Evora 400 Test Drive... Thoughts

[Frickin_idiot 136]

39 minutes ago, Bibs said:

The 400 doesn't even have a water temp gauge! 

Surely it has a temp readout similar to the Exige /Elise?

[Bibs 11,394]

Nope. Blue 'coolant cold' light on the rev counter which goes out at some point. No actual readout at all. 

[JayEmm 1,272]

A light which goes out very fast too, I know it's fundamentally a fairly unstressed base engine but I really would appreciate a proper oil temp gauge at the very least!

[Bibs 11,394]

I found the opposite, it took a decent amount of time to go out from cold and the lower rev limit stayed in place for quite a while.

To be fair, apart from my Esprit I've very rarely seen oil temp gauges in cars. 

[JayEmm 1,272]

Interesting. My 993 had one, as have most of my BMWs. My 645, Z4 M and M3 all had one. I find oil temp much more useful than water temp.

[C8RKH 6,419]

I don't see the need myself. If my oil is too hot - flash a light at me. If it needs topping up - flash a light at me. Otherwise, I'm too busy looking out the windscreen driving like a bat out of hell trying to miss all the numpty weekend drivers out thee for a potter.

Each dial weighs. Each feeder for each dial weighs. Each wire or connector for each dial weighs.  Ergo, according to the bible of St. Colin of Hethel, said dials and ancilliaries are superfluous, mere baubles and adornments to satan himself. Have  away with you....

If you want loads of dials, buy a Nissan GTR, apparently they have an instrument binnacle made by Playstation and an ancillary dial screen made by Nintendo - more than enough dials to keep you happy and more than NASA put in the Jupiter rockets and moon lander combined.

[JayEmm 1,272]

Old school gauges

 

Centre console L>R

Clock
Fuel
Oil Temperature

Dash

Speedo
Oil Pressure
Water Temp
Tacho

[C8RKH 6,419]

Lotus did it better

 

[JayEmm 1,272]

I also quite like 

 

They share handbrake positions anyway! (The Esprit and Fezza)

Edited March 20, 2016 by JayEmm

[C8RKH 6,419]

And the above is quite nice too, granted. I forgot how good the inerior of the Cortina looked  Still satans baubles though....

 

[JayEmm 1,272]

I disagree. In my experience most warning lights tend to come on a little bit too late. The car is only as good as its driver, and there's plenty of formerly decent cars ruined by people driving across the country with an oil warning light. But by the same token it's good to have dials so those of us who care can notice that the pressure seems off, or it's running 15 degrees hotter than yesterday, etc...

Maybe it's just me psychologically associating it with high-end marques!

[Danelaw 156]

It seems to me that many of the 'high-end' German marques have gauges which are designed to instill a sense of quality and order with the driver in that after initial warm-up they sit plumb centre no matter what. In other words they are damped to the point where any real changes are unlikely to be seen until they are extreme enough to flash a warning light. 

My advice if you want more gauges get an Android stereo and an App to display whatever gauges you like with data from the OBD port - probably much more accurate and real-time than the gauges fitted as standard by many manufacturers. I admit I'm a bit old-fashioned and would feel happier with some dials, but an OBD solution would keep me happy and that exists already.

[C8RKH 6,419]

Well if the warning lights are no use we should take them out too!

You'll realise soon enough I'm only 3 and a half and this is my Dads account....

[Bibs 11,394]

The oil pressure gauge in one of my cars never moved with pressure and the water temp gauge in my Impreza stays in the middle unless it's either very cool or about to go pop! The temp on Torque shows it change but the needle does nothing! 

[JayEmm 1,272]

The gauges in the Porsche 993 were anything but robust. In actual fact, one did more harm than good. The car used a dry sump, and so the oil level gauge would only work properly with the car warm, running and on level ground. You'd have to stop, wait for a few seconds and then it'd bump up to the level. So many people got in and looked at it with the car stone cold, and then topped up the oil "to be sure" and overfilled it. Those engines had around 9l of oil in them anyway!

Not quite as bad as the 1972 911, they decided to add a flap on the side for easy filling of the oil. Unfortunately, it's in the same place most cars would have a fuel filler. That didn't last long.

[BWex 89]

Not sure about the Evora 400, but my Elise SC has an oil dipstick to check oil level.  So does the Exige V6 Cup R.  I think that's a great thing to have, and better than a light that comes on when it's basically too late to drive anymore.  BMW stopped the dipstick a while back unfortunately. 

[JayEmm 1,272]

I didn't check but I am fairly sure this has a dipstick. They're the only reliable method for checking oil. I understand why manufacturers introduced oil sensors, but I hate the fact they ditched the dipstick. It's a handy diagnostic tool.

Oil sensors can also be fooled - I've had my oil warning light come on a couple of times simply because I've parked a car on a steep enough incline for a few hours.

[Ccd 115]

On public roads, low end torque rules because it come in handy so much of the time.  Peak torque in the higher RPM range is fine on a track, much less so on public roads.  

[Inkyfingers 88]

Personally, i do like guages. I accept that it's not so safety critical in a car, but in aviation, small guage movements can sometimes foretell issues before they become serious problems, which has certainly been useful in the past.

Though when my Merc was having overheating issues (2 year old car, 30k miles and needed a new head gasket) the guage would suddenly jump from normal, into the far red, which was pretty useless.

[C8RKH 6,419]

These are the gauges I like.   hahahaha....

 

[JayEmm 1,272]

I turned on BBC Radio Norfolk this morning by accident, they were doing a special on model trains...

[Frickin_idiot 136]

4 hours ago, C8RKH said:

These are the gauges I like.   hahahaha....

 

lgb?

[JayEmm 1,272]

I caught this today... some lovely shots and audio of the car, but are they driving the same car I have?

 

The engine sounds absolutely awesome even in that company, and the car is a joy to drive... very confused. 

I drove a BMW M4 the other day, the Evora's engine is far better than that - it might lack the ultimate fireworks but with the M4 I never quite felt I knew how much power I was going to get given.

If nothing else, you've got to give Lotus credit for making a car that looks absolutely at home alongside the 488, 675 etc...

Edited March 22, 2016 by JayEmm

[BWex 89]

After a great deal of consideration, I decided to drop my consideration of the Evora 400.  As discussed in these posts, my main desire was a 4 seat sport convertible, since my Elise fulfills all my dreams for a 2 seat fast and light car.  I was hoping the Evora 400 roadster would be the answer, but I learned that the roadster won't be coming to the US, if at all, for another two years.    I still have and love my Elise SC, which is the epitome of lightness and driveability.  After a great deal of analysis of what's out there, with the M4 being the closest comparator, i went ahead and got a Maserati GranTurismo MC Convertible Centennial edition.  Bianco Birdcage exterior (a white that glows blue in the sunlight) with a black interior with blue stitching.  The Maserati is at the other end of the spectrum in terms of weight and size -- it's a beast.  But boy does that engine sound great, it's absolutely beautiful, handles pretty well for the weight, and has a completely legitimate set of rear seats.  If and when the Evora 400 roadster shows up here, I am hoping it will give me a reason to trade in the Maserati.  Time will tell.

And now, no more non-Lotus talk.

[LotusLeftLotusRight 1,322]

That sounds like a very nice car. Do you have any photos? I don't think anyone can criticize you for buying a Maserati, especially when you're already a Lotus owner. At least it's not another Porsche!