Minneapolis Street Sighting: Lotus Evora

I have always loved British sports cars; always have, and most likely always will. Now, most people will associate the term with broken-down or ill-repaired roadsters of the 1960s and 1970s, but to me, one of the greatest marques in the genre is Lotus. Even cars like the much-hated Excel and Elan are cool with me. Yes, I realize that both of those are considered marginal cars (and the Elan went on to become a Kia, for crying out loud), but to me, they represent only a dark time in Lotus' history.

Unfortunately, not all of Lotus' offerings used their own powerplants; especially in the 1990s, Lotus began to partner with other automakers, one of the most prolific was Toyota. First joining parntership to produce the Toyota powered Lotus Elise--and consequently the MR-S roadster by Toyota some five years later. As a result, the current Lotus stable is powered by V6 engines sourced by Toyota.  One of my favorite sports cars out right now is the pre-facelift Evora.

Introduced in 2009 as a 2010, the Evora was  the second model range to be introduced to the US that summer; it is marketed at people who think the Elise and Exige are too hardcore. But, the Evora is by no means watered down. Sure, it shares mechanics with a plebeian family sedan, but it's not around-town runabout. With  either 276 horsepower or 345 horsepower depending on if its supercharged or not, the Evora isn't quite slow. Of course, it's not an all out track car either; there's the Exige S for that. Harder, firmer, scarier, and just about every adjective that describes a car that most Americans cannot handle, the Exige S fits to a tee.

Obviously, since the Evora is a new car, I can't really comment on condition yet; it's simply too new to be a beater of any sort. I do, however, quite like the color. Cake in a luscious orange metallic that wasn't too orange, I would describe this as Tropicana Metallic. Corny name, but better that "Light Orange" in any event; the powdercoated matter gray wheels suit this example too. They look awesome,and even if the matte finish isn't factory, it compliments these wheels very well.

I don't really have any complaints, and since this is the first Evora I've street shot, I had fun shooting it. While I love these cars like something silly, I hope they stay relatively rare. I enjoy seeing these, and I don't want them to become a common occurrence. These deserve to be special like this one is.