First impressions count and with the Emira, it’s very obvious straight away that it’s a 12-year in the making evolution of Lotus’ mid-engined format sports car; with time, thought and investment clear to see. Our initial thoughts are of course focused on the ride and handling but you’d have to try hard not to notice how far the company has come/gone into making this a usable daily driver. The interior is very well considered and built with many small touches that are thoughtful and useful. Decent storage, both in the boot and the interior, are an upgrade from the Evora especially in terms of somewhere for a drink, for your phone, the things you want in the car every journey. The infotainment is a million miles away from the early Alpine system in the Evora with its unusable removable Blackbird SatNav. It’s now fully integrated with wireless Android Auto and Apple Play matched to the KEF sound system and very useful baseline infortainment. The dash is nothing short of stunning, with useful and usable information right in front of you in the form of widgets that can display items such as a G-Force, Power and Torque meter, Tyre Pressures, Radio Settings or a very smart moving map in the centre of the speedo and rev counter. The touch sensitive steering wheel controls for these are pretty intuitive to work through many of the menus, however it would be great if that could be disabled in perhaps Sport and Track mode via the software as it’s very easy to start swapping through the displays without wanting to by brushing them with your hand. They are also push to switch, so it’s just the touch element which means you’re seeing your radio station rather than tyre pressures or power meters when you want them. We did think that you’d get used to this level of detail on the display pretty quickly though, but was pleased to keep enjoying having the power meters on display, which you can have on the main dash or centre screen under the ‘Performance’ option on there. Who wouldn’t want to see that sort of information when driving a sports car! While with connectivity to your phone giving the best sound quality, the DAB radio was tricky to select stations on, however we’ve since learnt that you need to pull down from the top of the screen to refresh the station list. Not something we’d have guessed at and while we’re talking about the interior, the indicators are very quiet and the climate/ac lights are hard to spot in daylight plus the trinket tray in front of the gear stick either wasn’t stuck down or is removable for cleaning, but being loose we could see some lights from one of the ECU’s under it!

Another very useful upgrade which was a surprise is the mirrors. The side mirrors aren’t massive, but the view is! Rather than (the very delightful) view of the air intakes on the Evora, the Emira gives you great lateral visibility but also pretty much the whole side of the car vertically which is very useful in daily driving but also means you can position the car better as you can spot the rear tyre placement on the road almost. It also means that the interior mirror isn’t needed so much as you’re aware of everything around you through the side mirrors. Very handy as other than a small gap and the brill view of the Supercharger Actuator, there’s not much to be seen otherwise due to the height of the engine and transom and small aperture of the rear window. The headlights are also the best we’ve seen on a Lotus, a massive upgrade from something like the Exige which is bordering on needing a headtorch at times. Bright, good coverage of the road and full beams which give amazing visibility for a good distance. Nicely done and what you’d expect on a car of this level really.

The Emira is a re-engineered car from the road surface to your hands, and this is evident in the ride and handling. The car moves back to more of the early Evora ride, which was stiffened throughout production but lost some of that “magic carpet” feel of the earlier cars. This is evidenced by the “Phil’s Spec” Evora GT410, which went back to Evora 400 dampers to soften the car a little. It doesn’t even feel that extra couple of inches wider, thanks to the view from the driver’s seat, which is very McLaren-esque with a very stooped bonnet and Becker Points allowing you to place the car easily. When pressing on, the car will move on the road but with a confidence that you’re 100% in control and it’s not doing anything unexpected or skipping on less than ideal surfaces.

Talking of McLaren, the Emira is better dynamically on the roads than a 570s, as mentioned by an ex-McLaren employee who had a drive while we had the car. The steering is class-leading, with a lot of information fed back through the wheel. Lotus have managed to keep the stuff you need to know about and remove the unpleasantness of a busy steering wheel. This also follows into the Lear-sourced seats, with the chassis communicating grip levels as the car moves under you without being too much. If the aim was to make a car that’s not going to loosen your fillings on a daily basis but is a very satisfying drive when put under pressure, this is a solid win. The steering wheel is too thick due to the infotainment controls at the 9 and 3 positions but this is something you get used to quite quickly.

The brakes were good, but not as good as the later Evora with a lack of initial bite at the top of the pedal travel. However, once you’re through that, we saw 1.2G under braking, which is no mean feat! The Evora used J-Hook 2-piece discs which were track-focused, but did mean that they were really excellent, a tough act to follow.

We’ve been driving cars with the Toyota-sourced 2GR-FE 3.5L V6 for a long time now, and there are no real surprises other than the noise. With an electronic valve rather than vacuum operated, it’s now ECU controlled. The manual gearbox is a familiar item with an excellent shift and in our car, zero noise pulling away from a standstill, something many Evora’s had and an annoyance for many. In Tour mode, the Janspeed sourced exhaust sounds good and familiar to the Evora. In Sport mode, it has a more nuanced, beefy tone until 4.5K when it comes properly alive and sounds brilliant, especially with some supercharger whine and plenty of burbles on the overrun. In Track mode, it actually quietens down so this car will pass noise checks and get on track, but it does have even more noise on the overrun, which turns heads on the roads. A proper sports car!

Having owned and driven Lotus cars for a long time, people paying attention to the car comes with the territory however the Emira has taken this to the next level. It was very, very often mistaken for a McLaren and for those who do know, being a new model, it was the start of many roadside and car park conversations. Even stopped locally at Thetford having just picked up the car, at least 5 people commented on the car or wanted to talk about it in a brief 10-minute stop! Kids love it, jaws drop, and thumbs are raised. Petrolheads love it too, especially when they find out the price. It does look like it should cost twice what it does and then some.

Does it work as a daily? For us, no, it feels too special but that may just be our attitude to sports cars, they’re for fun days at the weekend and special occassions and drives. For people who want something quick and useable like this as a daily, yes, it works, it definitely does. It’s useable, practical, good on fuel, has all the creature comforts you’d need, with few issues that would put you off taking it anywhere, anytime. We used it for shopping, the school run, and many spirited drives and saw an average of 22MPG over 600 miles. It works for that and will provide many owners the experience they are after from a daily sports car. Well done Lotus, the week left us very smitten and whoever called this the most accomplished Lotus road car was on the money. Can’t wait for a go in the I4 when it’s out too!

It doesn’t matter how many pictures you’ve seen of the GT430, whatever opinions you may have about it, nothing can prepare you for the first time you see one in front of you. It’s a proper coffee-spitting moment. You will forget your name, where you live, what day it is, even that list price. And that’s from a distance. You’ll need to get closer to really drink in the details. The new front and rear bumpers look like the work of an F1 aerodynamicist on his day off. The sculpted, fluted, carbon panels are made by Prodrive, who also supply carbon finery to McLaren among others and they used the high-grade stuff here. The herringbone weave is precisely aligned into a perfect ‘V’, all the way from front splitter to rear diffuser by someone in need of counselling. Only the large rear wing misses out on this orgy of OCD detailing, the flawless weave is merely arranged diagonally here. It’s another work of art in its own right, worthy of being hung on the wall of anyone’s man cave. I’m not sure if it would look better if it was aligned with the other panels or whether that might actually be a bit much. Regardless, from afar or up close, the GT430 is a staggering thing to behold. The re-profiled nose evokes the broad snout of a hungry bull shark. Almost military in its aggressiveness, there’s a touch of Gerry Anderson about it too. It’s a fantastical creation, pushing all the right buttons in the petrolhead brain, exciting neural pathways that lead directly to your awe, wonder and profanity regions.

I’m not sure anything could be quite as fast as the GT430 looks so I need to keep my expectations in check. ‘430’ may be the biggest number to be stuck on a Lotus to date but, in bang-for-buck terms, it’s no Ford Mustang. On the subject of large numbers, there’s just no avoiding that sticker price. I think we were all bracing ourselves for the first Lotus to top £100k and this one blasted straight past that and kept on going! Let’s…er.. try and focus on the positives. Obligatory extras are confined to air conditioning, though I’m sure everyone will spec sound deadening too. While I’d prefer that these were no cost options to delete, you are at least spared the shock of an ‘as tested’ price that bears no resemblance to the basic one. A realistic OTR price is another £5k on top. See how far that gets you on the usual configurators. There’s many a Ferrari or McLaren out there with well over £50k of options on it. If you spec a Sport 410 with Ohlins TTX dampers (£5,000) and the titanium exhaust (£5,500) you’d get close to £100k. From that point of view, the GT430 Sport doesn’t look unreasonable at £104k. From another point of view, the Evora 400 starts to look like a bargain at £74,100, given the number of components and qualities they share. The £38k premium to the be-winged GT430 makes for uncomfortable reading. For some, the proximity to the ‘gen 2’ 991 GT3 is even harder to justify. Instead, consider the Nismo GTR at £151k, or perhaps the Range Rover SV Autobiography at £167,000. For a Range Rover. In cold, objective terms the GT430 has got some convincing to do. Subjectively, I quite admire the audacity of putting an Evora out there for ‘GT3 money’. It’s an automotive thumbing of the nose not seen since Chapman launched the Essex Turbo Esprit in 1980 with a list price higher than the Ferrari 308.

Lotus have been extremely generous to TLF with the GT430, granting us unprecedented access with the press car over two days on both the road and factory test track. I was very fortunate to spend some of that time with one of the project’s key development engineers. As you would hope, he is a Lotus man through and through, eats spring rates for breakfast and probably has his own Type Number by now. Access to this man’s unrivalled knowledge, enthusiasm and experience with the car was invaluable. And there’s no more reassuring sound than that of suspension components being discussed with a Norfolk accent.

We were first treated to a fascinating technical presentation on the GT430 by CEO Jean-Marc Gales. His eyes light up when discussing the car, it’s clear that this project is close to his heart. He was keen to stress how close the GT430 is to a race car underneath, using high-end motorsport components like the stronger, lighter, GT4 suspension mounts. At no point was ‘road comfort’ mentioned. The GT4 was though, a lot. No, not that one. In Hethel, a GT4 is the car Gavan Kershaw steered to four victories in British GT. The Evora GT4 was a slick-shod and very serious customer race car that could be bought for around £125,000 back in 2011. Not co-incidentally, the man in charge of developing the GT430 is also called Gavan Kershaw, so if anyone can make a road-legal Evora go like a GT4, it’s him.

We headed out to the club house to begin filming on the factory test track. However, the GT430 wasn’t there, it was waiting for us out on track. So we all piled into a Toyota Previa and set-off in search of this elusive beast, a rare sight even in its natural habitat. You can imagine the anticipation at this point. It felt like we were astronauts being bussed out to the launch pad. All dry mouths and steely eyes. Still no sign of it as we rolled around the Andretti hairpin. Then, there it is, sitting silently at the end of the Senna curves, coiled and poised, looking like it owned the place. It was a dramatic way to see a GT430 for the first time. Fire Red was a great choice for the press car too, adding even more wow factor. Just then, the cloud that was momentarily blocking the sun passes and the paint ignites. All you can do is stand and swear.

Time to sit inside a GT430. Much is obviously familiar but the detail changes definitely combine to give it a lift. This car has the carbon race seats which I happen to love but I’m aware that they are somewhat polarising, so won’t dwell on them. Carbon Sparco seats are also available for an extra £3500. The twin colour stitching works well with the change of texture from Alcantara to perforated leather and the full Alcantara steering wheel is a welcome addition. The matching matt black steering wheel, HVAC control panel and harness holes deliver a more premium look and feel. I’m not sure what more Lotus could realistically have done to the interior for a limited run of cars. For what it’s worth, I really liked it in there. Everything worked perfectly, no squeaks, no rattles, as you’d expect. When the view forward includes a glimpse of some fully functional wheel arch vents, you definitely feel like you’re in something special. But enough about interior fabrics, this is a serious driver’s car, time to prod the starter button. The engine fires-up without much drama and simmers away surprisingly quietly, even with the extravagant titanium silencer. This is partly because the Evora has lost the ability to manually open and close the exhaust valve, due to a regulation change. On start-up now, it’s always shut. Will GT430 owners really be needing to draw any more attention to themselves? I think not. Into first, engage clutch, pull smoothly away. I am now driving a GT430 around the factory test track. Crikey. A real moment to savour.

I take it very easy at first, to warm up the tyres and also my brain which needs some spare processing capacity to take it all in. Right away though, there’s a lovely, oily slickness to all the controls. The steering immediately delights. The news coming through the tactile Alcantara wheel is very good. That silky, honeyed, magic touch is ever-present and very correct. I feared the move to 245 section front tyres might be detrimental in some way. You only have to add 10mm wider tyres on an Elise to notice the difference through the steering. Mercifully, this feels as good as any Evora I can remember, ‘S1’ and GTE included. A palpable ode to tarmac, written in braille for your fingertips’ reading pleasure. It’s a direct link back to Chapman’s road cars, honed by the likes of John Miles, Roger Becker, his son Matt and now Gavan Kershaw. However, there’s no warm, fuzzy nostalgia about the turn-in response. The Sport 410 felt about as alert and pointy as you’d want an Evora to be. This is quicker still. It feels like it accelerates into an apex. It’s pure chassis response, the steering rack remains unchanged at 2.86 turns lock-to-lock. Put simply, this car was built to turn. I can feel some of that Evora GT4 already. Key to this is the amount of mass Lotus have removed fore and aft of the axles. The polar moment of inertia is said to have been reduced by a startling 30% and that’s from the Sport 410! Somehow, the delectable steering feel hasn’t just survived these changes, it may even have benefitted from them.

Upping the pace, the car feels solid and broad-shouldered but not heavy. All the controls are light, precise, undemanding. As you’d hope, the GT430 lunges forward with startling conviction at full throttle. The titanium exhaust erupts at about 4500rpm like Mount Eyjafjallajökull. There’s a lot noise. A rich, urgent, V6 snargle fills the cabin but there’s not much an Evora 400 owner won’t have heard before. From the outside, it sounds amazing apparently. The 430 engine feels like it starts pulling harder, earlier in the rev range than the Sport 410. It’s noticeably more linear as the needle sweeps around the tacho too. The revised map and cam timing really fill the Sport 410’s mid-range lull at 5000rpm for a solid, sustained push all the way to the 7,000rpm cut out. Most of the gains are in the mid-range but, happily, there’s still an addictive crescendo. The noise and power rise exponentially together, becoming an expression of pure mechanical rage at fever pitch. It still pulls hardest right before the cut-out but it’s strong everywhere now. You might well argue that it’s the engine the Sport 410 should have had all along. I can’t say it’s night-and-day faster in a straight line but perhaps we shouldn’t expect too much from a 20bhp increase. However, this car is very fast. Deceptively so. The charge out of Andretti through 2nd, 3rd and 4th along the Senna curves captures your attention. I don’t think I’ve barrelled through here at quite such a rate before. It was an easy flat all day long in the Exige V6 Cup. In this, I’m thinking about having a lift. I don’t need to for one second, but the thought is there. The standard carbon seats do a decent job on track but would benefit from harnesses to allow your arms to focus purely on driving and forget all about bracing your wobbly bits.

Windsock corner is fast approaching now. Time for the radical aero parts to earn their keep. The car inspires great confidence through this famously daunting corner but not perhaps the feeling of downforce I had imagined. There was no giant hand squishing the car down into the tarmac. No counter-intuitive sense of grip increasing with velocity. The headline figure of 250kg of downforce is a remarkable claim for a street car but, tipping into Windsock, I had something like 65kg. Very useful when most cars are generating lift but not enough to tempt me into being braver here, not today. At somewhere like Spa, where Eau Rouge is entered at 120mph, I would expect it to generate around 100kg of downforce. The original Elise 250 Cup felt freakishly stable through Goodwood’s Fordwater kink, taken flat at 120+mph. Lotus claimed 65kg of downforce at 100mph from that car too, so we are in similar territory. If this is the level we’re talking about, it would be a great feeling in an Evora but it’s not one you’ll notice much below 100mph. Fascinated by this whole subject, I asked the development engineer, who has driven the car with and without the wings, and he assures me that he can feel the aero working most of the way around the lap. The main benefit for him is the way the car turns in at speed. He said that, with wings, the GT430 feels much more positive, hitting apexes with greater conviction. Without them the nose needs a little more persuasion. 

I’m looking for some conviction from the J-hook AP Racing brakes as the car hurls headlong down the Mansell Straight towards the tight 2nd gear chicane. They don’t disappoint. Bite is instant, pedal feel exemplary. These are truly mighty anchors. In a nutshell, the design prevents vibration, distortion and fatigue cracking while blowing brake dust and debris away. Cross-drilled rotors are fine for occasional stops but when they get really hot, the temperature difference between the holes and the disc make them prone to cracking as the disc expands. The more immediate advantages of the J-hook design, which you can feel, are better initial bite and reduced vibration after prolonged, heavy use. This extra bite is likely to cause increased pad wear but this is a small price to pay, along with the extra brake dust on your wheels. Of greater significance is the stronger retardation at smaller pedal pressures. This makes heel and toe harder on the road where you rarely need more than a gentle brush on the brakes. As is often the case, heel and toe is much easier on the track where you use more of the pedal travel. Of the two, it’s better that it’s set up for track use of course.

The car is neat and accurate through the chicane and you can get on the power really hard and early. The steamroller 295 section rear Michelin Cup 2s will take everything in 2nd gear in the dry without complaint, even with a left-right weight transfer thrown in. Your brain is anticipating oversteer, fingertips tingling, ready to make a quick correction but it never comes. You just get strong forward drive, the nose obediently following the trajectory chosen by the pristine, uncorrupted steering. Up to third before the Rindt Hairpin and the motor has the torque to hold that gear all the way round. A hard charge up the Fittipaldi Straight leads to the fast, sweeping curves at Clark. Through here the car feels mesmerisingly good. It settles instantly with every change of direction, there’s no slack whatsoever mid-transition. You turn the wheel and feel the grip build, the carbon seats offering firm support to your shoulders. It’s very fast, secure and quick-witted with a balance that could only be mass centralised – you’re never fighting either axle. The front is eager and obedient, the rear trustworthy and tenacious. Traction is always mighty, you can chase the throttle without trepidation. The even spread of supercharged torque helps here too. There’s never too much power, so you never have to hold back. You can use everything it’s got.

The tricky left at Graham Hill interrupts the rhythm established through the Clark curves, it’s really easy to steam-in too fast here. At one point I thought I’d over-cooked it but the car remained calm and composed, unlike me. We simply flew over the curbs with a rhythmic ker-whump, felt a bit of tyre scrub and that was about it. The Ohlins are sheer class, you can attack curbs like an angry Touring Car driver. It’s totally unfazed, mountainous curbs become molehills. These dampers are not just off the shelf units either, they are built to a unique spec, just for this car. Development has been extensive, taking full advantage of the on-site test track and challenging Norfolk roads. Finally back to the Andretti hairpin to complete the lap, it’s time to chuck it in more aggressively, just to see how it reacts. The nose dives in like a missile locked on to the apex but there’s gentle understeer if you get back on the power too early. It’s immediately neutralised with a lift, you can trim the nose back on line without any lift-off oversteer anxiety. It’s reassuring and benign, friendly at the limit, exactly what you want for exploring your own limits. Even this can be dialled out though. The recommended factory settings are neither fully hard for the track nor fully soft for the road. Want to soften it further for a weekend away? Try two clicks softer on the compression at the front and leave the rebound alone. That’s from the guy who developed the dampers – some exclusive TLF gold dust for you right there.

With so much grip at your disposal it will take a while to find the limit, certainly longer than I’ve got. However, I have a plan to shortcut the learning process. I pull over and let the Voldemort of suspension wizards take the wheel (well, it’s definitely a dark art…). The next few laps are eye-opening and a huge treat. The first thing that hits you, literally, is the braking performance. First you have to endure that profoundly unnerving feeling of accelerating hard, way beyond the point where you or I would start braking. Just for a moment, while you search the passenger footwell for a phantom brake pedal, you wish it had less power. There’s palpable relief as something like 90mph is wiped off the speedo faster than you can exhale. Bracing with your legs against the passenger footwell works surprisingly well in the absence of a harness but there’s so much weight going through them, it feels like you’re standing up. These are rollercoaster g-forces. It will take some nerve to use all the braking power available, if you ever feel the ABS kick-in on track you’re doing well.

I had massively under-estimated the six stage traction control system. Taken from the GT4 race car and shared with the 311, it’s a brilliant addition to the electronic suite that reveals the car’s potential in spectacular style. It controls wheel speed slip angle, as opposed to the car’s yaw angle. Level 1 allows 1% slip at the rear wheels. The engineer uses repeated passes of the Andretti hairpin to demonstrate each level as we work our way through to level 5. With 12% slip on offer, you could well call it ‘hero mode’. It’s definitely more than 12° of yaw angle, it feels closer to 90°! It takes a very precise form of brutality to provoke the car into a slide. With so much grip, greater provocation is needed and the resulting slide requires quicker reflexes to catch. It feels like when it finally lets go, you’ll need your wits about you. But even on level one it’s an emphatic demonstration that, in handling terms, this car can be whatever you want it to be. What feels like a large, rapidly rotating mass entering the corner, exits with balletic grace. Suddenly, the driver’s hands calm right down, steering inputs become small and measured, balancing the car in an extravagant drift, exhaust parping like a staccato trumpet as the ignition cuts the spark. This is not a fast way to corner by any means, it feels like slow motion compared to a neat racing line but it’s very rock’n’roll. This system is going to be massive fun to play with on a wet track day. Level 5 is pure theatre, a huge arcing power slide, throttle buried, fully sideways, on the lock stops. Magic!

Heading out on the roads in something that wouldn’t look out of place on a British GT test day was going to be interesting. First though, the car is whisked away, for no more than a few minutes, to dial in the recommended damper settings for the road. The effect is immediately felt. To my great relief, the GT430 an absolute peach on the public highway. The spring rates are up 47% at the front, 20% at the rear over a Sport 410 but you’d never believe it. On road settings, this car is stunningly compliant for something so capable on track. It’s fluid and serene on the roads around Hethel which means it will ride well everywhere. This signature ability has set the Evora apart from day one. Nearly 10 years on, I’m delighted to see it has been preserved right up to this, the most extreme variant. Underneath it all, the GT430 is still an Evora at heart. Just to check that I hadn’t exaggerated the ride quality in my head, I took it out again in search of some even more challenging roads but the conclusion was just the same. It’s a proper sports car, make no mistake about that, you feel everything but each bump and dip becomes another reminder of the sheer quality of the damping. The engine, which felt only marginally stronger than the Sport 410 on track, suddenly feels more energetic here. A bit more nape-prickling as the revs climb, a good degree more naughty. It charges forward like an angry bull, always strong and determined whatever the revs. Levels of power and torque are more than enough for the road and at times it can feel, reassuringly, a bit too much. Keep it under 4500rpm and it’s much quieter and more refined than an Exige. The carbon race seats may be thinly padded but with ride quality like this you could crush long distances on a bed of nails. Point to point pace will be disturbing. To label it a ‘race car for the road’ is selling it short. So broad are its talents, it wouldn’t feel wasted even if it never went anywhere near a track.

I did get some insight into some of the more boring, practical aspects of owning a GT430. The turning circle is pretty limited, rear visibility even more so. The wing hasn’t made it any worse (not much could!) you have to rely heavily on the wing mirrors for reversing. The carbon rear quarterlight panels obscure your vision at oblique junctions. This was exacerbated by the left hand drive on this press car but it’s a problem you’re likely to encounter when taking a right hand drive car to Europe. If you think ahead, you can position the car for a better view but while forward visibility is excellent, the rest is 70’s supercar. This GT430 didn’t have a stereo fitted so I can’t comment on that. There is an annoying beep related to the parking sensors when engaging reverse gear which I could do without and another for not putting on your seatbelt. Ground clearance seemed pretty good but the extravagant carbon front splitter will be very expensive to replace and it comes without any kind of protection. The Karussell will be taken high for sure.

Riding home on my Kawasaki ZX10 that evening, I had four fairly gruelling hours to process a sensational day. The GT430 is an enthralling car. One that will leave everyone who drives it wanting more. On track it’s a monster. It will test your bravery more than your driving skill. On the road it will be continually unimpressed by your idea of fast cornering but it communicates this nonchalance with such clarity and detail, that it’s genuinely enjoyable at legal road speeds. It could be argued that the less grippy, more accessible, more adjustable Sport 410 remains, in some ways, the most fun Evora. The same could be said of the Elise Sprint versus the Elise 250 Cup. It does, of course, depend on your idea of fun. If sheer grip, composure and cornering speed are you’re thing, then look no further. Oversteer addicts, stick with the drift spec Sylvia. Power-obsessed sorts will fixate on the extra 20bhp but upgrades to the wheels, tyres, dampers, brakes, aerodynamics, weight reduction and mass centralisation all come first at Hethel. The ride quality and road manners were the stand-out surprises for me. I never dared to imagine it would be such a lovely road car. The duality on offer is extraordinary. 3-Eleven track performance meets Evora refinement and B-road supremacy. I can’t think of any other Lotus to match it in this regard. If this is all down to the adjustable Ohlins, they are worth every penny. The GT430 needed to be special and it is. Special enough to justify the price tag? That’s for you to decide according to your own priorities. If they include steering feel, suspension quality, ride comfort, handling precision, mechanical grip, road covering ability, track prowess, Gerry Anderson styling and driver involvement at all speeds, then it just might be.

Something of a scoop for TLF this. At the time of writing there haven’t been any other track tests of the Evora Sport 410 to be seen anywhere. The media vacuum has left the most focused Evora as something of an unknown quantity. Exactly how much lighter than an Evora 400 is it? How much faster is it? What are the changes worth in the real world? No-one outside Lotus really knows. The promise of the Sport 410 is a bold one – faster around a track than a 200kg lighter Sport 350 Exige while retaining most of the GT ability of the Evora 400. It did look mighty quick in Lotus’s video of the 1.28.2 lap around Hethel but we can assume that this was done with the lightest possible spec – the kind of spec no-one would be likely to order or sell easily. No-aircon, no stereo, no sound deadening and probably the titanium exhaust for good measure too. As such, the 1325kg weight claim, along with that Hethel laptime, were starting to look a bit theoretical. The question remained, what would a more representative Sport 410 do in the real world? I already knew how well the Sport 410 works on the road, but will it deliver on track?

Thanks once more to Bell & Colvill, I was handed the keys and an opportunity to find out at one of their terrific track day events, around a bone-dry Castle Combe. This was effectively my first time at the lumpy, 1.85 mile Wiltshire circuit. I haven’t driven here since the late 90’s and arrived without having the first clue which way it went. Watching videos on Youtube the night before didn’t help (at all!). This Sport 410’s Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tyres were also probably past their best, so what follows is categorically not a definitive account of the car’s ultimate track potential. What it is though, is a back to back comparison with the same driver on the same day between the Evora Sport 410 and, for reference, an Exige V6 Cup. The laptimes won’t be getting a mention in Autosport but they are closer to what a typical owner might achieve on a typical trackday.

The spec of this particular Sport 410 includes sound deadening and air con, but no stereo. Yes, it still has two front speakers in the doors, tweeters too by the look of it, but no sub-woofer or head unit. It has recently been fitted with the Bell&Colvill’s new, more track-friendly exhaust which, being made from titanium, saves 10kg and brings the noise closer to the standard ‘350’ Exige V6. This Evora measured 98db when tested and the V6 Cup made 88db. It was officially a 105db day and we had no issues with noise whatsoever. So that’s job done by B&C for those looking to access more trackdays. Naturally, some of the drama of the stock 400/410 system has been lost in the process. The twin carbon tips will please those not keen on the standard ‘pig snout’ look but those who love the shouty Lotus exhaust might say the car has been neutered, it is much quieter. I have no idea how it affects bhp either way but it sounds good inside the car when you get the revs up. Better than the V6 Cup? A little from the inside, very similar from the outside.

Ambling down the pitlane, I’m buzzing with anticipation. There are so many questions and this Starlight Black Evora Sport 410 has all the answers. The many benefits of the lower, lighter seats are immediately felt. It brings the steering wheel higher up, closer to your chest for a much improved, more Touring Car-like driving position. The gearshift is a knuckly, tactile delight and just as precise and satisfying to use when you’re in a hurry. The pedals are perfectly spaced for heel and toe too, which is rarer than you might think among full-sized sports cars. Together, these virtues allow me to feel instantly connected to the car and not once do I think about what might be on Radio 2. It feels light, agile and eager to turn – yes even straight after an Exige V6 Cup. The braking performance is stupendous. The chicane at Bobbies rushes up on you very suddenly out of Tower corner. It was the cause of many a panic brake to get the nose into the apex and away from the tyres – a serious test of the Sport 410’s anchors which it passed with complete conviction, lap after lap. The nose is pin sharp on the brakes, still keen and accurate when rolling off them too, the whole car feeling nimble and quick-witted in a way many of the alternatives just don’t. Get hard on the power for the charge to Camp corner and the 410 feels bang up for it in every way, goading you to push harder and use every last rev. You’d swear it was enjoying itself. Being larger and more grown-up, it seems slightly less appropriate to fling the Sport 410 around like it was an Elise or Exige but the car is no less playful while being more composed overall. Castle Combe is a lumpy old place, the bumps add to the sensation of speed, make braking hugely challenging and really put the Evora’s suspension to the test. The brakes never wilted, the gear linkage never failed to find the next ratio, it struck me fairly early on that this was three pedal track driving at its best.

This 410 engine is a gem among the Toyota-based V6s and was feeling in rude health. Right at the point where the ‘350’ engine starts to tail off, the chargecooled motor pulls harder than ever into the redline. It’s smoother and more musical too. It’s crying out for at least another 500rpm but thankfully the premature cut-out is soft and doesn’t upset the car, something that becomes important on track. It lacks the torque-to-weight punch of the Exige out of the slower corners and can fall a little flat if you aren’t revving it right out between gearchanges. You can use a gear higher everywhere in the Exige with very little time penalty. Put simply, if you aren’t revving your Sport 410 above 6,000rpm you aren’t pulling away from a committed Exige V6. Remarkably perhaps, the 410 feels like it has the legs over the lighter car beyond that. One thing the Evora did do, which was notable by its absence in the Exige, was squeal its tyres. An indication of the greater weight perhaps but it actually has its benefits, providing an audible warning of the approaching limit.

If light is right and you’re doing a direct comparison with an Exige, then physics is going to have its say at some point. That point comes when braking hard from 140mph where the tarmac ripples turn to sizeable waves at Avon Rise. While wrestling the car down to 70mph or so for the entry to Quarry, you do become aware of the weight behind you. This is one of the trickiest braking zones in the UK and the stuff of nightmares for a mid-engined car. As the weight rushes forward on the brakes the rear suspension lengthens, raising the V6 higher above unweighted tyres while the tarmac does the bucking bronco. At no point was the suspension unable to cope but you are made very aware of the large mass behind you. Certainly, the extra 68kg the Evora 400 carries over the back axle would not be welcome here. The Exige is more reassuring braking into Quarry. It feels like the engine is mounted lower (which it is). You don’t have such an obvious feeling of mass moving behind you (in the Elise this feeling goes completely, it feels there is no mass behind you whatsoever, just grip). The Exige also inspires more confidence on the power. Having 65 fewer bhp to worry about has its advantages. Once your foot is down, it stays down. It makes very effective use of each and every bhp.

Back in the 410 and exiting Quarry for the short squirt down to the Esses, there’s a chance to ring out that smooth, rev-hungry V6 again. Ideally the Esses are taken in 3rd but the gearbox is so satisfying to downshift on the brakes, I can’t resist the blip down to 2nd gear for a bit more engine braking and faster slingshot out towards the (trickier than it looks) Old Paddock Bend. It’s an easy flat in 4th gear on the right line but equally easy to run out of road if you turn in too early (or too late). 4th gear will get you all the way to the intimidating Tower Corner. You really feel the speed here as you pile headlong towards an unforgiving tyre wall straight ahead. The mighty brakes are quick to reassure and it’s an early turn in before getting hard on the power at the apex. I have to admit to getting it very wrong here on one lap. I was caught out by the sudden change of camber at the apex, got a bit too greedy with the power and put the left rear on the grass. No harm done fortunately and Tower corner was treated with the respect it deserves from then on. I very rarely mow the lawn on a trackday and I was completely caught out by how quickly the car got away from me. I was in Race mode too and felt nothing intervene either which was a bit concerning. Perhaps I had unknowingly turned the DPM off? I’m more disappointed with myself than anything but it was a good reminder that 410bhp – more power than a Lotus Carlton and Ferrari 288 GTO – is not something to take lightly.

I know, I know, laptimes. But before we open that can of worms you need to know something far more important. The Sport 410 is an absolute tonic on the track. Whether it’s fast or slow compared to this or that, it was massive fun to drive hard. I hope that comes across in the video. I was expecting it to feel heavier than it did, for the steering to feel wanting after the Exige, for the straight-line performance to be a step down. It just felt terrific across the board and a real natural on track. And really fast. Not ‘for a heavy car’, just outright, unconditionally quick. This car is just full of go. As quick as an Exige V6 Cup? Mulling it over on my way back into the pits, my best guess was that it was going to be very close. I really couldn’t call it.

Here’s what you need to know: It was bone dry, warm but not too hot. I was not aware of any heatsoak affecting the Exige, nor any obvious benefit from the chargecooler in the Evora. Both cars were in ‘Race’ mode with the aircon left on. The Exige’s Avon ZZRs had done 7 trackdays previously. The Evora’s Michelins, 3. Both were past their best but far from finished. I drove both cars in the morning before lunch and before any driver coaching. I have never driven the Evora Sport 410 on track before whereas I have owned my V6 Cup for 4 years now and there have been a fair few trackdays in that time. I was trying equally hard, if not 10 tenths, then between 8 and 9. The best lap I did in the Exige before lunch was a 1.19.1. The Evora Sport 410 was close. Really close. It was also slightly faster with a 1.18.8. You can see both laps in split screen here:

I don’t consider the 2-3 tenths between them to be of any significance but it looks to me like the 410 has a slight straight-line advantage. It leads all the way into Quarry but the Exige claws back some time on the brakes and is nearly level again braking into The Esses. They are closely matched on the run down to Tower but, at the turn-in point, a big lunge on the brakes puts the Exige fractionally ahead. The Evora then edges back in front, apexing slightly sooner and maintains a slender lead through to the exit of Bobbies. From there it holds its advantage through Camp corner and all the way to the start/finish line. The steering on the Evora looks slightly higher geared, it requires less steering lock to get the nose to a given apex. But it also appears to dive a bit more on the brakes. Either way, the similarities between them are stark, the differences negligible. For a 200kg heavier car with a different chassis, body, wheels, aerodynamics, suspension, tyres and steering, this is remarkable. I was just outside the 1.16’s towards the end of the day in the Exige. 15 minutes driver coaching with British GT ace David Pittard was worth another 2 seconds on its own. I suppose it’s vaguely possible that I was getting more of the potential out of the Sport 410 than the V6 Cup but I think it’s reasonable to assume that the Evora could also go another 2 seconds quicker too. The elephant in the room here is that the Evora Sport 410 is at least as quick as an Exige V6 Cup on track. My experience backs-up the 410’s Hethel laptime and the car’s bold promise of an Evora that can lap faster than an Exige. And this is no ordinary Exige. My actual car weighed 1135kg on the scales at Silverstone. It’s a Lotus Motorsport car with adjustable Nitron dampers, no stereo, no sound deadening, no alarm, no immobilizer, no airbags, no central locking, no carpets, no compromise. It’s a seriously fast track car that rarely gets passed on trackdays. This Evora Sport 410, whatever it actually weighs, just pipped it around Castle Combe – carpets, sound deadening, speakers and all!

I had my doubts about the Sport 410 but it just blew them all away. Could you really use one as a trackday car? Absolutely, providing you can foot the annual tyre bill. As a car for occasional trackday use, where running costs are less of an issue, it’s arguably an even better choice as you get some GT ability thrown in for free. Would a former Exige owner miss his old car? Always a possibility for those craving the last word in communication, agility and response. But those wanting something more substantial and civilised will discover that the Evora Sport 410 is every inch a proper Lotus and one that wears its Sport badge with some pride. As the car mags would discover if they ever get around to track testing one, it’s the real deal.

Many thanks to Bell & Colvill for a great day at Castle Combe plus also to Mark Somerville for the photos. You can follow Mark on Flickr here.

I’ll cut straight to it. I absolutely love the Evora Sport 410, probably more than I should. Driving it leaves a deep impression that lingers on for days afterwards. A week later, it remains a clear and vivid memory. The roar, the rush, the pulses through the steering wheel, the precision of the gearbox. But it’s also a car that puts my head in conflict with my heart. A vigourous debate has been raging between them ever since.

First of all, our sincere thanks to Sport 410 owner and TLF member RJB for making this drive possible. At the time of writing there were no Evora 410s available to test drive thanks to a stalemate between Lotus and the dealers, so I was entirely reliant on the generosity of one of our members. On behalf of everyone here, many thanks again Richard for stepping up.

There is a lot of interest in the Evora Sport 410 right now but Lotus do not appear to be doing much to help it succeed. Either they are supremely confident of selling 150 examples this year or they are being somewhat short sighted to have launched it on such a whimper. Recent issues surrounding parts supply, cost cutting and closures have been enough to test the loyalty of their most dedicated supporters. But somehow, out of the turmoil comes another car to remind you of everything that they do so well.

The Evora Sport 410 is reassuringly great to drive. The 70kg weight loss is significant, especially considering the Evora 400 was itself some 22kg lighter than its predecessor. The single biggest weight saving comes from the carbon race seats – a full 18kg lighter than the Evora 400’s infamous Sparco seats which have already proved problematic for some owners. While some might see them as ‘Exige seats’, they look wonderfully out of place in an Evora to me, very motorsport and very inviting. They open up the cabin a bit too, creating a slightly more airy feel inside. There were no issues with comfort for me but those who prefer a more reclined driving position might find them a bit too upright. I believe it’s possible to have them mounted in a more reclined position but I think there might be issues with stowing things in the +0 area behind. Being fixed-back, you have to push the seat forward on its runners to squeeze your things into a pretty restricted gap. Reclining the seats would only narrow this gap further. A minor practical detail perhaps, but something to be aware of that might not be obvious during a test drive.

The carbon roof and tailgate save 14kg, all from the top of the car. Surprisingly perhaps, most of that is from the carbon tailgate. Lotus claim the carbon roof saves just 2kg. But these panels bring compound benefits. Aside from looking good enough to hang on your wall, they lower the car’s centre of gravity and have been sculpted to double the car’s downforce without any increase in drag. Claimed downforce is now 64kg at maximum speed, up from the Evora 400’s 32kg. This is not a huge amount, the Elise 250 Cup makes 155kg at its top speed, but it should make the Sport 410 more stable on the autobahn. Lotus are rightly proud of the improvement in aerodynamic efficiency, you don’t normally get downforce without drag, but the 410 is actually slightly more slippery than the Evora 400. The rakish, sinuous lines now flow into a positive up-tick at the rear, kicking the air flow (and your eye) towards the sky. It is a hellish handsome thing with incredible road presence. Another nice touch I noticed was that the 11.3kg lighter lithium-ion battery was mounted flat rather than upright helping to lower CofG that little bit more. Once a race team, always a race team. The net effect is a CofG that’s 12mm lower. Impressive when the ride height accounts for just 5mm of that.

Speccing a Sport 410 will be a bit of a headache though. The sound deadening is said to be worth 5.5kg but unless you can try a car without it, you’ll just have to take a gamble. Either it doesn’t make much difference and it’s an easy weight saving, or the car becomes an NVH nightmare and you’ll end up stuffing 5kg of sound deadening in your ears. I’d have to admire anyone who specs a 410 without air con, stereo and sound deadening but, in reality, most Sport 410s will have those fitted. Air con is pretty much essential in a fixed roof car, one that you might want to sell at some point anyway. The stereo is a good idea for daily use, if only for the reversing camera. I wouldn’t be using a Sport 410 every day so I would be happy to save the £2000 and circa 10kg. The thing is, the car’s Exige Sport 350-beating 309bhp per ton is based on its lightest possible spec. With the options that most will go for, the car weighs somewhere around 1355kg, dropping the power to weight to 302bhp per ton. Still very impressive for an Evora (the Exige V6S was 293bhp per ton) but speccing that 10kg lighter titanium exhaust looks suddenly more tempting. It’s worth another 2bhp per ton all on its own.

Of course what really matters is, can you feel the weight loss? You only need a fairly slender passenger in your 410 before you’re back up to the same weight as a solo-driven Evora 400, but I believe you can. The suspension is largely the same, the dampers have been re-valved, the ride height has been dropped 5mm and the geo has been altered. It’s hard to know which of the changes is most responsible, but together they add up to a car which feels considerably lighter and more responsive. You’d swear the steering was higher geared (it isn’t). There is no slack whatsoever from dead ahead. It’s a very alert car. Not to the point of being hyper or edgy, it just feels alive and eager to turn. The famously serene ride has sufferred a little but I like the tougher, more hardcore feel, it’s a bit more more athletic, it corners with a bit more bite. Overall, the Sport 410 is what I’d hoped it would be – greater than the sum of its parts and unequivocally driver focused. By paring the car back, Lotus have been able to concentrate on the things that they do best. As such, it’s a car that plays to their strengths. 

The process of getting going is refreshingly swift for a 2017 car. Jump in. Fire-up. Bugger off. No fiddling with driver modes, nothing to configure, no menus to navigate. The dampers are fixed in one beautifully judged setting by renouned masters of the art, not software programmers. And what joy is this? A mechanical lever to operate the parking brake! It’s so simple to operate. You pull the lever up to apply, lower it to release. This really could catch on! For anyone who likes their connectivity and interior tech, the car will seem very basic and primitive, from another era. One that was more concerned with high speed driving dynamics than photo bombing your BFFs on Snapchat. It will, I believe, age more gracefully as a result. It is also very covered in Alcantara too which I happen to like.

Once away there’s a satisfying, consistent weight and smoothness to all the controls. The gearbox is absolutely beyond reproach. This must the best linkage I’ve used in any Lotus to date, yes, including the Exige Sport 350. I actually like it better than Lotus do. They say that the shorter cables and more direct mounting makes the Exige linkage even better but if this car is anything to go by, we’ll have to agree to differ. The Evora’s shift is mounted higher but uses a shorter gearstick, giving it an even shorter throw. I had a Honda S2000 for a while, that was very good. This is even better. One reviewer wasn’t so impressed and stated that he was ‘continually worried about wrong slotting a ratio.’ I find this genuinely mystifying.

I’m sure these thin carbon seats place you lower in the car but I get the impression that you might want harnesses to secure you properly on track. The view ahead through the extravagantly curved windscreen is panoramic. The rear view, less so. It’s a bit like sitting in a huge, two-seat crash helmet and feels just as strong and safe. There’s more room around your legs and you sit further away from the sills than you do in an Exige. Rear visibility has never been an Evora strong point, so putting slats across the letterbox has done nothing to improve it. It doesn’t make any practical difference really but it’s an opening that would be familiar to a knight from the medieval age or a supercar owner from the 1970’s. The Evora has always had more than a hint of Lancia Stratos about it, that’s even more the case with a louvred rear engine cover.

The Sport 410 shares the Exige’s voracious appetite for corners. Of course, not even this steering can compare with the Exige’s unassisted system, the front axle is a layer removed in ultimate feel but it’s in a different league to almost every other power steering system on sale. It remains a towering achievement, a precise, oily delight that lets you read the road like a blind man reads braille. I didn’t corner very hard out of respect to Richard’s car but it feels hugely grippy and composed, like there would be a whole other box of dynamic delights waiting to be discovered on track. If it’s capable of lapping Hethel even quicker than the mighty Exige Sport 350, then that sort of pace is going to feel seriously fast and impressive in a larger, more substantial car.

In terms of straight-line performance, I can only compare it with the Evora 400 from memory, but it feels sharper and more urgent over the last 2000 revs. It’s exponentially rapid, you can actually see the tacho needle accelerating around the dial. Plant your foot at 4,000rpm in second gear and the car surges forward with intent. Stay on the throttle past 5,000rpm and it erupts, ripping towards the 7,000rpm cut out with ever-increasing urge. The Evora 400 is obviously no slouch either, I would need to drive them back-to-back to confirm that it does feel noticeably faster in a straight line, but I don’t remember the 400 being quite this eager at high rpm. I was expecting the lighter Sport 410 to feel more torquey – again, back-to-back, maybe it does. In isolation it feels like an Evora S with properly lumpy cams. Combined with the hard-edged, snarling soundtrack, it makes revving this car out a very addictive experience – one I’d like to repeat at the earliest available opportunity. The cut-out does feel premature though, the chargecooled V6s are so smooth they feel good for another 1000rpm or more. If only for the noise, I’d love to see Lotus reverse the trend towards lower rpm limits. The Sport 380 is even more intensely accelerative, as you might expect with over 330bhp per ton. The power is concentrated into a narrower rev range and a similar amount of torque feels like a decent amount more due to the 200+kg weight difference. I’d say up to 6,000rpm the 380 is definitely ahead but the Sport 410 will claw something back over the last 1000rpm. I also think the more slippery Evora will start to walk away from an Exige 380 at higher speeds. The 380 I drove sounded even louder and more ferocious than the 410 (which sounds identical to my memory of the Evora 400). I’d like to hear the titanium exhaust for comparison but either way, the Exiges tend to sound more angry than the equivalent Evora for whatever reason.

Across the board, the Sport 410 raises the bar for the Evora platform. It’s a very pure, focused drivers car that really lets the core dynamic excellence of the chassis shine through. It makes 410 bhp feel like the most natural thing in the world, like it could easily handle a lot more. But all this dynamic brilliance comes at a price. Starting at £82k means that £90k is only a few options away. When you consider what else you could be climbing into for that sort of money, the Sport 410 starts looking like a harder sell, on paper at least. The alternatives have a nasty habit of getting a lot more tempting when you get nearer £100k. It’s a hard car to catagorize, sitting somewhere between the super coupes and the lower level supercars. As such, it looks expensive next to cars like the BMW M4 and 500bhp Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio but almost like a bargain next to the McLaren Sport series, the Audi R8 and new Honda NSX. 

Yin to the Evora’s Yan, the Nissan GTR is an obvious alternative. Both cars have followed a similarly steep price trajectory. It has become a classic rivalry with neither camp understanding quite what all the fuss is about regarding the other. I happen to rate the GTR very highly. The world needs fast, hi-tech Japanese cars that can flick the V-Spec towards the european establishment. It was also heavily developed by Lotus too, don’t forget. For £80k, Nissan will give you a fascinating, deeply capable, highly technical car with cutting-edge DCT paddleshift, sophisticated 4WD and a stupendous twin-turbo V6. On paper, the Sport 410 doesn’t stand a chance. GTR fans must find it highly amusing that Lotus named their fastest Evora after such a small amount of horsepower and then saw fit to stick ‘410’ decals down the side. The GTR had 478bhp back in 2007 and now packs nearly 570bhp. The Evora counters with purity, simplicity and kerbweight that is nearly a whole Caterham lighter. As a result, their power to weight ratios are only 10bhp per ton apart. The weight of the GTR is superbly managed but there’s no hiding it completely. It’s capable of lapping a circuit very quickly but it can’t do it for long. The Evora 400 was happy to lap Goodwood hard all day without complaint. I’m not comfortable knowing that I could have a 2017 GTR and save some money but after driving the Sport 410, I would choose the Evora. Mainly because it was wonderful, inspiring and memorable to drive on lumpy british B-roads at legal speeds. The GTR experience is barely happening until you’re going banzai. It’s actually pretty quiet and ordinary at slow speed. The Evora 410 begs to be driven hard too but there’s enough engagement and enjoyment to be had within the legal limit to make every trip feel worthwhile. I’m all for ridiculous straight-line go, but communication at all speeds comes first.

The heart says brand new Evora Sport 410 but the head says used V12 Vantage. This is a financially driven move which comes with a 5.9 litre, normally aspirated V12, manual gearbox and 510bhp. Your £85k should be fairly safe with one of these and you might even see some modest appreciation. DBS values have already started rising. There is much to enjoy in a V12 Vantage, I have done a few thousand miles in one. It’s a similar sized car to the Evora and the V12 has an abundance of torque as you might expect. However, once over 5000rpm I don’t think the Sport 410 is giving much away. That may sound unlikely with a deficiency of 100bhp, 6 cylinders and 2500cc, but the power to weight ratios put the Evora at a 2bhp/ton advantage. Looks like there’s something to this ‘performance through lightweight’ business after all. The Vantage is a lovely place to spend time and has some stunning carbon work of its own but I can tell you right away that the Evora pulls its trousers down dynamically. Driving them back-to-back would be an emphatic demonstration of the benefits of a mid-engined layout. Before you turn the Vantage you have to turn that 5.9 litre V12. The Evora’s front tyres have something like 500kg to contend with, the Aston’s have to wrestle over 800kg. The Vantage is huge fun to drive, has nicely weighted hydraulic steering too but the Evora just feels masterful into and out of corners.

The heart says I’ve got it the wrong way around: ‘The Sport 410 is a brand new, bespoke car that’s just as quick, just as striking, with much better handling, traction and steering, for the price of someone else’s old Aston.’

Head says: ‘OK, but have you seen that low mileage Evora SR in the classifieds? That’s gotta be at least 70% of a Sport 410, plus £40k in the bank!’

Heart says: ‘Yes, lovely car, but take your 410 to the Alps, it’s only going to take one tunnel to justify itself. And just look at the carbon weave, where are you going to find that for under £100k?’

And so it continues.

The Evora is not an obvious choice at any price. It never has been. But it does my head and my heart good to know that there are still people out there who can see beyond the obvious. People that prioritize communication, steering feel and cornering ability over straight-line speed. Suspension quality over interior quality. Bhp per ton over tons of bhp. People that have the confidence to buy the car they want, regardless of what anyone else thinks. There’s nothing ordinary about the Evora Sport 410. And nothing ordinary about the people that buy them.

In the damp gloom of a British winter you have to wonder why all the cars built here aren’t permanent four-wheel drive. Even more so, how one British manufacturer thought it was a good idea to put a 375bhp V6 in the middle of a diminutive, flyweight, rear wheel drive sports car. We’re getting so blasé about power now but 375bhp is Ferrari F355 horsepower and here it is in an Elise chassis. Speaking from personal experience, that much power could be quite a handful in a car with a dry weight of 1350kg. The Exige Sport 380’s dry weight is a King Harold-slaying 1066kg. Then there’s the issue of Michelin Pilot Sport Cup2 trackday tyres that are never going to get up to temperature. 375bhp, in a 1110kg, mid-engined, rear wheel drive car on unsuitable tyres – it wasn’t long ago that you could expect some butterflies of trepidation when the keys are dangled in front of you. Indeed, I can remember the anxiety surrounding any attempt to take a Lotus Carlton for a test drive back in the day. The conditions had to be perfect, the car pre-checked, a detailed safety briefing, calls to the insurance company, emergency services notified and a priest on hand to administer the last rights. That was for 377bhp in a 1660kg saloon. Thanks to huge advances in safety electronics there is no longer fear, only the tingle of anticipation. I won’t be getting the best out of the car on the perma-slime that covers our roads at this time of year but, in reality, no road drive is going to reveal this car’s true potential. On the flip side, if the car is good to drive in the UK in January then it’ll be good to drive pretty much anywhere. It made sense to make the journey to Bell&Colvill in the V6 Cup for direct comparison, in isolation any Exige V6 is going to feel amazing to drive. I didn’t much enjoy getting the car covered in hideous black grime but I didn’t want the new Sport 380 to have it too easy.

There were so many questions to answer. Will it feel faster? Will it feel lighter? Will it turn-in better? Will I be trading-in my V6 Cup at the first available opportunity?

If I’m being honest I arrived with a bit of cynicism and wasn’t entirely sure why it was getting such rave reviews. Frankly, I thought the press would be alarmed by the £67,900 starting price and would be declaring the Sport 350 as the better value car – the ‘sweet spot’ in the range. Having driven it now, I have a better idea of why they didn’t. I don’t much care for this whole ‘supercar killer’ thing either but I can also see what they’re getting at there too.

Walking up to the car, keys in hand, it’s hard not to admire the new carbon panels. The way the weave is perfectly aligned to meet in the middle is an OCD delight but the total weight saving of 2.7kg seems surprisingly modest. I would have expected the roof panel to save at least that much on its own, particularly when you can now flex it with your fingers. The reason is that the ‘carbon pack’ is really just a carbon roof and engine cover. The fully lined carbon roof panel is actually slightly heavier than the soft top so most of the weight saving comes from the engine cover. This does therefore mean that you get a carbon front access panel and carbon rear wing as standard. One of the advantages of reviewing a car a few months after its release is having time to get used to some of the changes. I was not keen on the single rear tail light look at first, but it has grown on me. Even more so when I found out that the lights they removed were just reflectors. It’s a big change for the sake of just 300 grams but I love that there are people at Lotus who couldn’t wait to get rid of two redundant rear plastic mouldings. Much like Porsche’s use of a sticker instead of a metal badge on their RS models, it’s not so much a weight saving as a statement of intent. So I love what the new rear stands for, even if I don’t prefer the way it looks. We’re into purely subjective territory here but I still wouldn’t bother with the ‘eyeliner’ decals and I think the inconsistent mix of gloss and matt finishes makes the car look busy. A Sport 350 looks immediately better integrated, more ‘factory’. The extra barge boards add visual weight to the car too, depriving it of a little of its natural sleekness and as much as I love it on the Elise Cup cars, that rear wing continues to look a bit awkward on an Exige. However, if it’s contributing to a 60% increase in downforce without any increase in drag then its benefits extend far beyond its looks.

The first surprise comes before you even start the engine. I had dismissed the new carbon fibre sill covers as pointless over-priced bling but they genuinely do make getting in and out easier. Not dramatically, but noticeably. This is partly because they are lower in the right places also because they are smooth and slippery so you can just slide in. Just as well they have some benefit beyond looking nice for the eye-watering £1200 cost. They are also going to get easily scratched so it would be wise to get some PPF applied to them while you’re at it.

Once inside, all is very familiar. Or downright identical if you own a Sport 350. All the good stuff is there, the terrific new gear linkage, more brightly lit HVAC controls. I still prefer the original ‘mannetino’ switch for the DPM system but the new buttons are at least simple and easy to operate. What they may lack in form, they make up for in function. The carbon shelled seats deserve a mention, they’re simply superb. Saving 6kg, they are more supportive, harness ready and appear to have no downsides in terms of long distance comfort. For the price I’d like to have seen a few more changes inside, the 311’s TFT dash would have been a nice addition. However, the Exige has never been about the interior, it doesn’t really have one. I’m glad Lotus prioritized driving dynamics over interior fittings, though this theory gets tested when you first use the indicators. It would appear that Lotus are still working their way through a warehouse full of 1990’s General Motors indicators – they have been using them since the 1993 Esprit S4! I try to be very tolerant of stuff like this when the car drives so well. The best thing I can say about them is that it’s another thing the Sport 380 has in common with the Lotus Carlton. But the more Lotus charge for the Exige, the less acceptable things like this become. They do not sit well next to exquisite carbon sills. This car was equipped with the cruise control option and it doesn’t do the stalks any favours, making them feel even more cheap and clunky than usual. But never let the quality of an indicator stalk get in the way of a good drive because the Sport 380 oozes quality in other, far more important areas. The damping, the gearchange, the carbon panels, the pedal feel, the brakes and, as always, the steering. The Sport 380 delivers on all the really important stuff, at least for those who’s primary concern is the business of driving.

With a prod of the starter button the 380 clears its throat with a familiar snort but the obligatory start-up rev flare does nothing to prepare for what is about to come. Pulling smoothly away, everything is all Sport 350. Only the view back through the louvred engine cover has changed, with the new wing mounted higher, rear visibility is marginally improved. The next surprise is that the steering is actually slightly lighter and requires less effort at low speed. I was expecting the opposite with wider 215 section front tyres. I didn’t notice this before when driving the Sport 350 but back then I only had a Jeep for direct comparison. This time I had the V6 Cup, so perhaps this is not something a Sport 350 owner would notice. It might be the forged wheels which contribute to a 10kg reduction in unsprung weight overall. I have read that every kilo of unsprung weight is worth 4kg elsewhere but I didn’t think I be able to notice it from behind the wheel. Perhaps you can.

The damping is beautifully judged as you would expect. At first it feels undeniably firm by Lotus standards. This gives the car a meaty, solid feel that’s unusual for such a small, light car. It feels muscular and athletic. It’s never crashy or harsh, it always feels just compliant enough, unlike the Evora S which has compliance to spare. The pay-off is stunning poise and body control. It falls so naturally into a corner, there is no slack whatsoever yet there isn’t any nervousness either. Just complete composure. Even in this weather the car inspires confidence. There’s real fluidity to the way it corners, plus delicacy and precision beneath the hard-as-nails stance. However, this feeling of solidity is easily confused with weight. You’d swear the V6 Cup was the lighter car from behind the wheel. You expect a lighter car to skip around and get more easily deflected, whereas this moves around less than the Cup car. Most would say it was the more ‘planted’ of the two but the V6 Cup remains the peak V6 Exige experience for feel and communication. This particular Sport 380 has air con, sound deadening and a stereo so would likely weigh slightly more than the 1125kg of a V6 Cup with air con.

But you won’t notice a kilo here or there, nor what day it is, the first time you reach the end of the throttle travel in 2nd gear. Sweet Christmas, this thing goes. The power to weight ratio has shot-up from the Sport 350’s 306bhp/ton to somewhere over 330bhp/ton in this spec and you can feel it. Snap the gear lever into 3rd and the wave of torque gushes forth once more, hurling the car forward with a boosty surge, sucking air and fuel greedily like a ravenous wolf (of Wall Street). This car feels insatiable. The engine unburstable. It’s almost surprised by the limiter’s staccato bark, wondering, like you, why Lotus won’t let it have more than 6800rpm. I rarely trouble the cut-out in the V6 Cup. I reckon Sport 380 owners will be doing so on a regular basis. It’s a great cut-out as far as these things go. It sounds brutal (in a good way) but it’s not a sharp cut in power. You don’t jerk forward into your seat belt. It’s more like an urgent plea for another gear. A tap on the shoulder. Tak! Tak! Tak! More importantly, I don’t think it would unsettle the car in a corner. Power delivery is still smooth and nicely calibrated once you’re charging but there’s now a greater difference between small and large throttle openings. Throttle response itself is no better than the 350 in any of the modes but it feels, if anything, worse because of the difference between being on and off the power. Having more power concentrated into a shorter rev range means that there’s now a more obvious powerband. As a result, even greater respect for slippery conditions will be needed. The 345bhp car’s measured, linear surge of power does have its uses in bad conditions and wet trackdays. When it’s really slippery, it sometimes requires tiny throttle openings to keep it balanced. I’m not convinced the Sport 380 will be as easy to balance in these conditions but it would be fun finding out. The first time I gave it full throttle it resulted in very obvious wheelspin, something my V6 Cup would not allow in ‘tour’ mode. This was a clear indication that Lotus have relaxed the point at which their DPM system intervenes to allow more slip. Overall this means more fun and ultimately more feedback for the driver but it might catch the more leaden-of-foot by surprise.

When the Sport 350 is your starting point, another 30bhp and 7lbs/ft is enough to take a very light car from ‘seriously fast’ to the edge of ‘silly fast’. Just for reference, the Cup 360 didn’t feel noticeably faster than the V6 Cup. The 380 does. You and your friends will be laughing out loud on a regular basis. Your wife will be getting more angry with you. Your kids will be more frightened. Despite the mechanical fury going on behind you, it’s converted to forward motion with assured ease and little drama, even when it does break traction. The chassis remains uncorrupted, the car tracks arrow-straight. The Sport 380 maintains the Sport 350’s superb balance between power, grip and braking and just ramps everything up a notch, in equal proportion.

But Dear Lord, the noise! Once you’ve recovered from the shock of the quantity of it you can begin to appreciate the quality of it. The car erupts into life at anything over 4,000rpm with an apocalyptic scream. It’s a truly addictive howl – one that I would love to hear ricochet across the Alps. Again and again. In fact, I would love to stand at the top of a pass and just listen to the car ascend. It is outrageously loud from outside. When revving for the video I was just waiting for the owners of nearby houses to come out and start waving pitchforks around. But from inside the car, the exhaust it is like some sort of sonic flavour enhancer. However fast the car is, it feels even faster, more urgent, more intense, just because of the noise. As with the Evora 400, it has a transformative effect and places the Sport 380 in a different category. There will be people buying one just for the noise alone. It combines some of the drama, adrenaline and intoxication of something like a Lamborghini Gallardo with the precision, delicacy, poise and communication of a Lotus. That is one heck of a combination. The experience stays with you for days afterwards. On a road trip to the Alps in a Sport 350 you will marvel at the response, involvement and dynamic prowess. In the Sport 380 you will be laughing your head off. I think this is really what the car magazines have picked up on. It feels even more like a compact, concentrated exotic than ever. To go much faster and surpass this level of entertainment you have to spend a huge amount more. Does a McLaren 570S really sound better? An Audi R8 V10 might, but does that offer the same intimate connection between driver, car and road? As a car it’s a significant step. As an experience it’s a giant leap.

However, all this aural excitement does come at a price and I’m not just talking about the £5500 titanium exhaust option. You can pretty much forget about any trackday that has a noise limit of anything under 105db. This would be a real shame in an Evora. In an Exige it’s almost a tragedy. It goes against the very purpose of the car. There are still noisy trackdays, even a few unlimited ones that you could attend but it limits your choice of place and date pretty drastically. The bottom line is, if you ever want to lap places like Goodwood or Bedford on a regular basis you would be better off with a Sport 350. Fortunately Bell&Colvill, among others, are working on a solution but trackday noise limits are only going one way, such is the reality of enjoying an internal combustion engine in 2017.

The other reality that we are having to adjust to is Lotus’s pricing strategy. I’m used to moaning about the options prices with other sports car makers but not with Lotus. The only options added to my V6 Cup were air con and Motorsport paint. The options for the Sport 380 vary from surprisingly reasonable (£100 cruise control) to alarmingly extortionate (£3000 for the exterior colour pack). The £4000 carbon pack is pretty punchy but bear in mind that you’ll have to pay £1250 for a regular hard top anyway and Nissan will charge you £4k just for a carbon rear wing on its own. I know JMG has to deliver better margins, I get the business case, but I do think the cost to change will be a deal breaker for some. If you’re going to take away items like a hard top, sound deadening and air con as standard, I think you need to take another look at your base price. To option those back in, you’re looking at another £3000 and I consider them to be essentials for an Exige. At over £70k on the road it will mean getting very creative with the man maths for most of us. For perspective though, the Ferrari F355 was over £100k with options 20 years ago, a 488 can easily go past £250,000 today and the mighty Esprit Sport 300 was £65k back in 1993. Air con was another £1495 at the time too which I hope will make ticking the same box for the Sport 380, for £250 less, that little bit easier.

Besides all that, sports cars are all about living for the moment, amplifying your life, living the life less ordinary. Buying a sports car has never been a rational thing to do. That’s why it makes sense that the Sport 380 delivers on an emotional level, probably more so than any Exige before it.

It turns out the Sport 380 is just the thing for the bleak British mid-winter. It’s a total blast. A tonic for the senses. Like a dose of winter sun, you climb out revived, re-invigorated, refreshed. It has enough speed and fire and zest and riotous energy to outrun anything. Even the January blues.

My thanks again to Bell & Colvill for the time in the car which is available to test drive now.