Evora market watch, for discussion and to help those searching!

[62dave]

I think hendy Southampton might be a good development for us as they already have Hendy Performance there and a chap from the Exige Facebook group has been using them for setting up his 410 for track stuff. They seem to know their stuff from the looks of things. I need a service soon so light give them a try rather than driving all the way to B&C

[Wake]

Sorry guys, I did post the same one twice! I have fixed it now!

 

Edit - for ease here is the second car https://www.pistonheads.com/buy/listing/10123244?cId=10744725&cId=10974418&cId=10680223&cId=10806533&cId=10189611&cId=10615053&cId=10673264&cId=10966139&cId=10807752&cId=10714528&cId=10123244&cId=10545063&cId=9791748&cId=10720546&cId=10051390

Edited October 27, 2020 by Wake

[Nathan Pitman]

Both great looking cars!

[Pacederon]

Not sure where to ask this question - but, is there a list/pamphlet that shows the changes made to the Evora year by year, anywhere? Especially what were the engine changes as they happened charting the increase from 280bhp  up to the 430 we see now?

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

Click one thread higher.

[Bravo73]

2 hours ago, LotusLeftLotusRight said:

Click one thread higher.

This one: https://www.thelotusforums.com/forums/topic/109058-lotus-evora-definitive-and-correct-buyers-guide-the-discussion-topic/

[Pacederon]

Thanks!

I take it that, like the days of the early Elan, recording in Lotus is still non existant?

Surely in this day and age, someone must have made notes on each change to the car as they happened, no😩?

[C8RKH]

8 hours ago, Pacederon said:

Thanks!

I take it that, like the days of the early Elan, recording in Lotus is still non existant?

Surely in this day and age, someone must have made notes on each change to the car as they happened, no😩?

It's all recorded and indeed you will find the information on here re new model releases, the buyers guide, and of course the long standing Techwiki pages first set up I think by SELOC.

The only real issue is that people post bollocks as fact on the Internet and Faceshite and people believe it verbatim then repeat it..

[Bruss]

Pretty much as said above, except that Lotus has a habit of making changes to current production 'on a whim' to get cars out of the door with parts they have in stock. So there will be anomalies. Those changes may or may not be recorded in the Lotus archives, especially pre certificates being made available.

 

 

[Wake]

On 27/10/2020 at 10:05, Wake said:

Sorry guys, I did post the same one twice! I have fixed it now!

 

Edit - for ease here is the second car https://www.pistonheads.com/buy/listing/10123244?cId=10744725&cId=10974418&cId=10680223&cId=10806533&cId=10189611&cId=10615053&cId=10673264&cId=10966139&cId=10807752&cId=10714528&cId=10123244&cId=10545063&cId=9791748&cId=10720546&cId=10051390

So I went to go look at this one today. Looked good and had a decent drive in it. Although the guy did mention they had to replace the clutch recently. Which as the car has only done 15k miles seems a bit of a red flag to me? Or am I overreacting?

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

A new clutch would be a green flag for me, rather than a red one.

[Wake]

Would you not have thought one needing one that soon is not necessarily a good sign? 

[pete]

Not at all. Once done seem fine and may have been done as a precaution

[Dave Eds]

Had to replace the clutch?

Or replaced it while they were doing something else maybe?

I'd want to know a lot more about why they "had to"  before making a judgement......

[Wake]

I asked if it had been done out of convenience or if it actually needed to be don? The guy said it was because the clutch needed to be replaced. I know cars like this tend to need a clutch before a normal commuter car, but 15k seems a little odd to me. 

[jerzybondov]

Some of the early cars had low mileage clutch/gearbox issues if I remember correctly, not sure why a 400 would do. Pretty sure the 400s go at least as far as S1 cars before needing a clutch?

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

My GTE blew its gearbox after 3000 miles. When they came to replace it, they reckoned the clutch was already particularly worn, so they popped a new one in. I have owned the car from new and can say with 100% certainty that it had enjoyed a sheltered life, with not one standing start launch. The data log dump confirmed this. It was just one of those things, so I would certainly consider a new clutch a bonus.

[Dave Eds]

My point exactly - while we're there......

Edited October 31, 2020 by Dave Eds

[mg4lotus]

I think I would be concerned, but what do I know.

[Greido]

I would take the new clutch as a positive.

The clutch on the Evora is a known common issue which is exacerbated by the amount of labour required to remove the rear clam, engine etc to replace it.
I was advised when looking for an Evora that I should budget for a new clutch if there was no evidence of a replacement, admittedly, I was looking at S1 cars older cars rather than a 400 would be, however, the advice proved to be spot on as the clutch needed to be replaced pretty soon after I bought the car but since I’d factored this into my purchase, it was an expected expense so had already been factored into my decision to buy.

As an aside, my clutch lasted 125,000 miles due mainly to the fact a previous owner did the vast majority of the cars miles commuting/cruising on a motorway so not really straining the car at all. I’ve not heard of any other Evoras clutch last this long so this appears to be an exception, rather than the rule.

My car is a 2010 car, coming up for its 10th birthday this month; I’d be interested to know how long other folks clutches have lasted and how many miles they to covered in the process.

[Cdm2018]

My clutch so far has lasted ok at 50k a little uncertain on a start up cold times otherwise the long box seem to behave itself 

I would think and will have to save up in Hope the clutch or cables don’t need replacement until another 2 years fingers crossed? 
as I drive lightly once or twice a week and 20-30 mins journeys I probably not benefiting from longer more brisk runs ?

[Bravo73]

8 hours ago, Greido said:

The clutch on the Evora is a known common issue

<snip>

As an aside, my clutch lasted 125,000 miles

There is considerable contradiction in those 2 statements!

 

(By the way, aside from a few early cars with an installation issue, the Evora clutch is not a common issue. Which is why some of them make it to 125k+). 

[Neal H]

If looking at a used 400, consider the auto. They’re brilliant - super quick changes, blips on the downshift (epic noise) and no clutch to worry about.

I know a lot of people think a Lotus has to be a manual, but it really doesn’t. The 400 auto is genuinely excellent. I’ve owned 10 Lotus cars over the years and the 400 is the only auto - I didn’t miss the manual change at all.

[C8RKH]

14 minutes ago, Bravo73 said:

There is considerable contradiction in those 2 statements!

 

(By the way, aside from a few early cars with an installation issue, the Evora clutch is not a common issue. Which is why some of them make it to 125k+). 

As he often is, Jonny is correct on this. I'm sorry but to say the Evora clutch is a "known common issue" is just BS and another Internet myth. 

There is not, and has never been, a "common issue" with the Evora clutch (there was an issue with a limited number of early NA CR gearboxes having some soft internals, but that was not clutch related).

I would say that the majority of Evora's are still on their original clutches, with some having been changed.  Last I checked the clutch was classed as a "consumable item" and by it's very mechanical purpose it will wear down. But there are so many factors to consider wrt driving style, conditions etc that it is hard to even say what "general wear" should be after say 50k miles - I mean, 50k miles of trackdays and B road blasts? Or 50k miles of motorway DD duties?

Also, you can't just generalise re the clutch. I take it you do know that there was the NA clutch (276bhp), that was uprated for the S (345 bhp), that itself I believe (please correct me if I am wrong) was updated for the 4xx cars (406 - 430 bhp).  So which clutch has the "common issues"?

The main issue is simply one of cost - it costs between £1800 and £3000 to get a new clutch fitted (as you usually need to remove the rear clam) depending on who you get to do it for you. That is a massive bill and so it causes people to be wary especially when buying a second hand car with a value of say £25 - £50k. 

The actual statement should have been "People who have never experienced an Evora clutch issue have a known common issue to obsess about uncommon issues with the Evora clutch!"

[Barrykearley]

Thank the lord they never put them troublesome turbos on an Evora