I am VERY much anticipating your review after you get it out at Autobahn!

I don't think I'd ever consider selling/trading my Spyder byt this Emira looks amazing.

 

I called about an Emira over the weekend. Dealer in FL is stating MSRP. What's everyone hearing on pricing? Is that accurate or is it going above/below?

 

Nearly all are MSRP. Though Lotus has raised the price +10k themselves before delivering a single car to a customer stateside... with multiple delays and zero communication. I laugh when people here complain about Porsche's communication.

 

Lucifer,

Interesting short review ^^^

Watching a lot of the YouTube videos both Short and Long a lot of reviewers Really-really like it.

Personally, I'll stick with my 2021 718 GT4 it's such an AWESOME machine IMO !!!

Terry
USA

 

Only caveat to this - is the Emira really an all new car?? Chasis is VERY similar to Evora and the V6 manual is identical powertrain. Exterior body and the interior / tech is all new. I think it's an evolution of the Evora. The early production cars had a few issues regarding electronics mostly which looks to be sorted now, it is on year 2 of production. I think Lotus' bigger issue was new staff and going from producing 2K cars a year to 5K+. This doubles everything from new customer service reps, parts, logistics, storage and most importantly new assembly line employees. I think going forward (2nd year in production onward) most of these problems are sorted and hopefully we will see improvements going forward. It was always going take 2-3 years of growing pains to get it running smoothly at the new, higher capacity. This goes for most industry's.

 

Good to know, thanks. Definitely going to drive one. Always enjoyed driving the Elise back in the day. Willing to give this a shot and see how it feels.

 

not enough allocations for it to go below, that's for sure. Wouldn't pay above MSRP either. I think the first edition is decent value for what you are getting. More special/rarer than a Cayman GTS and priced below a base 911. Bit of a sweet spot for including full leather interior/Alcantara, 400 BHP, RWD, double wishbone on four corners with hydraulic steering rack, Two piece upgraded brakes, forged wheels and one of the best looking exterior designs in modern motoring today. Only questions is dealer network and service timing. Not fun if you have to wait 6 months for a part to come in from the UK.

 

I have driven an Emira twice now. It is a very good car. As others have said it looks incredible. Two things are a disappointment, the shifter and the engine, which are simply ordinary in comparison to the 4.0. Standouts are the steering and modern fit & finish.

If in the market for an Emira, I'd wait a year or so, as Lotus will bring out different versions which will be better, albeit at a premium. Don't bother with the Touring setup, just go Track as its not at all too harsh for street.

 

I am not sure how enthusiastic I'll be to track the Emira as long as the GT3 is around, but the Savagegeese boys may borrow my car to make a video with it...

 

Lotus w/ Cosworth again would be something special.

 

I agree with all of this. It feels more exotic than the price would suggest.

Build quality is very nice for Lotus, maybe just a step down from Porsche. With fiberglass body panels, the paint will always be more wavy / orange peel-y than our metal bodied cars.

Shifter I didn't care for either. It actually has less play than the GT4's, but it's just not as slick as what Porsche offers. You have to slow down and be deliberate with it. I think you would get used to it over time.

Engine is fine, but definitely not as sweet as pretty much any 6-cylinder Porsche engine.

Where this car shines is ride quality, steering feel, and of course double wishbone suspension. It's kind of embarassing the GT4 still has struts all around, but it works well enough.

 

I test drove one of the preproduction Emira's over a year ago... For the most part, I loved it. I know I'm in the minority here, but I actually preferred the shifter on the Emira.. felt more gated to me. What I didn't like is the super low redline and the grabby brakes. Brakes almost felt as if the lines weren't bled properly... which could have been the case? I ordered one when it debuted in 2021, when I thought I could play with it until the RS allocation becomes reality. Well several delays later, I have since bought another 718 Spyder, and I received my RS allocation before the Emira is delivered. Customer service is a joke. I'm selling it the second I get it to recoup my nonrefundable deposit.

 

RE: the brakes

I remember feeling the same way about the brakes, Lotus rep who was present (from Lotus NA, not the dealership), told me that the Euro cars are running different pads than the NA cars...

Waiting to drive my car to see if this is actually the case

RE: the redline

Agree. 6800 is laughable. But I know that 2GRs can, in general, rev beyond 8k with relative ease...suspect the supercharger will be the limiting factor in revs. Plan to mod the crap out of this thing and find out hehehehehe

 

I honestly think most people are forced to love it - new car in 20222024 with a manual transmission? Hydraulic steering? From Lotus? And it looks like THIS??? How can you say a single bad thing about it.
I remember my first few hundreds kilometers in the Spyder a few months ago, and I remember telling my wife that I simply can't find a single wrong thing about this car. Zero. It is perfect. Well.... And that's what I expect when I spend >$100k on a ~400hp sports car. The Emira didn't feel that way.

 

The delays and customer service are pretty terrible. I have one incoming and to be honest I found it better than the Cayman GTS in every metric except for dealer / customer service, the 4.0 Porsche engine's redline (top end) and analogue gauges for rev counter. Other than that, I felt Emira was better in every other regard.