Evora GT430

[Bibs]

It's $1bn to build your own engine from blank sheet to showroom nowadays, I'm not sure Lotus are quite there yet and I, for one, forgive them for that! 

[The Pits]

Wake me up with the Ferrari F430 discussion is over... 

[NedaSay]

4 minutes ago, cbaileyuk said:

I clearly have a different view. You've ducked over the powerplant comment by telling me a Camry block has more performance, 13 years henceforth from the comparitor you offered. Surely you can't be comparing the two still? 

I currently drive a 350 after many Lotus but this current direction of pricing has entered a cut throat and dangerous sector.

I understand your point of view, The pricing of the Evora range is getting into a territory where some will be unable to follow.

In my opinion the gGT430 is priced as low as it can be though, considering Lotus is a niche manufacturer there's only so they can go and at 112k it  is cheaper than its direct competition even though it can be said that it is a bit of a no man's land. The upper echelon of the exotic and supercar world are now racking the bhp  but their price point is also much higher up the scale. The luxogermans sportcars are getting as much if not more bhp for comparable price. So if you compare the car on paper it doesn't look especially good.

However in the absolute the weight alone is "way up" there, the intricacy of the carbon fiber work is second to none. The car design is still amazing after nearly 10 years, actually I think this is the most cohesive Evora design (except for the rear wing).

Yes, the powertrain is not all that special but the good thing is that it can be abused to levels which would have any Ferrari and McLaren owners cringe. Oh and if you want a manual gearbox with that level of performance : 3.8" from 0 to 100kph well you wont find much out there that is that exotic. 

 

Besides I think Lotus is not going to let go of the more accessible end of the sports car market, I think the next generation of Elise and Exige will be there to cater for the need and won't be wanting for performance. 

[cbaileyuk]

Understood. For absolute clarity, I'm a current and previous Lotus owner and will likely always have one in the fleet but at this level (100+) my money will go elsewhere and a lesser amount spent on something lotus to keep attached to the brand.

[C8RKH]

32 minutes ago, cbaileyuk said:

I clearly have a different view. You've ducked over the powerplant comment by telling me a Camry block has more performance, 13 years henceforth from the comparitor you offered. Surely you can't be comparing the two still? 

I currently drive a 350 after many Lotus but this current direction of pricing has entered a cut throat and dangerous sector.

Nope. You have miss read me. What I have said is that for cheaper than the original launch price of an F430 13 years ago Lotus has made a CAR with better performance.

When you factor in the rpi increase of that original 2004 price to £170k in todays equivalent, then to me I believe what Lotus has done, with the resources it has available to it, is remarkable, and in my OPINION the CAR is much much better than the F430.

You are fixated on the engine, I am looking T the whole package as a car and how it performs for the price.

On spec - the two are close. All respect to what Ferrari did with the F430, but I know where my £112k would go today and it would not be on a 12 year old F430 - cheapest on Autotrader right now £95k for a 23k mile example, next cheapest £117k. And let's not even talk about the difference in maintenance bills.

I'm happy with my comparison and view. I respect yours.

[Bibs]

Pretty much any Fezza will cost you at least £3k pa in maintenance, assuming nothing goes wrong. Ownership cost on a GT430 would be pennies in comparison, it is a Toyota engine after all! 

[scotty435]

1 hour ago, Hellers said:

Well it's been quite a day hasn't it?! 

Fell asleep and missed the 'promised' 00:01 release from @Bibs 

Woken by a cocker spaniel's nose in my face at 8am (not a euphemism). What, no release?? 

Had a deadline to show a new very senior employee around the plant at 11am before their official start on Monday. Nothing at 8.30.. 9... 9.30... teased with Lotus biscuit pics (who knew they existed) until well gone 10.30...

Article appears at 11-ish a.m. on the Lotus website as I'm going up in the lift, already 5-ish minutes late eek.. and then disappears again shortly just when I excuse myself for a comfort break, gah! New important person wonders what I'm up to and I'm torn whether to tell her or as I did, I just said I'd had a few beers and a dodgy ruby murray the night before, but hey as I'm the owner I think I got away with it...

God it's a beautiful motor and having only just bought my first ever (brand new too) Lotus two weeks ago tomorrow (a mighty-minnow Elise 250 SE) I feel that one day something like this 'could' be in reach. Can't wait to see vids etc.

Now I know why Ian Parkin at Murray's would like to keep in touch with me. 

Well done Lotus for a focussed and yet so well-resolved package. That's a very difficult thing to carry off. Bravo!

Well said Ian, one of the best and I am sure from the heart comments all day long, Bravo to you and Lotus 

[vd9]

I like the car. The only unresolved matter in my head - did they hire a recent victim of the real estate slowdown from Foxtons to write that press release on the website? Sounds remarkably like "superbly presented garden flat offering an exceptional £2.5m pied a terre in central London"...

[NedaSay]

3 minutes ago, vd9 said:

I like the car. The only unresolved matter in my head - did they hire a recent victim of the real estate slowdown from Foxtons to write that press release on the website? Sounds remarkably like "superbly presented garden flat offering an exceptional £2.5m pied a terre in central London"...

Well they are looking for a new marketing manager if you know somebody who could the job better ...

http://careers.lotuscars.com/Lotus/Vacancies/VacancyDetails.asp?VacancyID=1486

[The Pits]

Bet you anything the Evora GT430 would be slower with a Ferrari F430 V8 in it! Ferrari claimed 30bhp just from the exhaust in the F355! The 375bhp claim for that engine wasn't horsepower, it was horsesh*t!

I'll take a 430bhp Toyota engine any day. It helps that it might actually make 430bhp for a start.

See, you've got me at it now! Sorry Scotty!

[Bibs]

4 minutes ago, NedaSay said:

Well they are looking for a new marketing manager if you know somebody who could the job better ...

http://careers.lotuscars.com/Lotus/Vacancies/VacancyDetails.asp?VacancyID=1486

That role has been filled now

[Hellers]

Thanks @scotty435 The brand has me hooked, and now as an actual real new owner too. I can totally feel all the love that's going in to the product. This new car just builds on that. I suspect this car will become a defining watershed for Lotus now there are new owners, and also for JMG. What he has achieved during his tenure so far has been quite remarkable. Bravo all round and thank you for your very kind comments.

[Cypriot]

I am going to agree with some people on here that the price is hard to swallow. At £120k when specced, you can get some serious metal. Forget a gt3, you are in Audi R8 v10+ territory. You are also just a few grand short of getting into a mclaren 540c. Yes, they aren't track focused like the gt430, but then again they are in a totally different league. just to be clear, I love the evora, and I am actually swapping my porker for a lovely evora 400 tomorrow, and I couldn't be more excited! But playing in the £120k market is not a forgiving market. but what do I know? apparently they are almost all sold!

[Bibs]

There are only a couple of McLaren's faster than this car, and you'll be spending and awful lot more money (and getting an awful ownership experience) to own one. 

[purso]

14 minutes ago, Bibs said:

That role has been filled now

Congrats

[Bibs]

 

Now that's a job I'd love, but I like where I am

[scotty435]

I m sure this car as took us all by surprise, I did not expect it to be this good and even the people that say a lot of negatives on here are saying good things about it, let's just hope this is just start of great things to come 

 

[NedaSay]

they seem to like it too: https://www.autoevolution.com/news/2018-evora-gt430-is-the-most-powerful-road-legal-lotus-ever-made-119340.html

[NedaSay]

7 hours ago, The Pits said:

The most obvious question is why wasn't it called an Evora 430 Cup? Everything about it suggests it was done by the same crowd who did the 380 Cup, wheel arch vents, central wiper, f-off carbon rear wing and the rest.

My best guess is that they are planning another 4?? Cup, maybe even a 430 Cup so they can't have two many versions of the Cup beginning with a 4. Maybe they'll never do an Evora Cup but I'll wager there will be an Exige 4?? Cup before 2019. 

Do you think JMG and his staff are planning a more extreme car - which a Cup version would necesarily be ? 

If we all noticed that the GT430 has left some fat on (sound deadening,  air conditionning...) There won't be much to work with powertrain wise with the current package. I can almost assure that they left little to nothing on that package if they are to keep this package together.

I always favoured the GT moniker for the top spec Evora cause for me Cup cars are eligible for the Lotus Cup Series, which I still feel the Evora should not due to the power advantage, I know it doesn't work like that but I really liked the Type 124 plan and would prefer to see Evoras racing in GT while the Exiges and Elises do race in Cup. 

 

[anthonyyule]

Sound deadening and ac are options - just like they are on all other existing Cup variants. 

I agree that room has been left for something more - but weight loss  won't be From options  as it's already not included

[anthonyyule]

6 hours ago, Cypriot said:

I am going to agree with some people on here that the price is hard to swallow. At £120k when specced, you can get some serious metal. Forget a gt3, you are in Audi R8 v10+ territory. You are also just a few grand short of getting into a mclaren 540c. Yes, they aren't track focused like the gt430, but then again they are in a totally different league. just to be clear, I love the evora, and I am actually swapping my porker for a lovely evora 400 tomorrow, and I couldn't be more excited! But playing in the £120k market is not a forgiving market. but what do I know? apparently they are almost all sold!

I'm really really REALLY struggling with these price comparisons.

540c - no options at all - £124k

Audi R8 - no options at all - £123.5k

Lotus Evora GT430 - no options at all - £112.5k

so can we just stop please?

i keep hearing the "it's almost double the price of a GT4"....... no no it's not. Even if you could buy one, nobody that really knew the car or the brand would have bought one with NO options as it's resale would be terrible, not to mention it would have none of the cool Porsche toys that they entice you in with during their marketing.A friend of mine has a GT4..... spent weeks agonising over the spec - and sought counsel online with many other Porsche users as to what was an adequate spec. His final bill - despite him going for the only "free" colour choice..... £120k.

so again - let's just stop and have a little think to ourselves. Who, who is going to buy a Macca or a Porsche or a Audi - and not spend anything at all on options. Who is going spend £100k plus but not get the little niceties that makes it just a little bit more special? And with that sort of brand also comes some serious servicing costs as many have already mentioned.

ive not mentioned track focussed. I don't think that's the real question here. My 430 will never get tracked - but adored for the perfect blend of capability, looks and rarity - but with the knowledge that what lies beneath would make it pretty much the fastest point to point thing around me at the time. For the pric, with all the carbon and additional engineering that has gone into this - in today's f@cked up global economy - I think is a bloody well good job done by Lotus.

[61GT]

2 hours ago, anthonyyule said:

I'm really really REALLY struggling with these price comparisons.

540c - no options at all - £124k

Audi R8 - no options at all - £123.5k

Lotus Evora GT430 - no options at all - £112.5k

so can we just stop please?

i keep hearing the "it's almost double the price of a GT4"....... no no it's not. Even if you could buy one, nobody that really knew the car or the brand would have bought one with NO options as it's resale would be terrible, not to mention it would have none of the cool Porsche toys that they entice you in with during their marketing.A friend of mine has a GT4..... spent weeks agonising over the spec - and sought counsel online with many other Porsche users as to what was an adequate spec. His final bill - despite him going for the only "free" colour choice..... £120k.

so again - let's just stop and have a little think to ourselves. Who, who is going to buy a Macca or a Porsche or a Audi - and not spend anything at all on options. Who is going spend £100k plus but not get the little niceties that makes it just a little bit more special? And with that sort of brand also comes some serious servicing costs as many have already mentioned.

ive not mentioned track focussed. I don't think that's the real question here. My 430 will never get tracked - but adored for the perfect blend of capability, looks and rarity - but with the knowledge that what lies beneath would make it pretty much the fastest point to point thing around me at the time. For the pric, with all the carbon and additional engineering that has gone into this - in today's f@cked up global economy - I think is a bloody well good job done by Lotus.

Just realised you've bought one - Congratualtions great choice. If I was currently in the position to be buying that kind of car that's where my money would be going too.

[anthonyyule]

4 minutes ago, 61GT said:

Just realised you've bought one - Congratualtions great choice. If I was currently in the position to be buying that kind of car that's where my money would be going too.

Thank you very much George. I've been fortunate enough to own Exige V6S when they first came out and a couple of Evoras - Series 1 2011 and SR 2014 (with a Komotec 430 kit fitted) and currently have an Elise 250 Cup. You may think this sounds crazy but for me the new GT430 blends all of the bits I loved about each car into one package. I know that Lotus will probably bring out something even more extreme.... but this is right on the bubble for me and I am absolutely delighted  

[purso]

Well done sure you will have a car treasure!!

[DaveC72]

@anthonyyule that was very eloquently put.  Thank you.  And massive congratulations on your purchase - I am massively jealous

I really don't get the snobbery around the "Camry" engine.  Having rocked through just over 40K miles in 29 months I have to say I would much rather have the Toyota lump behind me than any number of  exotic power-plants.  The engineering to get this kind of performance from this power-plant within tolerances is mighty impressive.

The obsession with dick waving bhp numbers is something I'll leave to the pub-bores.  Surely Lotus should be commended for staying true to it's principles, the benefits of which can be read in a pretty decent article here.

It may, and probably does, sound a bit rich coming from someone who will (unless my circumstances change dramatically) only ever be purchasing a second hand Lotus, but I think Lotus really needs to move up in the value proposition.  I'm not saying abandon it's core market, but Lotus does suffer from a kind of inverse snobbery around pricing outside of the community.  The kind of customer that Lotus should be adding to it's target audience will often dismiss a car as being "too cheap".  Go figure.

As a community we  all  mostly want a mid-engined, Vsomething, 900Kg, eleventy hundred bhp sports car for about £30K.  If Lotus was building the volume of cars to make that even a remote possibility then I guess it just wouldn't be Lotus anymore.  I'm not saying that Lotus shouldn't have a plan to become a higher volume car maker - but I wouldn't want to see it become a machine chucking out soul-less clones by the thousand.

Back on topic, +1 request for some photo-shopped images - ideally in FYEO trim!