Advice about the 2012 Evora base car with IPS.

[Mike-engel]

Hi all.
An opportunity has come my way a seller is departing with their 2012 Evora with the IPS transmission. Not the supercharged version. It has only 19000 miles and is apparently in great condition. But honestly I don’t know much about the early Evoras and would like to hear any advice from all of you. Perf? Bright spots? Things to look out for? Anything, really. Price range? Thanks in advance.

 

[DaaS]

You may have more luck on the Evora forum on lotustalk.com

 

[DaaS]

I don’t have personal experience with early versions of Evora, but I heard that early IPS transmission was slow-ish compared to later versions. If you are going to sell it when the Emira arrives, then maybe not a big deal. Test drive it if you can.

If there is a Lotus dealership nearby, they can probably give you a readout of how the car was driven. Highest RPM, how many times at high RPM, how long at high RPM, Gs, top speed, etc.

 

[TomE]

There's a very comprehensive buyers guide on The Lotus Forums, link here.

The n/a cars have scope for modifications to up the power from the launch 280hp and get close to the 345hp of the supercharged S but with less weight. It's worth checking if it's a 2009-2011 car registered in 2012 or a MY2012 car - there were a number of improvements and changes made in MY2012 (listed in the buyers guide) including the seats.

The IPS software was improved a few times after the initial launch, so it's worth checking if the car has the most recent relevant version. I think they stopped doing updates on the Series 1 IPS cars at some point, so the more recent Evora 400/410 IPS software isn't compatible.

The IPS avoids the potential issues with the manual cars of gear linkage cables and clutch replacement.

 

[Beady]

I had a 2013 S with the IPS box - it was woefully slow - hated it!
But many others love it - you really need to try.
If you are used to double clutch systems then it is really poor in comparison.
Similar to the auto in the earlier Aston Martin vantage

 

[Mike-engel]

There's a very comprehensive buyers guide on The Lotus Forums, link here.

The n/a cars have scope for modifications to up the power from the launch 280hp and get close to the 345hp of the supercharged S but with less weight. It's worth checking if it's a 2009-2011 car registered in 2012 or a MY2012 car - there were a number of improvements and changes made in MY2012 (listed in the buyers guide) including the seats.

The IPS software was improved a few times after the initial launch, so it's worth checking if the car has the most recent relevant version. I think they stopped doing updates on the Series 1 IPS cars at some point, so the more recent Evora 400/410 IPS software isn't compatible.

The IPS avoids the potential issues with the manual cars of gear linkage cables and clutch replacement.

Is there a way to tell the model year from the vin? Also, this car is on the other side of the country from me, so I will need to engage a local person for a pre-purchase inspection. Not sure if there is a local dealership that could interrogate the computer to be sure all the flash updates have been made. Could be too risky, but I thought it was worth looking into.

 

[JimH]

Is there a way to tell the model year from the vin? Also, this car is on the other side of the country from me, so I will need to engage a local person for a pre-purchase inspection. Not sure if there is a local dealership that could interrogate the computer to be sure all the flash updates have been made. Could be too risky, but I thought it was worth looking into.

https://wiki.seloc.org/a/Chassis_number#MY09-12_-_Evora - This works for MY09-MY12 at least....

 

[TomE]

The structure of the VIN changed in the middle of MY2010, so you need to use the relevant decoder:

 

[Mike-engel]

The structure of the VIN changed in the middle of MY2010, so you need to use the relevant decoder:

Thanks guys. I was able to find the date signed from production for this car as April 23, 2012, so I’m assuming that means it was produced in 2012 rather than 2011 and sold as MY2012. Likewise, I assume that it has all the changes outlined in the buyers guide on TLF. Is that right?

 

[TomE]

Sounds likely. The definitive answer is the VIN.