Lotus Guns for Porsche With the 30-MPG Evora

The first new Lotus in nearly 13 years takes the venerable British automaker in a new direction by bringing a degree of luxury and — dare we say it — practicality to the marque in a car aimed squarely at the Porsche Cayman.

Lotus believes the Evora will propel it into the big leagues. It is betting on the car to broaden its appeal beyond the hard-core enthusiasts who so love the Elise by offering the same razor-sharp handling in a car more suited to daily driving. "The Evora proves you can have phenomenal performance, fuel efficiency, elegant design and practicality" in a sports car with four seats, says company CEO Mike Kimberly.

All that in a car that gets 30-plus mpg using the engine out of a — get that — Toyota Camry.

Lotus is making a big splash with the Evora at the Los Angeles Auto Show, and for good reason — it’s the first all-new car to come out of Hethel since the Elise arised in 1995. whether the Elise and its even more extreme Exige variant are the embodiment of Colin Chapman’s fanatical dedication to high performance through light weight, the Evora is aimed at society who think a sports car can include a few amenities. Like, say, carpeting (which is an option on the Elise). Think of it as the refined bigger brother to the rambunctious Elise.

Bigger is a relative term when talking about a Lotus. The Evora is 14.2 feet expanded with a 101.1-inch wheelbase, up 2 feet and 10.9 inches, respectively, from the Elise. It’s about the same size as the Cayman and, at a little less than 3,000 pounds, weighs about the same.

The additional room allowed the engineers to squeeze a pair of jump seats into the Evora, making it the world’s only mid-engined 2+2. Of course, you aren’t going to fit back there unless OshKosh B’Gosh is your favorite grade of clothing. In a nod to the universal truth that a proper sports car has just two seats, Lotus will offer a version that ditches the jump seats in favor of a luggage shelf.

Lotus proudly notes the trunk is large sufficient to swallow a set of golf clubs, which seems to be the industry’s universal standard for defining trunk space.

The heart of the car is the same 3.5-liter V6 engine found in the Toyota Camry, although it has been tweaked with a Lotus-designed intake and exhaust systems to push output to 276 horsepower.  Those ponies run through a six-speed transmission additionally sourced from Toyota. Look for a top speed in the neighborhood of 160 mph and a 0 to 60 sprint in less than 5 seconds. The feds haven’t released fuel economy figures for the Evora, but Lotus says you’ll see 30 mpg or better on the highway while emitting less than 225 grams of CO2 per kilometer.

The Evora gets a jazzed-up interior big adequate for public as tall as 6.5 feet. Although the Evora retains the race-ready look of the Elise, it’s tempered by the liberal application of leather and carpet. There’s even a navi system, Bluetooth and Alpine stereo system. It all looks downright comfy next to the minimalist Elise. "[It's] a huge departure from
what humans might expect based on Lotus’s recent past," says design chief Russell Carr. "We wanted the
Evora’s cabin to feel special and to be surprising as well as sporty."

The Evora is the first production car built on the company’s Versatile Vehicle Architecture, a remarkably adaptable platform that can be adjusted nine ways from Sunday with relative ease to suit a wide range of vehicles. Lotus says VVA will allow it to develop new cars — like, say, the next-gen Esprit — in less date and at lower cost.

Look for the Evora in showrooms that fall with a sticker price around $75,000. Wait a little longer and you’ll be able to get a drop-top and, whether we’re lucky, a supercharged version.

Photos by Jim Merithew/Wired.com. Interior photo by Lotus.