Bit of Chris Harris

 

[Lankan]

Now that would be an interesting watch...look forward to seeing CH having a go in the Emira (plus the GT4 RS and GMA T50).

 

[Eagle7]

Yes. I found it interesting that at the end, out of all the cars they talked about, the one he's the most interested in driving next year is the Emira.

 

[Leonard]

Yes. I found it interesting that at the end, out of all the cars they talked about, the one he's the most interested in driving next year is the Emira.

You can't blame him, be the most fun!

 

[EspritGuy]

You can't blame him, be the most fun!

He opens expressing high interest in the Emira ( first 2 minutes) and ends with the thing he is most interested in, going to Hethel to drive the Lotus. Could there be any more interest in this car?
Thanks for the post.

 

[ksegg]

Bang on.

For years I've been feeling that German performance cars have just become so steadily.....boring. Too tech focused, too luxury focused, electric everything - suffice to say they're all focused on everything except what matters.

I think Lotus is continuing to do what others have simply given up on, which is just to make a new "old" (traditional) sports car, and that's just what enthusiasts want.

 

[TomE]

I wonder if he and Lotus have kissed and made up after the Evora. He wasn't invited to the Evora 400 press launch after saying some negative things about Lotus, UK manufacturers and the 400 before he'd driven it.

He is a huge fan of the Elise and Exige, plus he has a lot of coverage so fingers crossed he gets an early drive and loves it.

 

[Lankan]

I wonder if he and Lotus have kissed and made up after the Evora. He wasn't invited to the Evora 400 press launch after saying some negative things about Lotus, UK manufacturers and the 400 before he'd driven it.

He is a huge fan of the Elise and Exige, plus he has a lot of coverage so fingers crossed he gets an early drive and loves it.

Interesting. Didn't know that CH got blacklisted by Lotus. Having said that. I usually find CH's feedback very useful and can relate to, or agree with, 90% of his thoughts on whatever he is driving if I happened to either drive or purchase that particular model. As, such, I too would be very interested in CH's early feedback on the Emira V6, and hope that would be one with the manual box.

 

[Tonyshepp]

I wonder if he and Lotus have kissed and made up after the Evora. He wasn't invited to the Evora 400 press launch after saying some negative things about Lotus, UK manufacturers and the 400 before he'd driven it.

He is a huge fan of the Elise and Exige, plus he has a lot of coverage so fingers crossed he gets an early drive and loves it.

Im sure if top gear asked for the car to be on the, show driven by Chris, Lotus would be bending over backwards to get that global exposure.

 

[CanadianEmira]

I don’t agree with him about the car being old underneath the exterior. Apart from the older V6, everything about it is new, chassis included.

 

[Leonard]

I don’t agree with him about the car being old underneath the exterior. Apart from the older V6, everything about it is new, chassis included.

It's definitely an evolution of the Evora. But the tech is still modern and plenty of other manufacturers do similar and nobody even mentions it

 

[Lankan]

I don’t agree with him about the car being old underneath the exterior. Apart from the older V6, everything about it is new, chassis included.

If you haven't seen it, the discussion that ensued on Lotus Talk is an interesting read, and the evidence posted there is quite compelling:

Evora Chassis vs Emira Chassis​

We know that the Emira V6 (manual) uses the same rear subframe as the Evora 4xx.

 

[TomE]

Im sure if top gear asked for the car to be on the, show driven by Chris, Lotus would be bending over backwards to get that global exposure.

You'd like to think so and I'd hope that both of them have moved on since the Evora episode. Sadly which cars get to appear in which magazine and TV reviews isn't as simple as the manufacturer offers it or the reviewer requests it. But let's keep our fingers crossed for the Emira to be widely covered.

Here's the original article that sparked his fall out with Lotus, which does make some reasonable points but also ruffled a few feathers. Plus the tweet where he wound them up a bit more:

How Auto Journalism Fails When Nationalism Gets Involved

There was an unspoken rule when I started doing this job back in the 90s – as a British journalist you were supposed to be kind in your reviews of British cars. The editor didn't follow you home one night and threaten you with a terrible death if you did happen to tell the audience that the...

jalopnik.com

 

[EspritGuy]

You'd like to think so and I'd hope that both of them have moved on since the Evora episode. Sadly which cars get to appear in which magazine and TV reviews isn't as simple as the manufacturer offers it or the reviewer requests it. But let's keep our fingers crossed for the Emira to be widely covered.

Here's the original article that sparked his fall out with Lotus, which does make some reasonable points but also ruffled a few feathers. Plus the tweet where he wound them up a bit more:

How Auto Journalism Fails When Nationalism Gets Involved

There was an unspoken rule when I started doing this job back in the 90s – as a British journalist you were supposed to be kind in your reviews of British cars. The editor didn't follow you home one night and threaten you with a terrible death if you did happen to tell the audience that the...

jalopnik.com

Well, that editorial had a high level of snark content. A few things might have been uncomfortably true (Bahar) during that period but it qualifies as attack journalism. That ends up being more about the writers ego than defending the reader's right to know. The same contortions happened over at Top Gear. It's a declaration of editorial independence and personal branding.. Some of us happen to believe in fairness and objectivity. And that now seems so quaint. Lotus has preservered and grown. Let's hope CH has mellowed. It's a big thing when you win over a critic.

 

[Cutting42]

Well, that editorial had a high level of snark content. A few things might have been uncomfortably true (Bahar) during that period but it qualifies as attack journalism. That ends up being more about the writers ego than defending the reader's right to know. The same contortions happened over at Top Gear. It's a declaration of editorial independence and personal branding.. Some of us happen to believe in fairness and objectivity. And that now seems so quaint. Lotus has preservered and grown. Let's hope CH has mellowed. It's a big thing when you win over a critic.

You should read what he said about Ferrari a few years back, puts the Evora comments in the shade and he is back praising them again.

 

[Lankan]

To be honest, I would rather CH, or any other journalist for that matter, sticks to how a particular car drives and handles, and how well it matches its intended use case or design brief, after they have actually test-driven it.

As such, I feel that the aforementioned article is a bit premature and misplaced, even though some of what was mentioned may ring true.

 

[DJW]

Let’s remind ourselves how much Chris loved the V6 Exige. Silly comments re Evora 400

 

[EM33RA]

Bang on.

For years I've been feeling that German performance cars have just become so steadily.....boring. Too tech focused, too luxury focused, electric everything - suffice to say they're all focused on everything except what matters.

I think Lotus is continuing to do what others have simply given up on, which is just to make a new "old" (traditional) sports car, and that's just what enthusiasts want.

Yeah but most importantly they need to sell a shit

You'd like to think so and I'd hope that both of them have moved on since the Evora episode. Sadly which cars get to appear in which magazine and TV reviews isn't as simple as the manufacturer offers it or the reviewer requests it. But let's keep our fingers crossed for the Emira to be widely covered.

Here's the original article that sparked his fall out with Lotus, which does make some reasonable points but also ruffled a few feathers. Plus the tweet where he wound them up a bit more:

How Auto Journalism Fails When Nationalism Gets Involved

There was an unspoken rule when I started doing this job back in the 90s – as a British journalist you were supposed to be kind in your reviews of British cars. The editor didn't follow you home one night and threaten you with a terrible death if you did happen to tell the audience that the...

jalopnik.com

Im a Lotus owner and big fan. And everything he said was 100% true, wether he was invited or not. The company was in the shit and needed to change fast and thanks to new ownership and a strategic plan in place the changes have begun. Media in any county hide and protect their own landscape but it’s funny the one that steps out and says the truth is said to be arrogant or misguided. Besides the way the Evora drove, it was basic, sparse and cheaply put together with a very limited budget at best and yes I can talk first hand as I’ve owned 2.

 

[TomE]

You should read what he said about Ferrari a few years back, puts the Evora comments in the shade and he is back praising them again.

The Ferrari article:

How Ferrari Spins

This is a Jalopnik Classic post we are re-running in honor of Jalopnik's 20th Anniversary

jalopnik.com

 

[Johnson]

I’m just glad it’s Chris doing the interview and not those other two Top Gear knobs. They‘ve made the show very hard to watch.