Image: 2014 Lotus
Evora Sport Racer NA
This is a surprising post for me to be writing. I’ve made
the decision to change my 2016 Exige V6 S for a 2014 Evora V6 (Normally Aspirated)
Sports Racer. The decision came about this way:
I had to MOT my Audi A3, and whilst I was at the Audi
Garage I saw a Q3 that I quite fancied. I was thinking about changing my A3 for
this Q3 (actually one from another Audi dealer) but it would have meant an
extra £300 per month in finance. Now, it had been bugging me a little having a
car in storage, so when I starting thinking about how I could afford a Q3 I
thought “I’ve been for just 3 trips in my Exige since I’ve had it, and I’m
paying £675 finance + £100 storage per month for the privilege, so ...” The
Exige part-exchange value was more than the Q3 so I had a look at an Alfa Romeo
Stelvio, and it was on the second test drive of the Stelvio (a very nice SUV I
must add), that I realized SUVs are not for me. The Stelvio is an excellent
SUV, but it felt like a bus (probably not helped because I arrived in my MX-5).
And that’s what led me to thinking about a Lotus Evora.
So, on November 21st I will collect my 2014 Evora Sports
Racer.
The Evora is where my Lotus journey comes full circle.
Originally, back in 2016, I’d just happened to be at a Lotus dealer, with absolutely
no intention to buy, just looking. And I sat in an Evora 400 (in signature
silver with red alcantara trim) and absolutely loved it. At that time I would
never have had the confidence to buy an Evora (or even believed it possible
that I could afford one.) Fast forward just over two years, and I’ll be regularly
driving an Evora.
The decision feels right for a few reasons:
1) If I part-exchange the Exige + the MX-5 (sad to see
them both go, but it will make sense if you read on), I just need to find £2500
for the 2014 Evora.
2) My monthlies go down £250 per month (finance from £675
to £525 per month - mainly due to a longer term - and no longer paying £100 per
month for storage.)
3) I started to realize I’m not well-off enough to have
an expensive (to me) car (asset) just for trackdays, nor am I wealthy enough to
afford to go on many trackdays as well as do the other things I want to do in
life. Life priorities (now) are to get married, move house (to somewhere with a
garage), and continue paying off the mortgage.
4) I didn’t like having “my” car in storage, having to
arrange with someone else to get access, and not having 24 x 7 access to my car
(the car storage company I use was excellent). Was a hassle and I’m all about
freedom. Better to have a car parked outside my house that I can use when I
want (yes, I really plan to park the Evora outside my house, thet’s see how
that goes...)
5) I wanted something I could drive more, and the Evora
fits the bill. It’s a very comfortable car that you could daily drive (no
bigger than my Audi A3 and I wouldn’t hesitate to pick it over the Audi for a
commute). The Exige V6 S only really made sense as a track car or driving to
trackdays. The Evora (especially series 1 normally aspirated) is more of a
Grand Tourer (GT) car than race car.
6) I really like the Lotus Brand and want to keep in a
Lotus. Hopefully I’ll keep the Evora for a long long time (I’m too wise to say
this is a keeper, or I’ll keep it forever, since I know what I’m like). If it
does go, I might end up downsizing to something like a Toyota GT86 since I
realize now that a V6 Lotus is at the upper end of what I can afford (it is
affordable for me, but only just.)
7) I like the size of the Evora. The Evora is almost
exactly the same size as my Audi A3 sportback (see
this post) which I’m very comfortable in. I think people are most comfortable
in cars of a certain size. For me this is my comfortable size - I wouldn’t want
any bigger.
8) I love the freedom of trackdays, but, to be honest, a
whole day’s trackday is a bit too much for me. Half a day/an evening trackday
would probably be better for me. And 6 trackdays a year (which was provided for
free on my Exige insurance) would be too much too (partly due to other commitments
and limited annual leave). 2 or 3 trackdays would be perfect and probably in a
rented trackday car so I’m not worrying about wear and tear on my own car (I
might still gently track the Evora.)
9) Maybe bright orange (signature orange with the gold
flecks in the paint is a very lovely colour) and big wing on the back are
simply too bold for me.
10) The Evora is a very rare car in the UK (and around
the world) and massively underrated. I could have bought a Porsche but that’s
not me. I love the rarity (just 710 Evoras in 2018 on www.howmanyleft.co.uk) and really love
this car.
Hence the idea of having a car which is essentially just a
trackday toy (for someone who drives fairly slowly to be honest, I’m more of a
cruiser), versus a car which is more of a Grand Tourer, my thoughts leaned to
the GT car. I should also add that the Evora is manual and not semi-automatic
like the Exige, and my experience of the MX-5 made me realize how satisfying a
manual car can be (I’d argue that semi-automatic is better for track use since
you can concentrate on steering and braking, and don’t need to worry about
missed shifts - if you wanted to practice left foot braking, it’s definitely easier
in a semi-automatic).
So there are my reasons.
I intentionally went for the normally aspirated V6 (as
opposed to the supercharged V6) since:
i) For road use - 276 bhp and around 5 seconds 0-60 is
perfectly quick enough (the supercharger adds just 25% more bhp, but adds
weight too.)
ii) My use case is more of a Grand Tourer/daily driven exotic;
I don’t need the extra power of the supercharged V6.
iii) Less road tax (okay a saving of just over £200 per
year, but it’s something).
iv) Cheaper on consumables and fuel.
v) Since I plan to do 9’000 miles a year in it (the
yearly service interval is 9’000 miles, and I have both the Evora and Audi A3
insured for 10’000 miles a year) reliability is important, and I just felt that
there’s less to go wrong with a normally aspirated engine.
vi) I like normally aspirated, and since Lotus only do
supercharged Evoras now, it’s going to get rarer and rarer.
I really liked this Evora when I saw it and drove it,
partly because it wasn’t externally perfect - it’s at nearly 20’000 miles, 4
years old, and the bits of PPF have yellowed. The manual gearbox felt great (better
than on my 2017 Elise Sport 220). I prefer the clean lines of the pre Evora 400
facelift. The Sport Racer spec is the best. It’s one of the later original Evoras
(Evora 400 came out in 2015). And I like white (two of my all-time favourite
cars - first Peugeot 205 TD and Ford Focus - were white.) The interior is
lovely (and quirky) and feels a bit retro. The seats are so comfortable.
I’m looking forward to it. A bit in trepidation about how
people will react to it, but life is too short to worry about these things (can’t
let your possessions possess you.)
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