Road test: 2015 Lotus Evora 400 - The National
Something of an annual rite of passage, as Lotus updates, tweaks or adds something to its line-up. That used to characterise the products that rolled out of Lotus’s Hethel factory: difficult to get to, but worth the effort. We’re here to drive the new Evora 400, which, true to form, has been revised, technically as well as visually, promising greater performance and heightened thrills. Mirroring how the awkwardness of getting to Hethel has been reduced, so too has the difficulty of getting into the products Lotus makes. Anyone who has ever tried pouring themselves into anything wearing a Lotus badge since the Elise will appreciate the difficulty involved – it takes practice, flexibility and determination. If you’re even marginally “big-boned”, getting into a Lotus with any semblance of dignity is a testing, body-folding act of skilful contortion. I count myself as so built, yet I’m sitting in the latest Evora 400 checking out the new interior before it strikes me that getting in was entirely unremarkable. Forget for a moment the other changes to the Evora, as the simple act of easing ingress has immediately improved it. Thank a drop in the sill height and a reduction in its width. The numbers say 56 millimetres and 43mm respectively, but they add up to a huge difference to the Evora. Source: www.thenational.ae
