Category: Exotic Sports 
Price Range: £47,500 to £49,875
Exclusivity and joy of driving a Lotus that can rival the best from Porsche.
Still some issues concerning build quality and there's no way this car is a four-seater.
Superb to drive and a genuine alternative to a Porsche.
If there's on area where any Lotus has to score top marks, it's out on the road. The Evora is no exception. Our drive was plagued by horrendously wet weather, yet the Evora shrugged it off and showed that the boffins from Lotus know better than anyone how to set up a car to deliver a drive that thrills but with none of the spills you might expect from a serious performance car in dodgy weather.
Lotus says it has set the springs and shock absorbers more stiffly than the Elise, which comes as a surprise as the Evora is even more supple than its featherweight sister model.
The result of the superb suspension set-up is a ride that glides and handling that delivers unfailing grip and stability. Where some performance cars that can match the Evora's 0-60mph in 4.9 seconds and 162mph top speed require a great deal of caution on streaming wet roads, the Lotus was never anything but composed.
Another traditional Lotus area of excellence is steering and, again, the Evora delights. The power assisted steering makes parking speed manoeuvres a cinch, even if vision through the rear screen is laughable.
Pick up the pace and the Evora's steering is sensitive, informative and has just the right amount of weight, yet it's not flighty or fidgety on the motorway. It really is a textbook example of steering balance.
As mentioned above, the Evora is no slouch when it comes to acceleration or top speed thanks to that 276bhp 3.5-litre V6 engine. It drives through a six-speed manual gearbox that is generally very easy to use, though we found the shift from first to second needed a firm and slightly slower hand than the rest of the gear changes.
We were also slightly disappointed by the noise of the V6 engine. There's no final howl as it closes on the red line, just a steady build of V6 burble. Perhaps Lotus has gone a little too far in making the Evora a refined package?
Still, there's no doubting the Evora's cross-country pace. It shoots from bend to bend with ever-confident brakes, while third and fourth gears are the ideal ratios for most situations. Buyers can opt for a sports gearbox for £1495 that shortens the upper four gear ratios so sixth becomes equivalent to fifth in the standard 'box. We're not sure this is necessary, just as we're not convinced the Evora needs a £950 Sport pack that brings cross-drilled brakes, titanium exhaust, rear diffuser and a sport button that sharpens throttle response.
If you're keen to drive your Evora on track days, the Sport pack might make sense, but we reckon the standard car is just dandy as it is.
