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.

Formula One Sports Cars

In the heart of Miami's exotic car franchises, authorized dealers are usually the cream of the crop; then there are those seemingly small dealers with tiny front lots with room for maybe 8 or 10 cars inside. When it comes to quality over quantity, Formula One Sports Cars fits this bill quite nicely. Lamborghinis en masse, FOSC does not have. What it has instead, is a rather nice but varied collection of rather high-end sports cars, and the most common nameplate in inventory is Ferrari.



Outside is where the eye candy began; I am a sucker for Audi's R8 lineup. Sure, they are seen as "normal" exotics.. but man do they look awesome. There is a full range available to choose from, but it seems that Formula One only stocks the V10 models. Good, because if you desire an R8, chances are you want more than the average 4.2L V8 found in the tame Audi S5 coupe. Right? If you're happy with just a V8, you should not own an R8; go buy the S5 (or god forbid A8) you so desire. It fits your needs better.







Next up is this awesome Lotus Exige S260; stripping everything in the already bare Lotus Exige makes for an extremely fun car. With a dry weight of just over a ton, and over 260 horses on tap, this four-cylinder wonder will be sure to leave you begging for more. A/C? None. Heater? Not there. Booming stereo? You've got a high-revving supercharged four. You don't need a stereo. Sticky tires? Absolutely! Big brakes? Of course! What's a necessity is left, and and what isn't needed is simply discarded. If you like luxury, the Elise s260 is not your car. If you wish to experience driving excitement more than any Pontiac can ever begin to offer, you've found your car. The S260 is exactly what you need. And at $52,800, this example is reasonably affordable.






And here's the rest of what's outside, as determined as picture-worthy by me.



But inside is where it counts; yes, the vehicles on display outside are great for making car enthusiasts stop and stare, but really.. the amazing stuff is indoors, as is always the case. I have something of a Ferrari fetish if you will. I can't seem to get enough of the Prancing Horse. I love the 355, I am so-so on the 360/430 series, but the new 458.. Omigod. What a car! 562 horses, mid/rear engine, V8 screamer with exquisite bodywork. What could possibly go wrong?






I was first awestruck by the 458 in pictures; it looks stunning in red, I do admit. I am a huge sucker for bright colors, though, and I have thing for yellow Ferraris. To my (not quite) surprise, Ferrari's newest sports car creation looks jaw-droppingly gorgeous in yellow. The wheels on this yellow horse look brilliant, and far better than the cliche five-spoke wheels that adorn most others. Smart color combination, especially with these wheels. Well done, Ferrari, well done.





Up next as far as the Ferraris go is this wonderful 16M Scuderia spider. Built as an even more limited edition than its hardtop F430 Scuderia stable, just 499 of these were built, and in Florida alone I saw about 11 different ones. To me the Scuderia,and 16M spiders fixed everything I didn't like about the normal F430; the engine, the wheels, the exhaust note, and the front bumper looks far better, too. I want one, and I want it now.





And here are some artistic shots of the three Prancing Horses lined up in a row.









The AC Cobra is the most replicated car in car culture history. Why? Just look at it, for starters. It's a timeless sculpture that will never go out of style; you can build replicas from mild to wild, street cars, track-oriented monsters, and showcars; cars that are powered by tame 289s, nitrous fed 500+ cube engines, and everything in between. While I must admit that I am not quite a fan of every modification done here, I quite like the overall effect; it looks like the type of car that would be docile enough in traffic (yeah, right, I might as well eat my words), but could truly scare the average driver if its let loose. Since this example has the typical 427 badging on the front wings (fenders), it's safe to say that this version is built up using Roush components. No bad thing, really. Id probably do the same, but maybe add a turbo to the mix just to keep things a bit interesting. Who wouldn't love an open-top roadster with little weight, a smidgen of low end grunt, and lots of top end whistling? I know I would absolutely adore such a beast.




The last notable sighting from inside was this-- Mercedes' and AMG's newest creation. Packing the all-too-familiar AMG 6.3 (6.2xx really) V8, this beast replaced the McLaren SLR in 2011. As one can see from the pictures, this supercar doesn't skimp on fancy features; the doors open in true gullwing fashion as a tribute to the 300SL Gullwing, and the upright grille is said to mimic the race cars that preceded this newest supercar. One area I am a bit not-quite-keen on is the huge blind spot behind the doors. I do realize it has to be metal for the sake of structural rigidity.. but.. it looks bad and particularly unfinished. Although the base model wheels seen on this example look a little generic, even by AMG standards, there are uplevel wheels that suit it better, but they do indeed cost more. There is now a roadster version on sale, too, but it suffers from generic Mercedes syndrome; when they chopped off the roof, Mercedes ruined any notion of '"special" the hardtop had-- and they ruined the lines in the process. Sad to say it, but the SLS Roadster is just another generic $200k+ convertible that will snapped up by people who know nothing of Mercedes' glorious racing history.





The other two from the showroom. Nice, but I only grabbed a couple pictures.

Overall, this was an amazing dealership; nice staff, pleasant atmosphere, and a great location. I was pleasantly surprised about how easy it was to shoot inside; virtually no glare, and the cars were spaced out enough that great pictures were extremely easy to take, and unlike most dealerships, I didn't really have to get funky and position myself in weird ways to get the shots I desired. If you're ever in Florida, look these guys up-- definitely worth a visit if you're a died-in-the-wool exotic car nut.

Minneapolis Street Sighting: Lotus Elan Coupe

Now, for a different sort of sports car; a British icon. Regular folks know about, and cherish MGs, and Triumphs, but it takes a special person to know and cherish the Lotus brand. Made most famous for its philosophy of less is more, the Lotus Se7en was the first car than garnered the brand recognition outside of Europe.
The first iteration of this much-loved bodystyle was the Elite, produced until 1961. In 1962, the Elan came along. Like the Lotus-Ford Cortina saloon, the Elan was also another Lotus-Ford venture. Powered by a 1.6L Ford-bred four cylinder, this little car was relatively quick on its feet, but it wasn't much of a powerhouse. That's okay; straight-line speed isn't really what Lotus is, or was, about. What mattered was handling, and that's a job it did quite well. For proof, there are more racing Elans still in use than road-going models. For more proof of the Elan's handling prowess, Mazda used no more than four different different Elan coupes and two convertibles when developing their own sports car, the MX-5 Miata.
With the arrival of the plus-2 in 1967, the proportions of this little sports car were altered-- I mean ruined. My opinion of the Elan +2 the same as the 2+2 Z cars; quite a horrible way to treat such a timeless design. It was said to be as good as the original, handling-wise, which I don't doubt, but Jesus is it ever hideous.
This example is a truly stunning car. Again, with the red theme getting played out. Sorry, but this is the only example I have besides that yellow one I brought readers a good while back. Everything on this one looks to be in top condition, from the finish, to the badges themselves. This is truly a minimalist car; less is more. That's why you don't see owners slapping big wheels on them, and going all out with garish modifications. Many people regard Minilite style wheels as cliche, or bland, but honestly I like em; to me, they're the foreign sports car equivalent of Torq Thrusts for muscle cars. I do think they're getting overused, but honestly, what better choice is there?
As appealing as a I find historic Lotii, I do feel that the new direction the company is taking is the wrong one. Rather than focus on building basic, lightweight sports cars, the new CEO (who is a douche) doesn't seem to adhere to Colin Chapman's philosophy. Instead, he wants to tap into new markets, and turn Lotus into another cliche exotic brand that so many greats have slowly turned into. For me, the last real Lotus was the first generation Elise that we didn't get here. And that's quite a shame, because it means I'll have no reason to go into a Lotus dealership again.