Lotus Emira Turbo SE vs Porsche Cayman GTS 4.0
There's a new, more powerful variant of the four-pot Emira - can it finally hold a candle to you-know-who?
There’s a lot going on at Lotus right now. But we surely all love cars more than politics; whatever the future holds for Hethel, there’s a new model to assess. And PH would rather stick to what we know best. Not even an electrified Lotus, either. The Emira Turbo SE coins a name familiar from the '80s and '90s to essentially dress up an ‘every box ticked’ halo spec of the four-cylinder, AMG M139-engined sports car. A second First Edition, if you like.
Priced from £89,500 – ten grand more than the new base Emira Turbo – its most pertinent headlines are its standard Driver’s Pack (an extra drive mode and launch control), Sport suspension (over the Emira Turbo’s softer Touring setup) and another 40hp from its AMG-sourced 2.0-litre engine. Its new 406hp peak nudges close to where the M139 operates behind a three-pointed star and yields 0-62mph in four seconds flat.
That means it cuts 0.4 seconds off the base Turbo while being 10mph quicker at its 181mph vmax. It’s marginally swifter in both regards than the Emira V6, which now kicks off at £96,500 in SE trim. Remember when the Emira was touted as a sub-£60k car? The world has shifted on its axis multiple times since, and the little Lotus now knocks on the door of supercar money. So thank the Lord it looks like one, its design not suffering for its three years on sale – nor for a sober Dark Verdant paint job.
We could have made a case for squaring it up against a Porsche 911 given its pricing. But the 718 Cayman GTS 4.0 trails the Emira only minutely on power and performance while wearing a much more palatable price tag: it kicks off at £75,300 with its two additional cylinders and twice the cubic capacity. If you think pitting a four-pot Emira against a flat-six Cayman signifies us throwing it to the wolves, it’s Lotus who left it teetering on the edge of the pit in the first place.
Parking the two together squares off the price gap immediately, though. The Emira just drips with exoticism, and those outside of our geeky little realm might easily believe it sells for hundreds of thousands – and that £90k is a bargain. There’s plenty of Evija detailing, not least in its numerous vents and intakes. You’ll enjoy a constant view of the most impressive pair in its voluptuously formed side mirrors. The Cayman can’t help but look a bit ‘meh’ beside it, even in Carmine Red with the requisite GTS jewellery. This design is over 12 years old now, and while in isolation it’s aged exquisitely, it pales into the backdrop somewhat beside the Emira’s sharper silhouette.
The Brit’s swagger isn’t dimmed with exposure, either. The door handles take a couple of goes to use elegantly but feel ace once you’ve figured them out. And while it’s easier to clamber into than Elise or Exiges of old, there remains a sense of occasion to dropping yourself down and hurdling over its carpeted sill.
The interior looks and feels great, too. The wheel is an odd shape, but it slots perfectly into your view of the dash, and seemingly everything bar the buttons and toggles in this Turbo SE is cloaked in leather or Alcantara – with contrast stitching galore. Alright, our test car exhibited the odd creak over rougher roads, but it otherwise felt so much better screwed together than any other Lotus I’ve spent a long shift in. The seat is arguably perched a bit high, but there’s a McLaren-esque vibe to the way it wraps the enveloping windscreen around you, a precise view of the road ahead bracketed by those gorgeous front wings.
Precision is the key word, in fact. This isn’t a flamboyant, playful driving experience, rather one that feels honed on circuit by seasoned racers. Your early impressions are of a slightly recalcitrant car, with heavy steering at low speeds that takes a short while to gel with and a very fiddly gear selector in the middle. But the eight-speed DCT it is attached to feels well calibrated – much more so than Matt B found on the launch Emira i4 – always seeming to shuffle itself to just the right gear in the default ‘Tour’ driving mode. You’ll be perched neatly in sixth on a swift A road, the car never more than a swift kickdown or paddle-pull away from hardy acceleration. Via nice, shortly stacked ratios, too, with second all revved out before 60 mph. A claim the Porsche certainly can’t make.
Choosing ‘Sport’ or ‘Track’ sees it hang aggressively onto lower gears, as you might expect, and neither mode does much more than vary the stability control settings (something you can do yourself) or up the exhaust noise (of negligible benefit). Sticking in Tour and occasionally taking manual control via the paddles is likely to become your default, with the stability systems so subtle in their embrace that I’d be astonished if they held you back on the road. This engine remains less about fun and more about function, though; it’s simply never as gruff, bassy, or exciting as it feels in the front of an A-Class. Boy, is this car quick, though, and only too happy to demonstrate the punchiest power-to-weight ratio of the Emira range.
Its steering feel improves with speed, while Sport suspension that’s gnarly over urban roads becomes more pliant under greater pressure. Here’s a car that relishes more and more pace being thrown at it. I suspect the softer Touring suspension – a no-cost option – would play better into the Emira’s overall package, however. Because with decent luggage space, reasonable refinement, and strong fuel economy – indicating 40mpg on a long haul – it's the most everyday a Lotus sports car has felt.
Ensuring it steps firmly into Porsche territory. The Cayman is no longer the runaway boot space champ – even if it’s less likely to sprinkle fresh rainwater onto your jacket than the Emira – while its old-school USB-A ports betray an interior that’s getting on a bit now. “It’s like using an old phone,” says Matt as he arrives at our muster point. Which I decipher as a compliment. Everything in the 718 just works as you’d expect, with seemingly dozens of buttons sat in all the right places and those classically overengineered Porsche cupholders that 911s no longer possess. Hurrah!
Driving it feels like a homecoming, too. Whether it’s the generous feedback coursing through every control or simply my familiarity with this platform, leaping in and driving it quickly is far easier than the Lotus, which appears layered and complex in comparison. You’ve a proper engine to wring out here, too, this 4.0-litre flat-six no less fabulous than I remember it even with a relatively modest redline beside ballsier GT products. No qualms about its PDK twin-clutch ‘box, either, even if I’d almost certainly spec my own with a manual.
Both transmissions cost the same, while the PTV differential, Sport Chrono pack and PASM sports suspension are mercifully standard. The latter has two notches and the Cayman feels so eloquently set up out of the box, you’ll rarely feel the need to call on the sportier setting. Over a challenging B road it’s sublime in ‘Normal’, with true bite into corners, a wonderful rear-led balance out of them, and the tiniest smidge of lean in between to flood you with communication you didn’t know you needed. The PDK helps liven up the bits in between the corners, playing joyful little tunes with the flat-six. A manual would too, of course, while offering you the chance to get stuck in with your own throttle blips. Perhaps this seven-speed transmission feels almost studious in its accuracy at times – and a bit of a digital sucker punch to an otherwise rather analogue experience. Not least when a big, old-fashioned rev counter still survives in the 718…
It’s the slightly rowdier car in daily use, mind, sitting a few hundred revs higher on the motorway than the Lotus while generating noticeably more tyre roar. Its optional Bose stereo punches through the racket better than the Emira’s KEF, however. Even allowing for the infamous stinginess of the Porsche equipment list (why on earth is a ‘GTS interior package’ optional on a GTS?) this optioned-up example is still £986 short of its Brit rival. The Cayman has to be the objective winner of this test, offering the more immediately satisfying driving experience and a proper soundtrack backed up by a breadth of capability that's become very familiar over the years.
If you’ve already owned one (or several) Porsches and want something else, though, the Emira makes a strong case for itself. It’s the quieter, thriftier car on a long trip and unequivocally holds the most visual interest of this pair. If you need your sports car to be automatic, I think you’ll rather like this Turbo SE too, though a more hedonistic experience probably still lies with the pricier V6. What the future holds for Lotus, and the sports cars it lovingly makes in Hethel, remains to be seen (and will no doubt continue to be discussed at length in the forums). But let’s live in the moment and celebrate the fact it currently offers one of its most astute responses to the sports cars of Stuttgart yet.
SPECIFICATION | PORSCHE 718 CAYMAN GTS 4.0
Engine: 3,995cc, flat-six
Transmission: 7-speed twin-clutch, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 400@7,000rpm
Torque (lb ft): 317@5,000-6,500rpm
0-62mph: 4.0secs
Top speed: 179mph
Weight: 1,435kg
CO2: 230g/km
MPG: 28
Price: £75,300
SPECIFICATION | LOTUS EMIRA TURBO SE
Engine: 1,991cc, four-cyl turbo
Transmission: 8-speed twin-clutch, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 406@6,800rpm
Torque (lb ft): 354@3,000rpm
0-62mph: 4.0secs
Top speed: 181mph
Weight: 1,455kg
MPG: 32 (est)
CO2: 209g/km
Price: £89,500
So the optioned Porsche is within less than £1k of the Lotus, so approx 1% difference. Quite misleading to state the car in the summary at the bottom as £75k I think, as I suspect you need to option it to £90k to get similar spec as Lotus.
The Cayman is definitely looking like a relic of a mid level sports car, whereas the Lotus much more entry level super car.
Interior quality is on a par with each other, I think I prefer the Emira I tried out recently. Personally I would still go for the Emira V6 manual, for noise and manual.
The Lotus looks fab but the Porsche has the flat 6.
If only Porsche could make a car the looked like the Lotus with their flat 6 in it, and a manual box.
That would be reliable and interesting.
I put all the stuff I'd want in an Emira Turbo SE and it was £96k.
I put all the stuff I'd want in an Emira Turbo SE and it was £96k.
The Porsche doesnt look quite as good but it is a much older car, only not updated because of the upcoming EV version, but still looks great. I was making the choice between the regular Emira and a Boxster T, went with the Boxster because of Emira build quality concerns and the awful dealer network. The Porsche is just easier to live with, has no big quality issues and a great dealer network. I know I'm not in the UK so my dealer experience is better than some there and someone will tell me about the small known issues 718's have but overall if you want strong residuals and hassle free life the Porsche is the only choice.
I cant accept quirks, issues or bad dealer networks at this price point.
Were I in the market I'd try both. And the new Morgan. And quite possibly end up with another A110 instead, but I'd try them. I don't think you can choose sensibly from a spec sheet.
Priced from £89,500 – ten grand more than the new base Emira Turbo
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff