Emira Road Tests & Reviews

[philcool]

Driven a GT4 and mighty good it was as for an Emira I've only sat in one 

[Rambo]

But it's a Porsche. Everyone's got one. You can buy one of those when you get to 70 😐

[r3nault]

^^ Funny picture angle above, makes it look like the Porsche had some crash damage!

Bit of an unfair comparison, IMO - GTS 4.0 is the more natural competitor to Emira. There will no doubt be a lighter weight, more powerful Emira (perhaps a 430 Cup or similar) which will compete head to head with GT4.

[Simon Bateman]

A friend has recently got a GT4. I spent a fair bit of time in the car a few months back and I have to say that I was impressed.

It's very well put together and looks great. In PDK option it's well into 3 secs 0-60.

There are posts on forums that suggest you can get on the allocation for these without much if any of a Porsche buying history and the prices for a sensibly optioned car are actually quite good.

I've not driven an Emira, but one specced with sports suspension and maybe on cup tyres, wouldnt be an unreasonable comparison IMO.

[mneil]

11 hours ago, philcool said:

Driven a GT4 and mighty good it was as for an Emira I've only sat in one 

Agree totally, a fantastic car, if only they would shorten the gearing! 

Almost went down the route of rpmtechnik modified diff to lower the gear ratios, but sold it and bought an Alpine A110. Fitted all the "Life" suspension mods and remap, Not looked back and yes I'm over 70😂.

[TomE]

19 hours ago, Woodman said:

Has anyone test driven the Emira and a GT4. I am expecting the Emira To be quieter and ‘softer’ than a GT4 and wonder if anyone has had a gt4 and driven theEmira?

There are some test drive write ups coming out of the US dealer tour.  They tend to have had a short drive (15-20 mins) and mostly urban roads but still some useful info.  A few people are coming from Porsches so making useful comparisons.  There's a thread over on one of the other forums.

[Evotion]

Sorry, the Gayman reminds me of the afterbirth of my first born...  no thanks. 😄

[blindside]

Of course everyone is fully entitled to their opinion @Evotion but that’s a pretty scathing comment. How much time have you had with a GT4? In my view in clubsport spec with the 918 buckets & carbon ceramics it is a fantastic drivers car & every bit as good (but different/not as raw as my Evora GT430). I’ve had them both out extensively on both road & track over the past 18 months. The GT4 is probably a better performer on tight technical tracks & is a very enjoyable road car to boot. 

[Matt W]

Yes, but the Emira looks fast, and your neighbours will think you bought a Ferrari (as might the RS3/A45 driver as they overtake…) 🤪

[NedaSay]

I love how the base Emira is compared to the top spec Cayman GT4.  I wonder what the top spec Emira R, that is int the pipeline, will be compared to in a few years time.

[Evotion]

13 hours ago, blindside said:

Of course everyone is fully entitled to their opinion @Evotion but that’s a pretty scathing comment. How much time have you had with a GT4? 

1 second to know I have never liked the looks - which is what I was talking about!

In every sports car way, it is a better car than the Emira. Dynamically brilliant. 

I just can't, and never have, gotten over the looks. I think it's because it is a really old design now and never looked good. It has presence though in GT4 guise.

 

Anyway, the GT4 is in no way comparable to the Emira really. The Emira is a heavy, for a reason, comfortable car focussed on all-round usability.

[blindside]

That’s a more balanced & helpful reply. Recent Porsche GT cars are all about functional ability; rather than attractive looks (form). They will never ever win a beauty contest, but that’s not the point (as you know).😉

[Beady]

So Porsche GT cars are the new Lotus for ability?

[blindside]

@BeadyI favour track oriented road cars that are challenging and rewarding to drive in equal measure. Lots of ‘sensory overload’ and the minimum of cabin & driver assist clutter. I’m an ICE diehard and intend to make the most of what’s out there before it’s too late.

If you apply that criteria Lotus have had their ICE high watermark a few years ago. So I’ll be keeping my GT430 because it is massive fun to drive and it’s rare. For me it represents much of the purist approach to engineering & a design tradition that Lotus stood for as a marque.  

For very valid (commercial imperative) reasons they have moved the goalposts under Geely. The Emira is a stunning looking car with immense kerb appeal. I appreciate why there’s been compromise around its performance and a more ‘mainstream’ approach has been taken over it’s appeal/functionality. But that performance compromise is still there. I’ve absolutely no interest in the electric SUVs that will follow the Emira.

Porsche have the strategy, scale, R&D budget and a big reputation to uphold with their GT cars. There’s been decades of development, so nothing new about any of that. It is also fair to say that they decided to go out of the ICE era with “all guns blazing”. The 992 GT3, GT3RS and the 718 Cayman GT4RS, all with the absolutely immense race car derived naturally aspirated GT3 engine and drivetrain are ‘where it’s at’ for me as a performance car enthusiast. However, the high demand/limited supply issues & eye watering markups on these models make them very hard (almost impossible) to acquire. The previous iteration 991 & 991.2 GT3 & GTRS models are a little easier to step into, but obviously are not new and the real world price point is still very high. The GT3 is a physically big  car, but the 1405kg weight for the RS version & 1390kg for the GT4RS shows the effort that’s gone into reducing mass.

Excuse the very long winded answer to your question.  It’s a complete mismatch on several levels. Not sure there’s any ability contest worth measuring at this point in time.

The AMG 4 pot highly tuned & coupled with a serious weight saving exercise might make the Emira much more interesting.

[C8RKH]

15 minutes ago, blindside said:

The AMG 4 pot highly tuned & coupled with a serious weight saving exercise might make the Emira much more interesting

That's the one I'm waiting for Jimmy to park beside my 410 Sport.

[Simon Bateman]

It will be interesting to see just how much lighter the 4 pot set up will be.

Wikipedia have the M139 engine as 160kg and the Toyota V6 at 167kg.

I assume the M139 figure includes the turbo and the V6 figure is without the SC, otherwise there doesn't look too much in it.

[blindside]

Probably more about the significant power increase possible with the AMG 4pot & the ability of the drivetrain to handle it. Then strip all the soundproofing, climate control, multimedia & heated seats. Or provide as options. Throw on carbon body parts, tweak the aero and you would have a real beast of a car.

You’d like to believe that Lotus still have the desire to do something like this for public consumption, but I’m not holding my breath. Their all electric bandwagon has already rolled off into the sunset.

[TomE]

2 hours ago, Simon Bateman said:

It will be interesting to see just how much lighter the 4 pot set up will be.

Wikipedia have the M139 engine as 160kg and the Toyota V6 at 167kg.

I assume the M139 figure includes the turbo and the V6 figure is without the SC, otherwise there doesn't look too much in it.

For identical specs, either FE or Base, the V6 car is about 30kg heavier than the i4 car.

20 kg of that difference is i4 + turbo + DCT + ancillaries + cooling kit versus V6 + SC + manual + ancillaries + cooling kit.

The other 10kg is because the i4 sits in an aluminium subframe, whereas the V6 is in a steel one.

[Simon Bateman]

3 hours ago, blindside said:

Probably more about the significant power increase possible with the AMG 4pot & the ability of the drivetrain to handle it. Then strip all the soundproofing, climate control, multimedia & heated seats. Or provide as options. Throw on carbon body parts, tweak the aero and you would have a real beast of a car.

You’d like to believe that Lotus still have the desire to do something like this for public consumption, but I’m not holding my breath. Their all electric bandwagon has already rolled off into the sunset.

I'm genuinely sceptical that much if any of this will come to pass.

I think a GT4 will appear at some point, but more in line with what Porsche have done with the Cayman and not a super light stripped out version.

I also wonder just how much power Lotus will squeeze from the 4 pot and there is a suggestion that AMG will only allow a BHP figure at or below the current maximum figure that they provide in the A45, so as not to trump their offering and also possibly risk warranty issues for over stressed power units outside of AMG power guidelines.

I can't help thinking that some people expecting something truly special, are going to be disappointed.

I suspect this will be about what Gealy want moving forward and not the Lotus engineers 

[TomE]

And their attention has clearly already moved to the EVs

[exeterjeep]

Did get the impression from someone at the Eletre road show that a higher power/spec version was likely to be on the way. Was looking at the Emira and discussing my gt430 and future options. 

[C8RKH]

18 minutes ago, TomE said:

And their attention has clearly already moved to the EVs

Which is why I have stuck with my Evora. The Emira is definitely a step up as a daily, but I don't want a Lotus as a daily. But again, each to their own.

[TomE]

I agree, I don’t need a daily driver and the compromises to daily-ness may rule the Emira out for me.  The drive doesn’t appear to be the “Evora dialled up to 11” that Lotus said it would be.  It’s a great car, but possibly not the car I want for my use.

The possibility of a hot version later on may address that, but I suspect the supply chain and build problems delaying the Emira will mean Geely move on and skip the Emira GT.

[duncx]

4 hours ago, TomE said:

For identical specs, either FE or Base, the V6 car is about 30kg heavier than the i4 car.

I've read that the i4 engine is a significantly lighter than the V6, but the DCT gearbox is a lot heavier than the manual box, so the overall weight difference is not so great - just the c20kg that you mention. However, that heavy lump of DCT box sits low down in the chassis and I'm further hopefull that the whole i4 installation will sit lower than the V6.

Lower centre of gravity over the back wheels can only help the handling 👍

EDIT: maybe the i4 will drive like 'an Evora dialled up to 11'

Edited November 12, 2022 by duncx

[blindside]

They could do it full on if they really wanted to:

https://www.hotcars.com/the-mercedes-amg-m139-is-one-badass-4-cylinder-turbo-engine/