Charged six for Lotus Evora
Say goodbye to performance reservations as Lotus prepares to unveil the 257kW supercharged Evora SA seemingly universal thought that the first new Lotus in a decade -- the four-seat, V6-engined Evora -- could do with just a little more grunt is answered with the Malaysian-owned British company's announcement of the 257kW supercharged S version.
With the kilowatt boost supported by a solid 400Nm of torque, the mid-engined Lotus steps up to Porsche 911 capabilities with a claimed zero to 100km/h time of 4.8 seconds and an away-from-public-roads top speed of 275km/h.
For the performance, a combined fuel consumption average of 10.0L/100km doesn't sound too bad, although there's an unavoidable tailpipe penalty with a quoted CO2 output of 235g/km.
The Evora S is a natural follow-up to the 206kW/350Nm "base" version that impressed critics with its comfort, refinement and handling but left a slight sense of frustration in terms of on-road engine response.
The Toyota-supplied supercharged 3.5-litre V6 is tricked up with a "Sport" setting that is part of the standard sport pack, bringing sharpened throttle response, a raised "instantaneous rev limit" and an enhanced engine note via a new "active exhaust" at the press of a button. The Sport setting also re-sets the dynamic settings for the stability control system for what Lotus calls "a total experience change."
Lotus also retuned the Evora's chassis to keep pace with the added performance, with Lotus CEO Dany Bahar adding the comment that "it responds even more to direction."
To better harness the added power, Lotus has also adopted cross-drilled brakes for the Evora S.
The Lotus press release for the Evora S doesn't say much about the new car's visual and practical differences, but does note there's a head-up display on the windscreen providing easy reading of vital data.
The unveiling of the Evora S will take place at the Paris motor show on September 30 alongside the introduction of the new six-speed IPS (Intelligent Precision Shift) auto transmission for the "base" 206kW Evora.
No prices are available as yet for Australia, but it's reasonable to assume the Evora S will be comfortably above the $156,990 tag for the current, base model Evora.
The auto version can be expected to attract the normal price hike imposed on high-dollar sports cars.
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