“Lotus’s traditional V6 sports car finally meets the Autocar (UK) timing gear”

Emira FE finally given the full six-page UK Autocar mag test and scores a wholesome four and a half out of a possible five stars. 2nd April 2025 issue, out now.

“A true Brit sports car”

“The British sports car is alive, well and expensive”

Even with the odd ‘howler’

 

[MikeR]

Overall 4.5
Design & Engineering 4
Interior 4.5
Performance 4.5
Handling & Stability 5
Track Notes 4
Comfort & Isolation 3
Buying & Owning 3

 

[Jinba ittai]

All sounds fair to me.

 

[EspritGuy]

Emira FE finally given the full six-page UK Autocar mag test and scores a wholesome four and a half out of a possible five stars. 2nd April 2025 issue, out now.

“A true Brit sports car”

“The British sports car is alive, well and expensive”

View attachment 62113

Even with the odd ‘howler’

View attachment 62114View attachment 62113View attachment 62114

Right generous of you to share. Thanks!

 

[freefall_junkie]

Autocar road tests are the most thorough and objective in the business so I'm pleased they have finally given the Emira a full reckoning. I have wondered why this has taken so long. It is almost like Lotus were running scared of giving them an Emira for a full test. Usually it happens within a few months of a significant new car being launched.

I won't see my subscription copy until I get home in a few days and I'm curious to know what acceleration figures they recorded? Incidentally Autocar always test performance with a full tank and a driver and passenger, which can make a few tenths of difference compared to some other mags.

 

[Foxy87]

Still eagerly waiting for SportAuto Supertest on the Nordschleife. Probably one of the best if not the best test out there. No idea why they still havent tested the Emira so far…

 

[MiamiBlue]

Once they hit 3 years and the warranty ends £37K seems like a bargain.
You would surely be bonkers to spend over £105K on a new one though! That's 70 Grand gone in a flash. Even Trump couldn't make a financial decision that bad.

 

[MiamiBlue]

Online version of the review.

Lotus Emira: full road test reveals this is one of the all-time Brit sports car greats | Autocar

Lotus’s traditional V6 sports car finally meets the Autocar timing gear

www.autocar.co.uk

 

[geoffbland]

Once they hit 3 years and the warranty ends £37K seems like a bargain.
You would surely be bonkers to spend over £105K on a new one though! That's 70 Grand gone in a flash. Even Trump couldn't make a financial decision that bad.

A 4 year-old Evora costs £60,000+ in the UK at the moment. You have to go back to 2013 or earlier to pick up an Evora for £37K.

 

[MiamiBlue]

A 4 year-old Evora costs £60,000+ in the UK at the moment. You have to go back to 2013 or earlier to pick up an Evora for £37K.

Maybe they made a typo or mistake. It does seem an awfully low estimate of value.

 

[Biggles of Norwich]

Maybe they made a typo or mistake. It does seem an awfully low estimate of value.

They are possibly extrapolating from the first years depreciation, which is pretty dumb.

 

[cwfg]

View attachment 62117

Once they hit 3 years and the warranty ends £37K seems like a bargain.
You would surely be bonkers to spend over £105K on a new one though! That's 70 Grand gone in a flash. Even Trump couldn't make a financial decision that bad.

2 year old cars are currently selling for ~£60k which would imply almost £2k a month straight line deprecation for 3 years which is madness - I just can’t see a 2 year old Emira losing £20k in one year. The used car market (at least in the U.K.) is about to take a slide - but that was unknown when that would have been written.

 

[Biggles of Norwich]

2 year old cars are currently selling for ~£60k which would imply almost £2k a month straight line deprecation for 3 years which is madness - I just can’t see a 2 year old Emira losing £20k in one year. The used car market (at least in the U.K.) is about to take a slide - but that was unknown when that would have been written.

Depends on who you believe, this is from Autorola:
"Used car prices will rise in 2025 as a result of a shortfall of cars compared with pre-Covid levels, according to Autorola.
As a consequence of Covid-19, the market saw just 1.61m new cars registered. Now, 2025 may face a shortfall of between 500,000 and 700,000 used cars and prices rising because demand exceeds supply.
Neil Frost, Autorola UK’s country manager, said: “Q4 2024 provided us with an early sign of used prices rising and this trend will continue throughout 2025 and into 2026 because of the large shortfall in used cars coming into the market.
That means strong competition for used stock in the wholesale market which will translate into higher retail prices for consumers.”

 

[FST]

if you read careful the prices is based on a lease term, you still have the final balloon payment as stated so it brings the car to 60-70 after 3 years which makes sense

 

[cwfg]

Depends on who you believe, this is from Autorola:
"Used car prices will rise in 2025 as a result of a shortfall of cars compared with pre-Covid levels, according to Autorola.
As a consequence of Covid-19, the market saw just 1.61m new cars registered. Now, 2025 may face a shortfall of between 500,000 and 700,000 used cars and prices rising because demand exceeds supply.
Neil Frost, Autorola UK’s country manager, said: “Q4 2024 provided us with an early sign of used prices rising and this trend will continue throughout 2025 and into 2026 because of the large shortfall in used cars coming into the market.
That means strong competition for used stock in the wholesale market which will translate into higher retail prices for consumers.”

My own thinking is that as manufacturers look to get rid of new stock they now can’t export to the US there will be an oversupply of new cars and possible discounts which would drive down used prices. It’s anyone’s guess at this point though. I’m just speculating.

 

[Nick in Sydney]

My own thinking is that as manufacturers look to get rid of new stock they now can’t export to the US there will be an oversupply of new cars and possible discounts which would drive down used prices. It’s anyone’s guess at this point though. I’m just speculating.

But the US is a LHD market and the UK is RHD?

 

[seriously]

View attachment 62117

Once they hit 3 years and the warranty ends £37K seems like a bargain.
You would surely be bonkers to spend over £105K on a new one though! That's 70 Grand gone in a flash. Even Trump couldn't make a financial decision that bad.

I noticed the same thing. Wild projection in an otherwise fair assessment.

 

[cwfg]

But the US is a LHD market and the UK is RHD?

That is very true! Ignore my nonsense

 

[Beachbum]

2 year old cars are currently selling for ~£60k which would imply almost £2k a month straight line deprecation for 3 years which is madness - I just can’t see a 2 year old Emira losing £20k in one year. The used car market (at least in the U.K.) is about to take a slide - but that was unknown when that would have been written.

I saved almost £20K(£18K) on a 6 month old I4. So the prices were very low for a while.

 

[cwfg]

Of course anything can happen yet… times are changed, Emira supply is greater than historic models, and it’s an interesting conversation rather than a reason to buy or not to buy, but allowing for 3 year depreciation of 50% on the Emira (which is double historic Lotus depreciation values) and going by current 2 year residuals, I’d be expecting values of around £50k+ at year 3. I could be very wrong though.