2018.11.21,22,23,25: Lotus Evora Collection and First Trips

On Wednesday 21st November 2018, I collected my 2014 Lotus Evora Sport Racer (19984-mile) from Howards Lotus in Weston-super-Mare.

If you missed the post, here’s why I’ve changed my Exige for an Evora.

It’s perhaps a bit crazy to be buying a sportscar at this time of year (UK winter-time), but life’s too short to wait for things (like good weather to come). I was planning to take photos and videos for the collection day, but I’m a bit lazy in that area (and the weather was a bit iffy too). My first drive was back home, ~90 miles along the M5 and M4. The odometer just tripped over 20’000 miles on the way home.

Image: Wednesday trip

On Thursday 22nd, just a short trip out to the local detailer (same detailer that did my Exige). I’m going to give the Evora the enhancement detail and Gyeon Duraflex treatment, to make it easy to keep clean. This is going to be my daily driven exotic - definitely, no garage queen (impossible since I don’t even own a garage) - and so will have to face the elements and muck.

On Friday 23rd, I visited the company office in Uxbridge, roughly a 100-mile round trip, mostly on the M4. On the way back, I dropped a colleague off at Heathrow Terminal 5 (those rear seats are actually really useful, took 2 backpacks and a flight case wheelie-bag), and turned off the M4 at Junction 12 to take the A4 and more interesting roads back home.

Image: Friday trip

Sunday's trip was a short jaunt on the A34 and Shell V-Power fill-up. Below are the stats:

I filled up with 32 litres of Shell V-Power, the cost was £44.78.
Assuming the tank was fully topped up to the brim when I collected it, mileage travelled on the above:
20129 - 19984 = 145 miles
32 litres = 32 / 4.54 gallons = 7 gallons
MPG = 145 / 7 = 20.7
Cost per mile for V-Power Petrol = 31p per mile
31p per mile isn't terrible to be honest. If I'm working I get 25p per mile, and the first 10'000 work miles it is 45p per mile. I also get Shell points and IHG points everytime. Still it's easily double (maybe even treble) what I pay with my Audi A3 2.0 TDI. If I sold my Audi for say £10'000, that would pay for over 30'000 miles of petrol! Hmm...

My impression of the Evora after the few drives above - what a lovely car, best car I’ve ever owned for sure - love it! It's one of those cars that you just want to keep on driving.

I love that it’s rare, but I don’t understand why it is so rare. If you’re in the market for a Porsche 911/Cayman* - of which there are 1000s on the UK roads - why not the Evora? Easy choice for me.

*I personally think the Lotus Evora sits in between the Porsche Cayman and Porsche 911; more seats than a Cayman but not as expensive as a 911.

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