emira acceleration

[kitkat]

You're proving my point. This forum is filled with fanboys who when shown definitive short comings of the car you respond with "No one is making you buy it". Lotus loves you all because you've been buying the same engine and transmission for a decade and now with the Emira you'll do it for another 5 years. And anytime it's directly compared to what Lotus bench marked (GTS 4.0) and gets spanked you all ignore the facts

You must not read my posts often, I’m one of the more vocal critics of the Emira in this forum. I’m definitely not a fanboy and have never owned a Lotus.

But I also realize that people value different qualities in cars that may not line up exactly with mine. Personally, I’m replacing my F82 with the Emira because I’m seeking a more engaging drive. My F82 is also far faster than the Emira will ever be, and for the same MSRP that I will have paid for both. I regularly track the cars I own and I have no problems with going to something that has less power under the curve — my lap times at Laguna and Sonoma will barely suffer.

I’ve also pointed out that the GTS 4.0 is a better overall car in many threads about reviews, and that’s okay by me. I’m just not that interested in a GTS 4.0.

 

[emiraspain]

This is last thing I saw that was actually funny on Top Gear/Tour...

I hadnt seen that one!.... very good.
I previously said I had never used my launch control on my porsche, now sold, and people on here said I was crazy and what fun it was etc, but I beg to differ, dont see much fun or talent or point, and as they show, where can you use it. A quiet country lane? I see it as about as much fun as a fast radio control car, on your own, you soon seen get bored with it when there is no one around to see you or compete against.

Headline numbers are not everything, of course, but HAVING SAID THAT, i think there is a balance between enjoying a car, a car being interesting, sounding good, looking good etc, and speed/acceleration from 0 or from 30 or 50
Surely no one wants a car that accelerates 0-60 in 15 seconds, nor 12 nor 10, nor 9 nor 8, not even 7 if we are all honest. Im not all about the figures, but I too feel any sports car costing over 60k should, on normal tyres, on a normal road, in decent hands, be able to do 5 seconds flat, and below that in good hands. Between 5.2-6 seconds, while not slow, its simply below par IMO for a sports car with a V6 engine.
Besides this, someone said, what car, rear wheel drive, 400 HP can do 0-60 in 4/5 seconds?
718 S, 350 HP (yes auto and launch control, but maybe 0.5 seconds more for manual?? maximum)
Below video shows it in less than 3.6 seconds for me, but they say 4.0 and only 350 HP, similar ish weight....



And I think even the base 300 Hp model with a manual gear box available in the T version would be doing it in 5 seconds flat.
I dont care that the emira is a bit slower than the "comparable" 718 S porsche (never mind the GTS which can knock another 0.3 odd seconds off those times), really I dont, even though the Emira has more HP, but how much slower should I accept? 0.5/1/2/3/ seconds, there is a limit, everyone has their price haha.
5 seconds for me is reasonable and less than that in good hands, I feel much slower than that and it is then worth looking at the AMG chipped..... that or simply look at getting older

 

[emiraspain]

All this not fast, too slow, gonna get beat/spanked etc..... are you guys really planning on doing max speed 0-60 runs every chance you get? Are you really going to be racing other cars on the street? I'm not buying my Emira to compete against other people. I'm buying it for me... because I like the way it looks, I like the way it sounds, and I'm sure I'll like the way it's going to drive and handle. And it has a manual trans. I don't care what others have, don't have, how fast theirs is or isn't.

apart from the handling side (and thats relative, depending where you are) you could get a tractor to fulfil your desires.. haha


You are right of course, but I just think there has to be a reasonable limit of whats expected in a "sports" car. Lotus has never been chasing numbers, well they did of course in F1 as every split second counts, right from 0 to get to the first corner etc, but at some point we would all be disappointed with numbers, its just different for each person. I dont expect Tesla acceleration, but I expect certainly a base 718 type acceleration, where that car costs 20% less, has 25% less power and was developed around 7 - 8 years ago.

 

[Leonard]

Think what I think? That's not how facts work. Again, you're willfully choosing to be ignorant and are flaunting it. Good riddance. You need to research power under the curve, average power and max hp and how they all relate to performance metrics. This isn't even taking into account gearing or many of the other factors. To say 2 cars that weigh the same and have the same hp will accelerate at or around the same pace is a clear indication you have no idea what you are talking about

You dont need to get so frustrated .
I don't think anyone is saying the Emira isn't slow for the money. And I'm agreeing with you in regards to power under curve and the many other variables that make one car faster than another. Biggest of which is probably the driver when you are talking about a manual car. At this point though we don't have enough data to even discuss in detail, so what's the point
Hence why I was saying a power to weight figure as a ballpark guide to performance isn't a bad benchmark. Anything over 300 makes for a pretty rapid road car.
At the end of day the V6 was never going to be about big numbers and we all knew that, even if it had recieved a higher state of tune. Part of reason it may have had its redline reduced and a possible remap is to give you that real world punch that you so obviously crave. The i4 will be where its at though, it will already be as fast/faster than the V6 when it launches and is then infinitely tuneable. I look fwd to seeing what tuners can do with it. It will be unlike any other Lotus product ever made I imagine and that is pretty exciting in its own way. Just as the V6 manual will be exciting from a driver engagement perspective. Even noise has a massive bearing on 'how fast' you feel that you are going.
Let's wait for some more V6 performance data tho hey and we can pick up again

 

[Eagle7]

The word "sports" itself automatically implies performance above and beyond non-sports, but sport is more than just horsepower and straight line acceleration. That whole mindset pretty much came out of America back in the 60's when powerful V8 engines were put in passenger cars who did one thing well; go fast in a straight line. It was fun, it was relatively cheap, and an entire culture developed around that, including language. Terms like "0-60", "hook-up", "traction control", "blow the doors off" etc. all came out of that culture, and it referred to straight line performance. Dedicated tracks sprang up just for that purpose; 1/4 mile became a commonly known term and even a benchmark standard when talking about performance.

At that time though, world population was about 1/3 what it is today, and traffic density was also dramatically less. Those days are gone now, and they're never coming back. Today, sports means more than just straight line acceleration; it means handling too, which includes brakes and stopping power.

Which brings us to perceptions and expectations. The Emira is a sports car, and like all Lotus sports cars ever since the 1960's, they were and are known for their handling. If you're buying an Emira for muscle-style performance, you're going to be disappointed. Lotus has never been about that kind of sport.

"Faster than..." means what in the context of use? Faster on the track than cars you're competing against? What kind of track? Because on the street, especially nowadays, track level of performance is not easily achievable. Too much traffic, too many people, too risky. Not worth it. If you want to drive like that, take it to the track for a weekend event. Where a sports car is going to shine on the street is in the twisties. It provides a good reason to seek out good to great driving roads, and make an occasion out of it. You can do that on a weekend too. For those that are concerned that 400 hp is 'underpowered'; underpowered for what? What kind of use? If you're stuck in that mindset of "it's going to get beat by...", "for that kind of money it should have...", "ancient powertrain...", "If only it had more power....", etc. then you're buying the wrong type of car. It doesn't, it isn't, and it isn't going to anytime soon. Even if they add another 50 hp, it's still going to get annihilated in a straight line by pretty much any electric car.

So the question is... will the Emira be fun and engaging to drive? Yes, if you value the whole process of driving which includes engaging with the machine, and turning the steering wheel. You won't have to be breaking all legal speed limits to begin to even reach that kind of fun either. The Emira is going to be fun even in low speed corners and twisties. That's a Lotus; reasonably quick in a straight line, but sublime in the corners. The Emira is going to be the best built, best looking, most road-worthy example of that they've ever made. All for a starting price of £59,995.

 

[CarGuy07]

In short: I’ll be happy if the Emira does the stated 0-60 in 4.3 seconds or faster. IMO a $100K USD sports car should have such performance. It is not blisteringly fast but that is an acceptable range. If it’s going to be 5+ seconds, then it’s fallen short of the competition. There’s no other way to slice or dice it. Don’t care if it’s not about straight 0-60 or muscle car performance. I don’t think anyone is expecting Tesla Ludicrous mode of 2.2 seconds but for a modern sports car, it needs to be within range of the competition. Period.

 

[emiraspain]

The word "sports" itself automatically implies performance above and beyond non-sports, but sport is more than just horsepower and straight line acceleration. That whole mindset pretty much came out of America back in the 60's when powerful V8 engines were put in passenger cars who did one thing well; go fast in a straight line. It was fun, it was relatively cheap, and an entire culture developed around that, including language. Terms like "0-60", "hook-up", "traction control", "blow the doors off" etc. all came out of that culture, and it referred to straight line performance. Dedicated tracks sprang up just for that purpose; 1/4 mile became a commonly known term and even a benchmark standard when talking about performance.

At that time though, world population was about 1/3 what it is today, and traffic density was also dramatically less. Those days are gone now, and they're never coming back. Today, sports means more than just straight line acceleration; it means handling too, which includes brakes and stopping power.

Which brings us to perceptions and expectations. The Emira is a sports car, and like all Lotus sports cars ever since the 1960's, they were and are known for their handling. If you're buying an Emira for muscle-style performance, you're going to be disappointed. Lotus has never been about that kind of sport.

"Faster than..." means what in the context of use? Faster on the track than cars you're competing against? What kind of track? Because on the street, especially nowadays, track level of performance is not easily achievable. Too much traffic, too many people, too risky. Not worth it. If you want to drive like that, take it to the track for a weekend event. Where a sports car is going to shine on the street is in the twisties. It provides a good reason to seek out good to great driving roads, and make an occasion out of it. You can do that on a weekend too. For those that are concerned that 400 hp is 'underpowered'; underpowered for what? What kind of use? If you're stuck in that mindset of "it's going to get beat by...", "for that kind of money it should have...", "ancient powertrain...", "If only it had more power....", etc. then you're buying the wrong type of car. It doesn't, it isn't, and it isn't going to anytime soon. Even if they add another 50 hp, it's still going to get annihilated in a straight line by pretty much any electric car.

So the question is... will the Emira be fun and engaging to drive? Yes, if you value the whole process of driving which includes engaging with the machine, and turning the steering wheel. You won't have to be breaking all legal speed limits to begin to even reach that kind of fun either. The Emira is going to be fun even in low speed corners and twisties. That's a Lotus; reasonably quick in a straight line, but sublime in the corners. The Emira is going to be the best built, best looking, most road-worthy example of that they've ever made. All for a starting price of £59,995.

I agree with all you say, but maybe a few caveats, not sure Ive ever actually written that word before.

People, you and myself included, say Lotus was never about the numbers, 0-60 etc, but is this true? Did they never care about 0-60 times or could they never actually make a car with a fast 0-60 time, or did they indeed make cars with super car type acceleration and we have forgotten about it?
The original Esprit had a Lotus quoted 0-60 time of 6.8 seconds back in 1976 (7th fastest in the world at the time!), but the reviews of the day found that to be impossible and the true mark was a disappointing 8.1 seconds. Hence, it would seem Lotus was very concerned with 0-60 times if they were quoting them along Ferrari levels, but simply couldn't actually fulfil them. It's not like it would be out of character for chapman to exaggerate things to get his own way , integrity was not famously synonymous with mr. C.
Later in life the Esprit, in another guise in 2002, accelerated from 0-60 mph in just 4.3 seconds, faster than a Ferrari 360 Spider, but slower than the Porsche 911 GT2 of the time. So, as I said, I am not so sure about this "they have never been about the numbers". They were also a racing team, a very successful one at that and were 100% about the numbers, back in the day, it's just that they got to these numbers in different ways than some other teams, but again, the numbers were critical.

I think personally since before the Proton years, they simply have not had the money to compete with the big buys in terms of outright numbers, so they have logically focused on other things. The Elise was never a very quick car, but they focused on its drivability to get around that and it worked very well. They had a Rover engine, which was not the best of the day and the Toyota unit added later was hardly as good as a ford eco boost or honda engine, IMO.

So I personally think they would LOVE to be about the numbers, but they simply cant get there and I understand that, but again, we expect certain things, all of which you have correctly listed, but for many of us also expect some kind of numbers too. Top speed is of zero importance to me, once it goes past 140 I could not care less and I doubt I will ever get to 140 either! But 0-60 and 50-80 etc are important feelings for me in a car, as well as all the others you mention of course, it all matters, its not just the brains and no figure, its not just the face and figure and no brains like me.
What I dont like, as much as anything else, is to be told a figure and then not to be able to get anywhere close to it. Let's see someone actually do the sprint in the times quoted. It must have been done, or else how do they know and what conditions was it done in and how repeatable is it. In this sense I prefer the porsche modest reporting of figures. If they give a number of HP, you know you have maybe 5% more. if they give a sprint time, you know you can knock about 0.3-0.5 seconds off it. With Lotus its the opposite and this is like the CS approach, building your hopes up, to knock them down.. I'd rather go the other way .......
Anyway, all interesting stuff. I think I would still love to own an esprit one day, although Harry sold his.... hmmm

 

[kitkat]

In short: I’ll be happy if the Emira does the stated 0-60 in 4.3 seconds or faster. IMO a $100K USD sports car should have such performance. It is not blisteringly fast but that is an acceptable range. If it’s going to be 5+ seconds, then it’s fallen short of the competition. There’s no other way to slice or dice it. Don’t care if it’s not about straight 0-60 or muscle car performance. I don’t think anyone is expecting Tesla Ludicrous mode of 2.2 seconds but for a modern sports car, it needs to be within range of the competition. Period.

Even Shorter: It won't get 4.3s or faster -- you better cancel your res.

 

[ADC]

Even Shorter: It won't get 4.3s or faster -- you better cancel your res.

Even Shorter: It won't get 4.3s or faster -- you better cancel your res get the i4

Fixed that for you

 

[CarGuy07]

Even Shorter: It won't get 4.3s or faster -- you better cancel your res.

Impatiently waiting for test drive. If performance/power disappoints, I’ll have no qualm about canceling reservations. I’ll call a spade a spade and will not make excuses for Lotus.

As I said before, 0-60 does matter up to a certain point. If it was 0-60 in 10+ seconds, I bet everyone would care. So yes, it does matter. People are kidding themselves if they say otherwise. What else would you buy a car for, just the good looks? That gets old fast (or slow…).

 

[kitkat]

Impatiently waiting for test drive. If performance/power disappoints, I’ll have no qualm about canceling reservations. I’ll call a spade a spade and will not make excuses for Lotus.

As I said before, 0-60 does matter up to a certain point. If it was 0-60 in 10+ seconds, I bet everyone would care. So yes, it does matter. People are kidding themselves if they say otherwise. What else would you buy a car for, just the good looks? That gets old fast (or slow…).

Why do you need to wait for a test drive though? You already said you need 4.3s or faster to be happy, and if it's 5+ seconds you definitely won't be happy. That leaves a 0.7 second range for you to have mixed feelings on it.

There's already 2 videos with 0-60 acceleration tests and they're both over 5 seconds. Various people have critiqued that one was a "slow shifter", but are you any faster? Am I any faster? I doubt it.

 

[TomE]

Do you mean you have to get a 4.3s or better yourself, or a reviewer or Lotus? The published figure for the V6 Emira is 4.3s. How good are you at zero mechanical sympathy and power shifting?

Lotus built a car once which had such extreme performance that it was discussed in parliament in the UK, as an example of the dangers of allowing manufacturers to chase 0-60 and top speed figures.

Most Lotus cars over the last 20-30 years have had 0-60 in the 4-5s range. Performance that’s considered to be brisk and useable on the road rather then neck-snapping. That’s part of the Lotus approach.

 

[Porter]

>> Which brings us to perceptions and expectations.
>> "Faster than..." means what in the context of use?
>> For those that are concerned that 400 hp is 'underpowered'; underpowered for what?
>> If you're stuck in that mindset of "it's going to get beat by..." then you're buying the wrong type of car.

100% agree with these four bits.

Here's my own personal anecdote which explains my interest in the Emira. It won't resonate with some people, but might with others.

I used to work in high performance automotive, as a detour from my primary career (IT) when I was in my 20s. I won't go into too much detail, but after running several smaller performance shops connected with dealerships, I helped found and became the sales director (ran the front end of the business) for a race and performance tuning services company in the Atlanta area. In addition to running the business side I also did a lot of hands-on customer race prep and chassis tuning work, since it was my particular area of interest. The motorsport customers were amazing, most of them were trying to achieve very specific outcomes with very realistic expectations and knew exactly what was implied downstream of any particular ask.

The street modification customers, though... they were often another story. Not everyone was like this, but a particular subset of people interested in modifying road cars are doing so NOT because they enjoy the drive, or because they want the car to do something different for them experientially that they think can be improved, but rather because they want the car to be perceived as something "more" or "better" when compared to someone else's car, or compared to some external reference. It's a series of emotional value judgements about worth and worthiness. For those customers the vehicle ownership isn't about driving the car, or how it feels, or what ownership experience it can give you along the way, but rather about their own EGO. The car is a vehicle for increasing it. The driving part is entirely secondary to the ego play, and when they do drive it the process is mostly about proving their worth in some way.

I can't identify with any of that. It doesn't compute for me.

In terms of outright acceleration, we built some absolutely insane vehicles in my time in the industry, I mean stuff that will redefine your idea of what "fast" even means. Cars that shatter axles when you launch them. Cars that turn sub-9s quarter mile times and are traction-limited through 4th gear. Just wild stuff, that is a visceral experience to drive, ride in, or even to hear.

But you know what? I don't want that. That's not what driving is about, for me. And besides, after having experienced that sort of "fast", everything else is just varying degrees of slow. There's no reason to chase it. And today there's even LESS reason to chase it, because electric cars have made all of that stuff essentially obsolete. You can now do similar feats of acceleration in a family sedan full of passengers, in total silence and with no drama. So what's the point?

Driving is a physical and mental skill. Driving quickly, smoothly, and competently on a challenging road or racetrack is not that different, experientially, from any other kind of athletic activity requiring physical precision and mental focus. Athletes describe a mental state called "flow", where action, senses, and timing are in total sync, the awareness of self recedes, and a type of experiential euphoria develops. Accessing this state is made easier with the right environment and the right equipment. The right pair of shoes is essential for a runner. The right bicycle fit and configuration is essential for an elite cyclist. And the right car can be transformative for a really competent driver who wants the best possible driving experience when they have the occasion to explore it. It's not about fast. It's about finding your way into the flow state and staying there for as long as possible.

So that's what I hope a Lotus can bring to the table. I don't care how fast it goes. I care about how it feels to drive it to its limits on a great road in an appropriately remote setting. I could get there with a lot of different cars by modifying them, hell I could get a great experience from a Mazda Miata if I fit properly in one and wanted to throw a lot of money at fixing its necessary production compromises. I have a world of options available if I wanted to re-engineer a car. But I am looking for a different kind of ownership experience than that, one where I can buy and keep the thing just as it is, look after it well, and have a sense of occasion when I enjoy it for decades to come.

Fingers crossed that it delivers some of what I'm looking for.

 

[MCS]

I just need to get to Tesco’s in mine. I think I’ll be ok

 

[Leonard]

I agree with all you say, but maybe a few caveats, not sure Ive ever actually written that word before.

People, you and myself included, say Lotus was never about the numbers, 0-60 etc, but is this true? Did they never care about 0-60 times or could they never actually make a car with a fast 0-60 time, or did they indeed make cars with super car type acceleration and we have forgotten about it?
The original Esprit had a Lotus quoted 0-60 time of 6.8 seconds back in 1976 (7th fastest in the world at the time!), but the reviews of the day found that to be impossible and the true mark was a disappointing 8.1 seconds. Hence, it would seem Lotus was very concerned with 0-60 times if they were quoting them along Ferrari levels, but simply couldn't actually fulfil them. It's not like it would be out of character for chapman to exaggerate things to get his own way , integrity was not famously synonymous with mr. C.
Later in life the Esprit, in another guise in 2002, accelerated from 0-60 mph in just 4.3 seconds, faster than a Ferrari 360 Spider, but slower than the Porsche 911 GT2 of the time. So, as I said, I am not so sure about this "they have never been about the numbers". They were also a racing team, a very successful one at that and were 100% about the numbers, back in the day, it's just that they got to these numbers in different ways than some other teams, but again, the numbers were critical.

I think personally since before the Proton years, they simply have not had the money to compete with the big buys in terms of outright numbers, so they have logically focused on other things. The Elise was never a very quick car, but they focused on its drivability to get around that and it worked very well. They had a Rover engine, which was not the best of the day and the Toyota unit added later was hardly as good as a ford eco boost or honda engine, IMO.

So I personally think they would LOVE to be about the numbers, but they simply cant get there and I understand that, but again, we expect certain things, all of which you have correctly listed, but for many of us also expect some kind of numbers too. Top speed is of zero importance to me, once it goes past 140 I could not care less and I doubt I will ever get to 140 either! But 0-60 and 50-80 etc are important feelings for me in a car, as well as all the others you mention of course, it all matters, its not just the brains and no figure, its not just the face and figure and no brains like me.
What I dont like, as much as anything else, is to be told a figure and then not to be able to get anywhere close to it. Let's see someone actually do the sprint in the times quoted. It must have been done, or else how do they know and what conditions was it done in and how repeatable is it. In this sense I prefer the porsche modest reporting of figures. If they give a number of HP, you know you have maybe 5% more. if they give a sprint time, you know you can knock about 0.3-0.5 seconds off it. With Lotus its the opposite and this is like the CS approach, building your hopes up, to knock them down.. I'd rather go the other way .......
Anyway, all interesting stuff. I think I would still love to own an esprit one day, although Harry sold his.... hmmm

I think they probably can get there now easily, but are instead choosin to milk the V6 over the next 4 years instead

 

[CarGuy07]

Why do you need to wait for a test drive though? You already said you need 4.3s or faster to be happy, and if it's 5+ seconds you definitely won't be happy. That leaves a 0.7 second range for you to have mixed feelings on it.

There's already 2 videos with 0-60 acceleration tests and they're both over 5 seconds. Various people have critiqued that one was a "slow shifter", but are you any faster? Am I any faster? I doubt it.

Manufacturers typically under quote or over quote. Need to drive production version for myself and see. If it’s slightly slower but offers an amazing drive, then I can somewhat overlook the possibly underwhelming performance. If it’s significantly slower and I don’t like the way it drives, then that would change everything. All we have up until now has been first drives by others. Most of us have yet to drive the production cars for ourselves. It needs to be competitive, not necessarily be that much faster than competition (although that would have been icing on the cake).

 

[4380r]

I agree with all you say, but maybe a few caveats, not sure Ive ever actually written that word before.

People, you and myself included, say Lotus was never about the numbers, 0-60 etc, but is this true? Did they never care about 0-60 times or could they never actually make a car with a fast 0-60 time, or did they indeed make cars with super car type acceleration and we have forgotten about it?
The original Esprit had a Lotus quoted 0-60 time of 6.8 seconds back in 1976 (7th fastest in the world at the time!), but the reviews of the day found that to be impossible and the true mark was a disappointing 8.1 seconds. Hence, it would seem Lotus was very concerned with 0-60 times if they were quoting them along Ferrari levels, but simply couldn't actually fulfil them. It's not like it would be out of character for chapman to exaggerate things to get his own way , integrity was not famously synonymous with mr. C.
Later in life the Esprit, in another guise in 2002, accelerated from 0-60 mph in just 4.3 seconds, faster than a Ferrari 360 Spider, but slower than the Porsche 911 GT2 of the time. So, as I said, I am not so sure about this "they have never been about the numbers". They were also a racing team, a very successful one at that and were 100% about the numbers, back in the day, it's just that they got to these numbers in different ways than some other teams, but again, the numbers were critical.

I think personally since before the Proton years, they simply have not had the money to compete with the big buys in terms of outright numbers, so they have logically focused on other things. The Elise was never a very quick car, but they focused on its drivability to get around that and it worked very well. They had a Rover engine, which was not the best of the day and the Toyota unit added later was hardly as good as a ford eco boost or honda engine, IMO.

So I personally think they would LOVE to be about the numbers, but they simply cant get there and I understand that, but again, we expect certain things, all of which you have correctly listed, but for many of us also expect some kind of numbers too. Top speed is of zero importance to me, once it goes past 140 I could not care less and I doubt I will ever get to 140 either! But 0-60 and 50-80 etc are important feelings for me in a car, as well as all the others you mention of course, it all matters, its not just the brains and no figure, its not just the face and figure and no brains like me.
What I dont like, as much as anything else, is to be told a figure and then not to be able to get anywhere close to it. Let's see someone actually do the sprint in the times quoted. It must have been done, or else how do they know and what conditions was it done in and how repeatable is it. In this sense I prefer the porsche modest reporting of figures. If they give a number of HP, you know you have maybe 5% more. if they give a sprint time, you know you can knock about 0.3-0.5 seconds off it. With Lotus its the opposite and this is like the CS approach, building your hopes up, to knock them down.. I'd rather go the other way .......
Anyway, all interesting stuff. I think I would still love to own an esprit one day, although Harry sold his.... hmmm

My take on the Esprit history is a bit different. Had an '84 Turbo. Around the house somewhere I have an issue from 1984 of Road and Track that did a track comparison, with Dan Gurney driving, between the Turbo Esprit and the Ferrari 308. The Esprit outran the Ferrari in every respect except for right hand turns where Gurney speculated fuel float in the carbs hindered it a bit.

Back then R & T had that infamous panel in the back that listed specs for every car it tested over at least a couple years time. The Turbo Esprit in '84, compared to the cars on that list, which included contemporary Vette, Ferrari, Lambo, Porsche, and in 0--60 as I recall the Esprit was low/mid 6's, and third fastest on that list.

Not Lotus claim, as tested by R & T.

Interestingly, that issue also tested the brand new Honda CRX, and it pointed out that it pulled more G's on the skid pad than the Lotus.

 

[emiraspain]

I think they probably can get there now easily, but are instead choosin to milk the V6 over the next 4 years instead

maybe, but I dont think they will quote 4.3 or whatever it is and in the end it be 5.... will they?
Its too hot and humid to think about it, but I expect about 4.8 from the reviewers when they do it....

Ive got my track experience thing Aug 6th, so no doubt I will become an expert in 28 mins and be killing it in 4.7..... orrrrrrrrrrrr not

 

[Eagle7]

My post was about expectations and perceptions with regards to what you the individual are going to want and need. If it's numbers on paper, there are faster cars for less money. If you're looking for your experience behind the wheel when driving it as a daily driver, around town, out in the country/mountains on great roads, or on a road trip, paper numbers aren't as important. What matters is how does it make you feel when you look at it, when you're in it, when you're driving it. What can you do with it besides max acceleration.

How usable is it for what you want to use it for? That's the question that I think is the relevant one. Some people do need/want speed at all times. For them, the Emira may not be the right car; especially for the money. For less than an FE you can get a Camaro ZL1 with 650 hp, 0-60 in 3.7 secs, top speed of 190, over 1 g's in the corners, and it's pretty mean looking. You won't be suffering with "getting beat by..." "slower than..." with a car like that. If that's what you want.

If you want something a little more civilized, more elegant, more exotic, then the Emira may be for you. As for performance, 400 hp in a 3,200 lb car is no slouch. In the context of daily driver, around town, great country/mountain roads, road trip, etc. the majority of your use isn't going to be redline in every gear and max speed. It's a panther in the forest, rather than a fire-breathing dragon.

If you're not sure, do a test drive first. If that isn't possible because your order is already locked in, and you don't really love it when you get it, with an order backlog of over 1 year you won't have any trouble selling it without losing any money.

 

[Eagle7]

In short: I’ll be happy if the Emira does the stated 0-60 in 4.3 seconds or faster. IMO a $100K USD sports car should have such performance. It is not blisteringly fast but that is an acceptable range. If it’s going to be 5+ seconds, then it’s fallen short of the competition. There’s no other way to slice or dice it. Don’t care if it’s not about straight 0-60 or muscle car performance. I don’t think anyone is expecting Tesla Ludicrous mode of 2.2 seconds but for a modern sports car, it needs to be within range of the competition. Period.

It's going to be under 5 seconds. The manual is going to be capable of under 5 seconds unless you're a ham-fisted lunk who sucks at shifting. As far as being "in the range of competition", what is your intended use for the car? Are you planning on actually competing against others? Acceleration is acceleration. If you're in one car that does 0-60 in 5 seconds, then get in another that does it in 4.5 seconds, will you be able to feel the half second difference?

To me, the more important thing is personality. Cars have personality. Even if the acceleration is comparable, one might have more personality than the other. Personality is the way it looks, the way it feels when you're in it and driving it, and the way it sounds. How much of a difference is half a second? Just say the word "one". That's about half a second. That's how much 0-60 time people are quibbling over. For me, my Alfa Romeo has more personality than an Audi or a BMW. It wasn't about price or horsepower. The Alfa is a joy to be in and drive.

The Emira isn't going to be for everybody, and that's okay because there are plenty of cars out there that are closer to being that. I don't want one of those. I'm just so very glad that Lotus has made a car for people like me, and I'm in a position to buy it, and got my deposit in when I did.