Classic pearls of the future - Lotus Emira
03/12/2022
It is now almost nine months since Lotus presented its last sports car with a combustion engine, the Emira. At the time, we wrote a somewhat critical commentary on it because the typical lightness and compactness of the Emira had been somewhat lost.
In the meantime, Lotus has continued development and the first test drives with pre-production examples have been carried out. And it seems that Lotus is putting a really good car on the road with the Emira.
From the point of view of a classic car enthusiast, this sports car is important for several reasons: you can buy it with a manual gearbox, the electronic aids are there, but not in an excessive way. And the Lotus can still sing a really powerful six-cylinder song as long as the Toyota-designed V6 with supercharger is installed in front of the rear axle. Lotus will also build the Emira with the AMG 2-liter turbo engine, but then with an automatic direct-shift gearbox.
One can also come to terms with the dimensions of the Lotus Emira. Of course, at almost 1.9 meters wide, it is significantly more expansive than earlier Lotus models, but this is probably a tribute to modernity. On the other hand, the Emira is much more practical than its predecessors and this is also a quality. With a base price that is still just under five figures ("First Edition" from 95,995 euros), you can also accept the steering wheel, which is not quite aesthetically convincing, and in terms of styling, the Lotus does not fall behind even in a parking lot full of modern super sports cars. Only the 1.5 tons of weight are cause for concern, but it seems that this unexpected heaviness is hardly at the expense of agility.
So the stars are aligned well for the Lotus and the small team in Hethel can only be congratulated on the fact that they were able to do without hybrid elements and other modern bells and whistles in their last big project with a combustion engine. In any case, the climate impact of the few Emira cars that can be produced until its demise should be very manageable.
