Lotus Evora 400: a new dawn?

During the years of upheaval at Lotus, the models were left as they were, with no refreshes to keep them cutting edge. This was none more so than the Evora, which had not seen a refresh in 6 years. However, now that things have calmed down, the Evora has been completely overhauled, so that the car you see here is very much improved. The Evora 400 is named because of the BHP of the car, which is impressive because the engine is the same as before, the Toyota V6. To squeeze this number of horsepower out of that engine,there is a new supercharger, plus a chargecooler, both of Lotuses own. 

The weight is another aspect that has been addressed in this new version, with the new car standing at 1395kg. And this impacts on the acceleration, to. 0-62MPH in 4.2 seconds and a top speed of 186MPH just shows the progress that has been made. Indeed, this new car is about as quick round a track as the Exige S, and way faster than the outgoing Evora. Other improvements? The interior feels a lot more superior and well made, and the suspension is firmer.

So, there you are. The new Evora, a car that has been brought up to date in almost every respect. And a kick start for a new Lotus.

Nev

New Audi R8: just a facelift?

So, Audi just gives the R8 a facelift to help it shift some more units, right? Wrong! The car you see here is almost completely new, with a new tub and structure. Despite most of the frame remaining as aluminium, there are quite a few panels that have been replaced by carbon fibre ones. This helps the weight to be reduced to only 1555kg, which isn't much considering the V10 and the Quattro system. Another thing that has changed is the absence of a V8 option, which is because the majority of the last R8's were sold as either V10's or V10 plus's. For this reason, this new car is available as either a V10 (with 533BHP) or a V10 plus (with 603BHP), with a V8 version probably coming later. 

The engine, a 5.2 litre naturally aspirated V10, also has one of the best soundtracks. It is certainly a wake up call to some other cars with forced injection (*cough* Ferrari 488 *cough*). However, without the aid of forced injection this is a car that needs to be kept in a certain band for maximum thrust. And all the reworked aero on the cars means that it boasts figures that are definitely supercar-y. For the V10 plus, 0-62MPH is achieved in 3.2 seconds and it will go on to top out at 205MPH.

And obviously, this being an Audi, inside is everything you would expect from a typical German product. So, in conclusion, this is still very much the everyday supercar. Just vastly improved.

Nev