Foxy87
Emira Fan
Hi there
I am new here, located in switzerland and looking for a new mid engine sportscar. I was looking at the 981/718Gt4 and the Emira, which I think just looks great and I have always been a Lotus fan. I testdrove the Emira and the GT4 and would like to share my impressions (yes I know the direct competitor would be the GTS 4.0 and not the GT4):
Brief background so you can place this right: I had a Cayman R from 2016-2018 and also drove various other vehicles sporadically on the track, but I have never driven a Porsche GT vehicle until now. I also drove the Exige S V6 at the time, but it was too spartan for me and felt too much like a tinker's shack (sorry, is that the right expression
). Since the 981 GT4 was introduced, that was kind of a dream car for me. Even though I have always been a Lotus fan. Because of family, children etc. it never came true until now. Now I wanted to tackle the matter again, and the 718 GT4 has always excited me too. However, I have never driven either of the two cars.
Well, I approached the matter with an open mind and wanted to drive the Emira as well, because I like it visually very much, but secretly the GT4 was my favorite. I was able to drive the Emira V6 only for about 40 min and the 718 GT4 for about 1h. My impressions are the following:
EMIRA:
When I finally drove a manual again after x years, it was really a revelation. I had so much fun with the car that I was partly just laughing. Pure joy. Visually outside and also inside (!) for MY taste very nicely done. Everything solid and high quality, nothing creaks, nothing looks cheap, really good. The electric seats electric of course a shame and no comparison to the buckets in the GT4.
The sound was very good and very present. Maybe partly artificial with the crackles, but I still liked it very much. I also really like the supercharger noise and the punch of the engine is really good in my opinion. The car certainly is not overpowered, but runs quite well I would say- The manual transmission is not as precise as in the GT4, but feels more mechanical, it takes more force to engage the gears. Shifting is not as fast as in the GT4 though. The clutch pedal was also a little (not much) firmer then the GT4s. The car makes a very "aggressive" driving impression - sound combined with the engine characteristics. The response is very good thanks to the supercharger and as mentioned there is always enough punch. When you get off the pedal after full throttle, you really nod forward when the boost stops. The suspension is sporty (it was the sport version, not the tour version) but not too harsh. The only thing I didn't like as much was the turn-in response. To me it felt slightly undefined and a bit spongy, if I can put it that way, even more so compared to the GT4. But it was the Goodyear tires mounted and not the Cup 2. The different driving modes are especially noticeable in the sound and the flap exhaust. Visually, the car is very striking. I had a lot of fun and got out with a huge grin on my face. For me a very emotional car. Even if I know that it is an old Toyota engine, I can not really say anything bad about it.
GT4:
I was honestly of the opinion that if I had so much fun in the Lotus, the GT4 will blow me away, because its clearly the faster and more precise car, which has already shown various tests, where the Lotus itself against the GTS 4.0 has actually always (just) drawn the short straw. But contrary to my expectations for ME personally felt not the case. And I can tell you exactly why I liked the Emira better then the GT4: Because of the extremely long gear ratios, you never really have to shift at all, unlike the Lotus, and of course you always have to keep the naturally aspirated engine revving. If you don't want to stand with one foot in jail, you can't really go beyond 2nd gear (in CH --> from 100 km/h on you should lift your foot slowly, otherwise it's gonna get expensive...) and if you are in 3rd or even 4th gear, the punch is simply missing. It feels like the GT4 has less punch in the mid-range than the Lotus, which reinforces the impression (but is understandable due to the supercharger). However, if you really drive hard the car has such a high limit range that this just does not really make sense for me in outside of a track. That is to say: The GT4 is clearly the faster car and if I were to drive it mainly on the track, then the GT4 would be my first choice. But if I want to have fun outside the track, then it is the Lotus, which gave me personally more pleasure, even if the chassis of the GT4 and especially the turn-in behavior of the GT4 was better. Steering I didnt feel a real difference in the two vehicles, although several reviews described that the steering of the Emira is superior to the Cayman ... Since I really only listened to my inner sense of fun, I was then unfortunately somewhat disappointed due to the high expectations compared to the Lotus. The Emira was the clear winner in the fun departement!
Even though I liked the Emira very much, there is one caveat that really bugs me. The published laptimes for the Emira so far are really bad to be honest. There are two Laptimes published so far. German Magazin on Lausitzring and Italian Magazin on Varaino Testtrack and both times are very underwhelming compared to other cars. On Lausitzring the car was slower then a Supra and on the italian Track the Emira was slower than a Yaris GR…
I know tracktimes shouldnt be that important or matter that much when the car made fun on the streets but I just cant get my head around it. What do you guys think about it? Dont you think its a big deal having a car looking like a supercar but being slower then a Toyota Yaris…?
thanks, really looking forward to your opinions
cheers
I am new here, located in switzerland and looking for a new mid engine sportscar. I was looking at the 981/718Gt4 and the Emira, which I think just looks great and I have always been a Lotus fan. I testdrove the Emira and the GT4 and would like to share my impressions (yes I know the direct competitor would be the GTS 4.0 and not the GT4):
Brief background so you can place this right: I had a Cayman R from 2016-2018 and also drove various other vehicles sporadically on the track, but I have never driven a Porsche GT vehicle until now. I also drove the Exige S V6 at the time, but it was too spartan for me and felt too much like a tinker's shack (sorry, is that the right expression
). Since the 981 GT4 was introduced, that was kind of a dream car for me. Even though I have always been a Lotus fan. Because of family, children etc. it never came true until now. Now I wanted to tackle the matter again, and the 718 GT4 has always excited me too. However, I have never driven either of the two cars.Well, I approached the matter with an open mind and wanted to drive the Emira as well, because I like it visually very much, but secretly the GT4 was my favorite. I was able to drive the Emira V6 only for about 40 min and the 718 GT4 for about 1h. My impressions are the following:
EMIRA:
When I finally drove a manual again after x years, it was really a revelation. I had so much fun with the car that I was partly just laughing. Pure joy. Visually outside and also inside (!) for MY taste very nicely done. Everything solid and high quality, nothing creaks, nothing looks cheap, really good. The electric seats electric of course a shame and no comparison to the buckets in the GT4.
The sound was very good and very present. Maybe partly artificial with the crackles, but I still liked it very much. I also really like the supercharger noise and the punch of the engine is really good in my opinion. The car certainly is not overpowered, but runs quite well I would say- The manual transmission is not as precise as in the GT4, but feels more mechanical, it takes more force to engage the gears. Shifting is not as fast as in the GT4 though. The clutch pedal was also a little (not much) firmer then the GT4s. The car makes a very "aggressive" driving impression - sound combined with the engine characteristics. The response is very good thanks to the supercharger and as mentioned there is always enough punch. When you get off the pedal after full throttle, you really nod forward when the boost stops. The suspension is sporty (it was the sport version, not the tour version) but not too harsh. The only thing I didn't like as much was the turn-in response. To me it felt slightly undefined and a bit spongy, if I can put it that way, even more so compared to the GT4. But it was the Goodyear tires mounted and not the Cup 2. The different driving modes are especially noticeable in the sound and the flap exhaust. Visually, the car is very striking. I had a lot of fun and got out with a huge grin on my face. For me a very emotional car. Even if I know that it is an old Toyota engine, I can not really say anything bad about it.
GT4:
I was honestly of the opinion that if I had so much fun in the Lotus, the GT4 will blow me away, because its clearly the faster and more precise car, which has already shown various tests, where the Lotus itself against the GTS 4.0 has actually always (just) drawn the short straw. But contrary to my expectations for ME personally felt not the case. And I can tell you exactly why I liked the Emira better then the GT4: Because of the extremely long gear ratios, you never really have to shift at all, unlike the Lotus, and of course you always have to keep the naturally aspirated engine revving. If you don't want to stand with one foot in jail, you can't really go beyond 2nd gear (in CH --> from 100 km/h on you should lift your foot slowly, otherwise it's gonna get expensive...) and if you are in 3rd or even 4th gear, the punch is simply missing. It feels like the GT4 has less punch in the mid-range than the Lotus, which reinforces the impression (but is understandable due to the supercharger). However, if you really drive hard the car has such a high limit range that this just does not really make sense for me in outside of a track. That is to say: The GT4 is clearly the faster car and if I were to drive it mainly on the track, then the GT4 would be my first choice. But if I want to have fun outside the track, then it is the Lotus, which gave me personally more pleasure, even if the chassis of the GT4 and especially the turn-in behavior of the GT4 was better. Steering I didnt feel a real difference in the two vehicles, although several reviews described that the steering of the Emira is superior to the Cayman ... Since I really only listened to my inner sense of fun, I was then unfortunately somewhat disappointed due to the high expectations compared to the Lotus. The Emira was the clear winner in the fun departement!
Even though I liked the Emira very much, there is one caveat that really bugs me. The published laptimes for the Emira so far are really bad to be honest. There are two Laptimes published so far. German Magazin on Lausitzring and Italian Magazin on Varaino Testtrack and both times are very underwhelming compared to other cars. On Lausitzring the car was slower then a Supra and on the italian Track the Emira was slower than a Yaris GR…
I know tracktimes shouldnt be that important or matter that much when the car made fun on the streets but I just cant get my head around it. What do you guys think about it? Dont you think its a big deal having a car looking like a supercar but being slower then a Toyota Yaris…?
thanks, really looking forward to your opinions
cheers
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