After waiting all year for the right car to come along, I picked up a 2012 Lotus Evora S on Monday. If I was going to swap the GS for something, I wanted it to be a very different car, but still ideally one I could occasionally get the kids in the back of. And it had to be good on twisty, bumpy B roads. So a Lotus was the only choice. (Let's just pretend Porsches don't exist. And 997.1s are much older, while a 997.2 would have been more expensive and still older).
I can summarize the differences between them just by stating the facts. The GS is a 1680kg naturally aspirated Ferrari V8 engined Maserati with a CC 'box and Skyhook damping. The Evora is a 1437kg Lotus with a supercharged Toyota V6 and a manual 'box. One wins on looks (inside and out) and noise, the other is on a different planet when it comes to attacking a British B road. I do think the Evora looks much better in the metal than in photos, though, because it's low and wedge-like, and the engine noise at high revs is pretty good - an aggresive growl.
The cars are so different that I could happily own both (haven't actually sold the GS yet....). The GS wins when it's parked up, or approaching the redline (or lower down the rev range, too), and is epic on smooth, flowing roads. But the Evora is something you just have to experience on a challenging road. The ability to soak up bumps but turn in with precision and grip like a limpet is incredible. The GS could be exciting because it commanded respect, but also because it could sometimes be a bit wayward. The Evora is like a B road hypercar, or a supercar with a little bit of hot hatch DNA. It's actually a decent cruiser too, thanks to the supple suspension (probably the GS's biggest weakness). But the stereo is utterly horrendous and the manual box... well, you get the gear you want nearly every time you try... actually demonstrates that the CC box can hold it's own against a bad manual.
Overall, for my purposes, the Evora is a better fit. But I'm lucky to have owned two truly great cars.
I've also discovered that my Evora was run by Car on a long term test, so I have pictures of it going sideways at Hethel, at the factory, even the configurator screenshot.
I can summarize the differences between them just by stating the facts. The GS is a 1680kg naturally aspirated Ferrari V8 engined Maserati with a CC 'box and Skyhook damping. The Evora is a 1437kg Lotus with a supercharged Toyota V6 and a manual 'box. One wins on looks (inside and out) and noise, the other is on a different planet when it comes to attacking a British B road. I do think the Evora looks much better in the metal than in photos, though, because it's low and wedge-like, and the engine noise at high revs is pretty good - an aggresive growl.
The cars are so different that I could happily own both (haven't actually sold the GS yet....). The GS wins when it's parked up, or approaching the redline (or lower down the rev range, too), and is epic on smooth, flowing roads. But the Evora is something you just have to experience on a challenging road. The ability to soak up bumps but turn in with precision and grip like a limpet is incredible. The GS could be exciting because it commanded respect, but also because it could sometimes be a bit wayward. The Evora is like a B road hypercar, or a supercar with a little bit of hot hatch DNA. It's actually a decent cruiser too, thanks to the supple suspension (probably the GS's biggest weakness). But the stereo is utterly horrendous and the manual box... well, you get the gear you want nearly every time you try... actually demonstrates that the CC box can hold it's own against a bad manual.
Overall, for my purposes, the Evora is a better fit. But I'm lucky to have owned two truly great cars.
I've also discovered that my Evora was run by Car on a long term test, so I have pictures of it going sideways at Hethel, at the factory, even the configurator screenshot.