Lotus Emira

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

I was pondering the press reaction to the Emira when they eventually get their hands on them. I really hope that they have both engines available for them to test simultaneously, even if the AMG engine will only be delivered to customers much later. 
 

My concern is that if they only get given the V6 to try, then there will be lots of praise for design, interior, handling, steering, performance and even build quality and value for money, but half a star will be lost due to the venerable engine and gearbox options, in anticipation of the new unit to follow. However if they also get to test the state of the art DCT AMG I4 from the outset, then the journos will get to savour the best of both worlds. In which case, I can’t see how the car can be awarded anything but 5 stars and put the Lotus Emira genuinely ahead of Porsche as the recommended car to buy in that segment.

[Denno]

Anyone else have trouble with the configurator? Just about works on my phone but laptop and iPads it doesn’t even load. 

[rallyesax]

@LotusLeftLotusRight let see what Evo will have to say about this... Let me guess 😆

[C8RKH]

Hot off the press, apparently the Porsche won by a cup holder and a broken suspension strut. How did you know Baptiste?.

Edited July 30, 2021 by Bravo73

[Evotion]

20 hours ago, LotusLeftLotusRight said:

I was pondering the press reaction to the Emira when they eventually get their hands on them. I really hope that they have both engines available for them to test simultaneously, even if the AMG engine will only be delivered to customers much later. 
 

My concern is that if they only get given the V6 to try, then there will be lots of praise for design, interior, handling, steering, performance and even build quality and value for money, but half a star will be lost due to the venerable engine and gearbox options, in anticipation of the new unit to follow. However if they also get to test the state of the art DCT AMG I4 from the outset, then the journos will get to savour the best of both worlds. In which case, I can’t see how the car can be awarded anything but 5 stars and put the Lotus Emira genuinely ahead of Porsche as the recommended car to buy in that segment.

Yes, you make a good point. You'd think Lotus would build a handful of cars with the i4 for people to test drive, journos and all, well in advance of launch.

18 hours ago, Denno said:

Anyone else have trouble with the configurator? Just about works on my phone but laptop and iPads it doesn’t even load. 

It is VERY fragile.  May depend on time of day. It should get better now the furore has died down.

17 hours ago, C8RKH said:

Hot off the press, apparently the Porsche won by a cup holder and a broken suspension strut. How did you know Baptiste?.

We will have to take it on the chin and keep our heads up as there are bound to be some Porsche bias reviews, and maybe some will actually be fair. The Cayman and Base 911 are still epics cars and well evolved, to say the least.

If the Lotus win on 'fun' that will actually do me. 

if the Lotus wins on handling I will be delighted.

Comfort and  build quality are lower down but nice to have.

[MJON]

18 hours ago, Denno said:

Anyone else have trouble with the configurator? Just about works on my phone but laptop and iPads it doesn’t even load. 

It  can be temperamental ( Lotus reminiscent 🙄) but just tried it on my iPad and working okay today. Not as good as the Porsche configurator though 😖🤐

[NedaSay]

On 27/07/2021 at 04:46, chumaxa said:

I hardly see where a Cup version would be much better, not much you can do for the weight, exept expensive carbon parts ... Engine wise, well Lotus stopped at 430 with the v6 in its current form, the 4 pot go get more maybe, but 500, that is a big step ... it will be sharper ok, but they won't have the budget Porsche has for a gt4 or gt3 version ... 

Uh the sport and cup version can and will easily be lighter, there could be carbon fibre off course, but there can also be a lot of deletion too. Delete ADAS save kg, delete electric seats save kg, swap exhaust system for titanium muffler and silencers, swap engine bay glass-lid for Lexan. When it comes to the engine bay, one of the limiting factor for the GR-FE was heat,  if heat sinking has been resolved, then they can open the tap a little bit more on the engine, GR-FE have reached 450bhp+ reliably with no internal mods. The other limiting factor was gearbox, and there again Lotus can gain a bit by replacing a cog or two as they open every manual transmission that comes anyway to install their own ratios, especially with the gearbox cooler now having to do less work as the engine bay itself is a few degrees cooler.

In terms of budget, Emira did not break the bank at Lotus. as much as Evija may have cost pretty penny to bring to market. Emira is first and foremost very clever design, very clever mods to a tested and true platform. It is very good use of a parts bin from Geely ; when it comes to it Geely should be really satisfied of how much of their tech has elegantly made it in the cabin and elsewhere. It is also goo procurement now facilitated by belonging to Geely group.

Ulterior versions of Evora will cost money to develop but they will not need 2B to bring them to market. The road-map of the car lifespan is already known at Lotus, it is all about phasing to optimize revenue. 1st Edition Emiras owners will need to be satisfied then there will be regular Emiras (that will hopefully be my group ) Then the first variant Sport will come with a minor power bump,  and in 12 to 24 months we should have Cup/R/GT version. The vehicle attribute team must be having tons of fun right now with so much to play with.

The segmentation of the range will be very interesting, because the 4cyl is not outgunned by the V6, even if the V6 will remain the top dog. The 4cyl exist so that the car can compete with the coxster, be cheaper and compliant on some specific markets so the marketing guys probably have their work cut out. They brought the Sprint moniker back on the Elise recently, they may have to use it again to maybe distinguish between a 4cyl and V6 powerbump : Sprint 4cyl and Sport V6 or something, it is going to be interesting.

[DaveC72]

So, I'm pretty confident of the fact that there was to be "further information in August, before the car is taken on a tour of dealerships in September", from the numerous discussions those of us who attended Goodwood had and other sources.

I know it's only the fourth, but does anyone have an inside scoop on when in August this is likely to be?

Lotus have done a great job in creating a splash, but there has been very little new or original news since launch week.  Come on Lotus - feed me!  Tease me!

[duncx]

They have until midnight on Tuesday 31st to release more info - any earlier will be an unexpected bonus as far as I'm concerned

Edited August 4, 2021 by duncx

[NedaSay]

is it me or does the trunk look slightly wider than the evora, the opening is clearly not as wide but definitely big duffle bag capable and flexible golfbag should be no issue. Lot of work on the engine plastic surround. the blue fluid lid ( washer liquid i guess looks like the lid of a sporty water battle.

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

I don’t think there’s much in it boot wise compared to an Evora. You actually get about 50% more space than the opening suggests. You can tuck plenty of stuff left and right inside the rear wings.

[Evotion]

So long as I can squeeze the missus in there it will be fine with me.

[Barrykearley]

Just don’t roll her up in an old carpet when she finds out about the second emira.

[Mysterae]

Not the kind of boot for your shopping from Iceland...

[DarrylV8]

@Evotionare you sure squeezing misses into boot will stop her from telling you to slow down.........

[Al_C]

So the Radford 62 has been launched with the Toyota V6 producing either 430bhp or 500bhp.  In the Evora and Exige it’s produced 430bhp: The AMG unit produces over 400bhp in Mercs.

i loved my supercharged Evora with its 345bhp but just a little more would be nice. I’ve got a 600bhp car which frankly isn’t needed on the road, but if there is no cost implications I can’t understand why Lotus are going to detune both engines to 360-400bhp in the Emira?

[Barrykearley]

Lotus have pretty much always built cars based on handling - and then released newer models with increased BHP. Chuck in a few special editions and everyone’s happy.

[Snorkel]

Could be a lot of reasons. Emissions are probably one of them. With a detune to 360 hp, this influences probably things like road taxes and insurance. It makes it all more attractive for new customers who want to daily drive this vehicle, so you can more easily squeeze yourself in the market of the Cayman for example.

Lotus has dropped a bomb shell in the automotive world. Everybody is talking about the Emira. Now people see how beautiful it is and notice it can be driven without breaking the bank in daily running costs (ok, true, not that it's super cheap, but you understand what i mean), this new vehicle is becoming pretty attractive. If they now can deliver quality work and a reliable car, this will definitely affect their place in the whole structure of car brands. If they immediately launch top versions of their engines, a lot of buyers are going to shop somewhere else. 

Just my 2 cents of course. 😊

Edited August 8, 2021 by Snorkel

[Snorkel]

Now that we are talking about it... 

What do you guys expect insurance wise? 

I know this depends on a whole bunch of factors, but in my case:

41 years old, accident free history, estimate miles per year: 10 000... In Belgium we've got this thing called "full omnium" => it means you are insured when you have a collision, but it also repairs your own car when it's your fault. Also it's insured for theft, vandalism, windshield, etc... 

In that case, I'm guessing here to get this insurance between 1500 and 2000 euro/year (1250 - 1700 pounds // 1750-2350 dollar). 

 

[Kristof Thys]

@Snorkel Belgian Exige V6S driver here.  When I had her insured full omnium a few years back, it was iirc 2200 EUR for the omnium + 420 EUR for the civil liability.  Has been a few years so might be mistaken.  She's now on a theft insurance (based on current expertise value, not book value!), glass break and civil liability for 950 EUR per annum...

 

So I fear your 2k / pa is on the low end.

Edited August 8, 2021 by Kristof Thys

[Cooper]

[Snorkel]

30 minutes ago, Kristof Thys said:

@Snorkel Belgian Exige V6S driver here.  When I had her insured full omnium a few years back, it was iirc 2200 EUR for the omnium + 420 EUR for the civil liability.  Has been a few years so might be mistaken.  She's now on a theft insurance (based on current expertise value, not book value!), glass break and civil liability for 950 EUR per annum...

 

So I fear your 2k / pa is on the low end.

Allright, good to hear some real figures. 🙂 

We'll just have to see what's it gonna be then. 

[freefall_junkie]

1 hour ago, Al_C said:

So the Radford 62 has been launched with the Toyota V6 producing either 430bhp or 500bhp.  In the Evora and Exige it’s produced 430bhp: The AMG unit produces over 400bhp in Mercs.

i loved my supercharged Evora with its 345bhp but just a little more would be nice. I’ve got a 600bhp car which frankly isn’t needed on the road, but if there is no cost implications I can’t understand why Lotus are going to detune both engines to 360-400bhp in the Emira?

The really interesting thing about the Radford is that the 500 and 600bhp versions are going to come with a 7 speed DCT box according to the article on Pistonheads. The Toyota V6 mated to the Merc DCT box maybe? Seems unlikely but you never know. Perhaps there is a lot more life and development potential left in the Yota V6 in the Emira than many of us had thought up to now.

[Evotion]

Radford article here https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/radford-62-2-retro-coachbuilt-special-lotus-v6-power

I would not look at that but I can see the attraction.

All in all, this does make me think the Emira V6 should start at 430 but I guess it is not about an extra 14HP but more about the whole dynamic package.  Just can't wait to get in the bloody thing to see for myself.

 

[jimichanga]

Who knows maybe the higher power Radford V6s are being developed with Lotus and might end up in an Emira one day but with all this talk of Lotus’s billions they have clearly held back big time on Emira. Probably the only way they could hit the Cayman baiting £60k base price. That has clearly worked a charm despite customers inevitably facing much bigger bill by the time their cars show up, it’s still a ‘£60k car’ according to most on the internet and many of their wives no doubt!