The last U.S.-legal Lotuses sold were 2014s, and apparently the gnomes in Hethel have not wasted the intervening years. The 2017 Evora 400 looks like a minor freshening, but two-thirds of its parts are spanking new. The old car was a slowish, fragile, ergonomic disaster with Jeckyl/Hyde corner-entry oversteer and corner-exit push that earned it a last-place finish in our 2011 Best Driver’s Car contest. The new one is speedier and better assembled and has more neutral handling, and you drive it with your feet in front of you.
The speed comes from a new Edelbrock supercharger that ups boost from 2.9 to 8.7 psi and adds an intercooler, bumping output by 55 hp and 7 lb-ft to 400 and 302. A low-inertia flywheel improves responsiveness, too. The redesigned aluminum tub lowers and slims the castle-rampart door sills by 2.2 and 1.7 inches and widens the pedal box by 3.3 inches to fix the pedal-offset problem. Chassis tweaks include doubling the negative front camber, increasing toe in the front and reducing it in the rear, halving the bump-steer, stiffening the rear Eibach springs (by 16 percent), stiffening the powertrain mounts, and significantly upgrading the tires, from Pirelli P Zeros to Michelin Pilot Super Sports (which also get 10mm wider in the rear).
How’s it all work? Acceleration times drop by 0.3-0.5 second throughout the quarter-mile run. Lateral grip matched our last Evora S at 0.97 g, and braking (from enlarged two-piece AP Racing discs) trailed by a couple feet at 104 from 60 mph. But based on a vehicle tested in Michigan and California, grip on our Michigan surface appears to be 7 percent lower, so we expect 1.0-plus g and a solid sub-100-foot stop on our usual surfaces. A 25-minute lapping session of Gingerman Raceway revealed fear-free dynamic handling with strong turn-in bite, gentle and controllable corner-entry rotation, and sure-footed corner exits.
Starting at $93,785, the Evora 400 roughly competes on price and performance with an optioned Cayman GT4 or GTS. Our test car’s build quality even approaches Porsche’s. Where Lotus wins is on exclusivity—with only 400 Evora 400s bound for North America, it may eclipse mid-engine Brit rival McLaren on that score.
| 2017 Lotus Evora 400 | |
| POWERTRAIN/CHASSIS | |
| DRIVETRAIN LAYOUT | Mid-engine, RWD |
| ENGINE TYPE | Supercharged 60-deg V-6, alum block/heads |
| VALVETRAIN | DOHC, 4 valves/cyl |
| DISPLACEMENT | 210.9 cu in/3,456 cc |
| COMPRESSION RATIO | 10.8:1 |
| POWER (SAE NET) | 400 hp @ 7,000 rpm |
| TORQUE (SAE NET) | 302 lb-ft @ 3,500 rpm |
| REDLINE | 7,000 rpm |
| WEIGHT TO POWER | 8.0 lb/hp |
| TRANSMISSION | 6-speed manual |
| AXLE/FINAL-DRIVE RATIO | 3.78 (1-4), 3.24 (5,6,R):1/2.79:1 |
| SUSPENSION, FRONT; REAR | Control arms, coil springs, anti-roll bar; multilink, coil springs, anti-roll bar |
| STEERING RATIO | 16.0:1 |
| TURNS LOCK-TO-LOCK | 2.9 |
| BRAKES, F; R | 14.6-in vented, drilled disc; 13.8-in vented, drilled disc, ABS |
| WHEELS, F;R | 8.0 x 19 in; 10.0 x 20 in forged aluminum |
| TIRES, F;R | 235/35ZR19 91Y; 285/30ZR20 99Y Michelin Pilot Super Sport |
| DIMENSIONS | |
| WHEELBASE | 110.4 in |
| TRACK, F/R | 61.6/62.0 in |
| LENGTH x WIDTH x HEIGHT | 172.6 x 72.6 x 48.4 in |
| GROUND CLEARANCE | 5.5 in |
| TURNING CIRCLE | 33.3 ft |
| CURB WEIGHT | 3,200 lb |
| WEIGHT DIST, F/R | 39/61% |
| SEATING CAPACITY | 4 |
| HEADROOM, F/R | 36.5/29.0 in (est) |
| LEGROOM, F/R | 43.0/25.9 in (est) |
| SHOULDER ROOM, F/R | 49.2/46.5 in (est) |
| CARGO VOLUME | 5.7 cu ft |
| TEST DATA | |
| ACCELERATION TO MPH | |
| 0-30 | 1.4 sec |
| 0-40 | 2.0 |
| 0-50 | 3.2 |
| 0-60 | 4.2 |
| 0-70 | 5.2 |
| 0-80 | 6.9 |
| 0-90 | 8.4 |
| 0-100 | 10.0 |
| PASSING, 45-65 MPH | 2.1 |
| QUARTER MILE | 12.6 sec @ 111.0 mph |
| BRAKING, 60-0 MPH | 104 ft |
| LATERAL ACCELERATION | 0.97 g (avg) |
| TOP-GEAR REVS @ 60 MPH | 2,180 rpm |
| CONSUMER INFO | |
| BASE PRICE | $93,785 |
| PRICE AS TESTED | $104,085 |
| STABILITY/TRACTION CONTROL | Yes/Yes |
| AIRBAGS | Dual front, front side/head |
| BASIC WARRANTY | 3 yrs/36,000 miles |
| POWERTRAIN WARRANTY | 3 yrs/36,000 miles |
| ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE | none |
| FUEL CAPACITY | 15.9 gal |
| EPA CITY/HWY/COMB ECON | 16/24/19 mpg |
| ENERGY CONS, CITY/HWY | 211/140 kW-hrs/100 miles |
| CO2 EMISSIONS, COMB | 1.03 lb/mile |
| RECOMMENDED FUEL | Unleaded premium |
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