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Potential Evora owner


Bomber133

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Hi,

Thinking of moving into Lotus ownership after 10 years with an Alfa V6. 

I had thought about an XKR, sounds fantastic but it will not have the driving experience of the Lotus. 

Currently looking at a Lotus Evora with the three packs as I think the Exige and Elise will be too raw for every day driving. 

Cannot afford a 400 so looking at either an N/A or an S. I am undecided about the manual or IPS.

i gather a number of improvements were made post 2012 so will ideally look for a post 2012 car.

Is the IPS a decent box compared to the manual? 

How much of an issue would limited or no sevice history be? 

Many thanks,

 

James

 

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IPS is great as a daily driver (in an S at least).  If the car is for pure fun, I would go with a manual.  I have an S IPS and it changes gear fast but can be a bit aggressive around town and under kick down in sport mode when it often drops 2 gears when 1 would be ok.  If I am driving hard I use it in manual mode and its pretty good, but its not a Porsche PDK.

My previous Evora was a manual, but my car is my daily driver and for regular driving and traffic jams IPS is pretty good.

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More information about your intended use(s) would be more than helpful!  And your planned driving style(s), location(s) and distance(s).  Fuel consumption relevant? Weekend fun as well as the DD?

Since the NA was launched the performance of pretty quick but otherwise ordinary cars has moved on. My DD Fiesta ST + basic Mountune has a power/weight only 10% less than the NA and some 10% greater peak torque/weight.  The Evora attracts attention including from some in such cars  who like to challenge "a Lotus". (Not me - even removed the badges!)

At least post 2012 you won't need to consider which gearbox. I would consider driving both NA and S as essential.  I've owned both (manuals only for me, it's part of the pleasure - but I don't do congested traffic.).  I won't give a personal view as it would relate to my usage, not yours.

I believe the later (2014) S Sports Racers  are considered the ultimate development and have all three packs as standard. Only +2 versions, and four (I think) colour schemes.  

PS: NA's can be tuned to about 300 bhp.  Pretty good then - I did mine.

Edited by mdavies
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XKR is a great fast tourer and very comfortable with lots of toys for a long drive and can be picked up pretty cheaply. It is heavy at the front, not so good around corners and the brakes are 'interesting' in the wet.( I've had 2 of them)

The Evora has a unique driving feel even on the road, is comfortable enough to be a long distance tourer (might need an improvement to the stereo if you like that sort of thing) but can be taken on track without changing anything other then the tyre pressures.

I prefer the S, it is an easier drive than the NA and doesn't need to be highly revved to get it to move swiftly, loads of torque to play with. Manual for me, but if I did a lot of town work I'd consider the IPS. IF you did want to do more track work there's a few options available to upgrade it later depending on your bank balance and understanding other half. 🙂

 

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Hi,

Thanks for the really helpful replies.

The car will be used for my daily commute - a mixture of B roads, A roads,  dual carriageways and a bit of town work. The dual carriageway and town does tend to get snarled up and you tend to be stuck in slow moving traffic for some time.

Weekends it will be used for longer runs or simply for the hell of it. Plenty of good A and B roads near here to take it out.  I very much doubt I will be doing much track work. 

I am guessing I’ll be doing between 7 to 10k a year total. The Alfa isn’t exactly frugal on fuel, but if the fuel consumption was similar or a bit better - great. 

Looks like I need to find a couple to test drive ... 

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • Gold FFM

On my second Evora used as a daily.  Post  here, might give you some idea of what it's like as a real world proposition.  Bibs's link to the long term tests are definitely worth a read.

The first Evora I test drove had an IPS box, and it's better than many give it credit for.  I get the logic of an IPS for daily driving, and I won't lie there have been the odd occasions where I might have wished for it, but honestly speaking the gear change and clutch is such that it doesn't kill you the way some "performance" cars manual boxes do in traffic.  It's a personal thing, and there's no "right" or "wrong" choice - but when I have taken the occasional *cough* progressive drive, I'm glad it's a manual. 

Another personal thing for me, and somewhat contentious in any forum, is that the "right" car might not be to your exact preferred spec, colour etc. - or indeed in line with popular wisdom. Try as many as you can, within reason, with a broader set of parameters and you just might come away with a better car and a cracking deal.

Good luck with your search, feel free to ask any questions on here (but you will get a better response if you use the search function first) and check out this thread  and the Classifieds for regular updates for the cars on the market :thumbup:

 

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Cheers @DaveC72. I have read Bibs' long term tests as well as done a fair bit of reading things on here, LotusTalk and Pistonheads as well as watching a fair few videos on  YouTube. Also just been speaking to someone I know who owns an Evora Launch Edition to see what his views were on it.  

I have found my first Evora to test drive this weekend - an S IPS with the three packs. Looking forward to seeing what it is like to drive. Only slight concern with this one is that I believe there may be limited service history with it.  

 

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I have an IPS as I didnt have an option at the time. Bare in mind that in standard auto it can be a bit slow, but smooth, I generally don't run it in sport auto but prefer sport manual where you can control it . The harder you push on the quicker the changes become, also it learns, so will be remembering from its previous use. So try it in each mode, standard for town and sport for pushing on. Also the suspension will seem soft but again seems to respond better the more you lean on it.

Gav

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Thanks @21gg. Good to get your impressions Gav.  I am hoping to be able to take it out for a decent run in various driving conditions - some town, some A road/dual carriageways and B roads. Somehow I doubt a 10 minute test drive won't give much of a flavour!

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I'm not a fan of autos generally and it took me a few months to get use to it, every now and again it can still be a little sluggish on the uptake but this is in standard mode and you adapt/learn to apply the throttle a fraction earlier to compensate. Out of choice now I would have another auto.

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Hi James,

we currently run an S sports racer IPS and until recently had an Exige roadster manual, for pushing on and on roads were you could exploit the power the manual felt the better car yes the lighter car should be: you will all be shouting, however when city driving/or in heavy motor way traffic the IPS for us was certainly a massive factor when specifying our GT430 Sport 

although you possibly don’t have the same feel/control with the auto box, when in sport mode using the paddles f**k what a car!

Darryl & Sue

Proud to drive and own since new a true British supercar the Evora GT430

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6 hours ago, Bomber133 said:

Cheers @DaveC72. I have read Bibs' long term tests as well as done a fair bit of reading things on here, LotusTalk and Pistonheads as well as watching a fair few videos on  YouTube. Also just been speaking to someone I know who owns an Evora Launch Edition to see what his views were on it.  

I have found my first Evora to test drive this weekend - an S IPS with the three packs. Looking forward to seeing what it is like to drive. Only slight concern with this one is that I believe there may be limited service history with it.  

 

Looking forward to the test drive review 🙂

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Thanks @DarrylV8. I have always preferred manual boxes when it comes to sportier cars. Having said that, my experience of autos is relatively limited and based on old technology autos, so maybe the IPS will change my mind! 

Will definitely report back @Techyd what I think of the IPS. Hopefully it’s a good one

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ha yeah I'm the same really, don't think I'm old but my main experience were two of my older brothers cars - namely a Ford Scorpio (cracking car that was!) and a Toyota Supra ~1986 model (again loved that thing, in white too)

I've been driving a Lexus IS300h now for the last year with its CVT box and I can appreciate the stick those gearboxes get, however I find a change in driving style transforms the experience, though I won't go off topic and start talking about it!  I'm in the market for an Evora soon, and I'm not going to rule out an auto at all, provided it doesn't take away too much of the driving experience.  One question for you then @Bomber133 - the upper rev limit I believe is 500rpm lower than a manual (??), so it would good to hear how that translates in the driving experience over the manual.

 

I realise I've mentioned *another car make* - don't beat me up on that ; -)  FWIW the Lexus is an excellent, excellent car and I'll be having another one of those for sure as my daily car.

 

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@Techyd, mine were an Audi Coupe MY83 and my dads old Merc estate. I recently test drove a 6 series with a fairly decent auto. 

Not sure about the Rev limiter. I am sure that I read somewhere that it was 7200 on the S IPS.

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I thought the manual went to 7200 in sport and 7000 with the ips in sport  but according to my manual they are both 7000.

Gav 

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Those 200 rpm is the difference between a driving god and the rest of us. Thank the lord I have a manual to compensate for my old lady driving capabilities.

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Quick update - Took the car for an initial test drive yesterday. Unfortunately, it was a drive through town and then a quick drive up an A road dual carriageway. Couldn’t really get much of an impression on the steering feel. Suspension though - dear God - superb. 

IPS box - a little sluggish in normal auto (but I am not used to it) but driving in town not a problem. Sport mode makes the car feel different. 

Going back to take it out for a second test drive - hopefully on some better A and B roads. 

Car has full service history and some bills. Has had some warranty work done by Lotus Silverstone, 

There are a few minor paint issues and a curbed alloy. 

Interior - preferred it to the F Type. Felt a bit more special. Build quality seemed good. Only fault seemed to be a non-functioning stereo. 

It looks like the car is known to the forum. One of the previous owners posted on here. 

V. Tempted. 

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3 hours ago, Bomber133 said:

It looks like the car is known to the forum. One of the previous owners posted on here. 

All sounds good. 

So, are you going to tell us which car/user it was? ;)

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@Bravo73 - I think it is the one that was owned by Yschean. Carbon grey with red interior.

I had a second test drive in it this afternoon with a mix of roads. It really is superb and I surprised myself that I actually liked the IPS much more than I thought I would. I don’t think I am fussed about a manual given the type of driving I will be doing and it will be my only car.  

 

 

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good choice......

Ive got the same by the sounds of it......

I was not an auto fan....never had one.....never wanted one......tried the IPS and was sold.....

it brill..........

good luck with buying.....:thumbsup:

The Faster You Drive...The Slower You Age

(Albert Einstein  14 March 1879 - 18 April 1955)

 

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I did indeed - 2013 Evora S IPS in Carbon Grey with Venom Red leather with 27k on the clock. 

Given I’ll be using it as my daily driver for commuting the IPS made more sense than a manual. Auto for the daily commute, sport mode and paddles for the weekend country road blast. 

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