Who has had a Test Drive , score from 1 to 10

Score your test drive from 1 to 10


  • Total voters
    116
Just came back from the test drive.
The car was pretty great overall I would give it a 9.
Fast, excellant steering, nice exhaust and super charger sound. I liked the shifter feel it is mechanical.
The fit and finish was not perfect, the rear bumper and hatch were out of alignment. (hopefully this will get better)
Interior was nice, seats were comfortable, felt well put together.
The car made weird sound in reverse while I was making a 3 point turn, could that be a Lotus thing?
 
Ive driven it only on track, but for longer than most test drives and faster than all I would say...and a preproduction car at that.....

Not to split hairs, but I'd be giving a 7.5, its certainly not a 10 in anyone's eyes, not even Harry's...come on, whats a 10 anywhere, it doesn't exist IMO.

Will probably get a full days drive within a couple of weeks, that may make a difference.
Reasoning for my score, its not lightning quick, interior quality is 7/10, screens, info ent. is not up to par, gear change is average, but its fun, handles well and its cool looking, if not, its not getting close to a 7.5.
 
I put my breakdown in the test drive review megathread, but the short answer is the engine isn't on par with the rest of the car. It's far from terrible. But the engine is a good bit away from a 10.
Agreed. For me, an 8. Was hoping for a little more theater. Noticed a couple of fit and finish items that were sub-par, but I think that’s more as I was driving a demo, rather than customer car.
 
I’ve not had a test drive yet , but back in the day when I bought a new F355 the sentiment was , “ you have bought the engine the rest of the car comes free “ during many years of ownership I came to understand how true this was , the fit and finish was mostly very good , but didn’t age well , the focus was all on that fantastic 3.5 Ltr 5 valve flat plane high revving V8 , in fact screaming V8 with a later capristio fitted , the driving experience was the gated shifter and the shrilling V8 .
Is it so , that the engine and the shifter are the weakest elements of Emira ?
we all agree the Emira looks fantastic for the price , but I’m sure no one will disagree the F355 is sublime evolution at any price and one of the best looking sports cars ever created .
while I have always looked to new cars to be a better evolution of the older , this is not always so , I own a Porsche 987 3.4 RS60 manual and a 718 4.0 25 (basically a GTS), PDK , 13 years between them , the RS60 is the far better driving experience , lacking some mod cons ,and 70 bhp, but they matter not when screaming that 3.4 flat six through the sublime gearshift to 8k .
so what does this tell us? , look to the old for better driving experience, or pay new money for not such an engaging experience ?or in the case of lotus , new money for older tech , but not so engaging driving experience.
I am reserving my personal opinion until I have a test drive .
 
Personally I drove the emira and the drive was not long enough.
8
Pedal placement
did not find any deal breaking details.
It will be a very fun car to own and drive.
 
Everybody who drove the demo cars that were not final production spec: I think these might have had the old gearbox setup from the Evora/Exige generation. In my Emira the gearshift is 15-20% improved to my Evora GT430. And I did 20.000km in it so far so I believe I know what it feels like. Emira is easier to shift and more precise. 1st is easier to engage and 2nd to 3rd flows better, same 4th to 5th. Also a little bit less force necessary. But: The famous gearbox noise is very present at low revs.
 
Everybody who drove the demo cars that were not final production spec: I think these might have had the old gearbox setup from the Evora/Exige generation. In my Emira the gearshift is 15-20% improved to my Evora GT430. And I did 20.000km in it so far so I believe I know what it feels like. Emira is easier to shift and more precise. 1st is easier to engage and 2nd to 3rd flows better, same 4th to 5th. Also a little bit less force necessary. But: The famous gearbox noise is very present at low revs.
Can you capture this low rev gearbox sound? Trying to get an idea of what I’m in for.
 
Everybody who drove the demo cars that were not final production spec: I think these might have had the old gearbox setup from the Evora/Exige generation. In my Emira the gearshift is 15-20% improved to my Evora GT430. And I did 20.000km in it so far so I believe I know what it feels like. Emira is easier to shift and more precise. 1st is easier to engage and 2nd to 3rd flows better, same 4th to 5th. Also a little bit less force necessary. But: The famous gearbox noise is very present at low revs.
Thank you @hml_xy !

Your Emira experiences and insights, plus comparisons to the GT430 are invaluable!
 
10

it's a 10. I dont think anyone on here really road races. It is not meant for a track car or a leisure toy. It is a beautiful juvenile beast. It is meant for crap roads, horrible traffic conditions, evading morons, enduring sort of speed demon. It is quite fast too. I cannot imagine anyone using more power on the street in such a particular package. Someone will put +100 hp on this of course, and that will be kind of fun, but just silly.

This sucker sticks like glue. I am blown away.
 
I‘ve had a test drive. I think it depends on what kind of car you compare it with. Let's ignore the shape of EMIRA, just talk about the hadling and power and excitement ect. I'll give 9 score if compare with supra. I'll give 7 score compare with Ferarri 458.
 
Just came back from the test drive.
The car was pretty great overall I would give it a 9.
Fast, excellant steering, nice exhaust and super charger sound. I liked the shifter feel it is mechanical.
The fit and finish was not perfect, the rear bumper and hatch were out of alignment. (hopefully this will get better)
Interior was nice, seats were comfortable, felt well put together.
The car made weird sound in reverse while I was making a 3 point turn, could that be a Lotus thing?
I thought this kind of alignment issue was supposed to be impossible with Lotus new state of the art laser QC measuring machine etc???
At very least someone should be eyeballing each car before it leaves.
And IF they are just chucking demos out to get them out that speaks volumes also 😕 I don't get it
Edit: Just seen you are in USA and could have been in one of the pre production cars
 

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