My neighbor's son had a Lotus for 2 years. Loved the car, but it really sucked as a daily driver. Other drivers don't see you, so he was constantly getting cut-off in traffic. His gas mileage was poor in stop & go driving. It was a nightmare in the rain. The body made all kinds of noises. He had some persistent electrical problems (windows, and radio). It was noisy all the time. He bought his new and after 2 years got hit in the rear. The repairs were so expensive that he had to sell the car and took a HUGE hit financially. Lovely to drive, and a fantastic weekend car, but for a weekday, every-day car? Not so much.
The C6 is pretty nice as an all around car. It does get good mileage on the highway, but around town you suck up gas pretty fast. Ours had lots of body quality issues, but the basic car was damn reliable, and never failed to start in the winter here in the Northeast. Great heater & air conditioning! Handling-wise, it feels like a blunt instrument, and lacks finesse on winding narrow roads. Big turning circle can be a pain.
The Z is a real sports car. Goes fast, handles, has sharp reflexes. It's not a grand touring car, rides fairly firmly but not bad on the highway. Sport brakes are terrific for road use (there's a racoon family around here that can attest to that). All around gas mileage for ours has been over 20mpg which I consider pretty good for all the performance. It is still not nearly as practical a car, storage is limited (MUCH better than the Lotus though). Much easier to live with every day, and still gets your juices flowing when you let it loose on an appropriate road.
My only Evo experience was with the IX which I absolutely loved! Fantastic telepathic steering, nearly transparent AWD system, the best ever seats. It is really practical to live with, but it is not so nice on trips, kinda beats you up with a jiggly ride and bump-thumps over expansion joints. It is a very different experience than the Z, not necessarily better/worse. The Evo could go to the racetrack every weekend and be driven home (while carrying the race tires!). Try that with the Z. In fact, without an oil cooler, the Z won't perform on the track after it gets hot, and all the sport goodies can be bettered with race parts. I'm hoping to start tracking my Z after it is fully broken in, but the Evo was really fantastic there, so if you like weekend racing the Evo might be a good choice for you.
No experience with the Hyundai. Good luck with that.
As others have said, drive 'em. Buy what you like. There are not clear-cut better/worse cars here. Buy what fits your needs, not what some faceless dweebs on the net tell you what to buy. After all, free advice is worth what you pay for it.
HJM
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