There’s such a thing as being too frugal. Today, you’ll read all about how Bark and I admired the Lotus approach to low-cost press events. But there was one exception to our approbation: the Lotus-provided camera guy who was supposed to give us “bespoke photography”. Although I was on the track for fifteen laps, and I saw the fellow standing in a corner for all of those laps, I was told after the fact that he had no photographs of me and just two snippets of video. What you see above? That’s the good one. The other one is a Cloverfield-style jerky-cam of me coming into the pits.
At least the Evora sounds good in the video. And you’re here to read, not watch; this ain’t MotorTrend. Let’s get to it.
Bark’s at Jalopnik this week, reviewing the Evora 400. If you check out TTAC, you can also find him contributing an Ask Bark and a Bark’s Bites. Don’t miss his review of the Jeep Patriot — or was it a Compass? This loving tribute to the Tim Esterdahls and Wayne Gerdeses of the world deserves your attention.
My Evora 400 review is up at R&T and you should read it immediately. But that’s not the only car review I did! There’s also a Power Wagon tow test out there. Can’t afford a supercar or a tow vehicle? Not a problem, just read this guide to tracking your stock car!
For TTAC, I told the story of a Ford dealer with a fascinating attitude towards warranty work and a great little car company doing great things.
As always, please click on everything so I can afford to eat. Also, so I can afford a photographer of my own!
Awesome write up on the Evora. It’s a really charming car - it’s great to see someone praise a Lotus for what it is (a car with engineering the optimizes towards lightweight, unusually good suspension calibrations, and one that presents information to the driver) rather than what it isn’t (a car made soft enough that geriatric owners can drive it to get their backpain checked out).
Very sorry to hear about the squirrel. I’m going to give my cats a big dinner and brush them really good to try and balance it out the world.
If your cats catch a chipmunk, the circle of life will be complete.
Congratulations to Danger Girl Baruth on the new car. I’ll be sure to bring my daughter to meet DG and see the new Road & Track and Friends car at NJMP next summer.
Well, you’ve convinced me on the Evora. Now all I need is money.
Loved ready about the Lotus event on TTAC… it is nicely counterpointed by the near simultaneous publication of Hodinkee’s gushy mushy about their Vacheron junket at Monticello, which made me much less enthusiastic about both of those organisation. To the point of, you know, not being able to take either seriously at all.
The “limited edition” Vacherons on Jomadeals are enough to make me think there’s some sort of Joaquin Phoenix thing going on over there
First track day/ HPDE ever for me today. Trepidation level (as far as wreaking mechanical mayhem on my car) was reduced by this week’s article on the topic. I’d been encouraged to sign up for it by your previous articles. Though I run out of courage well before my completely stock car runs out of grip, by the last two sessions of the day, my confidence improved a lot.
I’ve a great, patient instructor, who, as as the cherry on top of an already great day, took me for a few fun, neck-staining laps in his Radical.
Tomorrow should be better, now that I’m not as scared shitless, and have learned the track a bit more.
AWESOME!
Is Lotus still fitting a fridge’s V6 (Camry) engine behind the seats of that thing?
Oh, calling a 2GR a fridge is like calling the Concorde a passenger jet. It’s one of the world’s great V6s.
I’m calling the sedan a fridge, as have called it for the past 10 years.
Not discussing the merits of the engine, which is probably very good.
I saw where you did a cover of in your atmosphere by John Mayer on youtube, you should do a cover of neon by John Mayer too!
Now where did I just rad that article on the green McLaren in R&T? Damn, that was great, Jack. The Corvette coming at you was really a gift; made the article end with a real flourish.
*read
I have a ’03 Boxster S (sport suspension, the standard suspension floated too much) and was considering a change (heard you have an ’04). I owned an ’84 Carrera before that. I like both a lot. I was disappointed with Porsche due to the IMS issue and was considering a change. I read your review on the Evora 400. I thought this broad comparison would be of interest.
I am looking for a sports car. I want a car with a lot of character and feel (at least as much as my Boxster). I will sacrifice luxury and performance to get such a car. Low weight is more important than high power. Other aspects I sought: roadster preferred (with roll bar, to qualify at the track), manual transmission, A/C, heat, radio, and a style I liked. I’d also like to be able to do maintenance and some repairs myself. I can on my ’03 Boxster (some).
I looked and drove….
Rossion Q1 - Fast, good feel, engaging, a bit awkward, but not comfortable with maintainability, not a roadster.
Beck 904 - Fast, pure, not a roadster, little in creature comfort, great feel
Lotus Elise (normal) - Very light on the controls, to the point of less feel. But I’d want to tweak some of the looks. Easy to drive.
Alfa 4C - good steering feel. felt more solid than expected, no stick, new car, unsure about reliability and durability
Boxster Spyder (new) - loved the look, the sound, lots of extras in terms of electronic aides that are nice, but… Poor feel.
Also a new Corvette and Miata - nice, but not that engaging.
Focusing on the Spyder… I drove the Spyder and later a Boxster GTS back to back against my Boxster. I came so VERY close to buying a Spyder, but did not. For me to spend $100k, I want the car to be my everything and the Spyder wasn’t. The Spyder steered perfectly, too perfect, there was no real feedback. My truck has more feedback, my Boxster beats the truck by a large margin and my old Carrera beats the Boxster by an equally large margin. I was surprised the Boxster Spyder felt like a GT, or sports sedan. It looked and sounded special, but did not feel special. I ended up liking and appreciating my Boxster a lot more. As 996/986 prices dropped with the IMS, I saw my Boxster as a relatively better car for the money, given what I want.
I’m interested in the Evora. From my reading, I’d summarize your comments in that the Evora is much more a driver’s sports car than the current crop of Porsches. IMHO - the current Porsches seem lost in their own refinement.
How would you compare the Evora 400 to the old Boxster S. I’m sure it’s faster, more capable, but I’m interested in it’s character and how engaging it is.
The Evora is a league above the 991/981 platform cars in terms of steering, driver involvement, and pure joy.
I prefer the Evora to my 986S and would swap in a heartbeat if I could make the numbers work. The steering is better, the balance is better, and there’s FINALLY ENOUGH POWER. I have maybe 10k of track miles on my 986S and honestly I’m just so tired of it being slow. The Evora matches a Cayman GT4 for power to weight and it’s so much better to drive.
You were right to avoid the Rossion. They are pieces of shit.
Thanks. A common reference frame helps a lot.