Poll: Lotus Emira Discussion

[Gibbo]

Hi there

Had a test drive booked for tomorrow in the Evora 410 with sport chassis and cup tyres. Decided to chance my luck and popped over this afternoon after Ferrari track day and just asked can I take the car out now please to save me taking journey tomorrow. They said yes, even better they just gave me the keys and let us go out on our own!

Sport chassis is a must the ride quality is superb not even really that firm and any bumps get dampened so well, it’s almost magic. The cup tyres in this weather were very slippery until they had heat in them but it kind of made the car quite fun with it been slippery. The Goodyear tyres option would for sure provide a lot more wet grip and no doubt improve the ride quality further. I’d be scared the touring chassis and Goodyear tyres might even feel soft.

The noise that V6 makes is wonderful, 5000-7000rpm sounds incredible, now Emira will have same note but be a tad quieter due to GPF filters but it’s good to know it will sound great and if one wishes could be made to sound very fruity. I found the car had what felt like a soft limiter that kicks in at 7000rpm and feels nasty, I was in sport mode, should have tried race mode as then maybe it’s a hard limiter? I did briefly try race mode but not much changed so I put it back on sport considering the cup tyres and rain.

The only downside for me was it did not feel particular fast and the gearing felt long especially as the engine needs some revs ideally 5k plus before it really gets a move on and sounds awesome. I’d say it’s no faster than my Porsche or GR Yaris which is a little saddening, easily needs another 100HP to truly wake it up or shorter gearing.

Steering was great as good as the Spyder, but not better and the brakes were superb in power and feel.

The clutch and gearbox also very easy!

Now it’s fair to say the Emira is going to drive very similar to the Evora 410 as the power and weight are within 100kg, same gearing and same chassis, so it will be an awesome car for feel, noise and engagement but for some it’s going to be lacking power, myself included so will need to see what power options are available and if it’s worth the money or if it’s just wasted cash.

But a Cayman R or Lotus Emira well as a car for feel and engagement I can see they been very close, the Emira wins hands down on looks and interior mod cons and features.

Still looking forward to it but wished the gearing was shorter and it had some more power.

 

[Nasher]

I don't think a GPF/OPF filter is a requirement for low volume manufacturers. If they keep production below 10k a year they can leave it out afaik.

 

[Gibbo]

I don't think a GPF/OPF filter is a requirement for low volume manufacturers. If they keep production below 10k a year they can leave it out afaik.

Guy at Lotus specifically told me that the Emira won’t be as loud as Evora 410 and I think he said it was down to further noise restrictions but I hope your correct as the Evora sounded so good!

 

[watercooledman]

Surely another 100hp is not that hard to get out of it ?

 

[Gibbo]

Surely another 100hp is not that hard to get out of it ?

Hard and expensive! Lotus push the setup to 430HP and I think tuners push it to 460-470 and not sure what is involved.

Still be interesting where a smaller SC pulley abs remap takes things as a bit more urgency will help greatly and if the gearing is easy to change then it could be an option, another 40-50HP and shorter gearing it would be really quite mental.

I can see the AMG cars with DCT been a lot faster with maps as I suspect the DCT will have shorter gearing and a remap can no doubt take that engine to 500HP. Problem is with AMG unit it sounds rubbish compared to that V6 howl.

 

[Nasher]

The Evora is quite heavy for a Lotus. It's way more potent in the Exige, but the Exige (and Elise) feels like a racing car to drive.

Surely another 100hp is not that hard to get out of it ?

There are some running 460hp I think. But I think the gearbox won't go much higher than that.

 

[Gibbo]

One other thing I did notice was how difficult the car was to rev match when going down the gears.

I’ve driven many cars now and every manual I’ve driven and owned I find rev matching downshifts easy and natural.

But the Evora seemed to do nothing in fact it felt like the ECU was on purpose preventing me from blipping the throttle as nothing happened apart from what sounded like a quiet backfire sometimes. The only way I seemed to be able to do it was if I really mashed the accelerator but that felt not great for the car and wrong for me. I’ve never had an issue in any other manual car before, this is a first and maybe it’s some kind of Lotus quirk.

If this is same in Emira will be annoying and I really hope they just add an auto blip function or button or fix the issue.

 

[kindai]

One other thing I did notice was how difficult the car was to rev match when going down the gears.

Normal mode? When I test drove one I also had this issue, dealer noticed and flipped it into sport mode and it worked much better.

 

[Gibbo]

Normal mode? When I test drove one I also had this issue, dealer noticed and flipped it into sport mode and it worked much better.

I tried it in sport and race.

 

[Joe T]

Sounds like you need something like a 458.

 

[Gibbo]

Sounds like you need something like a 458.

Not at all but yea the urgency and acceleration of the 458 would spoil anyone as Ferrari really have it nailed when it comes to gearing.

The downshift rev match was just not easy or natural feeling at all in the Lotus and that’s something I’ve never struggled with in any car, I can jump in the GR, S2K, Aston and Porsche and rev match downshifts without even thinking about it, the Lotus seems unwilling.

I’ve checked other forums and it actually seems a complaint of many, it’s not just myself.

I’m not buying an Emira and hoping it’s a 458 as it can never match that for raw performance and urgency. Just did not expect the Evora to have said issue and long gearing was a surprise, not deal breakers of course just a surprise.

In the modern world of numbness and no soundtrack the Emira will be a breath of fresh air as the chassis, steering is full of feel and engagement whilst offering far better ride than many other sport cars and sport saloons. But if the car had short gearing it would feel more urgent and more fun as a road car otherwise in its current setup you just drive a B road in second gear to enjoy the engine as the sound and performance is really in the 5-7k zone and to be in that zone in 3rd gear will see you over 100mph which is not ideal for obvious reasons and downshift rev match is odd I’d like to think it was just this car in question but a search online reveals a few people complaining.

 

[Nasher]

I feel like a lot of modern cars get chocked by the emissions stuff and aren't as responsive as they should be

The Elise is really easy to rev match etc so it's odd the other wouldn't be. The throttle feels very natural on it. Going from that in to most other cars makes their controls feel sluggish and you really start to notice throttle lag more.

 

[Gibbo]

I feel like a lot of modern cars get chocked by the emissions stuff and aren't as responsive as they should be

The Elise is really easy to rev match. The throttle feels very natural on it. Going from that in to most other cars makes their controls feel sluggish.

Just dropped a message to Jayemm as I know he has driven many Lotus and he has confirmed it’s a Lotus thing particular present in the Evora and says it’s possible but takes practice. So guess a learning curve and just takes a bit of time to master.

Based on this I do hope that Lotus put a rev match feature on the manual, almost criminal but it would be welcomed.

 

[Gibbo]

Shmee best video yet detailing the options, the green is for sure too dark, black in the shade almost so that rules green out for me, blue it is.



Good video of the production car showing ride height and seating position looks to be quite a bit lower.

Ride height seems good to me, the blue car if anything after watching Schmee video last night is for sure too low to the point it looks collapsed and it would never get over a speed bump, this looks just about right.

Sounds good too!

 

[glenimp617]

I'm tempted to pull my Emira order and go with an Exige. It's nothing but a weekend toy, and I quite fancy something a bit more raw.

 

[Nasher]

I think the Exige will still be quicker on track, despite what they claim. They are under 1200kg and it's really easy to remove the passenger seat, carpets etc to make it even lighter

The Exige will be rarer and hold it's value better too I suspect.

 

[Mr Jack]

The downshift rev match was just not easy or natural feeling at all in the Lotus and that’s something I’ve never struggled with in any car, I can jump in the GR, S2K, Aston and Porsche and rev match downshifts without even thinking about it, the Lotus seems unwilling.

I've heard a lot of complaints about that in the Evora, seems a common complaint. The Evira is expected to have automatic rev matching though, isn't it?

 

[Alibaba99]

I think the Exige will still be quicker on track, despite what they claim. They are under 1200kg and it's really easy to remove the passenger seat, carpets etc to make it even lighter

The Exige will be rarer and hold it's value better too I suspect.

Lotus will have timed both the Emira and Exige round their own track and so have some pretty decent evidence as to which is quicker. I'm wondering where you've got your figures from that state otherwise.

 

[Chris1712]

Are they claiming an Emira is faster? Not a chance in hell. An Exige 430 Cup is much quicker in every department, like for like drivers track and tyres it would obliterate an Emira and frankly a lot of road cars.

 

[glenimp617]

I can't imagine an emira being faster than an exige