Evora Sport 410

[Gadzooks]

The stripes can be removed if you don't like them!

[Snoopy1969]

so, result of the journey of Jack Baruth:

He states that the 410 he has enjoyed is:

"Easily the most involving car of ist type on sale today"

A guy with taste and experience!

[JayEmm]

@Gadzooks have you done what I would do and have the rear portion of the rear deck colour coded to the car?

[The Pits]

I saw that car on the M25 and the answer is nope. The answer to virtually every other question, is yep.

[Gadzooks]

4 hours ago, JayEmm said:

@Gadzooks have you done what I would do and have the rear portion of the rear deck colour coded to the car?

No left it alone as It wouldn't be worth it for me.  I'd prefer to spend the money on more tyres for the track!!

[Gadzooks]

When I test drove a 410 vs a 400 I could feel the difference at normal road speeds.  Tyre and geo changes to a 400 would narrow the difference but I think the lighter weight and lower CofG would still be telling on track. I got the 410 as it could do the GT thing (not as well as the 400) but it was still very happy doing this.

[JayEmm]

If I was in a position where I could only buy a brand new car, with no discounts, I would probably have had a 410.

I will definitely be updating my car to 410 GEO, see if it makes a big difference. I suspect it will

[JayEmm]

Here it is, I'll put my flame suit on now.

My summary for those who don't want to watch:

Pros

+Carbon Fibre very high quality
+Looks great in right colour
+Rear tailgate is sexy
+New wheels are great
+Drives Brilliant
+Sticks to Road Like Glue
+Probably not much faster than it across broken roads (Genuinely would struggle to keep up in a 3-eleven)
+Sounds great with standard exhaust
+Seats look great

Cons

-Weight saving probably not that great if you option back the comfort bits
-Lap time advantage comes from tyres and geo in my opinion
-Not like the 400 drives badly
-Some styling elements don't work (rear window delete just looks wrong)
-Standard exhaust far too loud for track
-Titanium Exhaust still too loud for track
-Seats stab me in thigh
-Nearly 90k list price, some retailing higher, brings rivals which the 400 doesn't really have.
-Exige still feels much faster, surely must be faster on track
 

Edited June 6, 2017 by JayEmm

[LF1]

Is there footage of you driving it on track in that video, have you done a video driving the 3-11?

[Trevsked]

It's a car for those that appreciate the difference.

 

Trevor.

[Bibs]

Struggling to watch James. Can you remember how to talk normally without the unnatural pauses and false emphasis please. 

[LF1]

When I saw your Eau Rouge shirt i hoped that was a tease of things to come...

[JayEmm]

@LF1 I've not had the pleasure of the car on track yet. It's very possible that is where it might shine. I would love to do a comparison with it and a 400 on track, but for the time being that seems unlikely. As a track car I expect like the 400 it would be very forgiving, very easy to drive quickly and confidently. The shirt was a souvenir from a motorcycle race last year!

@Bibs that seems rather personal to be quite honest. I try and do the best job that I can in a given situation, with limited time and resources. You know me and you've met me, what is in the videos is me giving my honest opinion. You're a media professional too and I thought you might appreciate the many hurdles faced in putting together even a basic product.

[Bibs]

It's my opinion, I offered it to help. Im a very firm believer in being me at all times, I don't have a different online persona and work hard to be myself in all situations. I can't watch Shmee's videos either both because of the way he speaks and his god awful jingle. I like Seb, he just sounds like an excited kid all the time which is exactly what he is all of the time.

I have meet you, yes, and you sound normal in real life. Your 'youtube voice' is quite different and I'm saying to talk like you usually do, you sound like you're trying too hard to be too Top Gear and I struggle with it. HTH. 

[JayEmm]

That would be the sound of a man struggling to get everything in. I know @The Pits has faced exactly the same problem I do. If you do a nice list and script and voiceover you can get everything in, but they never sound as good. Or you can do it on camera, I've tried scripted stuff there but the semi-improv so far works best.

I still missed stuff, the different geo didn't get mentioned, the lack of door bins, etc...

[LF1]

Did I read you've taken over a track day company? Does that mean you'll be doing more videos of these in action where they were designed to be? It will be handy for you to have that resources and contacts to do some serious back to back testing and track reviews of cars - finally we could put these Hethel lap time quotes to bed?

[Bibs]

I appreciate the pressure doing a piece to camera, do you have a dry run first to get your thoughts in order? Helps me immensely. 

[JayEmm]

@LF1 You are correct I am now managing Magnitude. This year will be a slow start, but next year we will be doing a fair bit. I've no interest in hijacking the thread but I would be very happy to try and organise a "neutral" ground for some friendly testing. I am sure plenty of guys here on the forum would be willing to help.

@Bibs Yes, there's on average about six or seven takes. The issues on that particular day were increasing road noise, and the charms of school children - who as I'm sure you know are always very respectful of anyone trying to get a job done. The technique I am using for most of my summaries now is getting two or three angles, blurting out opinions for about half an hour then cutting it back into something semi-coherent. Bell and Colvill are extremely tolerant of me and give me a generous amount of time with the vehicles which does help immensely. They have really gone above and beyond to help me, and never requested that I do anything I'm not comfortable with.

I hope to get their 3-eleven for a review soon, but having sampled it only briefly, I struggle to find any words to describe it!

Edited June 6, 2017 by JayEmm

[Evo400]

Good Video James.  Nothing wrong with the way you speak.  More importantly the video was very informative like most of your Lotus related videos.   Its a lot better than parking the car in some small village and watching the reaction of pensioners walking by.

Perhaps its because your honest view is slightly negative towards a Lotus product? 

[Bibs]

Just now, Evo400 said:

Perhaps its because your honest view is slightly negative towards a Lotus product? 

Please do not put words into my mouth. I take a very dim view of that. 

[JayEmm]

I know our Lord and Saviour St Bibs well enough to know that he always has the best intentions. He is being honest, which is always appreciated even if I don't listen to it.

The 410 review was always going to be difficult. Honestly I liked the car lots more than I thought I might. It is by no means at all a bad car.... I just rather the time spent elsewhere. Perhaps even a small detail like the exhaust being track-ready out of the box might have been significant enough for many?

[Inkyfingers]

I get the impression that James' delivery was a bit strained on this occasion, on account of the fact he had come to some difficult conclusions about the car.

Even by Lotus standards, the 410 is a niche product. I really like it and would love to drive one on track, but if I was going to replace my car then i'd buy a 400. If, on the other hand, I wanted a track weapon, I'd buy an Exige. So while there will be people who its perfect for, I think your conclusions are valid. 

Keep up the good work, your opinions won't always be well received, but I appreciate the effort your passion and effort to help the brand. 

[Breeze]

The difference between the 400 and the 410 seems to be a bit of a rubicon divide in the Lotus community .  There are those who want a hard core, raw and rapid track car, and those who see the Evora's forte as a GT, I have to confess that I'm in the latter camp. I have to say that no doubt the 410 is an accomplished car for that which it is intended, though at that price I would baulk at having to buy equipment that is standard on the 400, as extras on the 410. The idea of any Evora without air conditioning is frankly a bit daft, for example.  I do however think Lotus need to decide where each model in their current and future lineup is going. It seems that they are in danger of being in competition with themselves, as the 410 is likely to take customers away from the Exige and vice a versa.  I can see that the 410 has strong but limited appeal for the track day enthusiast, but the fact is that most people drive on public roads for most of the time.  It will be interesting to see in the longer term, that of global sales, what percentage will be 400's and what will be 410's

[JayEmm]

I expect in countries where modifications are difficult or illegal, and the Elise/Exige unavailable, the 410 might make perfect sense

[pickle]

Just to present the view of a potential 410 owner in the next 6 months. 

I think that to see this as a track focused Evora creates confusion. As soon as track is mentioned the exige wins hands down and this makes the discussion purely academic. Instead I see this as an Evora 400 turned up to 11. It will undoubtedly be very capable on the track, but for me the attraction is a car where all the qualities I like in my 400 are amplified without a compromise that would mean I can't use it as a daily driver.