LOTUS EVORA™
Some car companies are so paranoid - and flush - they've been known to resurface the roads on the launch route of an important new model. This is why, when evaluating, say, a hot Audi in Germany, we issue a cautionary note that while its ride quality is fine on its home turf, you might be on dental red alert in the UK.
This isn't the way Lotus rolls. For the Evora S drive in Andalusia, these global gurus of ride and handling sought out what must be one of Europe's most disastrous roads. A vicious combination of trashed tarmac, unpredictably tightening radii, and plunging mountain drops, it's the sort of thing that could wrench the wheel clean out of your hands while shattering a suspension upright as you tumble over the abyss and onto your appointment with the grim reaper. Needless to say, the Evora S sails across it unperturbed, a master class in damping and steering geometry.
But then we knew that already. The Evora is a sublime car, possessed of what may well be the most capable road car chassis of the lot. No, what the regular car lacks is the grunt to fully exploit its genius, not to mention the sort of aural fireworks that should come as standard on any self-respecting British sports car. Power and noise, basically.
The S delivers on both. Deploying a four-vane Harrop supercharger lifts the power output on its Toyota-sourced 3.5-litre V6 from 276bhp to 345bhp at 7,000rpm. Nice. More importantly, it's torquier too, with 295lb ft (up from 252) on tap from much lower in the rev range. There's also a reprofiled exhaust system, with reduced back-pressure and a by-pass valve that helps liberate some proper sonics, the engine's tune swelling audibly from 4,700rpm.
Top speed is boosted to 172mph, and 62mph is dusted in 4.8 seconds. At 1,437kg, the S is also 67kg heavier than the existing car, and arguably not quite the featherweight trail-blazer it should be, despite its extruded aluminium chassis.
What else? The S debuts Lotus's new Dynamic Performance Management (DPM) package, which takes in ABS, EBD, traction control, ESP, and an electronic diff lock. Developed with Bosch, Lotus fine-tuned the three-stage system to suit its (very) specific dynamic requirements, although you can't help thinking the ‘off' button is the one most in tune with the company's philosophy.
Especially given the almost-telepathic connection these guys have with their products. Meddling with the Evora's wonderfully compliant suspension set-up to accommodate the extra power could have caused problems, so the changes have been kept to a minimum.
The bushes in the front suspension are 10 per cent stiffer, and there are new front upper wishbones for increased castor angle. There are similar tweaks at the rear, a marginally thicker rear anti-roll bar, and though the damping has been revised, the spring rates remain the same. In other words, the S should have better body control, but not at the expense of its primary ride.
If the car itself sounds perfectly optimised, good luck sifting through the options packages. The S features the previously optional £1,000 Sport Pack as standard, the main highlight of which is a ‘sport' button that dramatically sharpens throttle response, allows you a more generous slip angle, and raises the red line from 6,800 to 7,200rpm.
Then there's the £2,550 Tech Pack, which has a better stereo, a bigger touchscreen, satnav, Bluetooth, iPod connectivityand so on. Go Premium for £1,550, and you get leather, accent lighting and a dashboard logo. You can also specify bespoke Pirelli Corsas on the S, 19in upfront, 20in on the back, wrapping some fantastic looking new alloys.
The upshot of all this is that a £57,550 Evora S can be specced to close to, yes, £70,000. With all the speculation about Lotus's proposed thrust upwards into Aston and Ferrari territory, it's easy to miss the fact that the Evora S is bang-on optioned Porsche Cayman and base Carrera money already.
Is this credible? In terms of the car's naked ability, unquestionably. TopGear's mid-engined benchmarks are the Audi R8 V10 and Ferrari 458 Italia, both of which cost a heap more. Three hours driving on a brilliant mix of roads confirms the Evora S is right up there with them. In fact, it has better steering than those two, and because it's smaller it's also wieldier. On fast-flowing roads, the pace you can keep up in this thing is astonishing. Fluid, linear, balanced - it's all these things.
The extra power is handy, of course, but it's the fat band of mid-range torque that really makes the difference. Even on twistier stuff, you can leave the S in third and concentrate on placing the car with absolute precision wherever you want to put it. It might just be the most accurate car I've ever driven. Great brakes, too.
On the track, it's that rare thing: a perfectly configured road car that doesn't fall to pieces, either dynamically or literally, after two hot laps. DPM switched on, and the S resists under- and oversteer very naturally. Turn everything off, and you can exploit a truly world-class chassis. To begin with, it's very satisfying. After a while, it's plain hilarious, and hilariously good.
There are a few grumbles, though. Despite tweaking the shift action, fitting a lower-inertia clutch and improving the pedal action, the six-speed transmission is still some way short of the machined rifle-bolt precision you'd expect in a Lotus. As for the much-criticised interior ergonomics, it's really only the off-the-shelf Alpine multimedia unit and column stalks that suck; the rest isn't that bad.
At least it has the advantage of being distinctive. Which is perhaps the best way to sum this fantastic car up. The new order wants to re-establish Lotus as a relevant and powerful British force. The Evora S is on the money already
