The Eagle has landed but is officially known as the Evora. As promised, Lotus‘ long-anticipated Project Eagle has finally made its official debut at the London, England auto show on Tuesday, doubling the automaker’s unique model range, at least in North America. In Europe, Lotus also offers the Europa S coupe.
The Evora is aimed to compete with Porsche’s Cayman on the performance side, but will be slightly more practical thanks to its available 2+2 passenger layout. Lotus is promising the Evora’s cabin will be the most comfortable it has produced to date, with easier ingress and egress than any of its other models. Leather seats from Recaro, a closing glove box, and storage bins and cup holders will all be standard equipment.
As previously reported, the Evora is powered by a 3.5-liter V6 from Toyota’s parts bin, tuned slightly to produce a more impressive 276 horsepower and 250lb-ft of torque. It will be placed amidships, and will put its power down to the rear wheels via a six-speed manual transmission.
The car is promised to weigh in under 3,000lbs, resulting in performance that includes a sub-five-second 0-60mph sprint and a claimed 160mph top speed. Reigning the car in will be vented and cross-drilled disc brakes all around, sized at 13.8 inches up front and 13.1 inches out back and squeezed by AP Racing calipers.
The front wheels will be 18 inches in diameter, surrounded by tires sized at 225/40-18, while the rears will be 19s with 255/35-19 rubber. The forged aluminum wishbone suspension will use Bilstein shocks sitting inside Eibach springs to provide the Lotus-signature impressive handling capabilities.
The car will start hitting dealerships in the U.K. in the spring of 2009, with only 2,000 made and priced at £45,000 apiece. The company promises a convertible and a higher performance model will join the coupe by October of 2011.
07/22, 9:36 AM
posted by:
xyunya
This is actually what Porsche use to be. No nonsense drivers car. I have to clean the keyboard….
07/22, 9:43 AM
posted by:
sentinel1111
looks similar to the Tesla
07/22, 10:03 AM
posted by:
mr.meanpants
Gimme, gimme, gimme!
07/22, 10:06 AM
posted by:
livelyjay
I love it when a company uses the 2+2 as a gimmick. Come on, where is this +2 going to sit in that thing? Unless they consider two backpacks, or maybe a set of golf clubs to be a +2, I highly doubt the backseats are there for anything more than show. Those back seats are probably going to be along the lines of the old TT coupe or the Lexus roadster, completely useless.
07/22, 10:29 AM
posted by:
Need4SSpeed
^ Agreed. Well They’ll make for some useful extra space I’d assume, seeing you don’t have a trunk really… I don’t know what kind of storage would be offered under the hood…
07/22, 10:48 AM
posted by:
cocksterS
I don’t know what you all are talking about. The concept of a 2+2 is genius. Think about it: it gives you a place to put all the illegitimate children that you will be fathering as a result of all the tang that this car will draw.
07/22, 10:49 AM
posted by:
cocksterS
Jon, I call dibs.
07/22, 10:59 AM
posted by:
xyunya
Well, you can put 2 suitcases (smallish) into those seats or 2 children in booster seats. It is not intended for families of 5 or parents with teenagers.
I was also impressed with “clean” layout of dash. No buttons clutter, gizmos, nothing destructing from driving car.
07/22, 11:01 AM
posted by:
gitcypher
Second the illegitimate children.
07/22, 11:11 AM
posted by:
MugenSentraKen
====>>So what’s up with the “Faceless People” now??
07/22, 11:34 AM
posted by:
jumpoffit
i just spilled my illegitimate children all over my keyboard
07/22, 12:22 PM
posted by:
F451
Great a 2+2 Lotus article with not one damn photograph of the rear seats! We all know the rear jump seats are nothing but a joke, but it would be nice to see them so I can gauge what junk can be thrown on them.
07/22, 2:29 PM
posted by:
F451
Here’s more a photograph of what to expect from the rear seating: Rear Jump Seat
07/22, 3:22 PM
posted by:
jonmiles
That is one sexy shape. What the hell is up with the wimpy 78 hp per liter? Thats very un-lotus
07/22, 5:16 PM
posted by:
xyunya
You don’t need oogles of horsepower in a light car. The less you force the engine the longer it will last . It is un-Lotus, I agree.
07/22, 6:01 PM
posted by:
hemiredneck
It is def a nice looking car. (And I am sure the handling will be superb) But maybe the huge cross drilled disc brakes are somewhat of an overkill for a car of its power?
07/22, 6:25 PM
posted by:
928dreamer
“What the hell is up with the wimpy 78 hp per liter? Thats very un-lotus”
It may be very unlotus, but it is very toyota-like. I really wish lotus went with a different engine manufacturer than Toyota.
I really like like the way this car looks. It reminds me of a more refined Noble. Which is a good thing.
07/22, 11:05 PM
posted by:
MugenSentraKen
====>>So what’s up with the “Faceless People” now????
07/23, 9:42 PM
posted by:
Mr. Piston
*Yawn
08/04, 3:32 PM
posted by:
skycheng
well