Wheels: Lotus Evora
The latest offering from Norfolk puts Britain back on the sports car grid
Like the wait for a British tennis champion at Wimbledon, it’s been far too long since the UK last competed for top honours in the sports car sector. While Andy Murray is doing his best to change the first part of that statement, one of Britain’s most famous motoring marques, Lotus, has just launched a serious contender in the other.
The Evora is the Norfolk-based company’s first all-new production car since the Elise in 1995. And it’s a bona fide Porsche predator. At an on-sale price of £49,875, the Evora sits between Porsche’s Cayman and 911 models – but it certainly doesn’t fall between two stools.
This is a vehicle with the handling attributes of a proper sports car allied with the high-end trim levels you associate with top GTs like the BMW M3. Lotus claim this is the only mid-engined 2+2 you can buy. It means that its power unit – a 3.5-litre Toyota engine which Lotus has modified – sits in front of the rear axle and there are two smaller seats in the back. It’s not quite a family car, but it’s no impractical two-seater either.
But driving fun is best achieved when on your own, when you can push a car to its limits. And what limits. The 0-62mph mark is reached in just 4.9 seconds, the same as a 911 Carrera and, despite the engine size and claimed top speed of 162mph, the combined economy figures are a respectable 32.5mpg. To top it all off, that engine makes the most delicious din, a rasping, baritone growl which Lotus says is as loud as government legislation will allow.
The Lotus Evora is making a lot of noise in more ways than one.
