Evora: Assume the Lotus position

The Lotus Evora arrives on our shores next year, without our cousins' 'luxury car tax'. Photo / Supplied

Sandwiches are one of the greatest inventions of all time. So when Lotus pioneered the aluminium and adhesive sandwich building technique, chances were it was onto a winner.

This technique is used to build the boxed chassis of the iconic British brand's lightweight sports cars, and to great effect. The system is so strong that the metal would tear before the bond breaks, and when you drive a Lotus, there's a feel of chassis stiffness that most other manufacturers struggle to produce - although some big names have licensed this technology from Lotus' design consultancy.

Lotus is on the cusp of making a serious return to the New Zealand market, with the first official dealerships planned for both Auckland and Christchurch. The marque will be imported to New Zealand by Neville Crichton's Ateco, joining Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Maserati and others. Dealer announcements are expected in the coming months.

During a trip to the Lotus factory to see just what the brand has planned under the ambitious guidance of Dany Bahar, the ballsy backer of Proton, Driven got some seat time in two models of the Lotus Evora, a car that has been on sale in Australia for some time, but is yet to turn a wheel on Kiwi roads.

The Evora is powered by a Toyota-sourced, mid-mounted 3.5 litre engine, and the two models earmarked for New Zealand are Evora S, a supercharged version in manual-only, and Evora IPS - Intelligent Precision Shift, or "flappy paddle automatic" to the rest of us.

Of the two, the forcefed S was obviously the more motivated of the two, and on the tight and twisty country lanes of Norfolk proved itself to have more than enough of the fun factor that Lotus prides itself on. On Lotus' test track, with 140mph (225km/h) indicated on the smile dial at the end of the straight, it felt surprisingly composed as we jumped on the brake pedal before a tough left, right, right progression that, admittedly, took a few cracks to solve. Those awesome sandwiches at work again.

With the Harrop supercharger fitted, the 3500cc engine pushes out 257kW with 400Nm of torque. The car is capable of a 4.8sec sprint to 100km/h and a top speed of around 275km/h. These seemingly anti-social stats are tempered slightly with just 199g of CO2 per kilometre.

Dynamic stability control and stiff damper settings keep the thing on the road and combined with the extreme chassis stiffness the Evora is reminiscent of the delightful Elise, although it couldn't match its tiny stablemate in outright grip. Like the Elise, it was a reasonably hard ride, and rutted roads could be very jarring.

Balance was beautiful though, and even when pushing hard in unfamiliar territory, "surprise" corners were generally dispatched without too much terror. Prompting any sort of oversteer required the type of bravery that's best reserved for the track.

To be fair, the car did have some hard miles under its belt, at the hands of media and other carefree test pilots, and didn't have the best gearbox in the world. Changes were often notchy and there was obvious whine that melded with the supercharger's high-frequency output, the engine in the back and random road noise through a lightly-dampened interior and proved a bit invasive after a few hundred kilometres. In the right mood though, both cars tested exhibited some nice exhaust cracks and cackles that invariably add up to an enjoyable experience.

The 2+2 seater IPS with no supercharger and a softer set-up felt more compliant on some fairly ropey roads and with just 205kW could hit 100km/h in about 5.5 seconds. But when it was moving, flicking the shifter back a couple of steps down the six-speed gave result almost as rewarding of the blown option.

There were a couple of awkward occasions, though, when the "change down and stomp hard" recipe resulted in a flare and a fart before the engine found its power and took off. There didn't seem to be any particular reason for this problem, and trying to replicate it in semi-scientific fashion proved inconclusive.

Overall, the transmission was willing, responsive and smooth, and while the financial necessity of producing automatic versions of sports cars is obvious, the manual six-speed was a far more involving drive that felt more "Lotus".

Unlike Lotuses of old, the interior fit and finish feels like it would hold together, although there were a few things that raised alarms. These are boutique machines that are mostly hand-finished, so imperfections can be considered character. There was quite a lot of character in the leatherwork.

Switch gear was all billet aluminium and the steering wheel magnesium - it felt sporty from the inside out, and had the level of vision that you'd expect. The Alpine-branded sat nav (which may be replaced by time the Evora's launched here) also displayed a feed from a reversing camera that was vital for parking. Turning and looking through the tiny rear window was not a realistic option - a good guess is no replacement for actually seeing where you're going.

Ateco has kicked off the pricing in Australia below the Porsche Cayman - it's an obvious competitor to the Evora, but substitutes Germanic engineering genius for British sports car cool. Australian pricing has been released, and the dealer network established. Comparing prices on these cars is a fairly futile exercise, as our trans-Tasman cousins have a ridiculous "luxury car tax" to go with their Rugby World Cup blushes.

Would an Evora be worth a look? When it lands, certainly. It's not boasting the quality that its Stuttgart competitor can display, but has that Lotus feel that's hard to match. Buyers will be those willing to overlook a few minor issues to secure a unique driving experience that can't be matched by big manufacturers' big production lines.