[brightoncorgi]

I didn't think that both drivetrains are equally as reliable. And how about maintenance costs?

They're pretty stout and maintenance costs (owned both) don't seem that far apart. Heck, you could buy a V12 Vantage for around the price of a new Emira. Both the current and previous V8V are quite a car. Both, like the Lotus make your feel like a rock star driving and have great dynamics. Lotus is more over-the-top in looks and race car feel, but either one is a winner. Looking at either in the garage doesn't get old.

Aston has Ferrari beat on the start up. Aston V12 is about as epic an engine sound on full throttle.

 

[StuM]

I’ve owned an F430, but years ago. Be very aware of costly M&R on any Ferrari, especially one out of a Service Plan (430’s never had this) and warranty. Mine was great when it behaved, but could get difficult at times. Electrical issues and the old F1 tranny cold go haywire and leave you holding up a long line of traffic behind you! My Evora GT has been flawless and I feel much more at ease when driving it….so far. Not sure about the Emira yet, as I’ll wait a year or two to see how early buyers truly find the cars to live with. Also been in a 991.2 Turbo S and 992 GTS and the P-cars can’t really be beat on most fronts. Good luck in your quest.

 

[concept24]

They're pretty stout and maintenance costs (owned both) don't seem that far apart. Heck, you could buy a V12 Vantage for around the price of a new Emira. Both the current and previous V8V are quite a car. Both, like the Lotus make your feel like a rock star driving and have great dynamics. Lotus is more over-the-top in looks and race car feel, but either one is a winner. Looking at either in the garage doesn't get old.

Aston has Ferrari beat on the start up. Aston V12 is about as epic an engine sound on full throttle.

I was scheduled to rent a DB11 via turo.com but the owner informed me that the window would not automatically lower a couple of inches, so opening and closing the door was a pain. When he took it to the dealership, they told him that his car required parts that they did not have, and that they would have to come from the factory. Three weeks later, he was still waiting for his parts - not a good sign.
Granted, this is only one car but I am leaning toward the Emira's Toyota drivetrain to avoid at least motive issues.

 

[BuckheadBuilder]

I will chime in and offer my two cents since I currently own a 2007 F430 Spyder, have a 2021 Evora GT and have a Lotus Emira on order.

First, I will say the Ferrari F430 is a beautiful car and has an engine sound that can't be beat, especially if you have an aftermarket exhaust system installed. Even being a 15 year old car, the amount of people staring at the car is crazy for a car of this age as it looks incredible to this day. The lack of high-tech radios, touch screens, etc. is an attractive feature to me in an older car. A basic bluetooth radio with some decent speakers is all I need. Listening to the sound of the engine is incredible driving down the road as its very loud. Yes, the cost will be more than a Emira for a well maintained F430, but I also think the value will always hold in the Ferrari given the fact it's a Ferrari and everyone wants to eliminate the combustion engine! You can certainly perform a lot of your own normal maintenance if you are handy with cars.

With that said about the Ferrari, If I want to go cut up the back roads and get on it hard, I'm going straight to my Evora GT. The size of the car is perfect, the 6-speed manual is great, the seats are great, and I love the hand-built aspect of the car. A lot of car reviewers always dog this car of for its interiors, but personally I love the interior, even though it's a new car, it's still simplistic with analog instrument clusters, a basic double DIN radio and I honestly love the manual seats as you can get in and out in a split second. I do have the carbon pack on my car which I think makes a huge difference in the car's appearance. I love this car. For the price, I really don't think there is anything better if you want a great handling sports car that puts a smile on your face every time!

Finally, I just had an opportunity to drive the new Emira, and I'll be honest, I didn't walk away saying to myself that this is a car I want to own......or at least not yet! The FE version just felt boring to me. I thought the production seats sucked for a sports car, not overly impressed with the touchscreens, thought the dash over the instrument screen looked cheap and the engine noise sounded muffled and quiet to me compared to my Evora GT (I still have 3 cats on mine as well). The clutch was quicker to grab than the Evora and the shift throw was shorter as well. Supposedly, this was a Euro test car, and I was told the US car will have a slightly different sound.....a little louder. I'm hoping they will be offering some upgrades in the next year that will hopefully make this car more desirable to me as the body shape is beautiful but just not quite there yet with the upgrades that hopefully will be available sooner than later.

If I was debating between these three cars and had around $105K to spend (F430 in good shape will be at least 150K), I would go and buy an Evora GT in a heartbeat over the new Emira!

Good luck with your car buying decision!

 

[agentdr8]

I was scheduled to rent a DB11 via turo.com but the owner informed me that the window would not automatically lower a couple of inches, so opening and closing the door was a pain. When he took it to the dealership, they told him that his car required parts that they did not have, and that they would have to come from the factory. Three weeks later, he was still waiting for his parts - not a good

Imagine if this was a Lotus window regulator... 3 weeks would turn into 12 months. I'm almost at a year now waiting on a set of seat rails.

 

[brightoncorgi]

I was scheduled to rent a DB11 via turo.com but the owner informed me that the window would not automatically lower a couple of inches, so opening and closing the door was a pain. When he took it to the dealership, they told him that his car required parts that they did not have, and that they would have to come from the factory. Three weeks later, he was still waiting for his parts - not a good sign.
Granted, this is only one car but I am leaning toward the Emira's Toyota drivetrain to avoid at least motive issues.

DB11 is a great car that will change one's opinion on how good a turbo car can sound; especially the V12

You have no idea what's ahead if that's your gauge in regards to Lotus. Aston Martin has much better parts availability than Lotus. Ask a parts department that sells both marques.

 

[brightoncorgi]

....A lot of car reviewers always dog this car of for its interiors, but personally I love the interior, even though it's a new car, it's still simplistic with analog instrument clusters, a basic double DIN radio and I honestly love the manual seats as you can get in and out in a split second.

The Evora GT's interior is just as well crafted as the Ferrari. All stitched to perfection on the Lotus with just as nice switches and running gear. Just because of a DIN radio and everyone dog's it? No one disses the radio in the F40.

Consumers have to keep in mind the focus of the Lotus interior. If they want lavish and detailed; buy an Aston Martin.

 

[Dylan]

The Evora GT's interior is just as well crafted as the Ferrari. All stitched to perfection on the Lotus with just as nice switches and running gear. Just because of a DIN radio and everyone dog's it? No one disses the radio in the F40.

Consumers have to keep in mind the focus of the Lotus interior. If they want lavish and detailed; buy an Aston Martin.

M3W?Why not a plus 4 or 6 then?

 

[widebodyelise]

I'm really liking the new Z06 but the lack of manual trans has me on the no list. But it sounds and looks so good!

 

[itsagoodday]

DB11 is a great car that will change one's opinion on how good a turbo car can sound; especially the V12

You have no idea what's ahead if that's your gauge in regards to Lotus. Aston Martin has much better parts availability than Lotus. Ask a parts department that sells both marques.

Aston V12 motor is a nightmare. I have known of 2 owned by friends and they both had significant issues. I would hesitate saying a 360 is more reliable and that is not known as a 'reliable' car.

R8 was mentioned and that is a great car. Both with v8 and v10. Of course the v10 is nice but I owned a v8 09 and it was a wonderful car. R8 is a car you can daily. Only 'issues' to watch for are mag ride leaks which are almost a certainty. And frame cracks by shock mounts on front. (fixed in later year cars)

But again....my vote is LP gallardo all day!

 

[brightoncorgi]

Aston V12 motor is a nightmare. I have known of 2 owned by friends and they both had significant issues. I would hesitate saying a 360 is more reliable and that is not known as a 'reliable' car.

I own an Aston V12 model over 5 years now and had the V8 previously. 40K+ on the V12 and never an issue.

Been standard annual services and that's it. The annuals are not much more than the Evora's annuals. Sure, there's 12 quarts of oil and the filter is more expensive on the Aston.

Ferrari has Aston beat in that there are a ton of Ferrari indy shops and not so much for Aston Martin. In my state, there has to be around a dozen shops that specialize in Ferrari, and only the dealership for Aston Martin. Same with Lotus; no indy shops want to work on it; Toyota engine or not.

 

[concept24]

Imagine if this was a Lotus window regulator... 3 weeks would turn into 12 months. I'm almost at a year now waiting on a set of seat rails.

Why would you need seat rails?

 

[concept24]

DB11 is a great car that will change one's opinion on how good a turbo car can sound; especially the V12

You have no idea what's ahead if that's your gauge in regards to Lotus. Aston Martin has much better parts availability than Lotus. Ask a parts department that sells both marques.

The sales manager at the Lotus dealership that is closest to me told me that the Emira parts will be far more plentiful than were those of the Evora. I recall back in 1975 when my parents bought a Subaru for my brother to drive to college. The Subaru owner told us that Subaru required that he buy 20,000 worth of parts before he could sell the cars. Based upon my conversation with the dealership manager, Lotus is following a similar path. Let's hope so.

 

[brightoncorgi]

The sales manager at the Lotus dealership that is closest to me told me that the Emira parts will be far more plentiful than were those of the Evora.

Even if they were 2-3x as many parts on stock for the Emira; it's a far cry what any mainstream marque would have in stock. If you're into these niche brands, it's just part of the experience. My Lotus dealership is good at having the most common stuff on hand from decades experience selling and servicing Lotus.

 

[agentdr8]

Why would you need seat rails?

Because they were poorly designed/constructed, and over time, the inner ball bearings wear the track away, causing looseness and/or rocking in the seat. I'm sure moving the seat forward/back for easier ingress/egress accelerates wear, but it beats folding yourself into a pretzel.

Lucky for me, it wasn't a door latch; those things are like unicorn horns.

 

[concept24]

My understanding is that Lotus is trying to stay in business by not being so much of a niche brand. That should include more spare parts, hopefully.

 

[agentdr8]

My understanding is that Lotus is trying to stay in business by not being so much of a niche brand. That should include more spare parts, hopefully.

Yep, we can all hope for the best, and be prepared for the same/worse.

 

[concept24]

Because they were poorly designed/constructed, and over time, the inner ball bearings wear the track away, causing looseness and/or rocking in the seat. I'm sure moving the seat forward/back for easier ingress/egress accelerates wear, but it beats folding yourself into a pretzel.

Lucky for me, it wasn't a door latch; those things are like unicorn horns.

I would be tempted to reverse engineer the track. Bearing carriages may be off-the-shelf. It may cost more for such a low quantity, but I'd probably get the part(s) faster.

 

[agentdr8]

I would be tempted to reverse engineer the track. Bearing carriages may be off-the-shelf. It may cost more for such a low quantity, but I'd probably get the part(s) faster.

Already done and tried. The balls themselves carve away sections of the rail over time and leave little indentations, and a concave track within the track. No easy way to repair that.

But no need to further derail (hah!) this thread with parts availability talk.

 

[concept24]

The track itself may be able to be heat-treated to increase its hardness. The surface material on which the balls ride must be harder than the balls. I worked with automated machinery with linear rails and carriages for 6 years. With those assemblies, the rails and carriages came as pairs. A design engineer would specify the size and type of rail kits by the load, acceleration, environment, etc. Rails are typically very hard and flat.