Lotus Emeya review

Approach an Emeya with the (annoyingly impractical) key lozenge and it presents its door handles. No unlocking required. Open the pillarless door, climb inside, squeeze the brake and it’s ready to go. No starting required. Nothing unusual about that for a modern EV, save for the fact that Lotus’s system works. Sometimes this ‘button-free entry and go’ process is a long way from seamless, but not here. It sets the tone for a car which has been developed like an Apple product.

Lotus hasn’t gone heavy on gimmicky noises. Drag the wee sprung selector back for Drive and it sets off in silence, free of Hollywood composer-curated noise effects. It’s serene.

One thing to note right away: you sit quite high. Higher than you’d expect, given this is meant to be the low-slung sports saloon of the range and Lotus already has a high-riding crossover. But because the battery hasn’t been scalloped to allow a lowly seating position like in some rivals, you address the wheel in a more upright, commanding position. If you’re coming from a Porsche Taycan or an Audi e-tron GT, it’ll feel like you’re ‘on’ the car, not ‘in’ it.

Is it fast?

Yes, and here’s the first of several reasons why you’re better off with the base car or any of the 600s rather than a 900: the 603bhp versions are more than quick enough. Both can get from 50-75mph in around two seconds, so you’re hardly stressing about merging onto a motorway.

What’s more, the acceleration of the 600 is more progressive than the 900. In the latter, the Emeya takes a very short moment to find some grip, and then it punches you in the forehead and pins you back into your massage seat. We’re a little bit sick of electric cars capable of making passengers retch with fright when you jump on the throttle, and the standard Emeya is more than quick enough for anyone who has a mental age beyond eleven.

Hang on, I need more numbers to quantify that speed?

In the 600s, Lotus reckons that 0-62mph takes 4.2 seconds, with a top speed of 155mph. Plenty quick enough, no?

The 900s up that top end by just 4mph, but the 0-62mph sprint drops to a frankly ridiculous 2.8 seconds. That puts it a tenth behind the 872bhp Porsche Taycan Turbo that's available for similar money. Still some way off the Turbo S and bonkers Turbo GT versions of the Porsche, though. 

Is the Emeya fun to drive?

Not especially. It’s a road-jet: composed, quiet, not especially fond of rapid direction changes and focused on delivering speed and mile-munching in an undramatic way. The steering is fast, accurate and well-weighted but unremarkable. The car corners level, but you sense it’s a 2.5-tonne monster and the forces involved quickly dispel any notion of enjoying taking the twisty way home.

The weakest aspect of the dynamics is undoubtedly the over-served brake pedal, which seems to have come from an early Lexus hybrid. The brakes themselves have the requisite power to rein in a Bentley-outweighing Lotus, but there’s no feel or finesse to the regen. Which is another reason you’ll soon stop bothering with the different drive modes.

What modes are there?

Tour, Range, Sport and a customisable Individual mode. Then, if you go for one of the 900s you also get a Track mode. Don’t bother unless you just really like red ambient lighting.

This isn’t a car that persuades you to water down the ESP. It’s happiest in Tour mode – toggle through the list by clicking the split paddles behind the steering wheel. The one on the left handily selects between four stages of regen braking: we settled on the strongest, as it meant we had to press the grabby brake pedal less often.

Good cruiser?

Absolutely. Even on pockmarked UK tarmac with giant (and optional) 22in wheels, the 900 we drove rode superbly. All Emeya's get the same dual chamber air suspension and far more sophisticated, expensive damping than any Tesla ever made. It’s quiet, as you’d expect, with active road noise cancellation even on the base spec car. Ironically, wind noise whips most noticeably around the ‘lo-drag’ side cameras, which remain far less user-friendly than proper door mirrors. Luckily they're now a £2,000 option on the base-spec car, so there's somewhere to save cash. 

How far will it go on a charge in the real-world?

We need to spend longer with the car to be definitive, but on a sunny day with temperatures sitting at around 13 degrees Celsius, an R that we tested in the UK (before the range shake-up) was showing just 185 miles of range at 78 per cent SOC. Extrapolate that and you're looking at a total of 237 miles. Not great, but that was after some hard driving.

Our first experience of the Emeya R was in Germany on a very hot day with the air-conditioning doing overtime, even after we set the multi-tinted glass roof to the darkest setting possible to try to inhibit some of the natural greenhouse effect, sapping energy along the way. In that car we saw a claimed 280 miles on a full charge.

Our experience of the Eletre SUV is that the current electric Lotuses are far from the most efficient EVs, with the Eletre R (now the Eletre 900 Sport) failing to surpass 2.0 mi/kWh. The base Emeya 600 on 20in wheels should improve on this, but we’ll report back when we’ve had a more representative test.