Speculation: FE I4 will have 400HP and 480NM?

[PaperLawyer]

PS my only experience of paddles is my wife's diesel X1 and there is zero appeal to using the paddles in that car. Chalk and cheese with my high revving S2000.

 

[TomE]

No one knows the I4 FE will be cheaper. No one has this info.

I was told by senior Lotus staff that my hunch of the V6 being a £5-7k premium over the i4, in either First Edition or Base Edition spec, was reasonably accurate.

But it's not official and there are clearly inflationary pressures across the industry. The £60k figure announced last year for a bare bones i4 Base Edition may not be the case when they announce pricing. Inflation may erode the differential between the FEs but I'd be very surprised if the i4 FE is more expensive than the V6 FE.

 

[ADC]

However, going with the i4 you'll be missing out on the more fun to drive, more driver focused, driver involving and driver engaging experience.
I personally want to drive the car, not the car drive me.
They've actually done surveys and discovered that the majority of people who buy cars with automatic transmissions, with paddles to shift gears, very rarely use the paddles, and basically keep the transmission in Drive.
Boring experience to me.
I mean for 98% of us the Emira is going to be a second or third car, so why not make it a really fun drivers car.
LOTUS="FOR THE DRIVERS"
This video explains my point well.

You keep bringing this up again and again... we get it, you have nothing but contempt for the i4+DCT drivetrain. Do you have to keep throwing shade, or offering up strawman "facts", as if speccing the i4 won't make it fun to drive, or a "driver's car"? Is your objective to make us realise the error of our ways and change our orders to a V6 manual? 🤷‍♂️

EDIT: changed "DSG" to "DCT"... had VAG on the brain.

 

[FederGigant]

@ADC Some persons just have a very strong opinion on certain things. Mostly they have a strong opinion on everything. And they are always right of course. So shame on you for choosing a high end state of the art powertrain!

 

[Nova]

I was told by senior Lotus staff that my hunch of the V6 being a £5-7k premium over the i4, in either First Edition or Base Edition spec, was reasonably accurate.

But it's not official and there are clearly inflationary pressures across the industry. The £60k figure announced last year for a bare bones i4 Base Edition may not be the case when they announce pricing. Inflation may erode the differential between the FEs but I'd be very surprised if the i4 FE is more expensive than the V6 FE.

Was this recently confirmed to you? If so, that'd change my calculus.

I was under the impression that the V6 FE would cost more based on calculations back in September 2021 time frame. The China Emira being 400HP changed my assessment. But if you recently confirmed the lower price for the I4, then that's pretty solid info.

 

[Matthaus]

However, going with the i4 you'll be missing out on the more fun to drive, more driver focused, driver involving and driver engaging experience.
I personally want to drive the car, not the car drive me.
They've actually done surveys and discovered that the majority of people who buy cars with automatic transmissions, with paddles to shift gears, very rarely use the paddles, and basically keep the transmission in Drive.
Boring experience to me.
I mean for 98% of us the Emira is going to be a second or third car, so why not make it a really fun drivers car.
LOTUS="FOR THE DRIVERS"
This video explains my point well.

Actually the i4 is a DCT. It's technically not an auto. It has paddles to change gear, which are involving enough to be used exclusively on any hyper car and 99% of super cars for probably 10 years.

I don't think anyone would say a 488 Pista is not involving, for example.

Evo cars car of the year top 3s have been mostly DCT or auto for many years.

This year's winner was the M5 CS which has a torque converter auto.


I had an M240i with the zf8 and it was so damn good I didn't need to use the paddles.
When I swapped to the DCT M4 Comp after I found myself using them all the time on spirited runs and it was great fun.

Just because YOU think it is more fun to drive or more focused etc doesn't make it fact.

That 98% number is also nonsense, many people new to the brand such as I will have it as a daily as we've finally been tempted away from the German rockets we've been driving now that Lotus have tried to lose the 'man in shed' interior.

 

[AP1]

The point about the Emira being an individual's second or third car for 98% of owners is an interesting one. That may have been the case for the vast majority of owners of the more compromised (from a daily driver perspective) Lotus models. That is why I bought an S2000 twenty years ago, over an Elise. However, the Emira is a daily driver proposition, hence I have a deposit placed for the i4 and the S2000 was sold in the Summer of last year.

I suspect the Emira will be the primary car for a large proportion of drivers. Lotus needs to appeal to a wider audience and the Emira is the result.

I agree that the Emira will be more of a daily driver in comparison to the s2000. It’s really all dependent on climate etc but I can definitely see your point. IMO you should have held out on selling your s2000. I plan to sell one of mine to put towards the Emira when it comes time but will always keep my first.

 

[AlexB]

Inflation may erode the differential between the FEs.

Oh I hope not - the i4 being cheaper was feeling like a bit of a bargain to me.

 

[TomE]

Was this recently confirmed to you? If so, that'd change my calculus.

I was under the impression that the V6 FE would cost more based on calculations back in September 2021 time frame. The China Emira being 400HP changed my assessment. But if you recently confirmed the lower price for the I4, then that's pretty solid info.

It's never been "confirmed" but me proposing it gets the kind of reaction I'd call "you can say that and we can't possibly confirm or deny it ... wink wink". I've had that from three different senior Lotus people, at Goodwood last July, at UK dealer roadshow in September and during a chat in December.

Remember also the Base unoptioned i4 was announced as £59,995 when they announced the V6 FE price and they have also said the FE is about £15k of options for about £12k. So the maths simply doesn't work for V6 and i4 for First and Base versions if the i4 is more than V6.

 

[sslater006]

Not sure if this is old news but the brochure on the Lotus website says the i4 will have 360hp...?

 

[JPS_67]

Not sure if this is old news but the brochure on the Lotus website says the i4 will have 360hp...?

Besides the brochure and official news this forum brings on a whole new alternate reality with hints and speculations. Allthough a lot of it will turn out accurate in due time

 

[wallstbear]

I currently reside in china, and I would like to clarify some of the details about the engine.
It is most likely that the 3.5 v6 will not be imported to china.
instead the Chinese market will get a tuned i4 with 400hp and 480nm for their first edition
the price of this car will be 850,000 RMB in pounds that will be 90,000
these figures are off the official lotus site in china.
they have also claimed on the website that this first edition comes with a re-configured sports chassis, aswell as front and back ap racing breaks, and blistein shock absorbers.
I'm not sure if these are also standard with the normal version, but thats what the website says about the FE Emira
hope this helps!

480nm is nuts.

To put it in perspective, one of my all time favorite cars, the Zagato Vanquish Shooting Brake, has around 600nm of torque. But the Zagato is 1850lbs and costs 10-12 times more.

Ordered my 1rice2 in blue on tan in Mainland. Can't wait.

 

[Matthaus]

If it really does have 400bhp elsewhere, is there any chance Lotus will offer this as a cost option upgrade in the UK?

 

[Maverick1]

If you do any research the previous generation AMG A45 and A45S sound infinitely better than the current car for sale, because of noise restrictions gasoline particulate filters excetera something to think about.
This is why I'm opting for the Toyota V6, I want to hear the Glorious sound of that supercharged engine.
All turbocharged 4 cylinder engines on the planet sound pretty bad, due to the nature of the beast.
Add on a gasoline particulate filter and restrictive muffler and you get a very poor exhaust note.
That Grey Emira V6 press car sounds really good.
Go for the AMG i4 if you don't really care about the exhaust note, or rowing your own gears.

 

[Cachaco131]

PS my only experience of paddles is my wife's diesel X1 and there is zero appeal to using the paddles in that car. Chalk and cheese with my high revving S2000.

I hope you sold the S2000 for $200k like the one that sold recently on BaT!

 

[ADC]

If you do any research the previous generation AMG A45 and A45S sound infinitely better than the current car for sale, because of noise restrictions gasoline particulate filters excetera something to think about.
This is why I'm opting for the Toyota V6, I want to hear the Glorious sound of that supercharged engine.
All turbocharged 4 cylinder engines on the planet sound pretty bad, due to the nature of the beast.
Add on a gasoline particulate filter and restrictive muffler and you get a very poor exhaust note.
That Grey Emira V6 press car sounds really good.
Go for the AMG i4 if you don't really care about the exhaust note, or rowing your own gears.

Thanks for the fresh and interesting input. You forgot to mention that the i4 will be a soulless shopping trolley, will make you impotent, and will kill your dog.

 

[simonb]

There is nothing like the "bolt action rifle" feel of changing gear in a well set up manual car
unfortunately ANYTHING with a FWD transverse engine and box relocated in the trunk, and linked to the gearstick by a long remote control cable is nothing like that

 

[PaperLawyer]

I hope you sold the S2000 for $200k like the one that sold recently on BaT!

Mine had circa 117,000 miles on the clock, from memory, and so it sold for slightly less than that I intended to keep it (I had the car from new - 2002) but I was annoyed when I saw some rust bubbling on the sills, having had the rear arches repaired and the car resprayed a few years ago. So I took the most unflattering photos probably ever used and sold the car to the first viewer, the following weekend!

Loved the engine and gearbox on the car - it was only the steering feedback and and non-progressive handling which annoyed me. It was the car used by Nitron to design and build their S2000 dampers and I was given the full race version of the dampers, as a thank you - constantly twiddling settings at track days

 

[Mark.]

Anymore news from China re them getting 400hp whilst we are still expecting 360hp?

 

[kratedisease]

The EMIRA I4 turbo will absolute have 400HP, ...... for the 2026 model year....