It’s important to note that Nic is straight fire at ai art.I've had 2 5v BlackWings, sold my last one for an Audi R8 V10+. The Audi was badass looking and so much faster feeling than the Blackwing. Not very comfortable and cushy for a 6'4" guy though.
Just traded the Audi for a 24 V6 Emira manual and it's so different. Stock Emira was a letdown when I test drove it back a few years ago, so I cancelled my order. This Emira is modified a bit with more power, better looks, and importantly, Tillet bucket seats. I fit much better, the power is much improved, and it's gorgeous
I miss the Blackwing for the torque, amazing shifter, and comfort for cruising. I miss the Audi for V10 sounds and insane power. I love the Lotus for uniqueness, beauty, direct-feel, and fun. Think if I can convince my wife to trade her model Y for a Rivian R2 next year we will be good. That will be a more comfortable cruising car for road trips and I can have my impractical sports car for fun little drives.
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Coincidentally, i also cross shopped 5bw manual (with precision pack) vs emira. I wanted both and will have both but my wife somehow finagled a corvette.
The manual in the blackwing is orders of magnitude better, and of course it makes 680hp and pulls 1.13 on a skidpad. It’s basically god in sedan form.
But the emira has 3 fundamental advantages which cannot be modded into a 5bw:
1) weight
2) hydraulic steering
3) sex
I can add tons of power (once warranty expires) Nitron coilovers, monoballs, tranny mounts, short shifter and @kitkat eggplug supershifty, etc etc to fix emira problems.
I too had a 4bw and it’s glorious little sport sedan