MotorTrend
While few people in the U.S. have seen a Lotus Evora anywhere but a car show or in a photo, the Lotus team was happy to let local gearheads crawl all over the cars and take a seat behind the wheel (no driving, of course) and try the Evora on for size. Anyone who’s ever sat in an Elise or Exige knows that “size” is a relative term when it comes to a Lotus, but the Evora is a significant departure from the norm. While it’s not big by any measure other than a Lotus, the interior feels much larger than you’d expect looking at the car from the outside.
The first thing you’ll notice is that while it isn’t as easy to climb into as, say, a Chevy Malibu, it’s not nearly as difficult as the gymnastic routine required for the Elise and Exige. Once behind the wheel, you can’t help but notice how nicely it fits. The Recaro seats seem hard at first, but they’re very supportive. They may not remind you of your favorite easy chair, but they’re still comfortable. The wheel has a nice size and shape; the shifter is in just the right place; and the pedals are placed in just the right position. This car may be comfortable, but it’s still a Lotus.
And it is comfortable. The dash is stitched, the headliner is sculpted for more headroom, and the carpet is high quality. The seats are leather and swaths of leather can also be found on the door sills and doors. The dash is stylish and modern with easy-to-read gauges and LCD screens and the switchwork is particularly impressive. The trim on the dash and center console is all real brushed aluminum, as are the inset buttons. The large Alpine nav and head unit provides a large map as well as an optional back-up camera, which buyers will definitely want. While the view out the front and side windows is superb, the low seating position and rear-mounted engine means the rear window is tiny and the view out the back is about good enough to make sure you’re not backing into a barn. MotorTrend Magazine
Click Here to View the Lotus Evora 2010 Photos
Like the Elise and its derivatives, the Evora has its engine mounted across the car behind the occupants with the boot beyond, and a chassis made from bonded and riveted aluminium sheets and extrusions. But everything is bigger and more sophisticated, because the Evora has to take on rivals such as Porsche’s Cayman and not fall at the first hurdles of quality and refinement.
That’s a big challenge for a small factory. Porsche makes more cars in a year than Lotus has made in its entire 60-year history to date, but buyers of a £47,500 (NZ$120,630) car (the cheapest, option-free, two-seats-only Evora) won’t accept quality solecisms just because the car isn’t replicated as often. What might pass in an Elise won’t do in an Evora.
There is no doubt whatsoever about an Evora’s strength, though. Lotus built six cars for crash tests but needed to use just four of them, because two could be rebuilt and used again. It’s the first time this has happened, and is due partly to the replaceable front and rear chassis sections.
In the steel rear section sits a 3.5-litre V6 engine from Toyota, sending its power through a six-speed manual gearbox from a Toyota Avensis diesel. The V6 is normally found in a US-market Camry, but its character is radically changed for the Evora thanks to Lotus’s own control systems. It makes 280bhp, yet is very light on CO2.
Inside the Evora is a sense of quality and attention to detail ahead of anything Lotus has attempted before. New Zealand Herald
