[Doghouse]

Originally Posted by DeanG

Since when does performance = track car. Most of the exotics are not ideal track cars. Too big, complicated, expensive, parts can be hard to get and there are too few few of them to build a significant body of knowledge concerning track tuning.

Hmmm let's see there was this guy named Collin and he had this idea that lightness was the key to automotive performance on track and that form should follow function / performance. The idea was quite revolutionary because at the time the other car guys were building big heavy high horsepower cars and corresponding street cars were even bigger and heavier and had lots of gadgets and some of them even looked pretty. I think he started a company that had the basic engineering approach that the performance of a car should be measured, hmmm let's see, .... on a track. Collin and his company came to be famous for building light, nimble, no-frills, track cars and trackable street cars that 99% of automotive drivers found to be too harsh, too uncomfortable, too small, etc...

Originally Posted by DeanG

I'm glad you are a better engineer than those at Lotus.

I'm not claiming to be a better engineer than those at Lotus. I am looking at the specifications and weight distribution and thinking for myself. When a car has a 39% (front) - 61% (rear) weight distribution and is rear wheel drive it is likely to understeer. When a first car weighs nearly 1900 lbs more than the second car that you are comparing it to and the first car has only 17-20 hp more than the second car, the first car (IMHO) is rightly called a big fat pig of a car.

Originally Posted by DeanG

You should call Lotus and let them know your opinions on the handling of the car and save them from making a big mistake.

Perhaps someone from Lotus is reading / listening and appreciates a difference in opinion. They are big boys and girls, they hopefully can figure it out. If they want me to save them from making a big mistake, well that's going to cost them money.

Originally Posted by DeanG

The Evora is not supposed to have the raw driving experience or nimbleness of the Elise. Its a different car. With all your apparent marketing acumen I would have though you could figure out that Lotus is not trying to produce yet another Elise / Exige.

Indeed Lotus is clearly not retaining the best features of the Elise / Exige and that is too bad in my opinion. Unfortunately the success of the Elise / Exige was because it did provide something unique to the automotive market. That uniqueness was it's raw driving experience and nimbleness (i.e. the very same ideas that some guy named Collin thought was important.) and drop dead exterior lines. If you remove two of those three aspects to make the car more suitable to a broader driving public, hey I'm cool with that, that's what marketing people do. But don't try to fool people into thinking that the Evora will be the same as the Elise / Exige, but only bigger. Perhaps the people at Top Gear (publications) were right and perhaps the Lotus people did not like to be called out on it.... oppss so sorry to look behind the curtain Mr. Wizard of Oz...

Originally Posted by DeanG

so what do you think? Not bad for my first flame on LotusTalk?

Well at least you have an opinion and the willingness to express it and engage in a civilized discussion.

The fact that we have differing opinions about the Evora, I'm OK with that as well. Enjoy your Evora and the associated creature comforts, just don't be upset when it does not perform as well as an Elise / Exige.