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Imagine you're going from 3-4. Just pull the shifter back towards you, with two fingers, and gently pull until you fell resistance. That's the synchro doing its thing. when the shaft speeds equalize, it'll pop right into gear with minimal pressure.

A smooth upshift doesn't come from a specific speed, it comes from waiting just long enough for RPM to drop. Push in the clutch, and while pushing it in, move the shifter to your desired gear, and gently push against the synchro until it pops into gear, and smoothly let out clutch. You'll have...

I know this feeling well. My Elise ride quality improved markedly when I installed the Nitron 1-way suspension years ago, despite the spring rate being significantly higher than the Lotus sports suspension.

Hi All, I'm wondering if anyone has personal experience with the Nitron NTR1 Fastroad or NTR1 Clubsport suspension yet. I've got the touring package, and it's way too soft for the track. As this car is street driven a lot, I don't want to go too aggressive, but I'd like to do better. Fastroad...

That's not possible. I'm talking about being on maintenance throttle in a corner, you want to be precise, no blips and no cutouts. What was happening is that the engine had a huge stutter when letting up on the throttle - a sudden big surge of engine braking, and this only happens "sometimes". I...

If you are a novice, you'll be fine as-is for your first few track days. If anything, only change the fluid. The stock pads are Ferodo DS2500, which will be ok for beginner track days. I've been doing this for 20 almost years, so I push cars really hard.

I bought an orphaned car off the dealer lot. My choices were down to yellow with white interior and touring or green with tan interior with sport package. The green was way too dark for me and it’s easier to change a suspension than a color :)

I've just done a second track day in my Emira and I'm starting to develop opinions, some good, some bad. I'm coming from an Elise, which I've had since 2008, and tracked more times than I can count. My Elise is set up really well; Nitron suspension, LSS supercharger, harnesses, LSD, all the...

Dual clutch transmissions just feel so much better than torque converter automatics. There's never a time when they're fluid coupled, like a traditional auto, so it makes the car feel more responsive. Modern turbo engines are amazing too, with very broad torque curves, more broad than that V6...

It's a Lotus, it absolutely will start squeaking and rattling. Embrace it :)

The Artura and Emira may look similar, but once you press the throttle pedal (can't call it "gas" in an Artura), you realize they're very different :) McLaren dealer let me drive an Artura when I was figuring out what car I wanted to buy, in addition to the 600LT I was interested in, and man oh...

Mine is the touring. It's wonderful on the street. I wanted the sports, but the dealer didn't have any on the lot with sports suspension in a color that I liked. I've also tracked the car, and it's too soft for the track, it makes the nose feel vague (but it could be the SuperSports). I've got...

The GT4 has a different supercharger, and different engine internals that aren't economical for a street car, and it doesn't have an emissions system to protect with a conservative tune. The dealership where I got my Emira has a GT4 for sale as well, for more than double the price.

You guys are still under the impression that car companies have any freedom these days to fiddle with engines. Any change to a tune requires a very expensive certification process. The tune (via checksums) must be registered with the gov't and approved for use. If you want to make that tune...

EU6 emissions are pretty dang stringent as well, and they target CO2/km as well. The new EU7 will probably mean the end of the V6 altogether. I'm happy that I have mine already. It's an old school, port injected, simple engine.

The limitation is from California emissions requirements. At high RPM, engines are often tuned a little richer and emit more hydrocarbons for that reason and because there's less time for combustion. This is the issue that delayed the Emira's certification for more than a year.

If you compare a Lotus to any other mid engine car, then yeah, it's simple and reliable. Compared to a Toyota Camry, despite sharing the same engine, not so much.

I'd still be hesitant to remove the parking brake in a street driven car. If you park it on a hill, you're going to put an awful lot of stress on the parking pawls in the transmission. The EPB also does work in an emergency if your brakes fail.

I seriously looked into alternate wheel sizes. There isn't much selection in 19", so no sense going down to that size. Yeah, in 18"'s you have more selection of slicks, but the parking brake is useful if you street drive the car. Hoosier makes slicks in our OEM 20" sizes, and there's also the...

I dropped my Emira off for some warranty work when it had 1,000ish miles on it and since breakin was done, I asked the dealer to change oil and brake fluid while they had the car. I didn't even consider asking the price, because to me, this was always a negligible cost. I was appalled to get a...

Real world scenarios don't matter, EPA test cycle is all that matters. It's why we have so many small engines with large turbos; they do great on the test cycle, but less so in real world conditions. In fact, under heavy load like towing or in a large car, the turbo will be less efficient...

Auto start-stop slightly reduces your gas consumption in the government fuel efficiency testing. In the US, anything to reduce your tested mileage helps you achieve CAFE mandates. Every little bit you save on your most popular models can offset those limits on the more profitable, bigger engine...

This is my favorite - at the gas station right after a track session before driving home. I'm averaging < 4mpg at the track. This is a V6 6MT.

I don't believe it.

It's not going to be the last. The global delusion about the future of motoring seems to be ebbing.

Look at all the Lotus cars from the last few decades. If you go back to the 60's, starting with the Elan, there aren't any regular production Lotus cars that have become valuable. They depreciate for a while then seem to hit a price plateau and stay there. I imagine the Emira is going to be the...

Interesting. I'm going to have to yell at Farmer's or switch (I have 2 homeowner policies and 5 cars with them). No accidents, no tickets, the 5 cars together cost $12k/year and the Emira is half of that. Other than my Elise (which has liability only), the others aren't fancy cars.

Based on what you guys are seeing in terms of pricing, I am getting fleeced. I added the Emira as a 5th car to my Farmer's policy, and it's $6k/year.

The 600LT I considered had 30k miles on it, and a bunch of track miles. The interior Alcantara doesn't hold up well, it's nasty when it's got years of dried sweat in it, particularly the steering wheel. It needed new radiators due to rock chips, and had a few other minor issues. Basically, I'd...

When I was test driving cars this past summer, I drove a lot of nice ones, and I came to the same conclusion as your test drivers; my two final cars between which I was deciding were the McLaren 600LT and Emira. Both of them have a similar handling feel. The McLaren is obviously faster given...

Did you perchance find a graceful way to deal with the pins on the rear brakes? I also put in some track pads right around 1,000 miles and went to the track, and getting the rear pins seated was the most annoying part. All my punches are too long to be able to move a small hammer on the inside...

I checked that size; very few tires are available, it's pointless, and wide tires have downsides too. Spacers put more stress on wheel bearings, which you don't want.

I tracked mine at Laguna Seca once breakin was done, and I overheated the brake fluid quite significantly, got mushy-pedal and had to pump it to brake. This was with 2-day old OEM fluid. So, "it depends" :)