vantage

A handful of my old buddies from the Lotus club (when I had an Elise) now have Porsches. Many of us still go to Lotus events / track days to hang with our friends despite no longer owning a Lotus of any kind. From what the Emira buyers tell me, it comes down to looks, driving feel, and having something that feels relatively exotic for $100k. I think it was assumed that the car would be decently reliable since most of the car has been carried over from the Evora and has a Toyota powertrain.

My former Elise (Smoking Tire reviewed it years back) was very reliable, but then again I had roughly $10k in preventative parts/labor (25% value of the car at the time): coilovers, shifter cables, baffled oil pan, baffled fuel tank, upgrade rear toe link, upgraded radiator with metal instead of plastic end caps, etc. It can definitely be fun to tinker, but I have gone mostly stock on my GT4 this go round...makes life so much easier.

baege

I get what you are saying in terms of handling, but in terms of drivetrain, no comparison between the 4.0 combined with a manual and a turbo charged bmw engine with a rubbery manual or the supercharged toyota, not even close in terms of fun to wring out.

OUGrad05

That's one thing that has really made an impression on my drives of the GTS 4.0. It's an amazing car but on the street even when pushing "hard" by normal standards it felt as if the chassis wasn't breaking a sweat. I love the motor and the revs and the chassis, but if I can't get one, my consolation prize is probably an M2 which, honestly, is probably as much fun on the road but for different reasons.

I still prefer a 718 by a long shot though.

TXshaggy

Why couldn’t you get one?

Call around, probably get an allocation in short order.

Contact Ben, he’ll get you one for a small premium.

RedCarrot

I owned an F87 M2. It's fun for a daily driver but not all that fun when you put it up against lighter weight sports car. My Miata is a lot more fun than the M2, hence I traded the M2 in for my current 981 CS. The current 718 GTS would be far more engaging and fun to drive than the current (and even heavier) M2. Don't settle for the consolation price unless you just need the back seats.

Xxyion

I 100% agree with this statement. I had an F87C and currently drive a G82CX M4. While i do think the F87C was the last good BMW it was also just a heavy car at 3600 lbs. Steering was also a bit numb and the car is very frantic, which some people might enjoy as some consider that "drama". But what really held the car back was its god awful gas economy and the stupidly small gas tank. The new G87 M2 is even heavier at 3800lbs. Gas mileage with the S57 is not much better than it was with the S55 and my experience with the G82 M4 (same platform and engine) has been that the cars just feel bigger, more like a boat, and incredibly numb.