Emira First Impression

It’s been said you only get one chance to make a first impression and when the opportunity came in the form of a driving session using our good friend’s recently purchased Lotus Emira, well, we were indeed impressed.

Now, I must point out that my friend, Mr. Neil Young is not the popular rock star, Neil Young, although they share the same name. My friend is a retired pharmacist who is also involved in motorsports and other auto-related activities, and I’ve had the pleasure of knowing him for many years and we’ve shared experiences both on and off the racetrack.

When asked if I’d like to accompany him to take delivery of his brand-new Emira from a local Lotus dealership, I didn’t have to be asked twice!

I must explain that although I don’t own one of founder Colin Chapman’s creations, the Lotus marque and I have a long-standing relationship. I learned to drive in my late brother’s 1966 Lotus Elan, as well as in his 1966 Super Seven and together we spent many delightful hours tooling around the countryside and through city streets in his cars. He was a die-hard Lotus aficionado, and these experiences left me with a soft spot and an affinity for these lightweight, minimalist and generally rewarding vehicles. Now, I know what many are thinking, that the word “Lotus” actually stands for “Lots Of Trouble Usually Serious”, but in my experience this has not been the case. While I’ll admit these things most certainly have their foibles and peculiarities, once you are aware of how the things work, they’re not any less reliable than any other sportscar. With that said, I also must agree that Colin’s early efforts at building cars often led to a vehicle with a decidedly “homebuilt” presentation, and seeing as some of his early vehicles were often sold as kits, the quality of fit and finish was often variable to say the least. Now, however, with my introduction to the Emira, I feel that at last, Lotus has finally built a real, honest-to-goodness grown-up car!

My first impression was a bit of a revelation—approaching the car for the first time, I noticed something I’d not seen on most Lotii in the past… the shut lines between the doors, hood, trunk and other panels were all small and consistent. The paint finish appeared flawless, and the glass and trimmings were all installed with an exactness I wasn’t expecting. Could it be that the powers that be at Lotus had finally addressed their quality control issues? Wow!

Then, while Neil was getting some instructions from the dealer’s rep, I happened to look inside and once again I was taken aback. The interior looked fantastic! Proper materials stitched together with care and class. The seats looked comfortable and when I sat in them… they were! Wow again! This is becoming a bit much! The well-laid-out instrument panel along with the various switches and controls also seemed to be of a high order and generally well thought out. My mind flashed back to the days of my early driving lessons in my late brother’s old Elan. The delicate, almost fragile steering wheel, the diminutive pedals and the various rattles and squeaks were the things I remembered about that car, and they were all conspicuously absent in this latest Lotus.

Now, I have heard that some folks were done a dirty deed by Lotus. Apparently, they put their hard-earned cash down to reserve a car and were promised a certain delivery time, only to find out their cars were commandeered to fill orders for “preferred dealers”, and the delivery of their vehicles was now pushed back while Lotus slotted another spot in on the assembly line. From what I’ve heard and read, this has left a very bad taste in the mouth pf many who lusted after one of these cars and some orders were cancelled. While I can’t condone any of these broken promises or a “bait and switch” type of maneuver, sometimes adjustments to deliveries must be made to satisfy the majority. It seems there was more of a demand than originally planned for and keeping some high-volume dealers happy took precedence. With that said, however, when some people asked where their car was and inquiries were made, apparently all that came from Lotus was silence. This was irresponsible and just plain sloppy, it’s obvious Lotus could have done themselves and their customers a big favour by being more forthcoming about the situation. Anyway, so much for customer service and corporate damage-control, in this article, we’re going to focus on the car itself.

The Emira is a two-seat mid-engined GT car that is available with either a turbocharged inline 4-cylinder engine derived from a Mercedes/AMG lump or a supercharged V6 engine and drivetrain sourced from Toyota. Both versions are quick, but the V6 is available with either an automatic or a proper, 3-pedal manual 6-speed and the i4 only comes with a flappy-paddle automatic. There is an interesting fact, however. While the 4-cylinder version is cheaper to buy and easier in traffic, apparently, it’s faster and more “tunable” for more power. Hmmm. Nonetheless, the car we’re looking at here is the V6 manual-box version.

My friend, Neil bought it because it’s a true 3-pedal manual (rapidly becoming a rarity these days) the power from the V6 is more than adequate and there’s that reliability factor; as opposed to a possibly grenade-tuned Mercedes/AMG unit, it’s Toyota, so what’s not to like? Seeing as we’re not chasing down absolute record-beating track lap times, the V6 with the 6-speed manual is definitely the most fun for the sportscar purist, both when doing spirited drives on country roads and when used for out and out track days. Besides, we all know those people who prefer flappy-paddle automatics aren’t really driving, they’re just pointing and steering, right?

So, as for the driving part, I found the Emira to be reasonably light and responsive and quite precise. The shifter may be a bit clunky to some, but it’s certainly better than my 1965 MGB! The handling did not disappoint. Although this car didn’t have the banzai track-package suspension bits, it still held the twisty parts of the country road we were on with great ease. Even the bumpy, uneven parts presented no issues and the car behaved with great aplomb! I did notice one particular party-trick that made me chuckle. When looking in the rear-view mirror out through the engine compartment, there’s a linkage/actuator/pop-off gizmo that’s hooked up somehow to the throttle. It has something to do with the supercharger pop-off valve? Anyway, when you jump on the loud pedal, this gizmo flicks back and forth, not directly in sync with the throttle, but in various, different positions and speeds when power is applied. For some reason I found it quite entertaining. I guess small things amuse small minds, eh?

Anyway, the car has more than enough oomph and we could easily exceed the prescribed speed limits without even noticing. Paying attention to the speedometer is definitely something that will save money on public roads.