@@markdance574you're right. I fully get why Lotus are doing it as if they didn't they'd probably end up like TVR and many other British brands. It would be cool if they kept making an ICE car to stick with what Lotus stands for
@@jcc3494 100% - a small but drivable hot hatch - old skool style , wide arches , all about the chassis and drive train - in my mind it would be like reborn modern Impreza p1
@@markdance574 an old school Lotus hatch would be awesome, maybe an mx-5 competitor too which I what I feel the MG cyberster or whatever it's called should've been
I once got to drive my friend's Lotus Cup Car around Willow Springs Street Circuit. It was teuly a joy. I loved the total driving experience of it. Dream cars for people that love driving.
The world is doomed. The consumers is so dumb and has no brain of his own, that he ends up eating what's being marketed at him. I've seen people being impressed at the Tesla cyber truck demo vs a Ford Truck. What happened? The cars were pulling each other and Tesla cybertruck won easily of course and then I read comments like - oh well they didn't take the highest spec of that Ford Truck - THAT'S TRUE, but what they're missing is that that is not the point, but it's the point what Tesla wants you to think about - in reality it wasn't an advantage that that the Cybertruck could pull that Ford - but it was a disadvantage and a sideffect caused by it. The Cybertruck has to be morbidly heavy because of the batteries. More weight will of course always win that fight - NOT POWER but MORE WEIGHT! That same excess weight is however a HUGE PROBLEM. A problme with safety as it brakes longer, a problem with the tyres as they will have to be thicker and more expensive and will wear out faster and a problem, that the parking houses in all cities of the world are not built for overweight EV's like all EV's are - there have already been cases were the structure broke down... Now returning to your specific example against the 992 RS: first of all - downforce does not always mean cornering grip... Downforce will only provide grip at higher speed, basically the higher the speed, the more the downforce effect will be - there you will have more grip, but in slower corners you will still have LESS grip and be SLOWER in this car than in the 992 RS because this thing is HEAVIER! Second of all if the downforce figures are the same for the 2 cars, then it still doesn't mean they will perform the same in the high speed corners as higher downforce levels will be required for the heavier car to maintain the same levels of grip (again, needless to say - you will also have more tyre wear...)
@@arcelivez Lol, sorry to hear you didn't like my quick and dirty comparison using their weight claims, downforce claims (whether you believe either of those is another thing), tyre friction coefficient... all at an arbitrary speed that I happen to have chosen. Be my guest and give me your expert input taking into account variables such as drag, center of gravity or weight distribution and aero balance.
Super cool. I still wish EVs would sort out the sound. I’m not saying “fake exhaust,” but something that you can make a functional case for. James said it well as do many others who get the privilege of driving these EV hypercars - the sense of speed sneaks up on you. Yes, it’s got some high pitch EV whirring, but I think we tend to underestimate how much sound gives us a sense of balance, position, etc. Having driven other fast EVs (but nothing like this), the speed is so sudden it’s almost nauseating. When it comes to motion sickness, the more aware all of your senses are of where the motion is going, the less motion sick you get. So driving these, we all see where we are going, we all feel where we are going, but the sound doesn’t quite reflect it besides “high pitch means fast, higher pitch means faster.” It would be cool if the different air ducts on these cars could also function as a way to channel air to a sort of “instrument” that has more unique, tunable tones. So the same idea as the pipes on the exhaust, but instead of functionally removing exhaust, it’s functionally moving aerodynamics… And in turn, the different sounds would give you a sense of how the car is moving through the air. And it would give each car different tones and personality. ANYWAY! Thought dump over.
Agreed. Design an electric motor that has sound being part of its design. Like Lexus did for the LFA's ICE V10. There has to be a way to make a noisy electric motor without having to resort to synthetic sound pumped through speakers....
So you want a woodwind instrument strapped onto the back of a car? Not entirely sure how much that would achieve your goal, but it's certainly an interesting idea. The issue is the instrument needs to consistently be able to change 'note' or otherwise it will just sound like a different type of whirl. I don't think there's anyway to truly replicate the randomness of a ICE, and thats why I don't think this instrument Idea will work any time soon. We need to just find a way to make that whirl more enjoyable, its never going to be random or exciting like an ICE, it can just sound better than it currently does.
@@all-caps3927 I was thinking more like “unraveled French horn.” Ha! But I agree, no matter what, the ‘randomness’ of ICE, and the variety of ICE sounds are what make it feel alive. I agree, I don’t think anything will get us anything as good as ICE sounds… But I still think it would be interesting to get sounds related to aero, almost like how turbos have induction sound or turbo flutter. The worst thing about EV noise is the emphasis on windshield noise and tire noise… they’re literally the two worst sounds of driving.
Part of what gives me hope here is that a lot of the awesome engineering is indeed software based. Stuff like getting the torque mix right and aspects of handling and stability. It all obviously has to work with the physical hardware, but there are aspects of these designs that might directly find their way into more accessible cars more broadly.
Can someone (carwow) please finally put this car up against the Rimac Nevara in a drag race. This is the only other car in the Nevara's league. This is a thrilling rollercoaster ride but not a red-blooded combustion engine ride. Huge difference.
Beautiful car, just like the emira, would be great to see it at full spec potential, and its about time we get a real race against all the hypercars on a racetrack not just a drag race but all these hypercars like lotus, bugati bolide, mclaren, ferrari. everyone bring their best weapon and race
Press car should have been yellow or white, most people will think this is a ferrari or at least a rip off. Its good to see such an iconic British brand coming back even if it is through Chinese money. Also if sounds can be pumped into the cockpit then why not have the old F1 noise, match it up with the throttle and even though you know its not real it would still sound cool
Mr JWW Absolutely Incredible Video I think it's awesome that you got to Drive that Absolutely Gorgeous and Incredible Lotus Evija and I can't wait to see the full production model will perform
I think Lotus dropped the ball by not supporting there heritage models which is a real shame. While it’s too late to save the Elise, it’s not too late to open up the engine management to the 3rd market support companies for free. As it is most drivers of older Lotus’s have been abandoned which is undermining the brand.
In a word, WOW! £2m for a Lotus seems ridiculously expensive, but the technology within the Evija to manage a 2000+hp in race mode would and probably will be, something jaw dropping to watch. Can’t wait to see it in full race mode. Well done Lotus…
This is when you realize Tesla has been milking a borrowed Lotus design for years. These folks are proving you can’t fake real mustard. Really hope automakers follow this instead of Tesla during the dip. This is what I want: Honda: CRX EV Toyota: MR-2 EV Nissan: 240SX EV No frills. No gimmicks. Just a motor, battery, simple dash and big brakes. Bonus points if I can take the whole thing apart with a 12, 14, and 17mm socket
When Lotus announced this car and told the public the price, you had all of these smaller review channels just lambasting Lotus for so many reasons, saying they were crazy and that the car was too expensive and that EVs weren't the way to go. Turns out Lotus wasn't crazy, it was just we, the innocent public, who were blinded by poverty. I just saw the design and went "Oh, that's stupidly pretty, if it's any good to drive and performs according to those specifications, then they'll have no trouble selling the production run." And here we are. Quarter 1 of 2024 and the entire production run has sold through. Time to see if they make a special edition to sell a handful more or if they want to figure out a way to adapt the chassis with some new bodywork and a more tame drivetrain for a more reasonably priced supercar. With as lovely as the Evija looks, it wouldn't surprise me much if they pulled a Pagani and made a handful of special edition versions to sell more of them. Depends on what the demand looks like, I guess.
"to call it a tub isn't really doing it justice, its a one piece carbon structure, and we hang most of the mechanical and electrical parts that drive this car from.....that......erm.....TUB" 😂😂 priceless, love good marketing speak
Thank you for pointing that out! Imagine in a couple year's when they redo the pack with solid state cell's. Drop another 300-400kgs easy right there, or drop 250kgs and ad another 20kwhs of capacity. 😎👍🏻
Mr JWW, your life is pretty bloody amazing, the cars & content are mind blowing, appreciate being along for the ride but I'm starting to suspect you must fart rainbows you lucky lucky barst...😂
Having the batteries where the engine would go in the same dimensions as a V8 or V12 seems like the logical thing to do to help the feel and handling of an electric super/hypercar makes more sense than the batteries under the floor surely? Great insight man cant wait to see more 👍
Higher cg and not as good a polar moment for inertia either. They do it to drop the tub super low that's it. The caterham project v uses super slim cells in pack's under the floor and has a super low slung seating position and overall height. 👍🏻
@@TheBrendonian in this they aren't, instead it's a big t shape pack setup like the volt had. Which puts some of those modules up as high as an engine block would be. Mimicking the feel a mid engine setup smh. Maybe try reading next time! 👍🏻
@@4literv6 it’s a trade-off. Higher centre of gravity than putting them under the floor, yes. But a massively better polar moment of inertia. Maybe try reading some physics books 😉
Doesn't matter if you have the $, It's 130 examples. WAY more than 130 ppl have 2 million to drop on a car and they can't get one. It's exclusivity is beyond your bank account size.
“Money can’t buy experience” Spending $2,000,000 pound on the car. The experience only exists because people have spent money. Hope that guy is in development and not marketing
$2,000,000 and they couldn't design a windshield wiper that doesn't sit in the MIDDLE all the time ruining your view out and the gorgeous lines of the car!?!
J why did Lotus reduce the power by a lot for your driving review? And are you going to do a thorough road and also track review of the upcoming 1850 hp Zenvo Aurora hybrid? Or the 2300hp Gemera?
Why do some car manufacturers lie about bhp figures, for example if a car had 2 electric motors of 500bhp each, they say the car has 1000bhp, but really its more like 500bhp in reality? Please tell me if im wrong?!
What is it with car manufacturers putting these silly steering wheels on new cars! I totally understand why that shape is done for, say, a race car, but for a car that will predominantly only ever be driven on the road is just so unpractical, can honestly say that I think the car looks amazing, but that wheel and the price tag is a massive no from me! Thanks for sharing it with us James! 👍
It really depends on the steering ratio. If you can do a 90 degree turn at an intersection by turning the steering wheel 90 degrees then it doesn't need to be round, but if it needs to be turned 180 or more degrees at any point then yes it's very impractical.
Proper driving technique is to keep hands at 9/3 at all times, crossing arms during turns. No one who's building a hypercar cares how easy they are to parallel park. They're meant for driving and in driving, you don't need more than a 180 degree turn of the wheel.
They originally specced it as 0-300kmh in 8.8s so it should do low 8s or a 7.9x in the 1/4 mile. Bet it smokes the nevera around the green hell to. Easily a sub 7min blast. 😎
It’s 400kg lighter… not only will it be quicker to 200km/h and 300km/h but around the ring that’s easily 10-20 seconds faster than the Rimac plus the fact that you won’t overheat the tyres halfway around the lap means you can push the car to the limit for 70-80% of the lap. The Rimac driver had to manage tyre temperature during it’s record breaking ring lap… so the overall lap time difference could be even bigger than 20 seconds. Would love to see them both attempt a ring record on the same day with the same tyres… my money is on the Lotus 😎
