Firsthand Evora Reviews

[...m...]

...these videos were haphazardly improvised without any foresight just before the camera's batteries died - pictures and comments to follow...

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...anyone else who's seen the car firsthand, feel free to jump in with your own media and comments as well...

[mikeyd]

Was that his serene highness Mr Gavin Kershaw driving the black car?

[...m...]

...no, i didn't get his name, but it wasn't gavin...

[cobrabyte]

Love those wheels on the red one.

[Allan Gibbs]

Thank you. I really appreciate the effort. I actually agree. Normally, I prefer brighter colors but since you pointed it out, the black does look better because of the matching body paneling that lets you see the curves of the car.

[...m...]

...as so many have said, it's a much better-looking car in person than its pictures suggest: it carries itself well and has a fair amount of gravity in its presence...darker colors, particularly black in this case, really flatter its form more than lighter colors like red, though, and that's for three specific reasons...

...firstly, darker colors tend to pick up a lot more reflections, which bring signifcant depth to its complex curves (this is a car which will really benefit from richer metallic-flake paint effects), and secondly, they help conceal the design cheats used to give some depth to the evora chassis' boxy form...take a look at the door sills in both of these cars, for example, and note how in the black car your eye naturally buys into its wasp-waist design conceit through the diminished emphasis on its upper and lower squared-off edges, while in the brighter, flatter red car, its door reads as more of a big square slab with a superfluous bump tacked on...

...this is a really interesting discovery, and is most effective on black cars, although other particularly dark colors will probably experience a similar effect: because the black window valence panel matches its body color, your eyes read it as part of the body and thus perceive the remaining rear window glass completely distinctly, emphasising its actual rounded trapezoidal form rather than the sharply-meeting passenger window corner...personally, i find this rounded glass shape both more flattering to the interwoven rear surface geometry and more honest of a design statement - if i bought an evora, regardless of body color, my first modification would likely be to paint its valence panel to match...

...all we elise and exige drivers seemed to experience a momentary disconnect when first clambering into the driver's compartment, reflexively ducking our heads while anticipating a drop, only to taken aback that the seat's level with the sill and that the door opening is actually pretty tall...

...here's the actual view out the rear view mirror from the driver's seat - kind of laughable...

...the dead pedal is about a half-inch-wide strip of aluminum affixed to the left side of the footwell, just a pittance really and scarcely enough to rest your foot upon - not that there's room for anything more, because even when your foot's pulled flush against the sidewall, it overhangs the clutch pedal regardless...

...the evora boot hinges are gorgeous aluminum extrusions from the same design school as those used on the elise's doors, but the evora door hinges sadly come from a cheap stock parts bin...

...after determining that i could indeed climb into the rear seat as a full-sized adult, i kidnapped sec-guy's family to demonstrate whether the car could seat four, doors closed and ready to drive about...well, it can, sort off: i had to crane my neck sideways, temple pressed flat against the headliner, and i'm all of five-foot-eight tall...sec-guy's daughter managed to sit fully upright beside me without her head touching the ceiling, but i doubt we could have managed two adults in the back without getting very cozy, and his wife was left with negligible legroom in the front passenger seat...it's definitely short-jaunt emergency transportation only for adults, but children under ten would probably be fine in the back...

...sec-guy's lovely and gracious daughter up front, for size reference...

...the tail end is still my favorite part of the evora's design, but even around front it cuts a striking profile, particularly in dark colors - i expect it'll look stunning in storm titanium, but i'll admit that i'm a little biased...

...wait, what's this, two additional oil cooler intakes down low?..

...oh, lotus, no!..fake intakes, really?!.have you learned nothing from the tail end of the series two elise?..

...people will be cursing those grilles every time they wash the car...

[fastfred]

That was Matt Becker driving the Black Evora. I had a chance to chat with him a bit. I met his father - Roger Becker at LOG 28 last year. He gave the Evora presentation and engineering overview. Matt has been primarily involved with the Evora for the last two years. Prior to that he was primarily involved with the S2 Elise. Really great guy - who is greatly responsible for our cars. He is over here in the US until Friday and then flies back to Hethel. Say hello if you run into him.

Cheers,

ff