The Portland Debut Of The Lotus Evora 400

Tuesday evening, Mar. 29th, Lotus Of Portland hosted the debut of the new Lotus Evora 400. This Great Event with a good turnout from Club Lotus Northwest included the opportunity to learn about and drive the car, a question and answer session with David from Lotus, a tour of the new Wilsonville Dealership / Service Facility which had several Lotus cars (New, Used and those in for service), also beverages / snacks were provided.

Everyone who wanted to drive the car had a chance and anyone who could not make it that night could come by anytime the next day and get the same info. and test drive the car. During this time there were only two cars in the U.S.. The gray one (6 speed manual) in Portland and a black one at the New York International Auto Show.

I had a chance a few years ago, Thanks to Lotus Of Portland, to drive an Evora S at a Lotus Cup USA event at Portland International Raceway. So this is the second Evora I have driven and some of the big things I noticed right away were:

  •  I’m about 6′ 1″ and was wearing a ball cap and had enough headroom. I also had to pull the seat up to reach the pedals. That’s the first time I have had to do that in a car in a long time. So you can be pretty tall (Doug!) and still fit fine.
  • It was easy to get in and out of.
  • The interior has been upgraded.
  • Of course the handling was Fantastic like all Lotus.
  • The brakes were Incredible!!!
  • I thought the car was much better looking in person than photos I have seen.
  • The exhaust sound was Great!!!
  • Michelin Pilot Sport tyres are new, which we were told will last longer than the old type of tyres used on past Evora’s.
The car should be available from dealers about June with a base price of about $91,000. We were told the delay is because a lot of new cars are backed up in the queue to get through emissions because of the problems with VW. As we all know currently the only new Lotus cars available in the U.S. are Track Only. The new Evora 400 will be the main U.S. Lotus road car for the next few years.

Here is a Great quote from the brochure we got that night: “This is the fastest road car Lotus has ever built”.

David from Lotus let us know a new “Small Platform” car is being worked on and will be a lower price than the Evora 400.

Many Thanks to Steve Wintermantel and Arun Sharma of Lotus Of Portland / Ron Tonkin Gran Turismo and David Simkin, Field Service Engineer, Lotus Cars USA, Inc. Special Thanks to Don Crawford for the photo’s (see photo gallery – Evora 400 2016_03_29 RTGT). 

Mark Velky – CLNW / ELCC Member