Lotus Emira review

The last combustion Lotus isn’t perfect, but it’s made significant strides over its predecessors in terms of quality, equipment and refinement. It’s still great to drive too, though in making the Emira a better all-rounder than the outgoing Evora, some drivers might be disappointed that Lotus hasn’t made it just a little lighter and a little more raw.

Still, sleek and almost supercar-like styling, a pleasant cabin environment, and the option of a rowdy four-cylinder AMG engine to kick off the range should find the car plenty of fans, and Lotus is sure to offer variations in future that make the car more capable on track and satisfy customers trading up from Elises and Exiges.

About the Lotus Emira

There’s no such thing as an unimportant car for the Lotus brand, but as the firm’s last internal combustion sports car, the Lotus Emira has plenty of heritage to live up to, and will wave the flag for petrol power as electric models like the Evija hypercar and Eletre SUV spring up around it.

Replacing the long-running Evora, the Emira does carry over some of its predecessor’s technology, but it’s overall a more sophisticated and exotic car. It’s a heavier one too, at more than 1,400kg, but for the first time, also offers two distinctly different powertrains, each mid-mounted and sending their power to the rear wheels alone.

Available only in a two-door coupe body style, the Emira is available with 2.0-litre four-cylinder AMG power, and with a development of the old 3.5-litre Toyota supercharged V6. The former is attached to AMG’s 8-speed dual-clutch automatic, while the V6 can be directed by either a six-speed manual or six-speed automatic. The AMG engine produces 360bhp, while the V6 makes 400bhp – and gives the top Emira a 180mph top speed.

At launch the Emira is available only in First Edition trim, but other variants are sure to follow once these launch models have all been delivered. There’s a wide choice of colours though, as well as Touring and Sports chassis tuning options, different interior hues, several wheel designs, and a handful of other options. It’s not quite Porsche Cayman levels of personalisation, but it’s less prescriptive than Lotus models of old, and supports the Emira’s higher levels of quality and the premium feel than goes beyond any previous Lotus.

That Porsche Cayman is the Emira’s main rival, itself spanning everything from a 2-litre turbocharged flat four to the screaming 4-litre naturally-aspirated GT4 RS. Rivals don’t come much tougher in any class, but the Emira is arguably closer than ever to its Stuttgart rival. At the lower levels of the Emira range, Alpine’s A110 could be a consideration – and it’s the only car in the class you could still call genuinely lightweight, undercutting the Emira by more than a third of a tonne.

Engines, performance and drive

It might replace the Evora, and it might wear the same Lotus badge on its nose, but the Lotus Emira has a surprisingly different character to its predecessor, and one that might take a little time to warm to.

Lotus has clearly gone down a path of greater refinement with this car, where the Evora felt a little like a more potent, grown-up Elise. With a mid-engined layout, modest if no longer lissom kerbweight, and well-tuned suspension, it can’t help but handle like a Lotus, but some of the more vivid driving sensations have been lost along the way.

It performs the role of a civilised sports car very well indeed. The ride quality, always a Lotus strong point, is calm, soothing, and feels well-damped, and it rides more quietly than a Porsche Cayman, while refinement from the engine is also well-judged.

Steering feedback is only okay, however, which is surprising given the marque’s previous strengths in this area. We’ve found a curious lack of bite and accuracy when you’re pushing the car harder, such as on a track – where some owners will still surely take their new sports cars. With Touring and Sports chassis options however, and optional Michelin Cup 2 tyres, there’s scope for owners to fine-tune the Emira to a level of ability that suits their needs.

0-62mph acceleration and top speed

Behind the Emira’s cockpit you’ll find one of two engines. The entry-level model uses a four-cylinder turbocharged engine bought in from AMG, much like you’d find in the AMG A45 hot hatchback. Tweaked at Hethel for its new Lotus application it makes 360bhp and 430Nm of torque, and just as in the Mercedes applications, it’s attached to an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic.

Despite being the more affordable of the two Emira engine options, it isn’t short of performance – Lotus quotes a 0-60mph time of 4.3 seconds, actually making it quicker than the V6 automatic, while a top speed of 180mph is identical to the manual V6.

That V6 is once again a Toyota-derived 3.5-litre unit, fettled by Lotus and strapped to a supercharger to make it, narrowly, the quickest model of the range in manual form. It develops a round 400bhp and just a touch less torque than the AMG unit at 420Nm, but the extra power tells in a 4.2-second 0-60mph time, despite the need to shift gears yourself. Leave changes to the automatic gearbox, and the 0-60mph extends to 4.6 seconds, while top speed drops to 169mph from the manual’s 180mph.

There’s a fantastic soundtrack from the supercharged V6 engine, which has a properly stirring bark to it from 3,000rpm onwards. The engine also has a strong mid-range and delivers a decent thump in the back if you open it up, although it never quite manages to take your breath away with pure straight-line thrust in the same way that a six-cylinder Porsche Cayman does towards the top end of its rev range.

It’s admirably refined however, making the Emira quite a soothing cruiser, and there’s a pleasing duality between the cultured feel at lower revs and the rousing V6 howl higher up the rev range. It certainly feels good for its quoted performance figures, though the shift quality of the six-speed manual isn’t as good as it could be.

MPG, CO2 and running costs

Lotus lists only CO2 figures for the Emira, but through the magic of mathematics it’s fairly easy to extrapolate the combined consumption for both the 2.0-litre and the V6 versions. The turbocharged inline four is said to produce 199g/km of CO2, which equates to about 32.9mpg, while the V6’s 258g/km figure is a return of around 25.4mpg.

That puts the four-cylinder a fair way behind the 41.5mpg maximum and 153g/km claimed of an Alpine A110, but the six-pot is roughly on a par with the Porsche Cayman GT4’s 26.4mpg and 242g/km, depending on specification. In reality, both figures will fluctuate depending on whether you’re touring or tearing up corners. With a 60-litre tank, the four-cylinder should be good for a tank range of just over 400 miles, and the V6 just over 300 miles.

The AMG-engined car meanwhile will attract a first-year road tax (VED) bill of £1,565, while the V6’s 258g/km puts it in the top VED bracket, with a £2,605 fee for its first year of vehicle tax.

Insurance groups

Lotus doesn’t publish insurance groups for the Emira, but you can expect to find it somewhere in the 40-50 range, alongside rivals such as the Porsche Cayman (groups 42-50) and the Alpine A110 (groups 47 and 48).

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Depreciation

Modest production volumes, loyal customers and pent-up demand seem to be working their magic on the Emira’s residual values. We only have data on the V6 variant at this stage, but after three years or 36,000 miles, the Emira is expected to retain 70 per cent of its initial value – more than the 57-63 per cent of a Cayman, and even ahead of the already strong 67-69 per cent for an Alpine A110.

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Interior, design and technology

Exterior and interior styling and quality is possibly where the Lotus Emira makes the biggest jump over its immediate predecessor. Whether in pictures or out on the road, the new sports car looks fantastic. If the use of four-cylinder or Toyota engines makes you question the price, then the styling makes you wonder if Lotus is charging enough; it really does have the look of a junior supercar.

Thankfully, that impression continues inside, where this is undoubtedly the best Lotus cabin yet, at least from a quality perspective. It feels better made than any previous Lotus and Hethel has made a real step up in terms of materials and technology. It has a premium feel that the Evora, despite its improvements over the years, never quite did.

There’s enough personalisation to really tailor the Emira to a buyer’s tastes, too, with a decent selection of exterior shades (including, thankfully, some attention-grabbing hues as well as just silvers and greys), while light grey, red, and tan leather trim joins the usual black leather and Alcantara options inside, giving what might feel like quite a dark cabin a useful boost.

The dashboard design is simple and attractive, and while the slightly squared-off wheel looks a little odd, it feels good in the hands. Lotus has got the basic driving position right, too, and the digital instrument display ahead of you is clearly visible.

Sat-nav, stereo and infotainment

Lotus has joined the modern world with the Emira’s infotainment system, but luckily it hasn’t been tempted to include features like the heater controls or the car’s drive mode selection into the screen, which both get blissfully simple physical controls.

The touchscreen for everything else is a 10.25-inch display mounted above the central air vents, and it’s intuitive enough to use. There’s also Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone connectivity, and a KEF stereo system.
Practicality, comfort and boot space

Two-seat, mid-engined sports cars aren’t known for being the most practical of vehicles, and with modest boot space and no storage under the nose, the Emira looks like continuing that reputation.

What it loses compared to the Lotus Evora though, it gains in a more welcoming cabin, and Lotus hasn’t forgotten about practicality entirely, with storage behind the front seats and a boot behind the engine compartment. Importantly, the seats are ones you may want to spend good time in, supporting the driver well and offering decent adjustment, and the driving position is generally excellent. Visibility too, at least in front of you – like the Evora, the bulkhead behind can still feel claustrophobic, and it doesn’t have the airy feel that the less track-orientated Porsche Cayman models offer.

You still have to climb over a fairly wide sill to get in to the Emira, but it’s less of a tumble than in the last generation of Lotus cars, and you now feel like you’re sitting a little lower and held into the car a little better than in the Evora.

Dimensions and size

The Emira is a touch longer, wider and lower than a Porsche Cayman, coming in at 4,412mm long, 1,895mm wide with the mirrors folded, and 1,225mm tall. For reference, that’s also slightly larger, and very slightly lower, than its Evora predecessor, which measured 4,395mm, 1,848mm and 1,229mm over the same metrics.

Leg room, head room and passenger space

As well as improved interior quality, both driver and passenger in the Emira benefit from a more open-feeling cabin environment than that of the Evora – though the Evora’s +2 rear seats have been sacrificed to allow it. Instead, you’ll find two flat areas that can be used for luggage.

Boot space

Unlike its rivals from France and Germany, the Emira has only one boot, a rear compartment capable of holding 151 litres of luggage. This compartment is bigger than you’ll find in the Alpine but smaller than that of the Cayman, and while it doesn’t have their front boots, two shelves behind the driver and passenger seats, where you’d have found small seats in the old Evora, can also now be used for storage.

Reliability and safety

Small-volume cars like those built by Lotus don’t tend to appear in the Driver Power survey, and you won’t find the brand itself in the manufacturer category either. But while the overused “Lots Of Trouble, Usually Serious” acronym might once have been relevant in the brand’s darker days, the simplicity of most Lotus models, and its well-proven Japanese powertrains, mean things are far better than they used to be, and that should continue with the Lotus Emira.

That the sports car also feels better-built from the outset may not hurt it either, though as with any new model, particularly from a relatively small company, there may be some teething troubles with the earliest cars.

The car has not been tested by Euro NCAP, but the car’s strong structure and good active safety features, including LED headlights and traction control, should provide some reassurance.

Warranty

The Emira is offered with a 3-year, unlimited mileage warranty, which can also be transferred to subsequent owners. Lotus does note, however, that the warranty can be invalidated by competitive use, which includes timed runs like hillclimbs as well as more obvious racing use. “Responsible use” on track days remains covered.

The 3-year warranty period matches what you’ll find on the Porsche Cayman, though Porsche does offer significant warranty extensions too. Alpine, meanwhile, offers a 3-year/36,000-mile warranty on the A110.

Servicing

Emira service intervals are scheduled every 12 months or 10,000 miles. The company offers fixed price servicing, though doesn’t have single-price service plans like those available elsewhere. A first-year service comes in at £430, £710 in year two, and £430 in year three, before a £1,360 service in year four (£1,290 for automatics), with subsequent services starting again at £430.