Lotus Emira - owners and discussion

[Ntg]

2 hours ago, sleazius said:

What colour did you go with?

Seneca Blue, It was the dealers cancelled pre price hike order so no changes possible and was already on a ship.After driving the demo in Blue its quite an amazing  color in the flesh.

Magma was the other choice but would have been $13k more and a long wait so Seneca it is.

Really,really  nice drive after my Exige 410 and easier to live with

[sleazius]

Delivery day today - definitely feels rear engined rather than mid. The nose is very light, reminds me of my 997. Draws a lot of attention.

 

[WGA]

34 minutes ago, sleazius said:

Delivery day today - definitely feels rear engined rather than mid. The nose is very light, reminds me of my 997. Draws a lot of attention.

 

Congrats. I am now 1,500kms in and enjoying the car. All my initial warning lights magically disappeared in the first week. Since then, nothing. And not a squeak or a rattle anywhere. 

The car actually has more rear weight bias than a 911 and likes to be driven on its nose into corners.

Holds its own amongst this bunch…but in a different way.

I certainly get more random comments from passersby than the other two combined.

[luzzo]

On 13/06/2023 at 21:30, WGA said:

Emira and GTS 4.0l. Quite interesting driving them back to back.

 

Do you still have the Boxster GTS 4.0? 

 

[WGA]

22 minutes ago, luzzo said:

Do you still have the Boxster GTS 4.0? 

 

Sure do. My wife drives it and has told me in no uncertain terms that she will not let go of it under any circumstances!

[donR]

There was a very nice Lotus Emira (sorry just remembered this is an Exige!, but assume the Emira would have similar pace) at the recent Porsche vs BMW Supersprint at SMSP. Very fast as well with what looked to be an awesome looking "GT4 style" areo kit. Not sure if the kit is standard or optional but I'm sure one of you guys would know. Otherwise stock engine I believe. He was 1/10th faster than me at the end of the day but I think the Lotus had a bit more in it with some better lines. Great alternative to the Porsches. Here is the footage: 

 

[cafe_racer]

From what I have been told the Emira is as fast as a stock exige 410, a 430 still a tad faster than the new emira.  But sounds like there will be some new spicy fast Emira versions in the future.

[sleazius]

2 hours ago, cafe_racer said:

From what I have been told the Emira is as fast as a stock exige 410, a 430 still a tad faster than the new emira.  But sounds like there will be some new spicy fast Emira versions in the future.

Stay tuned. This first edition is the comfort spec so to speak.
 

Only got to drive it the first day, and now I’m away so have to wait a week or two before I can give some impressions. One thing though, it is loud as all get out from the outsIde. Subdued on the inside from the drivers seat. Supercharger whine is evident. Lots of burbles and cracks on the overrun.

[WGA]

After 1,500kms, time for some comments. It's a long one so bare with it.

 

Looks - Of all the cars I own, this one gets the most looks and an amazing number of comments. Indeed, one middle-aged guy literally ran across the street, knocked on my window and excitedly asked if this was a new Ferrari. When told it was a Lotus, he said, "WOW, that's the most f---ing beautiful car I have ever seen". I kid you not. That's exactly what he said.

 

Sound - even though it's a humble Toyota donk, it actually sounds quite good. Supercharger whine, pops and cracks on over run, quite a load exhaust at even low revs. Indeed, at lower town speeds, it gives you some good aural reward. More than any Porsche in my garage at the moment. As result, I actually find myself driving slower than some of my other cars 'cause you do not have to wring it's neck to get some sound stimulation back.

Performance - it's not overly fast but its torque and hp levels make it plenty fast enough for the street. Makes it feel faster than what it actaully is.

 

Gearbox - to put it harshly...it's a bit of an embarrassment. How long has this drive train combo been around???...and they still haven't got it right. It's too clunky. You cannot rush it. You need to be much more "deliberate" than I would like. Reminds me of my 997.2 GT3 RS which was also not all that great regardless of what people may claim.

 

Steering - nice and direct but a bit toooo light for my liking. Almost feels over assisted and a bit unpredictable. But this may just be me because I tend to jump from car to car and it always takes a bit of adjusting to the overly quick steering of the Emira compared to the others. So even though there is a lot of hullabaloo over the hydraulic steering, IMHO Porsche's is better because it is a bit heavier with a more consistent and predictable feel.

Steering wheel - hate it, hate it, hate it! Its square! It's called a "wheel" for a reason. Wheels are supposed to be round! Even after 1,500kms, tight rounadabouts are still awkard things to navigate.

 

Ride - my car has the "sports" suspension....and its firm...very firm. For context, my 4RS rides better. Indeed, the ride is closer to my GT3. Next time, I will definitley go for the Touring setup because I use the Emira 90% on the road. 

 

Dash/centre screen - not up to scratch. The functionality, fonts and graphics are poor. Because the screen contrast is low, it's very hard to read the centre screen in bright sushine, especially when wearing sun glasses. The screen is obviously capable of displaying the full range of colour but for whatever reason they mostly just use small white fonts with very low contrast 90% of the time. Very confounding.

 

Seating position - Surprisingly for an English manufacturer with a long heritage in making RHD cars, the pedals are offset too far to the left. This tends to skew you in the seat making it very difficult for me to get my right hip properly located. I tend to hop out with a sore right hip after only a relatively short drive.

 

Heal Toe - This is an odd one. The majority of the braking force is right at the top of the pedal. This contrasts with a Porsche where you have to lean into the pedal more to get the equivalent braking force. I can honestly say that every person who I have let drive the car has almost sent the passenger through the front windscreen on first application. That's how sensitive they are. This make heal toeing at low town speeds awkward because you are not getting enough brake pedal travel to gingerly blip the throttle. It's a lot easier to blip when you are travelling faster and are more aggressive on the brakes and therefore getting more brake travel. Although It must be said that I have small feet.

 

Reliability - So far..very good. All the warning lights I had all disapper in the first week. Since then, nothing. And not a squeak or rattle to be heard. Which is more than I can say for my 992 GT3 Touring.

Other stuff 

• no DAB radio...Why? 
• no inbuilt Sat Nav even though the dash still has all the icons for it. For some reason they removed it for the local market...but not cleanly. Even tough the apple Carplay integration is fast and works well, I do not want to have to rely on having my phone at the ready all the time.
• rear bulk head window under certain conditions has very bad reflections from the cabin making it sometimes very difficult to see out the rear window.
• the Hi-Fi sucks and no fader. Again the owners manual and the controls imply a fader but there is only left/right balance. Cannot remember the last car I had that did not have a fader. Why??

Now, all this might sound like that I don't like the car...but I do...very much. Its quirkiness makes it interesting to drive. So as long as it stays reliable, it's probably a keeper.

[sleazius]

Interesting, I’ve also got the sports suspension and based on my short time in it (200km). - I wouldn’t spec the touring suspension.

RE: the sat nav, supposedly Lotus Cars Australia are trying to get that resolved, although I wasn’t told the actual reason, it can be resolved with a software update.

Agreed about the gearbox, not much change between this and the Exige I drove 15 years back. That said, it isn’t terrible, it’s just snicketty. Very different to a Porsche gearbox.

[cafe_racer]

If it is like the exige i found it better on track than on road...

Sounds like the Emira is a great $200k option for someone who wants a car they can drive on road and track 3-4 times a year.  Agree with the looks front, they look like a $500k car.

[sleazius]

Had a couple of more drives. Some more thoughts.

- the stereo does indeed suck. Ramping the bass to 8 makes it bearable to me 

- the nose that I was a bit uncomfortable with at first due to how light it is has started to grow on me. Its got that 'chuck it in and scrabble' feel.

- the steering is probably too light for a road car. Makes much more sense when you kick on.

- still prefer the sport suspension over the touring. Definitely not as firm as my 997 S in sport mode. Also nowhere near as firm as a 996 GT3.

- the flat steering 'wheel' doesn't seem to bother me. Might be because of the rack being fairly quick. 

- if you've got the windows down the intakes suck the air out of the cabin until your ears hurt. Wasn't expecting that.

- the car makes a lot of mechanical noises which you wouldn't necessarily expect from a street car. I like it.

- while the shift is hit or miss, the ratios seem great to me. Don't need to wring the car's neck to row the gears.

- the car is a lot higher than it looks, no lift and so far speed humps are no issue.

- interior for anyone who has been in or owned a Lotus before is a 12 out of 10 compared to their back catalogue.

Overall the car is really growing on me. Like @WGA when I describe the car it sounds like a list of things that could be better, but to drive it, it is very involving and really growing on me.

Stay tuned for other useless anecdotes.

Couldn't be bothered getting out other cars to take group shots, so here is a shot with my tractor 🤗

 

 

[JWM]

58 minutes ago, sleazius said:

Stay tuned for other useless anecdotes.

Couldn't be bothered getting out other cars to take group shots, so here is a shot with my tractor 🤗

 

I come for the useless anecdotes, stay for the tractors 🤣

[jakroo]

4 hours ago, sleazius said:

....

Couldn't be bothered getting out other cars to take group shots, so here is a shot with my tractor 🤗

 

 

It's dry at your place like most of western Sydney and it's winter so the grass is pale but there's nothing quite like sitting in a tractor doing warp speed -14 and cutting the grass or feeding it.  The rumble of the diesel engine, the mechanical noise of the cutting and the waft of cut dry grass.

I love that with doing my place, until you drive over some yobbos deep wheel tracks after they've used your 2 acres of nature strip for drift practise.

And I quite fancy Kubota orange as well, although not as good as yellow 😄

[WB997.2GTS]

Shmee has recently posted a video on his car and seems to have 50/50 love hate thoughts.

[sleazius]

Most wing to least - total accident. Wife's car at the very end.

Emira with a banana for scale (997).

[HWY]

Nice shed!

Even nicer Racing Yellow 997

[Yeatesy]

1 hour ago, HWY said:

Nice shed!

Even nicer Racing Yellow 997

Speed Yellow 😊

[sleazius]

4 hours ago, HWY said:

Nice shed!

That is my stand-alone 4 car garage as seen here:

https://porscheforum.com.au/topic/18417-show-us-your-garage/?do=findComment&comment=354312

 

[edgy]

Spotted my first Emira in the wild on the weekend at a local cafe, same blue as yours @sleazius (unless you were in Burraneer?) I must say, it is a very striking car in the flesh... 

[Sov]

I'm not a "blue car guy" but there's one running around the GC at the moment and it looks better in person than it does in photos

[sleazius]

7 hours ago, edgy said:

Spotted my first Emira in the wild on the weekend at a local cafe, same blue as yours @sleazius (unless you were in Burraneer?) I must say, it is a very striking car in the flesh... 

Photos don't do it justice at all. I wasn't down at Burraneer unfortunately - stuck out in the riff. The blue in full sun is a very nice colour.

3 hours ago, Sov said:

I'm not a "blue car guy" but there's one running around the GC at the moment and it looks better in person than it does in photos

Absolutely.

[JWM]

Here’s Harry’s comparo of the I4 & V6 … 

 

[sleazius]

Not surprised. Unrestricted that I4 out to 450hp, and you’ve got a nice off the shelf track weapon. Especially here in Australia where there aren’t too many options left, and what there is floats around the $350k+ mark.

Harry definitely specced up the better looker imo.

[cafe_racer]

Took a friends Emira for a drive last night, he drove my 4RS.  90mins of fun driving, temps were perfect as left at 7pm so it was windows down motoring with no a/c it was a treat!

 

So value wise. It’s amazing. It’s nearly half the price of the 4RS.

Seating position is a bit high. You feel like you are sitting on it not in it. My Exige was way lower and gave better visibility because of this.  When turning left I found looking at the apex was blocked by the rear view mirror.  If I got one I would look at aftermarket bucket seats to get lower.

Steering. The 4RS feels heavier and more communicative. I also didn’t like the shape and feel of the emira steering wheel. The 4RS also wins in storage with a big frunk as well as boot.  And the Emira boot gets super hot much like an exige or elise.  Not the case in the 4RS.

Where the emira is better is driving on the road vs track. The manual gearbox is engaging and the suspension is better suited for back roads. It’s also more planted over bumps with softer damping. I was in the Emira “touring” chassis with softer suspension. I suspect this combo but with some more high performance tyres might be the sweet spot.

The 4RS with pdk is just not as engaging driving at legal limits and only shines if you do super illegal speeds or are on a track. On the track it’s an amazing tool.

But also at $400k the 4RS should be better vs $210 for the emira.

Sound. The emira was excellent. It’s exhaust noise and supercharger whine. The 4RS intake noise is great but really only shines 7-9000rpm. Whereas the emira is good at any revs.

 

Value wise, I reckon the 4RS will probably depreciate less as a percentage, but maybe $ wise may be similar depreciation per year.

 

Overall, a great value package.  I really enjoyed it, very tempting to get one and put the saved $ towards some kind of race car.

 

 

P.S.  The KEF system is excellent in the Emira compared to the Bose in the 4RS.

p.p.s - An interesting comparo is a 996 GT3, probably similar lap times but goes about it in a different way.