I read a lot from prospective buyers asking how reliable is the Emira and what problems they should look out for. The purpose of this post is to illustrate what I feel is an edge case for the amount of problems the Emira can have, while at the same time being perfectly happy with my driving experience and feeling little impact to ownership.
1. I have an AMG I4
2. I think I am in the upper 1% of owners based on the number of issues I have had, I don't think my car is a lemon but it's had more issues than the general consensus so this is not ordinary.
3. Strangely I don't "feel" like I have an issue prone car, probably because my dealer and service department make it feel painless...also a function of my usage of the car and schedule.
Overall the Emira I would rate as having an average number of issues for a niche sports car, and above average in issues compared to a normal car like a Camry or your garden variety SUV. For other comparison my Model X Plaid had 4 dealer visits while my Model 3 Performance has had 0.
Compared to some previous sports cars it is on par with overall issues and maintenance:
Elise: 2 blown Toyota engines, 1 transmission blown, many electrical issues, everything else was user induced meaning my mods created problems that were later fixed...but there many issues with the stock car - eventually went full Motec and Honda K and then was bullet proof
Alfa Romeo 4C: replaced transmission due to known problems, everything else was user induced (methanol injection tuning, replaced suspension with aftermarket, custom engine tuning, etc.)
2024 I4 First Edition Emira:
Dealer warranty work that was all covered from Lotus (Galpin also has it's own 10 year warranty coverage on top):
1. rear deck lid lock needed adjustment to open and lock properly
2. Lotus TSB various dealer software updates (1st DCT update, telematics, etc.)
3. dash and chassis creaking noises (solved by dealer but is a very common issue that has known solutions depending on the exact source of the creaking)
4. Lotus TSB replaced thermostat as prevention for possible contamination in cooling system (Mercedes issue: dealer flushed cooling system and replaced thermostat as prevention)
5. AC evap temp sensor replaced (known AC issue, complete front end is taken off for the HVAC module to be replaced)
6. steering pump ground wire relocated (in the front of the car the ground wire was never attached properly so had power steering drop outs, dealer relocated ground wire to a better point on the chassis)
7. lotus TSB replaced rear tail light harness (affects V6 and AMG) (there are now two rounds of rear light harness fixes, mine is currently getting the latest one installed right now)
All this dealer warranty work happened very quickly once parts arrived (sometimes took days to come from UK) and was always offered a loaner car, but most of it always lined up with my own travel so I would drop the car off and work was done while I was away. I'm also maybe not a typical buyer in that I am extremely comfortable with the expectation the car will be down with issues since I am generally messing a lot with the car. The point here is that if you do have any issues having a solid dealer and service center are the most important thing in your Emira ownership. This is true more so for a Lotus than other makes. However, I don't feel this many problems are common for other Emira owners and especially AMG version owners.
Self Induced Mods/Pain/Issues:
1. Decided to cut the RPM wire into the DSP to get rid of the fake engine noise, because I decided to install a fancy sound system (all sorts of issues here)
2. Had exhaust valve codes and issues into limp mode when changing exhaust from Aerie titanium (highly recommend) to Mach5 straight pipe (dealer fixed codes and solved valve issues - also Milltek controller can prevent all these issues *also love Mach5 it transforms the car)
3. Sports cat gives various lean or rich codes - sensor spacers didn't really solve based on the driving mode.
So despite the list of issues, when I am in town I almost always have my car for what I use it for and that's weekend canyon drives. Most of the issues happened in the first 3-6 months of ownership so I feel if you buy a used one some of these things don't develop later long term it's more short to midterm. Dealer tells me the most common issues are the dash creaking sounds and some part of the AC going bad, usually the AC evap temp sensor. Most common meaning 4-6 cars of the total they have sold which I don't have sales figures, but somewhere between 50-100 I would imagine? So if you're browsing and trying the find reliability threads and information I would say if you have a dealer near you and you meet the service staff and you trust them, then I wouldn't hesitate. I've had issues but I feel like I always have my car and drive it all the time. This is 100% a function of having a great dealer near me. Otherwise I suspect the vast majority of owners don't have any big issues, and the majority of your experience will be getting a random CEL that you clear with your scanner and determine if it's a big deal or not (usually not). @docron has the exact same spec of car down to the Inokinetic tune and has absolutely zero issues with his car so YMMV. I recently took her up to car week in NorCal and had a blast so no issues with long distance trips, the car is so fast and so fun -
1. I have an AMG I4
2. I think I am in the upper 1% of owners based on the number of issues I have had, I don't think my car is a lemon but it's had more issues than the general consensus so this is not ordinary.
3. Strangely I don't "feel" like I have an issue prone car, probably because my dealer and service department make it feel painless...also a function of my usage of the car and schedule.
Overall the Emira I would rate as having an average number of issues for a niche sports car, and above average in issues compared to a normal car like a Camry or your garden variety SUV. For other comparison my Model X Plaid had 4 dealer visits while my Model 3 Performance has had 0.
Compared to some previous sports cars it is on par with overall issues and maintenance:
Elise: 2 blown Toyota engines, 1 transmission blown, many electrical issues, everything else was user induced meaning my mods created problems that were later fixed...but there many issues with the stock car - eventually went full Motec and Honda K and then was bullet proof
Alfa Romeo 4C: replaced transmission due to known problems, everything else was user induced (methanol injection tuning, replaced suspension with aftermarket, custom engine tuning, etc.)
2024 I4 First Edition Emira:
Dealer warranty work that was all covered from Lotus (Galpin also has it's own 10 year warranty coverage on top):
1. rear deck lid lock needed adjustment to open and lock properly
2. Lotus TSB various dealer software updates (1st DCT update, telematics, etc.)
3. dash and chassis creaking noises (solved by dealer but is a very common issue that has known solutions depending on the exact source of the creaking)
4. Lotus TSB replaced thermostat as prevention for possible contamination in cooling system (Mercedes issue: dealer flushed cooling system and replaced thermostat as prevention)
5. AC evap temp sensor replaced (known AC issue, complete front end is taken off for the HVAC module to be replaced)
6. steering pump ground wire relocated (in the front of the car the ground wire was never attached properly so had power steering drop outs, dealer relocated ground wire to a better point on the chassis)
7. lotus TSB replaced rear tail light harness (affects V6 and AMG) (there are now two rounds of rear light harness fixes, mine is currently getting the latest one installed right now)
All this dealer warranty work happened very quickly once parts arrived (sometimes took days to come from UK) and was always offered a loaner car, but most of it always lined up with my own travel so I would drop the car off and work was done while I was away. I'm also maybe not a typical buyer in that I am extremely comfortable with the expectation the car will be down with issues since I am generally messing a lot with the car. The point here is that if you do have any issues having a solid dealer and service center are the most important thing in your Emira ownership. This is true more so for a Lotus than other makes. However, I don't feel this many problems are common for other Emira owners and especially AMG version owners.
Self Induced Mods/Pain/Issues:
1. Decided to cut the RPM wire into the DSP to get rid of the fake engine noise, because I decided to install a fancy sound system (all sorts of issues here)
2. Had exhaust valve codes and issues into limp mode when changing exhaust from Aerie titanium (highly recommend) to Mach5 straight pipe (dealer fixed codes and solved valve issues - also Milltek controller can prevent all these issues *also love Mach5 it transforms the car)
3. Sports cat gives various lean or rich codes - sensor spacers didn't really solve based on the driving mode.
So despite the list of issues, when I am in town I almost always have my car for what I use it for and that's weekend canyon drives. Most of the issues happened in the first 3-6 months of ownership so I feel if you buy a used one some of these things don't develop later long term it's more short to midterm. Dealer tells me the most common issues are the dash creaking sounds and some part of the AC going bad, usually the AC evap temp sensor. Most common meaning 4-6 cars of the total they have sold which I don't have sales figures, but somewhere between 50-100 I would imagine? So if you're browsing and trying the find reliability threads and information I would say if you have a dealer near you and you meet the service staff and you trust them, then I wouldn't hesitate. I've had issues but I feel like I always have my car and drive it all the time. This is 100% a function of having a great dealer near me. Otherwise I suspect the vast majority of owners don't have any big issues, and the majority of your experience will be getting a random CEL that you clear with your scanner and determine if it's a big deal or not (usually not). @docron has the exact same spec of car down to the Inokinetic tune and has absolutely zero issues with his car so YMMV. I recently took her up to car week in NorCal and had a blast so no issues with long distance trips, the car is so fast and so fun -
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