the Emira has landed
Discussion
My Emira has landed - Ouffffffff
Factory collection yesterday and then straight to France for the holidays, have done 500 miles in 24 hours. Mostly in rain, often biblical on the auto-route, with the sports chassis and Cup tyres!!
Spec:
V6 manual First Edition
Hethel Yellow (no upper black pack)
Black alcantara with yellow stitch interior, black alcantara steering wheel
Silver forged lightweight alloys with black callipers
Sports Chassis with Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tyres
Initial impressions, Lotus have TOTALLY nailed it with this. It is my 9th Lotus and I had moved away from the brand after having felt too old getting in and out of my old Exiges! The Emira gives you all the old unique characteristics of how a Lotus drives but moves the game on SO much in terms of useability/practicality/quality.
It looks stunning. gets SO much positive attention on the road, no way it looks like an £80K car, could easily pass for something North of £100K/supercar territory. More smiles and thumbs up and being filmed and photographed than I can remember in any car, including a fezza!
Build quality is amazing, not a squeak or rattle and the interior feels well worthy of the price tag.
You could be blindfold and wearing ear plugs and you would still know you are driving a Lotus, it has the magic in the steering and suspension that only Lotus know how to do.
Whatever they have done to the exhaust since the old Exige V6 it sounds much more special. Not as loud, but a different type of noise, a proper howl (I'm limited to 4500rpm for first 1,000 miles). Power is instant and the throttle response is incredible, even during the running in phase.
There has been a bit of chatter on the forums about the seats, they probably weren't the most comfortable from the off but after 500 miles I feel fine. I think they need to 'settle'. Likewise the KEF sound system, speakers sounded 'tight' yesterday but even after only 24 hours they are sounding better and better.
Infotainment, well I am a technical numptie and I have quickly managed to figure it all out, works well. Car play/waze/spotify and switching between two phones, all good. A lot of function in the screen but doubled up with proper separate controls for heating and volume, excellent. And all very tactile and high quality.
Headlights, a very well known Lotus weak-point: Amazing! Full LEDs.
Sport suspension/chassis option. Yes it is stiff, I personally like it but need to live with it for a while before I can make a decision on whether the Emira can replace my 911 as a long distance high mileage daily driver or whether it will be kept for early morning blats/Euro hoons/trackdays.
Brakes, a little grabby from the off but not too bad after 500 miles. They are huge. There is no way this thing is going to run out of brakes either on road or track.
Gearbox, best I've ever known from Lotus. A vast improvement on the S2 Exiges/V6 Cup etc I have had before. There is still a little of that drivetrain 'chatter' but I like that, as I do the Supercharger whine.
Only glitch, wipers were playing up - something Harry Metcalf experienced too (see his YouTube channel) and the factory are aware and there is a fix in progress.
Other observation from yesterday is how much the factory has come on since my last visit there. The investment across many areas is very evident. Everyone I met, from top down are hugely enthusiastic although there are also obviously some frustrations with production and delivery delays.
Overall, I'm chuffed to bits.
Merry Christmas!!
Factory collection yesterday and then straight to France for the holidays, have done 500 miles in 24 hours. Mostly in rain, often biblical on the auto-route, with the sports chassis and Cup tyres!!
Spec:
V6 manual First Edition
Hethel Yellow (no upper black pack)
Black alcantara with yellow stitch interior, black alcantara steering wheel
Silver forged lightweight alloys with black callipers
Sports Chassis with Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tyres
Initial impressions, Lotus have TOTALLY nailed it with this. It is my 9th Lotus and I had moved away from the brand after having felt too old getting in and out of my old Exiges! The Emira gives you all the old unique characteristics of how a Lotus drives but moves the game on SO much in terms of useability/practicality/quality.
It looks stunning. gets SO much positive attention on the road, no way it looks like an £80K car, could easily pass for something North of £100K/supercar territory. More smiles and thumbs up and being filmed and photographed than I can remember in any car, including a fezza!
Build quality is amazing, not a squeak or rattle and the interior feels well worthy of the price tag.
You could be blindfold and wearing ear plugs and you would still know you are driving a Lotus, it has the magic in the steering and suspension that only Lotus know how to do.
Whatever they have done to the exhaust since the old Exige V6 it sounds much more special. Not as loud, but a different type of noise, a proper howl (I'm limited to 4500rpm for first 1,000 miles). Power is instant and the throttle response is incredible, even during the running in phase.
There has been a bit of chatter on the forums about the seats, they probably weren't the most comfortable from the off but after 500 miles I feel fine. I think they need to 'settle'. Likewise the KEF sound system, speakers sounded 'tight' yesterday but even after only 24 hours they are sounding better and better.
Infotainment, well I am a technical numptie and I have quickly managed to figure it all out, works well. Car play/waze/spotify and switching between two phones, all good. A lot of function in the screen but doubled up with proper separate controls for heating and volume, excellent. And all very tactile and high quality.
Headlights, a very well known Lotus weak-point: Amazing! Full LEDs.
Sport suspension/chassis option. Yes it is stiff, I personally like it but need to live with it for a while before I can make a decision on whether the Emira can replace my 911 as a long distance high mileage daily driver or whether it will be kept for early morning blats/Euro hoons/trackdays.
Brakes, a little grabby from the off but not too bad after 500 miles. They are huge. There is no way this thing is going to run out of brakes either on road or track.
Gearbox, best I've ever known from Lotus. A vast improvement on the S2 Exiges/V6 Cup etc I have had before. There is still a little of that drivetrain 'chatter' but I like that, as I do the Supercharger whine.
Only glitch, wipers were playing up - something Harry Metcalf experienced too (see his YouTube channel) and the factory are aware and there is a fix in progress.
Other observation from yesterday is how much the factory has come on since my last visit there. The investment across many areas is very evident. Everyone I met, from top down are hugely enthusiastic although there are also obviously some frustrations with production and delivery delays.
Overall, I'm chuffed to bits.
Merry Christmas!!
She's quite wide, 911 size maybe (997/991, not 992 as I reckon that is bigger). Not as practical in terms of luggage space or having rear seats as my 911 but you can still cram a fair bit in to the rear boot/between the seats and the bulkhead if you use soft bags.
Oh and I forgot to mention the mirrors, the design of them is lovely - they undoubtedly add to the width of the car but among the best rear view mirrors I've ever used. Might sound like a small point but a really good set of mirrors is a real bonus on auto-routes/autobahns at Leptons.
Oh and I forgot to mention the mirrors, the design of them is lovely - they undoubtedly add to the width of the car but among the best rear view mirrors I've ever used. Might sound like a small point but a really good set of mirrors is a real bonus on auto-routes/autobahns at Leptons.
Looks lovely, yellow stands out as looking very different in different lights there. I'm probably looking to change my Evora next year and the only 2 cars I am looking at are the Emira and an AMG GTR (used). I change my mind on which one to go for every single day - and this thread hasn't helped ! 
Many congrats on the car,
Many congrats on the car,
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