XCar‘s Alex Goy was very skeptical about the new Lotus Evora 400 before he actually got to spend some time with it in the flesh, but once he spent some time with it, he was convinced that Lotus has really stepped up their game.

Although he only spent time with it in the rain, he was very pleased with how the car handled, the feedback he received from the car, and how refined all the other aspects of the car were. We didn’t get a great feel for how the car performed out on track from the video, but being that it laps Hethel, Lotus’ test track in Norfolk, 6-seconds faster than the Exige S, it seems like it can hold it’s own pretty nicely. Six seconds around any track is a serious difference.

With the Evora 400, Lotus seemed to have cleaned up their act. Goy Stated that he was very critical of the car’s quality before getting to know it in person, and was actually very surprised that it felt as solid as it did. It’s obvious that Lotus is going after Porsche 911 with the new Evora 400, as well as the Macan with their proposed small SUV. No matter how good Lotus makes their cars, people are still going to buy Porsches, because Porsche is, well, Porsche.

We applaud Lotus as they continue to produce some of the most lightweight, nimble low-volume cars on the market. Hopefully we start seeing more refined models from the brand very soon.