sport Cups?

The Evora comes with Pilot Super Sport tyres, the GT4 comes with Pilot Sport Cup 2 tyres. There is no such thing as "Pilot Sport", the closest to that would be the "Pilot Sport PS2" which is an excellent tyre, but neither PS2s nor PSS' come close to the PSC2.

10 minutes ago, Ccd said:

I know I'm wasting my time, but I will try one more time.  The Evora is a road car you can take to the track.  Fast track times are nice, but the Evora will succeed or fail based on its performance on the street, not the track.  If you want a track car you can use on the road, Lotus would be happy to sell you an Exige.  

Manufacturers use track times, 0-60 times, hp figures to sell sports cars.  But the qualities of a great sports car for the road are really more subjective.  How well does it involve the driver?  How does it sound.  Are the controls setup properly for a sports car, etc.  If it were just a matter of track times, 0-60 and hp, I could just mod the crap out of my current car for one hell of a lot less than the cost of a Lotus.

Yes you are wasting your time, because you are preaching to the converted. Lotus owners own lotus cars because of their awesome combination of street and track performance, driver involvement, control setup etc.

Most prospective buyers however aren't going to even give the Evora 400 a look because they will first research the most hyped, heavily-marketed, most powerful and fastest cars out there. As such, these buyers are going to test say an //M car, an AMG and a Porsche and decide their favourite of the 3. Only if they take the time to expand their search to the smaller brands will Lotus have a chance.

Heck, even I wasn't thinking of ordering an Evora 400, and I was already a Lotus customer! I was tossing up between the AMG GT-S and Jaguar F-Type R. Only after the dealer strongly suggested that I take a ride in the 400 with an F1 driver at the wheel that I realised it wasn't just an update, but a whole new car.

Lotus needs to get bums in seats and the cars will sell themselves. It just sucks that the most effective way to do that is through laptimes, power figures, things that aren't actually the be-all-end-all for driving satisfaction.

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2016 Evora 400 | Signature Silver on Red Alcantara

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