Road test: The Emira is the best Lotus ever

Thursday, 8 February 2024

The Lotus Eletre represents a sea of firsts for the Chinese-owned British carmaker, as it prepares for a grand plug-in pivot.

Lotus, the pioneers of ‘simplify, then add lightness’, is going electric. That’s been known for a while, and the first example has already arrived in the form of the Eletre SUV. Yeah, yeah, Lotus making an SUV is weird and goes against the whole ‘lightness’ thing but nobody really buys sports cars these days. At least, not like they buy SUVs.

But that doesn’t mean Lotus has forsaken its roots. As a last hurrah for its combustion-powered sports cars, it has produced the Emira, a gorgeous, low-slung, coupe with a supercharged V6 mounted behind the driver.

The engine is familiar, being a Toyota-sourced 3.5-litre V6 benefiting from a supercharger bolted on top. It produces 298kW/400Nm which is nothing to sniff at, especially when you consider the Emira weighs around 1400kg fully fuelled. For comparison, the Toyota Supra weighs 150 kilos more and makes the less power (but more torque).

The Lotus Emira is set to be the British marque's final pure internal combustion sports car, effectively replacing the Evora.

In fact, the Emira’s power-to-weight is about the same as a Porsche Cayman GTS 4.0, which is exactly what Lotus is targeting. Both cars are within $5k of each other, both offer almost identical performance figures, and both are an absolute dream to drive. Both come with manual transmissions as well.

There’s not all that much to see in the engine bay, but that silver throttle actuator is visible through the rear-view mirror, which is awesome.

Lotus’ work with the engine is clear. The V6 is unbelievably responsive, revving from idle to redline in comfortably under a second. It’s like a superbike in that regard, although thankfully doesn’t need to be spinning at over 8000rpm to generate meaningful power.

A six-speed manual is standard fit for the Emira.

North of 4000 is where things start happening, but it pulls from lower, which is good for urban driving. Just be ready to shift, as the redline isn’t all that far away and the Emira bangs into it pretty abruptly.

Speaking of, the manual is good too, though not the smoothest on the market. That honour is retained by Honda’s Civic Type R, but really we’re just happy to drive more three-pedal cars. You can get a torque-converter six-speed auto if you want, but since this is the last petrol-fed Lotus ever, get the manual.

The Emira is most at home belting through backroads.

There isn’t an auto-blipper for downshifts either, you’ve gotta do that yourself. This is a proper driver’s car, after all. Similarly, there’s very little in the way of driver aid stuff. You get electronic stability control and ABS… and that’s about it. No active roll control, torque vectoring, or even adaptive dampers in the suspension. Just a limited-slip differential and a seriously good chassis.

Sending the Emira into a corner at speed shows just how good Lotus’ engineers are. Since there’s little computer interference, you can feel the car working beneath you. The grip is all mechanical, coming from fat tyres, a balanced mass and a properly sorted bonded aluminium chassis.

Those large exhaust tips elicit plenty of pops and bangs in Sport and Track modes.

Lotus went with Eibach springs and Bilstein dampers, coming in either Sport or Tour tunes - the former being firmer and the latter softer, which most Kiwi buyers opted for. This one has Tour suspension as well, and you really wouldn’t want it to be much firmer, unless your Emira will exist mainly at the track.

It does a good enough job of soaking small bumps and bruises in the road but you feel a lot of it. Small sacrifice for the brilliant handling, though.

As fun to drive as it is fantastic to look at.

The steering is communicative, offering plenty of information about the road and where the front end is pointing, and surprisingly good in the city. Parking is easier than I was expecting, thanks to just under three turns between the stops and the Emira’s small footprint and good visibility.

There are three driving modes: Tour, Sport and Track, all of which adjust the throttle response and exhaust loudness. Because I am in fact a child, I was in Sport pretty much the whole time, which opens the exhaust for plenty of feral crackles and bangs when letting off the throttle. I’m not really sure how Lotus got a blown V6 to sound so good, but I’m definitely not complaining. Maybe something to do with the fact the exhaust only has about a foot of piping …

While it’s sad Lotus is giving up on combustion, the Emira is a fantastic send-off.

Then there are the looks. The Emira is achingly pretty, very nearly a Ferrari at a distance with the vertically oriented LED lights, gaping corner intakes and minimal design. The bonnet features aerodynamic gashes that send air up and over the roof. A slightly upticked tail adds a bit of downforce at speed and visual theatre when it’s stopped.

The interior gets a hi-tech dash with a 10.25-inch touchscreen for infotainment with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a 12.3-inch digital driver’s display, a bunch of creature comforts like electric seats, leather upholstery, cruise control and automatic windscreen wipers, keyless start, ambient lighting and parking sensors.

The cabin is definitely more functional than anything else, but it’s a big upgrade on previous Lotus sports cars.

Oh, there’s also a flip-up cover for the ignition button, which is brilliant. You can also see the engine in the rearview mirror, with the throttle actuator right in the middle, flicking back and forth when you hit the gas. Best not to look too long though, unless you’re not moving.

Sports seats are included as you’d expect, but they could do with a bit more bolstering and padding. Still they’re massive improvements on what the Elise has, which were barely more than leather covering some cotton wool and glued onto the chassis.

Despite the few niggles, the Emira drives so damn well and looks so damn good, they’re easy to forgive. This is easily Lotus’ best ever combustion effort.

Possibly the only real hurdle for Lotus is the price. Nearly $190k is a lot of money no matter how you slice it, and you can buy a great deal of fantastic cars for that. But, as mentioned, the real competition is the Porsche Cayman GTS 4.0, so has Lotus done enough in its last effort to pull Porsche enthusiasts?

Well, the Cayman is more refined and has more tech, which leads to a better experience when not chasing the rev limiter. I couldn’t say which would be faster around the track if both were manuals, they’re so close that it would come down to the driver more than anything.

But if you want a pure driving experience, the Lotus is the pick. Plus it looks way better.