So, what’s it really like to live with and ‘own’ an Evora? We’ve all read the reviews, seen the trophy cabinet shelves look like they’re ready to collapse under the weight of all the ‘Car of the Year’ trophies and heard accolades from all corners of the motoring world but when the party poppers have run out and champagne is flat, is it fun to take the car home?
Over the next year we will be driving an Evora as an everyday car. It will come to enthusiast events all over Europe as much as it will take us to Sainsbury’s and the beach. The car will be used, cherished and enjoyed in all aspects of everyday ownership including some track-days, the kind of driving the car was conceived, designed, engineered and built for.
Our car is the naturally aspirated model, in Canyon Red with Oyster interior. It’s an ex-factory press car so has been used although first inspection shows that it’s not been abused (well, it certainly doesn’t show!), we’ve picked it up with 10,500 miles on the clock so it’s not fresh out of the box but it has been very looked after and refreshed for us. The spec is:
- Evora 2+2 – £51,100
- Sports Ratio ‘box – £1,600
- Silver Sports Wheels – £1,600
- BiXenon headlights – £620
- Powerfold mirrors – £340
- Metallic paint – £570
- Reversing Camera – £340
- Alpine Imprint – £520
- Sports Pack – £1,100
- Premium Pack – £1,800
- Tech Pack – £2,700
Total: £62,290
Firstly, after a quick photocall at Douces Manor in West Malling today (see below) we’re off to Le Mans tomorrow so it’s on the Tunnel at 7am for an 800 mile round trip through France to La Sarthe to cheer on it’s bigger brothers in the 24 Heures Du Mans. After that, we’ve planned on another long drive down to Northern Italy through the Alps and a trip to Germany, hopefully to get some laps in at the Nurburgring. All in all, we hope that you can join us and vicariously live with the Evora, the ups and downs of the car and how it handles both normal, mundane driving and time at the edge of its performance envelope when the opportunities arrive.
In case you were wondering, yes, this is the first time Lotus have allowed anyone to do a long term test on one of their cars, we hope that it shows a renewed confidence, especially in the Evora. Rest assured, they’re not having it back for a while so our updates will be honest, truthful and will details ‘all’ aspects of the car, good and bad.
