This Mid-Engine Sports Car With Toyota Reliability Is A Steal In 2025

Owning a mid-engine sports car, for most of us, is more of a daydream than a legitimate goal. A Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS, for instance, sells for around $150k, and, even if you can cover the monthly payments, it might be hard to justify the expense when the same money could cover the remainder of your mortgage. Even a base 718 Cayman will set you back $72,800, and you only get a piddly 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine for that sum.

But mid-engine sports car ownership doesn’t have to be a debt-inducing endeavor. Would you believe us if we told you that a mid-engine Lotus could be yours for about the price of an entry-level Chevy Tahoe? No? Fine then, we’ll prove it to you. Here’s what you need to know about the now surprisingly affordable Lotus Evora, currently selling in the $50k-$80k range, and packing a nigh-unbreakable Toyota V6 engine smack-dab in the middle of the car.

The following is based on market research into current prices and maintenance costs for the Lotus Evora. Any conclusions or opinions provided thereupon are those of the experts at CarBuzz.

A More Refined Lightweight Sports Car

The Lotus Evora was the result of a five-year plan, launched in 2006, for Lotus to break out of the track-focused niche and start selling street-legal cars to mainstream buyers, more so than the Elise ever could. The end result was a total of 6,117 units sold across several iterations produced from 2009 to 2021.

Before Lotus introduced the GT and 400 variants at the end of its lifespan, mid-engine fans had the standard Evora and the Evora S to pick from. A decade ago, the standard Evora would cost you around $68,480 for a then-new 2014 model, while the S started at $78,480, shaving a half-second off the 0-60, and getting the top speed up to 172 mph for another $10,000 – not too steep a price bump if we’re talking about mid-engine dream cars.

Lotus retired the Evora after the 2021 model year, replacing it in 2022 with the Lotus Emira. Sporting an evolution of the same platform as the Evora, and even a version of the 3.5-liter supercharged V6 (an AMG 4-cylinder is also available), the Emira gives you 400 horsepower, but with a price tag just shy of six figures in length. While the Emira is arguably great fun to drive, the original Evora presents a surprisingly affordable alternative to an experience just as fun, if not more so.

What Exactly Do We Mean By “Surprisingly Affordable?”

“Surprisingly affordable” can mean a dozen different things to a dozen different people, so to clarify, one of the cheapest models we could find for sale was a 2013 2+2 coupe on Cars.com listing for under $40,000, with just over 56,000 miles on it. An even better value might be a Carfax listing for a supercharged model going for just $50,895 with a scant 14,433 miles on the odometer.

If you want something a bit newer, World Imports USA in Jacksonville, Florida lists a 13,633-mile 416-hp 2021 Evora GT for $78,999, while the same car goes for $77,995 with 7,514 miles on the odometer at New Jersey-based J&S AutoHaus.

These listings might be gone by the time you take a look, or they could still be listed, with their prices falling even lower. For many buyers, mid-engine sports cars are kind of like boats or RVs in that they might not be able to take them out of the driveway as often as they’d like, so the options are to let it collect dust, or sell it off before its resale value falls too low. That’s where savvy shoppers (like you) can step in and get a great deal on a still new-ish gem.

You can find Evoras in great condition with low mileage all over the country.

What Does It Cost To Maintain A Lotus Evora?

Here’s the question you’re no doubt asking. Sure, you can buy an Evora for tens of thousands of dollars less than you might have thought, but if it costs an arm and a leg to own, how much money are you really saving?

They barely made more than six thousand of these cars total, so websites like RepairPal and CarComplaints don’t have adequate data to make fair estimates on annual maintenance costs or typical repair bills. But, you can go directly to Lotus owners to find out what you should expect to spend to keep this thing running.

A Bulletproof Toyota Engine At Its Heart

A common misconception with mid-engine sports cars is that their high-strung engines are frail, and if you’re talking about Italian ones, and even some British ones, that’s historically been the case. But things are a little different for the Evora, because, at its heart, you’ll find a Toyota 2GR-FE 3.5-liter V6. In stock form, this engine has been an incredibly popular engine swap due to its impressive power output and reliability. But while the base Evora was available with this, the S added something extra that you didn’t find in your Camry – a supercharger.

Unfortunately, a Toyota engine doesn’t necessarily mean Toyota-level maintenance costs, as the Lotus is a niche and somewhat premium offering requiring a fair level of expertise and equipment to work on.

On Lotusforums.com, a 2011 Evora owner in Massachusetts reports an average maintenance cost of around $2,500 a year. That doesn’t mean it’s $2,500 every year, though. One year they reported a $1,500 maintenance bill and, in another, a total of $5,000. They report that a simple headlight refinish cost them $800. A Florida-based owner on Lotustalk.com reports $150 oil changes and $120 brake fluid flushes at Lotus of Orlando, and these are considered low-ish prices for routine maintenance of the car. A user on the subreddit r/Lotus suggests a typical maintenance cost of $2,000 each year for the Lotus brand on average.

If you can handle your own basic maintenance like oil changes and tire rotations, the yearly bill will be considerably cheaper. But when you have no choice but to take ‘er into the shop, be prepared to shell out a few extra bucks.

But the good news is that maintenance is typically all you’ll need, at least on the engine side of things. Owners report few mechanical issues when it comes to the engine, one of many benefits to sourcing the mill from Toyota. Whereas other engines may fail catastrophically, the Evora will keep on going, even if the trim happens to fall off every once in a while.

For some, the added maintenance costs won’t really matter, but at the outset of this article, we targeted gearheads who were looking for something on a relative budget. And when you’re shopping on a budget, you’ve got to weigh up whether ownership costs are truly justified or just a little too much. Even with something as crucial as the engine coming from Toyota, you’re still going to spend around two or even three times as much on the Evora as you’d be spending on, say, a Lexus LS that’s just out of warranty. So, is it worth it? Well, ask someone who’s actually driven one, like CarBuzz Senior Editor Gerhard Horn:

“Yes, the ownership costs will be a bit higher than you’ll pay for a GR Supra, which is more expensive by the way. But there’s nothing else in the $50,000 bracket that will provide you with the same thrills. The Evora is the essence of sports cars distilled into one package: a sweet mid-engine package, a slick manual gearbox, and RWD with a limited-slip differential. If the costs ever get you down, just take it for a drive. You’ll pay your mechanic with a smile on your face.”

– Gerhard Horn, CarBuzz Senior Editor

Sources: AutoTempest, Cars.com, CarFax, Lotus Talk, The Lotus Forums, Reddit