Thoughts On The New Lotus.

Well, my first thought is that Lotus need to get away from this whole E-name thing into which they've gotten themselves. I know, it dates all the way back to Chapman thinking that just using numbers to identify cars wouldn't work for the public and naming the Type-14 the Elite, but Evora (though certainly better than Eagle) is a bit of a stretch.

On the plus side, I think it's quite good looking. It's a little thing, which is pleasing in this day and age. It carries a reasonable air of luxury as well, which is a welcome return for Lotus; as much as I like cars like the Elise/Exige, the world isn't totally composed of smooth switchbacks, and sometimes you just end up sitting in traffic.

Let's talk about the styling for a minute. While many on the Internet have been complaining that the car is somehow too ordinary and perhaps uninspired, I tend to see it as pleasingly balanced in overall form, with some nice details that don't go far enough to overturn the understated air the car manages. It's quite low, and carries a strong profile, while details like the concave sills, the rear ducting, and the way the window lines come together to meet the roof at the same spot, are I think, particularly well accomplished. I've heard the front likened to that of the Lotus-based Tesla Roadster, but I can only think that to be a comment on the first picture leaked, because from other angles, the resemblance is lessened.

On the performance front, little is certain because Lotus are being coy on the matter. With under 3,000lbs being pushed by 276bhp and 250lb-ft from a Toyota sourced, 3.5-liter V6, the car should end up being rather quick without quite breaking into the super car league. That weight is delivered in spite of the Evora's aforementioned level of luxury and the fact that, despite being a mid-engine car, it's a 2+2 as well (though the rear seats are apparently so tiny that they fail to show up in press photos). In any case, less than 5.0-seconds to 60mph, coupled with a top speed in the 160mph+ range seem to be safe bets.


The luxury angle really is being played heavily by Lotus, even the photos reveal a cockpit that's one of the most stylish and complete in the company's history. Starting with much wider doors than the Elise that give access to high-backed Recaro seats and such niceties as an Alpine touch-screen entertainment system with Sat-Nav, ipod hookup, and DVD; all contained within an attractive sweep of dash, leading to an aluminum gauge cluster combining analog clocks with rather red LCDs.

The chassis is the first for some time that Lotus hasn't based on the Elise. Though still using the extruded and bonded aluminum that has become as much Lotus trademark as the steel backbone used to be, the chassis is none the less fundamentally different to the Elise and Europa and is the first application of Lotus' VVA (Versatile Vehicle Architecture) the Evora will employ the usual Lotus aluminum wishbones at each end, along with four-wheel disks and ABS.

So, it's a new car from Lotus, and that in itself is something to celebrate. It looks to be a good one as well, which is more important in many ways than being the lightest, or the quickest. Lotus can do those things already, it needs to learn how to make it's cars usable and reliable. The Toyota connection has undoubtedly helped the latter, though I for one do wish that Lotus had gone somewhere else for this V6 as both Honda and Nissan make better 3.5-liter engines, the Honda being especially nice. That motor does seem to be hung right at the limit of what can be called a mid-ship placement, and I'd be interested to read the weight distribution, but then, Lotus must know what they're doing. Right now though, I'm excited for this car. The price in Britain is something like $90,000, which seems a bit steep, but I wouldn't expect one-to-one pricing when it comes to the US. This is the first car in a while that might get me to think about something other than a Cayman or 911 if I come into that kind of money in the near future. It's pretty, it's light, it's quick, it's well done, and it's a Lotus. I can't wait.