I had my first wedding for friends in LA the previous weekend and my older brother recently got a place there and almost immediately after transported his Lotus from his main home to his new LA home. I was planning to use a hotel and rent a car, but since I knew he moved recently I asked if I could stay there. He was going to be out of town so the timing worked out well. Only issue was his home had no extra parking so I couldn't rent a car and park it there. He told me that I could instead take his Lotus. There was no way I could refuse the opportunity. I had previously been curious how different his Evora GT was from my Cayman T and now that I know, I figured I could share with anyone else who might be curious.
Here are some of those differences:
- Driving experience:
- Engine: Supercharged V6 placed basically directly on top of the rear axle with around 420 HP (one cool thing is you can see the
throttle cablesupercharger bypass valve moving in your rear view mirror), honestly feels like 420 HP might be underestimating it. Sounds great! - Gearing: 1st and 2nd gear were relatively tall like on the Cayman, while the rest seemed to have closer ratios.
- Shifter: Is very tall and honestly not as great as I was hoping in terms of feeling a little difficult to get into gear perfectly. My Cayman or even his Miata has much better feeling shifter action like a bolt action rifle, while the Lotus shifter felt mechanical yet rubbery at the same time somehow?
- Clutch: WAAAAAY lighter than I expected it to be, felt a lot more like a BMW clutch than anything I've driven from VAG (but also had a much more clear engagement point than what I'd feel in a modern BMW manual). I'd say the pressure to fully disengage the clutch is a third to half of the pressure I need for the Cayman. I'd usually not be a fan of this, but was actually happy about this because LA traffic is horrible and I had drive for almost 2 hours total that day.
- Brake pressure: Feels the opposite of what I'm used to, starting off with little action, but the increase in brake pressure increases exponentially with the more weight you up on the pedal. In comparison to most cars I've driven in my life, the brakes would often feel very "sharp" and brake hard with just a little pressure then fall off (logarithmic curve in brake pressure? at least opposite of the Lotus), and my Cayman's brake pressure feels extremely linear in comparison.
- Pedal placement: The accelerator and brake were positioned close together for easy heel-toe downshifting (I was thinking maybe the braking was the way it was so you can easily heel-toe without having to brake hard lol). Clutch was also further to the right than I'm used to, so when I took my left foot off, it would just sit left of the clutch but still right of the dead pedal.
- Handling: Steering felt tighter and heavier, with better feedback. If there is anything I would want to pull from the Lotus into the Cayman it is this.
- Driving position: Higher than I expected and definitely higher than in the Cayman (don't know if it can be made lower, all I did was manually move the seat a click or two forward since I am slightly shorter than my brother.
- Engine: Supercharged V6 placed basically directly on top of the rear axle with around 420 HP (one cool thing is you can see the
- Living with:
- Interior feels pretty nice: Leather/Alcantara/Metal color matching the exterior
- Infotainment: Does have Android Auto/Apple Carplay with the Alpine infotainment system that worked very well. I did have to connect my phone to it in the glovebox, which was a little bit quirky, compared to any other car (including the Cayman) having a connection in the center console or armrest.
- Backup camera: Looks like it came out in 2005
- A/C: Worked very well (was especially nice for the 80% humidity we were dealing with)
- Speakers: Exist and looked high quality but honestly didn't sound that great
- 2+2: With the engine being so far back, they somehow managed to fit 2 rear "seats". The seats don't have much space, but I was able to fit a friend back there who is around 5'8" while the other friend who is around 6ft sat in the passenger seat in front of him.
- Storage space: Those rear two seats are also the only real storage space. No frunk and the "trunk" barely exists, I can't even fit a mini carry-on in there and I did try putting my suit in there, but it got scrunched up and felt very hot when it took it out thanks to being right behind the engine. Oops
- Visibility: Front and side has okay visibility but you can barely see anything behind you because of the rear window louver.
- "Turning heads": Did a lot of this, way more than I was comfortable with. I liked having my Cayman being in Silver because it is very understated (maybe with the exception of the side decals) and I don't like to stand out. This is by far the most "exotic" car I've driven, especially in that eye popping Vivid Green color. At the wedding party someone who knows me as a car enthusiast asked me if I "saw the Mclaren outside". Once he said it was green, I realized he was talking about the Lotus. Guess it definitely fits in LA at least.
- Reliability: Low miles, yet the interior gets damaged by the sun apparently, the headlights don't work on auto and need to be turned on/off manually (valet once forgot to turn them off and killed the battery), one warning light for washer fluid, even though it is full and my brother has to take it in to get it fixed.
- Ride height: Higher position than in my Cayman T (-20mm PASM), but still fairly low and prone to scraping. My brother once scraped the front and a part below the front lip that sticks out partially came off. I'm not sure what the part is called or really what its purpose is (maybe protecting the underbody from debris?) and he had to screw it back in.
I'm definitely not a reviewer/writer and again only drove the Lotus for around 2 hours, but this is just a list of my thoughts about it. If anyone has any questions, let me know and I'll do my best in answering them.
