Well, that’s got your attention. Yes, the Evora has finally arrived and a few selected journalists have been given the opportunity to drive the car.

The words at the top of the page were not written this week, or even this year. They in fact appeared in the March 1974 edition of Car magazine, the leading monthly having scooped the new Elite a couple of months ahead of launch, with a series of pictures taken on the side of the road in Wymondham. However, those words could be equally true today.

Funny how history has a habit of repeating itself, though. The Elite, together with the Eclat, was intended to show Lotus’s arrival as a serious car manufacturer, a step up from producing kit cars. But the timing was pretty awful. Wars in the Middle East had led to oil shortages and rocketing fuel prices – I remember the real sense of shock when petrol hit 50p a gallon! In Britain the trade unions were out of control and doing their best to destroy industry. A three-day working week was introduced and power cuts were the norm. Lotus, innovative as ever, got around that by illuminating the offices at Hethel with headlights wired-up to car batteries. Oh, and as if that was not enough Edward Heath was busy trying to convince us the Common Market was a good thing. There's nothing like burying bad news...

Against that background, here was Lotus introducing its first supercar! After all the effort that went into it they were not about to be distracted though. The Elite was a groundbreaker in many ways; there was the new body manufacturing process for a start. The monocoque was moulded in two halves, joined at the waist. There were lots of other things for the Lotus engineers to learn about. The 2-litre engine had been designed and built in-house, leading to the introduction of computerised machine tools, whilst 'development' was kindly carried out by Jensen, their Lotus-powered Jensen-Healey being in production ahead of the Elite. Meanwhile, such luxuries as automatic gearboxes and air conditioning were all novelties for the boys at Hethel to learn about. And yes, there were a few dramas along the way!

So what did the press make of this new upmarket Lotus when the launch took place at the factory (no trips to Scotland for this one!) a couple of months later? Well, once again we turn to Car magazine.

With the heading 'Mr Chapman shows the way' that doyen of motoring journalists, the recently departed LJK Setright describes how somebody mangled third gear in the car being used for test drives on the day, so Colin Chapman wheeled out the Elite then being used by company chairman Sir Leonard Crossland, only the fourth car to be built. Undeterred, Chapman set off with Judith Jackson of the Sunday Times in the front, Setright enjoying the relatively luxury of the back seat, noting that the rear of the Elite was considerably more welcoming and accommodating than most other so-called four-seat supercars.

Having dealt with Jackson's query as to whether it was true that it was impossible to spin the car with the response: 'I don't know about that – I’ve had it sideways a few times, but never right round', followed by a demostration(!), Chapman then set off at speed down the straight when, in Setright's words '…and then at 97 (mph) a metallic sound of tearing and rending as though an empty tin can had been rapped on the roof and drawn back over it'.

"What the hell was that?" asks Chapman as they trickle back to base, where the waiting Lotus people look on in horror. Something is obviously amiss and the motoring press are there to see it! Mr Engineer Kimberley looks as though he expects to be made shorter by a head before the day is out. It transpires that the trim strip along the top of the windscreen has pulled away and is flapping in the breeze like an antenna. Now, these things do happen on development cars – it's what they are for – but preferably not at moments like that. Overall though, the car was well received.

Now, almost exactly thirty-five years later, Lotus is going through exactly the same process. After surviving the world’s dramas of the seventies, followed by a further recession in 1990's, Lotus came through against the odds, and having concentrated in recent years on smaller cars (the Elise/Exige ranges) is once again in the process of moving up-market with the arrival of the Evora, and eventually, the Esprit replacement.

The world is still in turmoil; wars have come and gone in the Middle East and petrol is more expensive than ever (if only it was still 50p a gallon!). In Britain the dreary Heath/Callaghan era was as nothing compared with the current regime. Only difference is that whilst the unions have been more or less neutered civil unrest could be just around the corner. And against that background Lotus have once again launched a supercar for the times.

After what has seemed like an interminable wait to many, with the Evora having taken its public bow at the London Motor Show as long ago as last August, favoured members of the press have finally managed to get their hands on the car, so what do they think? Well, initial impressions seem to be favourable.

Chris Chilton was the lucky man to drive the Evora for Car this time around and he was immediately impressed. The build quality feels a notch above the Elise family, he comments, so hopefully no low-flying trim this time around! The low seating position impresses Chilton, his comment being that sitting in an Evora feels like an event, much more remarkable than a Cayman, for example.

Out on the road, the Evora continues to give the right vibes, riding comfortably, brilliantly in fact, the chassis being described as ‘like an upscale Elise’. Steering too is likened to the Elise, Chilton going as far as to say it is the best power assisted steering set-up he’s ever tried. Not much about performance in Chilton’s report other than to say that the Toyota V6 suits the Evora and that the sports gearbox 'seems well judged'. However, we gather that the prevailing weather in Scotland during the period of the press launch was hardly conducive to high-speed driving so we shall have to wait a little longer to get the true picture on that aspect.

Dislikes? Well, other than lack of rear vision, they are relatively trivial, such as the clicking of the indicators, tacky door handles and poor quality sat-nav. Nothing that can't be over come there.

Confirmed Lotus fan Steve Cropley at Autocar was also impressed with the comfort and ambience of the cockpit of the Evora reckoning ‘This is a car truly suitable for a weeks’ all-roads European grand touring, the first of the marque to achieve it.’ Wonder if they are old enough to have driven the M50 Elite?

There’s no getting away from the Elise, which shows just how 'right' the little car was – is, even, after thirteen years, - Autocar also recognising the Evora's handling traits as being related to its sibling. They do recognise its 'rightness' for the times too, and I can do no better than quote: 'If the Evora has one secret weapon it is efficiency; it combines 160mph performance and sub-5.0-sec 0-60mph acceleration with low CO2 numbers (205g/km) and 30mpg real-world fuel consumption.'

As with Car, the dislikes are relatively minor although Cropley does draw attention to the fit and finish of some of the interior trim – something that our spies tell us has been an area of concern at Hethel.

The view from across the Atlantic is good too, with Dave Vanderwerp reporting favourably for America's Car and Driver. He was impressed with the amount of room in the car, noting that two six-foot males can sit in comfort without their shoulders touching and that he didn’t even have to put the front seat all the way back. He didn’t think the addition of two back seats did anything to dampen the Lotus driving experience, stating that '…the Evora is still very much a Lotus in the driver-thrills department. As with the company’s other cars, the steering is absolutely brilliant.'

Vanderwerp's instruction to his readers is to start saving now as the Evora won't be available in the U.S. until 2010. Prices therefore are not available yet but he expects it to be around $75,000, similar to a Porsche 911 or some $10,000 more than a Cayman S, but he reckons the exclusivity and driving experience should be enough to swing it the Evora’s way.

Perhaps the last word (isn’t it always?) be left to Jeremy Clarkson, writing in the Sunday Times. After his predictable pre-conceptions about Lotus had been blown away he came up with the killer line: 'I put in enough miles to know this car has great steering and handles well. Of course it does. It's a Lotus.' He went on to say, 'It simply glided over absolutely everything a torrential rainstorm and Britain's B roads could throw at it. There's no other mid-engined supercar that has ever been so compliant. Or refined. Or quiet. It's amazing.' Praise indeed for the big man, who incidently was also impressed with the room and ease of entry into the car.

So there we have it. Generally the Evora seems to have been well received. We are hopeful of getting our hands on a car shortly when we will report back in more detail – and fervently hope we hope those words at the top of our story to be true!

John Elwin
May 2009