Posts of the Week

If you ask a petrol head all the things a sports car car should have, and all the things it shouldn't have. Then went away and designed it, you wouldn't be too far off an Emira. Which is particularly impressive as it also has to satisfy all the safety and emission regulations of 2025.

I don't know why the car is not more popular than it is. It's exactly what we asked for.

We know some have been curious to see Dark Verdant and Racing Green side by side, and we finally had the opportunity to make it happen. Weather has been perpetually cloudy in the Bay Area, so Dark Verdant is leaning into its darker nature here in diffuse light.

We also have the Clark Edition, but that one is trapped in the showroom so we had to improvise.

hagen111 said:

It's a bit of a sportscar wannabe vehicle with a Yaris interior. I have added Nitron, forged wheels, lowered it a bit, carbon bucket and 6p harness... this makes the car SO MUCH BETTER looking and driving! For me...this is how the car should have been, yet did not have that choice from EOM Lotus.
In standard trim, it's good, but not iconic. In today's very competitive market its very hard to create a desirable product... Lotus was at 70% with the Emira, but did not finish it.

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I think the Emira very much IS a sportscar. I would argue that you're trying to turn it into a Track car rather than a sportscar. My last car was a Cayman and I'm probably the intended customer in mind by Lotus. I use mine as a daily. Replacing the cushioned, heated, electric adjustable seats with carbon bucket seats and a 6 point harness would completely spoil the car for me. I also love the ride of the Emira. The ride quality is probably the killer feature, and they do some sort of magic that other brands have never achieved. On our bad British roads the Emira flows across them like a magic carpet. It's better than the PASM system on my Porsche, and though it is a little soft (especially the Tour variant) it still feels sporty. To slam the ride height I think would undo the good work and every pothole would be felt and an annoyance. I don't actually know what you mean by "wannabe with a Yaris interior".
Have you considered an Exige? That's a much more track ready car and may be more what you're after.

Freshly rebuilt, revalved and sprung with what I hope will be a good compromise street and track setup. Will go in next weekend.

Its a great question…and for those who say it doesn’t compare, IT DOES for those who own a few cars and have the option to swap and replace cars in the collection. Its the end of the year and I always reflect and take a moment to decide…what has to go and what will be next. What are the best cars my money can buy…

1. I owned Exige V6…and loved it! As it was sooo different vs the GT3 and 458 Spider. Then came Emira… and thought, its an Exige with better improved looks, its beautiful. Now that I own the Emira (Nitron, braid forged wheels, carbon buckets, 6p harness) - its stunning, love it. Fantastic car, yet miss a bit of the rawness even more pure feel of the Exige, which made it such a good part of my collection. Would I do the swap again…YES! As Emira is sooo beautiful, and such a good car on mountain roads.

2. What else can money buy… a GT3… I just sold my 991.2 GT3 Manual… 7000kms on it. Could not sell it for 2 years, in the end parted with little money in my hand, that market is dead! Unbelievable good car, may be even the best car money can buy a GT3…yet it didn’t feel THAT special lookswise, just another porsche. Emira won over GT3 for now. However I promised myself to get a daily 992.2 GT3 Touring manual in 2027, to replace the daily 991.1 that I still own.

3. Then Ferrari… the dream of most car enthusiasts… I have had a few, F12, FF, Daytona and 458 Spider. Always feel quality is not where it should be for the money… mostly Fiat parts you hold and everything feels very quickly outdated! Loved my Exige interior with the forged aluminium cupholder (very rare option)! The 458 felt really old and outdated and was 2x the price of the Emira at the time. So sold the 458 for a small profit…compared to the other Ferraris who have been massive bleeders.

With Emira in the stable, was thinking I want to own another Ferrari. What should I get. No hybrid, even though they drive massively well, they will depreciate like crazy. So I opted to look for a relatively new V8 non Hybrid. Most beautiful option in my opinion is a 488 Pista. Normal 488 not in consideration as I don’t like the looks, especially next to much more modern and better looking Emira. With Pista values and prices sky rocketing, I opted for an F8 Tributo Spider….Pista DNA in a more roadgoing tuned down appearance. Quite limited production numbers, love the modern interior and man WHAT A CAR! F8 is overlooked! Just soooo incredibly good! At half the price of a Pista.

This is the car that this year ranks nr 1 in my list of owned cars in terms of absolute best.

Yet pricewise… I believe the Emira is the winner in what you get for your money. Ferrari like looks, Lotus sportscar DNA at a price point that is super attractive.

However there is another option, and car in the stable which is the best car money can buy at the moment… the Maserati MC20!!! It is sooo overlooked and unloved, yet sooo special.

Beautiful supercar looks, carbon Dallara tub, very special engine - massive depreciation where I think it is the absolute bargain in the market. The car WON Evo COTY! And I can confirm, it is sooo special! Like a lemans racer with big turbo’s whistling and popping with Lotus like dynamics and feel. Boy what a car!

hagen111 said:

Overall... a HUGE f*&k up in terms of overall plan. Huge losses and NO sales to back it. The brand is 'dead'.

Emira... not well received. I own one and love it, but only after I modified it to make it much sharper. Lotus went the safe route to attract a larger audience and build a 'softer' car... and missed the point imo. It wasn't so well received, especially in end of the years group tests. It ended up not as a truly 'desirable' car. It could have been fantastic, more like an Alpine with manual v6 Supercharged, what a combo! Wrong choices and decisions lead to wrong outcomes. Anyway, you can't be right all the time, so the miss fits are part of the journey.

EV market for high priced EV's is also a disaster. Politicians should not interfere to much with the markets out there and leave choice to the consumer what they want and for manufacturers to know and make the products consumers want. Now with politicians interfering...man what a disaster and loss of wealth in UK and Europe.

Its very hard times to be a car manufacturer... and I bet the graveyard will be full in a matter of years from now with Iconic brands who have failed to survive.

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What exactly would you have changed?
(Let’s set aside the abysmal customer service, I’m talking about the car).

I bought an Emira because it’s the first Lotus since the Esprit that has interested me.
No disrespect to Elise / Exige / Evora but they did nothing for me.
If it wasn’t for the Emira I would have stuck with Ferrari or even gone McLaren.

The sales figures - while not remotely close to the original target - suggest that the Emira is the most successful car Lotus has ever produced.

So, while I agree the whole EV thing has been a debacle (and Lotus are not alone there) the Emira has been a winner as far as I’m concerned.

If anyone would like to see me do some pretty awful driving at the Nurburgring with POV view, then have a look

I've got a few Lotus Emira videos on my channel with more coming out soon.
Also started some advanced driving courses on track too so hoping to be much better at the Nurburgring next year!

Enjoy

Lotus would have sold 500 - 1,000 more Emiras if Racing Green had been available from Day One!

Hey Everyone!


Not exactly a brand new member, as I've been active on here a handful of times, but thought I'd introduce myself properly.

Exactly a year ago (as of yesterday) I purchased my 2024 Lotus Emira V6 Manual with Tour Chassis in Shadow Grey from Lotus Hatfield.
It was the showroom car and so had about 6 months of pre-reg time on it, and I genuinely could not have been happier.

Since then, I've travelled 7500 miles, once to Southern Spain via the Pyrenees, once to the Nurburgring, a couple of track days and lots of beautiful journeys around the UK (with quite a few track days planned for next year already).

I'll endeavour to be a bit more active on here and would be great to attend a meet in the New Year.

So great to meet you all

Lastly, I've also turned my hand to trying to make some (hopefully) fun videos about my Lotus Emira & general driving experiences, so I hope you don't mind me sharing here.
https://www.youtube.com/@aarontaylorfilms

Cheers,
Aaron