[Cartoday]
After years of speculation and people hiding in hedges trying to take spy photos, Lotus has finally released its first new car since they released their pocket rocket Elise. This new 2+2 grand tourer is still being called by its project name “Eagle”.
Lotus claims that the Eagle was designed as a more conventional vehicle than the more extreme Elise and Exige models, thereby appealing to a broader market, so we might actually see more than one on the roads here if they decide to increase the 2000 a year production plans.
By giving the Eagle a mid-engined layout like it’s older brothers it maintains the recognizable design cues of the Elise but with a large wraparound windscreen and more muscular lines it feels a more grown up. Lotus was clever too about the whole thing because they also did this whole “suit job” on the interior with dashboard lines that mimic the exterior that are complimented by aluminium inserts and hand-stitched leather panels.
To make it even more comfortable they have designed the interior with the help of audio wizards Alpine so you will get a state of the art touch screen navigation, entertainment system… my word grown up indeed. And for those you who know Lotuses of old the easiest way to tell that the Eagle is breaking the mould is by this one simple fact. It now has cup holders.Now, with all this added weight and the two people you will be able to lug around in the back, extra muscle is needed and delivered with another Toyota engine. This time, the 3,5-litre V6 from the current Camry, which we don’t see on our shores. Lotus has done its usual fettling and has managed to squeeze a respectable 205 kW out of this powerplant for this standard model but Lotus has ensured us that there will be more powerful models to come.
So if you do think that the Eagle could do with a bit more grunt don’t worry as Lotus already claimed that it is faster around the Nürbrgring than the Elise and more stable and speed than the Exige. In fact, Lotus claims the Eagle will have a sub-6,0 second 0-100 km/h time and a top speed of around 257 km/h, although these figures were taken from the current prototype, which still has 6 months of finishing off before production begins, so the figures will probably be improved upon before its official release.So more speed, luxury, seats and features can only be a good thing for a company whose offerings are Spartan, at best. Lotus also claims that, apart from more high performance models, it also plan to offer convertible models, so the Eagle’s (and Lotus’s) future is looking bright.