Opposites Attract

They’re poles apart in execution, but the new Lotus Evora Sport 410 and revised Nissan GT-R have a shared purpose. So how do they compare?

- Richard Meaden

CHALK AND CHEESE. APPLES AND ORANGES. Night and day. Six things with more in common than the Nissan GT-R and Lotus Evora Sport 410. And yet, this odd couple make a compelling pair. For although their differences in approach are clear and numerous, key similarities are there if you care to look.

While the respective outputs of their forced-induction V6s are wildly different, physics applies its own parity via the power-to-weight ratios. Each has a supercar challenging top speed of 300km/h or more. Crucially, both cars offer an alternative take on established and more conventional rivals, with you – the driver – at the centre of their world.

No question, these are individual machines. Cars with characters as distinct and disparate as the cultures from which they were born. They’ve both been round the block, too, the R35 GT-R being launched in 2007, the Evora in 2009. In that time each has evolved through numerous iterations to get to this point; a point where the Nissan has been made more civilised and the Lotus more hardcore.

Before we get into the driving, it’s worth looking at how these latest 2017MY models have changed. The GT-R’s tweaks are less extensive, but promise to have a significant effect on the car. Aero and styling mods have improved cooling and given the basic GT-R a look that borrows from its extreme Nismo brethren. There’s a bit more power (20hp to be precise, giving 570hp) thanks to an increase in boost pressure higher up the rev range, though the big Nissan has never been short on poke. It’s the suspension that has come in for the most significant changes, with a move towards much increased pliancy in all three damper settings. It’ll be fascinating to discover how these changes affect the notoriously iron-fisted GT-R on bumpy British roads.