Lotus Emira review

It’s the car that gives new-age, Chinese-owned Lotus the authenticity it needs as it expands its horizons. In other words, it’s a proper sports car. Even though Lotus sold out two year’s worth of production when the car was announced, this isn’t the big-selling cash-cow to project Lotus into the big time. 

That’s the job of the all-electric Eletre SUV, and its smaller crossover sibling due later in the decade. The Evija e-hypercar will give Lotus a sprinkling of exotic 2,000bhp fairy dust, but it’s this car – the Emira – which gives Lotus authenticity and pedigree as it plunges new investment and momentum into what’ll be an all-electric future in a mere six or seven years. 

What engines power the final fossil fuel-powered Lotus?

Like its chief rival, the ageing (and soon to be electrified) Porsche Cayman, you’ve a choice of either four or six cylinders. The entry-level model is the Emira i4, which borrows AMG’s 2.0-litre four-pot turbo engine from the A45 hot hatch. It’s retuned to develop 360bhp, down considerably from the manic A45, and it’s allied exclusively to AMG’s eight-speed twin-clutch flappy paddle gearbox.

The ’flagship’ Emira isn’t actually much faster. Indeed, the Emira V6, complete with a 3.5-litre Toyota engine familiar from the old Evora – supercharger and all – is only 0.2 seconds faster from 0-62mph than the i4, getting the job done in 4.2s. Both cars top out at just over 170mph. 

So why would I buy a V6?

Partly for a more tuneful noise, and partly because that’s the only way to have your Emira supplied with a manual gearbox. An automatic is an option, but don’t bother. 

What’s underneath the Emira’s pretty skin?

Phwoar, it is a looker, innit? In pictures, the Emira is striking and taut. What you don’t get a sense of until you’ve seen one roll down your local high street is just how exotic the shape is. It’s got proper supercar hips and deeply dramatic intakes and vents, expertly collated into a footprint the size of a Cayman, which wouldn’t get a second look. Ask anyone nearby what they reckon this car’s worth and they’ll guess a six-figure sum.

Underneath, it uses a bonded aluminium chassis like all recent Lotuses. The wheelbase is identical to an Evora’s, and the Emira is actually a little larger in every dimension, even though it only looks wider. 

Anything I ought to be aware of?

The Emira is more expensive than was first touted. Lotus originally priced the First Edition models of the V6 from around £75,000, with the less kitted out regular models expected to cost around £70,000 and the entry-level i4 coming in at £10,000 less.

But production delays and inflation have ballooned the prices, meaning you can’t currently buy an Emira for less than £81,000. That’s a huge increase to a level where Lotus is beyond the likes of the Porsche Cayman GTS 4.0, and way beyond Alpines, Supras and M2s.

The Emira does the job Lotus needs it to. It’s a hugely competent sports car with seductive looks, a cabin leagues more refined than any previous hip-high Hethel output, and tenaciously grippy handling. The engines have a broad mix of characters which will suit most drivers depending on how they want to use their car, and you could imagine using one every day, which isn’t something we’d have said about an Elise or an Exige. 

That said, we’d like the Emira more if it was a bit more delicate to drive, less about grip and more alive beneath you. It’s also asking very serious money now, and production delays mean deposit holders who have shown faith in the newcomer are being kept waiting when there are plenty of other tempting cars in the class. For the time being, at least.