Yet the thing rides like its wearing series balloon tyres. How do they do it? Early cars like this one all came with a 3. Want more? The cabin feels a little too cosy compared with a contemporary Porsche, and the instruments are difficult to read, but when it comes to refinement the Evora is light years away from its Elise brothers. Road noise is relatively hushed and, while getting in and out still requires a course of cod liver oil tablets, training by the Cirque du Soleil acrobats is no longer necessary.
Good as the Evora is though, you have to wonder whether it will ever attain the cult status of its grandad. For two decades the Esprit was the backbone boom, boom.
Sorry, Lotus anorak humour of the Lotus cars range, and gentleman of a certain age hanker after one now as much as they always did. Well, almost. Developed in-house, the 3. The visibility is tremendous too, and the brakes feel more than up to the task of hauling in the effect of lb ft on a kg missile.
Of the cars here, this is the one I take longest to gel with, largely thanks to strangely mismatched control weights that deliver a leaden throttle response but flyweight brakes and steering. Expect the sills to be knocked about. Iron filings contaminated the mat and together with moisture cause galvanic corrosion of the aluminium floor. Advertisement Back to top Also worth knowing. Lotus went to town with options packs for the S2. Among other things, the Touring pack gifted front foglights, a full carpet and extra sound deadening but added around 7kg to the kerb weight.
Other packs include Sport and Super Sport, but condition and service history are all that matter today. Also the occasional, higher-mileage R. Fitted extras include a sports exhaust, induction kit and uprated brakes. Tyres are the superior Yokohamas and have plenty of life remaining. A nice car, sympathetically modified. First and last: tracing the evolution of the Lotus Elise.
Lotus Elise and Exige bow out with uprated Final Editions. The cable gearchange was thought rubbery when new, and can get loose, but is easily fixed; crunchy changes mean a rebuild may be needed.
Leather option standard on some versions is very desirable. A hardtop is sought-after and a shower cap useful. Underneath, check the floorpan is flat, straight and not battered by stone damage. You can buy a bare chassis, but building it into a car is a huge task. Specification has a significant effect on value, but for normal use the base car has the best compromise.
Lotus SVO offered a wide range of options so you could uprate a standard car to Sport engine and trim, or many other variations. Condition, originality and complete history are all important when looking for a safe buy: once-popular Honda conversions are now tricky to sell. Check the tyres and budget to replace if they are approaching or more than 10 years old: few Elises do high mileages and tyres go hard with age.
The exhaust will almost certainly have been renewed or need it! It was in storage and needed shocks, suspension bushes, tyres and an exhaust after sitting for so long. Stunning looks, highly sought-after, but impractical. For a combination of pure driver appeal and value, the Cayman GT4 has no rivals.
An instant modern classic, if ever there was one. Porsche Carrera 4 GTS review — middle child shapes up. Porsche Carrera. Two and a half years after the launch of the , the GTS treatment both adds and subtracts but does the result gel on the road?
Most Popular. BMW 1 Series. BMW's first front-drive hot hatch has some issues against more focused rivals, but is very well priced and does enough to worry the basic Golf GTI. Aston Martin Valkyrie production begins.
Aston Martin Valkyrie. Skip to Header Skip to Content.
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