Lotus Evora, £27,995: If Matt Saunders’ brief tribute to the original Lotus Evora whetted your appetite for the Toyota-powered 2+2 launched in 2009, then you’ll be pleased to know clean, early cars are now below £30,000.
We found an early 2010/59 VVT-i with 39,000 miles for £27,995 at a specialist. It’s a Launch Edition car so has the Tech (nav, parking aids, cruise), Sport (cross-drilled discs, deeper spoiler, uprated exhaust) and Premium (extra leather, heated seats, reversing camera) packs.
For £500 less, there’s a privately advertised 40,000-mile 2010/60-reg, also with all three packs and finished in Solar Yellow. Interestingly, it’s had many of the model’s common issues addressed, including having new handbrake cables and a new window motor, a water leak in the passenger footwell plugged and its ‘peeling’ headlights sorted. We’d go for the dealer car. It looks better value and comes with a 12-month warranty.
If you’re tempted by the yellow one or to look at others, checks should include quizzing the ECU to see how often the engine has been over-revved. Also make sure it’s been serviced every 9000 miles and that the engine mounts are sound (they were an early warranty issue).
If gearchanges are difficult, suspect stretched gear cables. Inspect the brakes and tyres for signs of track abuse and listen for the front anti-roll bar bushes knocking. Look for a red dot on the air-con condenser showing it was replaced under warranty (early ones were troublesome) and check the pipes aren’t draining into the cabin. Pray for even body panel gaps and, last but not least, check that the door handles work.
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