Post a pic of the car you replaced with your Emira! And impressions too.

[kertong]

(listen to that glorious ford: )

My car prior to my Emira - a 2009 Elise, sport pack, exige seats, and I had a sonic fury DE on it. Loved it, this was probably my 4th Elise.

Had an Aston Martin VH series V8 Vantage GT before this, and a Isotope Green Elise before that! Mostly Lotii and Porsche (981 Spyder, 991 Carrera S, 992 Carrera 4S that I hated).

Impressions: I loved Elises for the uncompromised, raw, driving-feel-above-all-else approach. But I must be getting old - I feel like the Emira gives me 80% of the "feel" of the Elise, but with 20% of the compromises/discomfort. Weirdly, driving the Emira, I find myself really enjoying the carplay system, the comfy seats, and not losing a tooth filling when hitting an expansion joint or bott dot. I do miss the manual steering rack, and just how small and tossable the car is, but the Emira, for what you get in exchange, is a fair trade off, imo. I could drive the Emira for hours and enjoy every minute of it - the Elise, after a couple hours I'm aching and needing a break. Whenever I drove the Elise from LA to SF and reverse, I'd smoke a few cigarettes every 2 hours when gassing up that tiny tank just to calm my nerves (I'm not normally a smoker, haha!). Also a huge perk of the Emira is a nice engine/exhaust note; the Elise's 4 banger drove me nuts, no matter what exhaust I had on it!

Interestingly - while I grew up thinking the Aston Martin's were for "old people" who wanted to cruise, and was a posh and plush, heavy tourer; the V8 Vantage I had was surprisingly raw. Visceral. Best steering feel I've had in a power-assisted rack (either that or the 996 GT3; but I might go out on a limb and say it's a smidge better than the Emira's). That rawness and stiff/flex-free chassis, coupled with a squeak/rattle free interior that felt like it was carved out of granite, was a really interesting combination and made for a very cool and unique driving experience. But the best part was the infinity doors - the doors stay wherever you place it, no detents or positions to set it in so it doesn't fall closed on your shin. Wish every car had this.

The Emira to me, feels like taking the comfort and tour-ability of the Aston, while injecting it with a dose of Lotus light-touch handling, feel, and playfulness.


Ok, show me what you've got! Curious on everyone else's automotive backgrounds.

 

[brainf18]

904 Tribute and Evora GT. Down sized so only room for one "fun" car

 

[SteveFromNY]

I planned to replace my low mileage WRX (bought new in 2004), but I’m going to keep both. The suby is quicker and feels more raw and old school- and I just can’t stand the thought of the suby going to someone else!

 

[cyanmauve]

904 Tribute and Evora GT. Down sized so only room for one "fun" car

Tell us more about the 904!

 

[GetawayDriving]

I’m not sure if this counts, because it was stolen in 2022. But it was my only car, and Emira will be the follow up.

However when I placed a deposit in 2021, my life was very different. I had a 2 door Wrangler, ND Miata and Model 3 Performance. I was trying to transition to a garage of a Wrangler 4XE (essentially consolidating the Model 3 and Wrangler) and Emira, would more directly replace the MX-5.

But now I no longer have a need for a daily, and have lived without a car for 2 years.

That’s makes the Emira a car I want rather than a car I need, and the last car I bought with that criteria was the Miata.

 

[Bilbao-Emira]

Aston Martin DB9 2007, Range Rover Sport SVR 2016 and Lotus Evora GT410 Sport 2019

The three of them replaced by Bentley Continental GT Speed and Lotus Emira V6 Auto

Very happy with the replacement, perfect GT car on the Bentley, and fun car the Emira.
I am missing the SVR though, and will think of something similar for next year

 

[brainf18]

Tell us more about the 904!

 

[scc.131.fe]

Wow....

 

[JAhmed]

I planned to replace my low mileage WRX (bought new in 2004), but I’m going to keep both. The suby is quicker and feels more raw and old school- and I just can’t stand the thought of the suby going to someone else!

View attachment 44336

Man...lovely car. I will never forget the first time I saw one of the 2004 STi in WRB on Long Island when they were brand new. License plate was "STIMUL8". Was 17 at the time, that was my dream car for a long long time. Seems like the blob eye and hawk eye WRX/STi are harder and harder to find as clean as yours these days. I'd hold onto that thing forever!!!

 

[Blackthought_]

Replaced my Evora GT

 

[kertong]

Man...lovely car. I will never forget the first time I saw one of the 2004 STi in WRB on Long Island when they were brand new. License plate was "STIMUL8". Was 17 at the time, that was my dream car for a long long time. Seems like the blob eye and hawk eye WRX/STi are harder and harder to find as clean as yours these days. I'd hold onto that thing forever!!!

WRX has an interesting spot in my automotive history as well. My first introduction to speed was through a high school best friend's 1987 Grand National in the late 90s; so naturally I got hooked to straightline speed and torque. All throughout college I worked a part time job and saved my pennies, and instead of studying, I fantasized and read about my then dream car, an LT1 f-body camaro z/28. Finally got one with a six speed in 2000 or so (a used 1995 z28 6spd for $16k), and I was so damn proud of the thing. V8, torque, destroying rice rockets, and all that stupid stuff.

Come 2001, a close friend of mine gets a silver bugeye WRX. "Ah, typical ricer import", I thought; but I got a ride in it and I remember coming away bothered that it felt so damn torquey, launched so hard, and was as nimble as a fly in comparison to my z28 lead sled!!

I resented these cars for a while, haha. When the '01 bugeye came to the US, only now in retrospect do I appreciate what a big disruption to the status quo it was.

 

[seriously]

WRX has an interesting spot in my automotive history as well. My first introduction to speed was through a high school best friend's 1987 Grand National in the late 90s; so naturally I got hooked to straightline speed and torque. All throughout college I worked a part time job and saved my pennies, and instead of studying, I fantasized and read about my then dream car, an LT1 f-body camaro z/28. Finally got one with a six speed in 2000 or so (a used 1995 z28 6spd for $16k), and I was so damn proud of the thing. V8, torque, destroying rice rockets, and all that stupid stuff.

Come 2001, a close friend of mine gets a silver bugeye WRX. "Ah, typical ricer import", I thought; but I got a ride in it and I remember coming away bothered that it felt so damn torquey, launched so hard, and was as nimble as a fly in comparison to my z28 lead sled!!

I resented these cars for a while, haha. When the '01 bugeye came to the US, only now in retrospect do I appreciate what a big disruption to the status quo it was.

Wow - from z28 to lotus Emira. That’s quite the automotive journey! Seems you’ve seen the light.

 

[fnkdrspok]

Replaced?!

 

[Blackthought_]

Replaced?!

View attachment 44430

Nice! How’s the Supra compare?

 

[fnkdrspok]

Nice! How’s the Supra compare?

Well, easy answer, they are night and day.

But to elaborate, driving the Supra is almost like driving a fast luxury car where it assists you in a lot of ways, and it’s kinda smooth at top speeds. (I’m running 265/295 on lowered springs and struts). You hear the turbo and exhaust more with the Supra, you hear more of the engine with the Emira. The Supra is easier to drive, like your attention doesn’t have to be as focused as you do with the Emira.

Also, with the Emira, you really feel like you’re going fast when you’re doing it because you feel more of the road through the steering wheel. So you may not feel it as much in the butt dyno with the sport seats, but your hands feel EVERYTHING as I feel every adversion in the road via the wheel, not so much in the Supra.

Now, it also could be my setup, I’m running Cup2’s with the sports suspension. I have zero complaints.

 

[Racer X]

Three of my favorite “fun” cars that I’ve owned. Of these, the Carrera drove most like the Emira- albeit it was invisible to the public which meant I didn’t have to worry about taking it anywhere. The STi was the first one sold in my state, and it got as much attention when I drove it then as the Emira gets for me today. The Miata was the most fun car I’ve ever owned, hands down.

 

[kertong]

Wow - from z28 to lotus Emira. That’s quite the automotive journey! Seems you’ve seen the light.

Yes - I tell my friends that driving a friend's 1991 Acura NSX on a windy road was the closest thing I've ever had to a religious experience. I was driving a 2004 Corvette Z06 at the time, and to actually feel like my hands were mind melded to the front wheels themselves, feeling everything, and also feeling like I was physically moving the front with my hands; what a joyful feeling. I had never had so much fun driving on proper roads like this before and it completely turned my automotive priorities upside down.

Getting back in the C5Z after that drive, I had a sinking feeling in my heart as I instantly knew the car was forever ruined. Driving it home, it felt like the front of the car was floating off of the road, and the steering wheel felt huge like a yacht haha!

I did eventually end up owning a couple NSX'es but while they were all a delight to drive, the upkeep was a huge nightmare. Yes, they are hondas and for the most part they're reliable; but once something breaks, oh boy. Parts are no longer made - the throttle cable on my '91 snapped once, and it took over a month to get it replaced as the shop had to send pieces of the cable to a motorcycle company to have a replica fabbed up. A rare fuse in a window switch blew and we had to source junkyards to find a replacement. Same for broken window glass. Made it awful to drive with any peace of mind, I was constantly worrying about it.

But - the Emira today, is spiritually amazingly close to that NSX. Especially the low beltline on the front and sides, which I love (didn't get as much a pronounced feeling on a 2014 Evora 2+2 my wife had)!

 

[KCMO68_510]

Still hurts a little to know that I let this one go...

 

[SteveFromNY]

Man...lovely car. I will never forget the first time I saw one of the 2004 STi in WRB on Long Island when they were brand new. License plate was "STIMUL8". Was 17 at the time, that was my dream car for a long long time. Seems like the blob eye and hawk eye WRX/STi are harder and harder to find as clean as yours these days. I'd hold onto that thing forever!!!

Thanks! I just hit 80k miles, it was always a weekend car for me and I baby if.

 

[trackday14]

My third Elise, but the best one…

The only thing the Elise does better is steering.