Lotus Emira

[scotta]

Spotted my first one out in the wild today. And OF COURSE I was in Mrs mik’s car as I had just popped out for some fresh rolls and Kelly cars have no problem doing a 2 mile journey and then being out away again. )

Bright yellow. Looked very good (although my immediate thought was “Evora!” due to the dimensions and front profile - it took half a sec for me to realise it was an Emira.)

Well see...Had you come to the breakfast meet then you would have seen it...

[mik]

Spotted my first one out in the wild today. And OF COURSE I was in Mrs mik’s car as I had just popped out for some fresh rolls and Kelly cars have no problem doing a 2 mile journey and then being out away again. )

Bright yellow. Looked very good (although my immediate thought was “Evora!” due to the dimensions and front profile - it took half a sec for me to realise it was an Emira.)

Well see...Had you come to the breakfast meet then you would have seen it...

Yes I saw there was another yellow one at that meet.

[mik]

Someone ordered the gloss black wheels, and then had them diamond cut.

It's a NO from me.

[Simon]

You mean 'Christ no'.

[Mito Man]

It looks just like the standard factory diamond cut wheels doesn't it? Or am I missing summat?

[Jobbo]

It looks just like the standard factory diamond cut wheels doesn't it? Or am I missing summat?

That's what I thought - better than all black, even if I don't like them.

[mik]

They aren't a millionty miles different from the std diamond cut option. But I dislike those (image below). And I dislike these (images above) more.

[Jobbo]

They look pretty much the same except the factory finish appears to have a matt, not gloss, black finish behind.

[Matty]

[nuttinnew]

[mik]

So until recently, demonstrator drives were restricted to those who had put down deposits. Many of whom were still frustrated as the biggest decision is Tour vs Sports chassis, and dealers didn't have one of each to allow a comparison.

I went for an accompanied test drive today. About 45mins, but I didn't know the area, so it was actually a reasonable way to assess it on different roads/surfaces/yadayada. Same car that I looked at and pictured a couple of weeks ago (spotted thread). It's a V6 manuel with Sport chassis, and the Gooyyear F1 tyres (as opposed to Cup2's).

Dealership had 11 Emira there - between the showroom, and forecourt. All "first edition" V6 cars of course. All of the 1st-edition colours were there, all the wheel options, some with the "black pack", some without. Quite nice to see the variations.

We've discussed the visuals before. It looks great, and the proportions work really nicely. As per the pic (rotated a smidge as we were parked on a hill) - Emira is both wider and lower than Evora.



Interior materials and layout look and feel very nice. Defo feels a bit more "premium" than the Evora. Not massively keen on the touch-screen for HVAC etc, but the main binacle display (inc nav in the centre) is clear and intuitive. Front seats are Lotus (as opposed to Recaro/Sparco branded in Evora) and felt very comfortable. Firm but supportive, and no flexing. Electric adjust though, so sliding it back to ease ingress/egress took an extra 2 seconds vs manual sliders. That would annoy me.

Rearward visibility is great (although the interior mirror is way bigger than the rear window aperture for some reason So you can keep a good eye on the trim in the back of the cabin maybe? Exterior mirrors nice and swoopy, but also effective. Front screen is deeper too. Very easy to place on the road, with the sharp edges to the front wings.

But the important question was - how does it drive? I'd need a lot longer behind the wheel to form any real opinions, but it was a fair bit stiffer than my Evora. A long way from crashy or uncompliant, but the ride firmness felt much closer to Pete's 600LT than my car. I always suspected, and this probably confirms that, I'd favour the Tour chassis for my road-as-opposed-to-track use. Steering is still hydraulic, so no surprise that it felt extremely familiar in terms of feel/feedback. Aka lovely. I didn't get a chance to push the chassis, so I don't have any real feel for the benefits that extra stiffness brings - but there must be some.

Flat top and bottom to the steering wheel didn't really annoy me, as I don't really make contact with those bits. Interestingly the (exposed) gearshift has a shorter throw - which felt nice - but I'd guess the knob sits approx 40mm higher in relation to the Evora's (which doesn't have height adjust on the seat) and was a smidge less comfortable as a result. Maybe this difference would have effectively dissappeared if I'd raised the seat, but I was happy with that set low.

Brakes felt powerful, but also felt more heavily servoed, and it was therefore a bit trickier to H&T. Almost certainly not an issue with more seat time.

And what about the power delivery/straight-line speed/noise. Weeeeell. As I started the car up the sales guy advised "now this car only arrived recently, and it's still within the 1000mile run-in period, so whilst you can feel free to use full throttle, I need to ask you to avoid going over 4k rpm". Ah balls. Entirely reasonable, but if I'd known, I would have delayed my drive by a few weeks. "I'm not going to get a full impression of how it drives then I'm afraid". Being an early Evora, my car has the smaller 'charger, but this allows a 7.2krpm redline. Later Evora/Exige and now Emira have a bigger charger, stronger outputs, but a 6.8krpm redline. I was keen to see if that loss of (rev)range annoyed, or if the extra shove made it immaterial......

So it is quieter than my car (which has 2bular fannymoulds + sports cat and oem back box), and the mid-range feels strong (I did FULLY EXTEND IT to 4.5krpm once though, offering me barely any additional information). No idea what happens after that unfortunately.

Got back to the dealership, and agreed there was a lot to like, but I couldn't really form any real opinion until I'd been able to explore the full powerband. Bit of a shame.

I remain interested, but in no desperate rush to grab one. Orders are (almost?) closed for 1st edition cars, and the configurator now shows a wider range of colour options. No "crisp" white on offer (like one of the early press cars that I thought looked great) but there is a kinda creamy white.... which looks a bit shit. https://www.lotuscars.com/en-GB/emira





Elevated knob


Vs newer Evora

[Matty]

Prices are still coming down quite quickly - there's now 38 (!!) for sale on Autotrader. I reckon you'd get one for sub-£75k now if you offered CASH.

I'm gonna guess at a p/x price of £35k on yours....is it worth it (or even different enough) to warrant the extra £40k?
We should be seeing the i4 initial impressions soon.

[RobYob]

Shame you couldn't wring it out Mik, very interested to see if another few years of tech development has resulted in a significantly better driving experience than the Evora.

It certainly looks amazing, but the loss of the +2 option that makes me wonder if that's enough?

Such a shame Lotus never turned that nice wide tub into a 3 seater with driver in the middle.

[mik]

I'm gonna guess at a p/x price of £35k on yours....is it worth it (or even different enough) to warrant the extra £40k?

Yeah I don’t think you’ll be far off with those numbers.

I’m also rather suspicious that the first edit cars have 400bhp, when the V6 has been sold with 410 and 430 in the Evora and Exige for years….

Sales bloke had moved (internally - same group) from McLaren to Lotus 1.5 years ago. I mused that his timing was good - sales now massively buoyant compared to previous years after all. “Yes and no”. Lotus have switched to the Tesla model (my words) so you spec and purchase your car online. No haggling. And that was clearly less attractive to him. The only think they can then negotiate on is your trade in - so I don’t expect them to be massively generous in that area….(for new sales of course)

[mik]

updated gt4

This is still motorsport-only. Not a road car

[jamcg]

4 bangers to be unveiled at Goodwood- from £77,795. £4200 cheaper than the v6 apparently

Imagine a simple remap could recover most if the 40hp deficit easily

https://www.evo.co.uk/lotus/emira/20346 ... om-ps77795

[Matty]

Apparently they're still cooling testing according to a post on SELOC....although early orderers have still got an August delivery window.

I still think for most the i4 will be the one to go for. Bit lighter and plenty of tuning potential...

[MikeHunt]

Weirdly I fully agree Matt.

As soon as the Cayman went flat 4, I could never have one and same goes for the Z4, yet the same rules don't seem to apply to the Emira. Maybe seeing (and hearing) a tuned A45s has helped.

[mik]

Weirdly I fully agree Matt.

As soon as the Cayman went flat 4, I could never have one and same goes for the Z4, yet the same rules don't seem to apply to the Emira. Maybe seeing (and hearing) a tuned A45s has helped.

The V6 is tunable, but 500bhp seems to be pretty much as far as folks want to take it (possibly drivetrain related?). Lotus recently announced that the GT4-spec (for racing, not road) Emira's will have 500bhp.

Agree that the AMG 4-banger will be the bigger hitter once fiddled with - which will appeal to more. I think @scotta already mentioned that at least one tuner has pushed it to over 550bhp(?). I don't have any love for the sound they make though. Hopefully Lotus have figured out how to suppress that awful farty gearshift racket.

[scotta]

Weirdly I fully agree Matt.

As soon as the Cayman went flat 4, I could never have one and same goes for the Z4, yet the same rules don't seem to apply to the Emira. Maybe seeing (and hearing) a tuned A45s has helped.

The V6 is tunable, but 500bhp seems to be pretty much as far as folks want to take it (possibly drivetrain related?). Lotus recently announced that the GT4-spec (for racing, not road) Emira's will have 500bhp.

Agree that the AMG 4-banger will be the bigger hitter once fiddled with - which will appeal to more. I think @scotta already mentioned that at least one tuner has pushed it to over 550bhp(?). I don't have any love for the sound they make though. Hopefully Lotus have figured out how to suppress that awful farty gearshift racket.

V6 Hamstrung by the gearbox not the engine. The GT-4 will have a sequential box i would expect. That AMG lump can do obscene numbers.

ETA - 592bhp...https://www.topgear.com/car-news/hot-ha ... ost-600bhp