Lotus Elise, Exige and Evora - What's the Difference? Which one is best for you?

[Music] hello everyone and good morning recently I've helped a few people into the loader's brand and when doing that I've actually been reminded that if you aren't familiar with the cars that they make the range can actually be a little confusing so today I've come down to Stratton motor company where they conveniently have some great examples of the current Lotus range for me to show you guys exactly what the differences are and if you're looking for a new Lotus hopefully help you decide which one could be right for you let's start with the one that everybody knows the iconic Elise already a legend in his own lifetime the Elise was introduced if you can believe it in 1996 over 20 years ago now the car of course has changed a fair bit since then and it's in its third generation but the cars core principles of high performance and enjoyment through lightweight have remained reasonably unchanged today you can spend anywhere between about thirty to fifty five thousand pounds on a new release the range currently has about five distinct models excluding track only versions the base car has a 1.6 liter naturally aspirated 22 four-cylinder engine producing about 130 horsepower however the rest of the range uses versions of the 1.8 litre Toyota engine with a supercharger attached this car in front of me is probably the most popular of the Elise range it's the Sport 220 220 PS plus a curb weight of about 900 kilos to give reasonably impressive performance naught to 60 is about 4.2 seconds and it goes on to a top speed of about 140 mile an hour of course the Elise experience isn't just about numbers it's about the way the car drives and this car still has no power steering and it comes with very very few luxuries as standard of course you can add things so this guy has a very nice leather interior it's got air conditioning it's got a CD player all these nice things but they are optional extras as standard the cars do not come with anything that doesn't help it go down the road I'm a really really big fan of the Elise as you know I have a 2005 111 our net car is a lot less refined than the modern cars you can spend some time in them but in my opinion they aren't really suited for GT work and I know Lotus would agree with me what they are absolutely brilliant at is weekend fun and having a blast it's worth mentioning that all of the cars in both the elise and the xcs range are available with both hard and soft tops this car currently has a hardtop fitted to it most releases come with a soft top of standard to which you can then add a hardtop most X's are the other way around coming with a hardtop of standard which you can then convert to soft top specification if you wish at a later date the hardtop isn't the easiest to get on and off and most people treat it as a seasonal thing so during the winter they'll run a hardtop and during the summer they have the soft top on but you don't need to worry if you really really want a car which has a soft top but you've only said a hardtop it is possible to change between the two now before we move on to the exeed I just want to show you the car which is the step between and that is this car which is the elise cup 250 and it has a sub 4 ii naught to 60 time don't just mistake it for annalisa a bit stripped out though this is a product of lotuses motorsport department and it is a serious track car it has real proper Aero that contributes actual downforce and you can get some serious lap times out of this car now you might be wondering why you would buy something like this instead of something like an X Z well we'll talk about the X's in a moment but basically this is a little smaller it's a bits lighter van and Exige being a little bit lighter too it is going to be a little bit friendlier on components like tires and brakes not the Exige is bad but it can make a difference also bear in mind this car is still powered by the 1.8 litre Toyota engine whereas the xes then uses the three and a half liter v6 and there are a lot of markets around the world where that alone could contribute to a very significant price difference so bear that in mind otherwise this is very similar to the standard Elise that is to say it is a extremely good this sits at the very top of the Elise pile and this exact car has a list price of around 55 thousand pounds as it's very well specified and if you want to go even faster you need to go step up now the XE started life have a slightly more hardcore version of near lease so it had a fixed roof and a bit more track focus it never sold particularly well and it was very similar to the Elise until about halfway through the series to when the XE suddenly gained a supercharger this is long before the Elise did and then it started becoming an increasingly more distinct model now when Lotus were developing the Evora to test the Toyota engine that they wanted to use in that car they built several mules using eggs eases with the back half of a navara stuck on to the end of the car and all the test drivers had so much fun driving their little contraptions that they decided that really should be a proper car and this is that car so compared to the Elise of this generation it is distinctly different now in very very simple terms from back here onwards this car isn't at lease and from about here onwards this car is an Aurora it is of course not quite like either of those from the interior it feels exactly like and at least because it is exactly like an Elise now it sits with a lot more purpose and aggression because it's got widened arches front and rear it's got arrow on all of the different models so there are currently three models for road of Exige you have this the Sport 350 from here you have the sport 380 and you have the recently introduced and very limited edition Cup 380 there's about a 12,000 pound price difference between the Sport 350 and 380 as you all have probably guessed the 380 has a little bit more power has a little bit less weight but in my opinion the biggest difference is the fact that the 380 has lots of carbon fibre goodies and things on it included in the price so if you were thinking of buying a 350 but you're going to option it well a lot of these carbon extras then the 380 is probably going to be a better value for money proposition however don't think even for a moment that the 350 is yesterday's car or old news it's still a current model and in terms of performance you're going to have to spend an awful lot more money than this costs to get something round a track that's anywhere near close now track performance of course doesn't just mean a single lap time track performance of course means longevity and that's an area where the X is excels because like the élysée it is very light it is of course not quite as light as the élysée but this car only weighs 1100 and 25 kilos wet which is an incredible figure for a modern car unfortunately of course the elise and the x's are not available for sale in the USA and part of the reason is because they simply don't meet necessary crash regulations over their d'ivoire of course it does and when these cars get replaced beyond an illusion the cars that replace them are going to have to be heavier simply so that they can be sold worldwide so please guys enjoy these while they're here if you want some numbers this particular car right in front of me is about 65,000 pounds this price it's got a 345 brake horsepower engine that's 350 PS the source of the name ll do nought to 60 and about 3.7 or 3.8 seconds and we'll go on to a top speed of 170 miles an hour so performance is what Rolls Royce might describe as adequate it has larger tires larger brakes basically a bit more of everything than the Elise does and it's a step up in speed of course because it's a step-up in money if you want something very very serious and there are certain tracks where something like this having so much more power than the Elise is going to be considerably quicker if you like small tight winding tracks or B rows you're probably going to find that the Elise is quick enough for most situations but if you want straight-line speed and more of it this is your car the engine is the 3.5 liter supercharged Toyota v6 from the Evora it is a slightly different configuration to the current of order 400 it's the same supercharger setup as the old Evora s and the reason that this car haven't been upgraded to followed horsepower yet is that when Lotus did that with the Evora 400 they had to add a charge cooler and a lot of plumbing associated with that so it would have added a considerable amount of weight that the Lotus would have been unacceptable in a car like this which is meant to be focused now because the excision at lease are very closely related they've call share a lot of traits and number one amongst those is that there are some compromises which are involved in getting the cast to the size and weight that they are everyone of course speaks about how difficult it is to get into and out of and their lease now I don't think it's actually quite as bad as some people make out and they're certainly world's better than the original series one car but they're not particularly easy I'll be honest and certainly if you're a particularly tall or large individual or you don't have full movements with your legs as a lot of older individuals can then they may simply be unlivable cars and if you want something as a daily driver they are compromised there is no sat-nav in them there is no option for a sat-nav the stereo is not going to be great because there isn't a lot of sound deadening in the cars and they are reasonably firm not as far as people expect in terms of ride but they are compromised and that is fine because they are focused cars so you have to compromise nobody is trying to pretend that they are you know an m3 rival for example however if you want card it's going to still give you the real thrill of driving but be more practical more usable or you're in a situation where you can only have one car that is where the Evora steps in now you might be asking yourself well he's got several cars so why did he bother with a NaVorro well I started off I didn't know how many guys was going to have I hoped it would only be one of course it was gonna be a bore there is a lot more space in the Evora there are two small back seats which are nowhere near as impractical as everybody makes out most people I know we live or hundreds do have child seats and The Associated children in the back now of course if mum and dad are six foot seven you're not really going to have much luck getting people in there if mum and dad are six foot seven however they can still easily get in the front of this which is not something that could necessarily be said for Annalise or an ex eesh terms of luxury refinement interior fit and finish the Evora is miles ahead of the Elise in the Exige do not mistake this for being simply a bigger at least or exceed the chassis might look similar and it's built with the same principles using extruded aluminium sections that are bonded and riveted together however it is a completely fresh design and it is a 15 year newer design than that used in the Elise and Exige the car is significantly bigger in basically all dimensions there is a lot more room the boot is larger you can of course use the back seat there is a stereo and a sat-nav that work there's a reversing camera as rear parking sensors the seat that heated all those things are standard price-wise these of course are a little more expensive than the other cars in the range but not by much and you do get an awful lot more for your money so you're looking for one of these at similar money to an entry-level 911 Carrera before that you are getting a car with more power and less weight and of course a huge amount more exclusivity and in my mind desirability so if you want a hard number you're looking at around eighty thousand pounds for a very well spective Ora now personally I think you shouldn't really compare these with 911 I think you should think of it as a cut price from a claret or Ferrari and then you'll probably get on with it a lot better because if you're expecting half of the things you've been having the 911 you're going to be disappointed of course that being said with the 911 the base price can be increased significantly over lists thanks to the extensive options list whereas Lotus is option list is very modest by comparison there is another Evora called the sport forward temp and that is a more focused version the caster it's lost the back seat it's got lots of carbon fibre over where they've deleted the 8c they've deleted the stereo but you can't add those back in and it's got the front seats from an ex each cup and it's generally a very nice-looking bitter kit I hope to be able to review one very soon you may wonder why something like that exists when loads already have the XPS and the Elise in their lineup well basically if you want a more hardcore of or you know like I said there are people that simply can't live with an ex eesh and that car fills that role and of course if you live something like America where you simply can't have an exclusion on your lease that's your hardcore alternative and truth be told the cars handle very differently the Evora I feel is a more planted more stable car it's a different type of car to drive in terms of speed round a track they've all 400 is probably a similar speed to something like an XC sport 350 if you're always going to weigh a little bit more probably be a little more expensive to run but it's still a very very tractable car and I've done one track day on my car and I put 13,000 miles on it and my rear tires are probably only about halfway through their life and my breaks distance and pads are still a long time away from being replaced so it doesn't chew through parts now I know my videos that I occasionally shy away from making definitive conclusions but in this case I'll make an exception because if having much but you've just seen you're still kind of undecided what cars right for you is my best advice if you're looking for something to enjoy at the weekends as a second car when it's nice you know the Sun is out and you just want to enjoy driving you don't necessarily have anywhere to go and you may want to have the wind in your hair that sort of stuff the Elise is perfect and don't discount the base 130 horsepower 1.6 liter car either may not sound like a lot of power but the chassis is as good as it ever was and there is still nothing quite like it in fact the only thing I can think of that will give you sort of more driving fun at something like Caterham which is going to come with a lot of compromise because of course when it rains you are basically stuffed whereas in the lease you can live with it perfectly fine I do know people that daily drive them but personally I couldn't do that of course if you want something that's really fun on the track and even more premised something like this cup 250 is going to be great but is a bit extreme and is definitely not a car for everyone of course if you want amazing track ability and something that's still a little bit usable the Exige is amazing certainly if you drive fast tracks with straight or you prefer roads that are a bit more open or you live in a country with slightly more generous either police or speed limit the egg seizure is an awesome car it looks fantastic - it's got a real aggression to it and I really really like it the cars are a lot more refined than they used to be certainly if you have two full carpet and mvh pack in them and you know they're livable for sort of short journeys of up to say about 90 minutes or so but of course if you want something that is maybe going to be an only car in your daily driver or if you're moving from something like a 911 or an Aston Martin you're worried that something like analyse or nxij is going to be too much of a compromise than the Evora is a perfect car it gives you so many of thrills and that Lotus DNA that the others have but in a package that doesn't ask you to make anywhere near as many compromises it truly is a brilliant and rounded car and it's a shame that just not a lot of them sell and I think personally the reason for that is twofold number one people just don't know that it exists and number two people see it and think that it basically is just a slightly overweight eggsy or a lease and that it definitely isn't mmm hopefully this videos helped explain that a little bit so maybe in their lease or in exceed is what you want and that is fine they are all fantastic cars and I have to congratulate Lotus as well for being able to have a range that actually is quite diverse you know there is a big big difference between an Elise and an Aurora oh yeah hope you've enjoyed today's video guys please like comment subscribe the other things that you do and I'll see you very soon you

Channel: JayEmm on Cars

Views: 242,346

Rating: 4.9212108 out of 5

Keywords: Lotus, Evora, 400, Diary, VLOG, Car, Sound, V6, Test, video, Review, Comparison, JayEmm, on, Cars, Elise, Exige, Sport 350, Cup 250, Sport 220

Id: R3HMkyomnc0

Length: 17min 48sec (1068 seconds)

Published: Sat May 06 2017