📓 Journals Finally, soon no more (a vivid red story)

[silent cilantro]

congrats, vivid red looks amazing!

 

[eriegz]

Took my first trip to the local twisties. Good times! Some new observations.

1. Somehow the audio is performing better? I turned up the volume on my phone and played pandora through CarPlay, EDM type music, it sounded fine. I don’t know why but I’ll take it.

2. The chassis felt VERY solid. Usually I think “rigid” like the parts of the frame don’t flex too much, but this felt a bit more like a single block. Perhaps this is the bonded aluminum chassis at play.

3. I found a more comfortable seating position! At the recommendation of another poster I raised the front of the seat, lowered the rear and reclined my seat. I looked like the little AC race car guy and the seat felt much better. It’s a much more racecar like seating position than I’m used to.

4. The seats are woefully inadequate for sideways momentum. Get any sort of hard cornering or switchbacks and the seat is not really holding you in at all. Combined with the solid chassis, I expect carbon buckets or the like would transform the driving experience. I actually like how the seats look. For now I’ll try to seatbelt locking trick and see how far I can get with that…

5. Love the shifter. This is real rifle bolt feeling, different than any other manual I’ve tried and it’s fun.

6. Clutch engagement point still feels low. I’m sure I’ll get used to it but I wonder if it can be adjusted.

7. I can’t stop looking at this car. It’s embarrassing.

View attachment 46114

View attachment 46115

I’m planning a 4 day NorCal rod trip with a focus on driving roads. Look forward to testing the long distance and canyon carving abilities. I’ll be fully broken in by the time I get back.

I ALSO can't stop staring at your car!!

 

[seriously]

just got the car back from PPF and ceramic so it’s looking a little extra hot right now.

 

[DVGregori]

Please take this "seriously" (lol):

I'm opening up the first chapter of the "Embarrassed Vivid Red Emira Club" (aka: EVREC) since I too share your problem/addiction/fetish (take your pick). I'd suggest regular meetings where all Vivid Red Emira owners get together a minimum of twice/week to "drool over" (oooooops) I mean re-TOOL over our mutual craving/fixation/compulsion (take your pick) to see if we can successfully combat this ever-growing and totally unavoidable harmful focus that's bound to jeopardize whatever jobs/marriage/any other relationships (take your pick) we have or might aspire to in the future. Is there a possible class-action against Lotus??? Any class-action attorneys/lawyers/barristers & solicitors (take your pick) in the house? Sigh.

I removed the pictures of my kids on my phone and replaced it with a picture of my red lotus.
I have it bad! Need help!

 

[seriously]

Drove to the middle of Angeles Crest today to visit Good Vibes Breakfast Club. Great turnout. Met the Lotus press lead who brought out a Seneca blue. Said they are working on getting demo cars in 2.0 colors and i4 configuration. I’m pretty sure I passed a dark verdant green with yellow stripes coming the opposite way on my way down the mountain.

New observations

1. Car sounds really good and the difference between Tour and Sport is noticeable and useful. Tour for cruising, Sport for bruising. Have not tried Track mode yet.
2. The in car data is really quite useful and fun to use. Tire pressure, g force meter, power levels, at the touch of a button. I’m not quite sure how downforce is useful yet. Maybe just fun? CarPlay displays the album cover and song in your center display and you can skip tracks using the steering wheel - also super helpful.
3. The haptic controls on the steering wheel don’t bother me at all. I thought they would. I naturally hold this wheel at 10 and 2 and never accidentally brush the buttons. They just work like normal buttons for me. Not going to pursue switching them out.
4. After driving without music you realize how much noise is coming from the rear of the car. As another poster mentioned I think this is the core of the audio problem. The KEF system is kind of front biased, rears are only bass. So when you are at speed, all the road noise from behind is drowning out the music in the front, especially the bass.
5. The car doesn’t feel as light as I expected. I think this is more a mental thing because the car is so wide and substantial feeing. It is certainly agile, but definitely does not feel like a small tossable go kart. It’s too stable a platform.
6. The brakes are almost biased for trail braking. It’s so easy to ease off the brakes with control. There is noticeably a lot more range of off brake pressure here than I am used to.

 

[seriously]

Recently broke the 1000 mile barrier and tried Track Mode for the first time. Additional musings both positive and negative.

1. The steering ratio seems really long. not sure if that's the proper term for it, but I am turning the wheel way more than I would expect to in order to execute a 90 turn or a U-turn. At first my hands were getting all confused because of the odd shape of the wheel. Now I've learned to grab the bottom of the wheel and steer with both the top and bottom of the wheel when I need more lock. Genuinely strange to me. I have never grabbed the bottom of a steering wheel to turn in other cars. I guess it's an Emira thing. I would love if there was a way to speed up the steering ratio. It would fit the persona of the car better.

2. I love the directness of the shifter and how tight it is when in gear. However, it does take a lot of effort to shift between gears. And it's smoothest when I exaggerate the movement. So instead of slamming 4 into 5 like I do in a normal car, I make the "H" pattern to get to 5 and the whole experience is smoother. It would be great if all things equal the shifting action was easier - different lube or softer springs? After a long drive I thought, "why does this feel like I'm driving a truck"? Coincidentally, I read in another post that the manual is indeed sourced from a truck.

3. The car sounds amazing in Track mode above 4K under load. Wow. And so far it has plenty of power for me to play with.

Car still feels like a horse that needs to be broken in order to ride properly. I'm still working on it.

 

[seriously]

1500 mile update.

1. No major issues.

2. Brakes squeak. Racecar, ok.

3. Audio sounds ALOT better. With windows closed some songs sound very good. This system still can’t handle certain kinds of low boomy bass and never will.

4. Really like the gauge cluster. The more I use it, it makes sense. Easy to read. Center info section very useful. At a glance I know everything I need to know.

5. Seats have graduated from “I can’t stand them I need to sell the car” (it was seriously that bad) to “they are just super awkward but I can live with it”

6. Tour, Sport and Track are super useful and I totally use them all. Tour for the neighborhood. Sport after the car is warmed up. Track for serious business.

7. I’m not getting the lotus steering magic. It’s fine, but not magic. Steering ratio is still way too long and I’m surprised other car reviews have not mentioned it. It should be WAY shorter for a sportscar. I’m using way too much steering input in all situations.

8. Car squeaks when I’m reversing and using no brake. That seems odd.

9. Still haven’t figured out how to shift quickly and smoothly. It’s always smoother when I take my time. This is confusing to me.

10. Like how the steering wheel looks but in practice it’s less predictable than a round wheel.

11. found a way to add this detail to the doorsills.

 

[seriously]

Forgot to mention the brakes are so much better now. Not grabby at first but really really nice modulation on and off. A touch of grabbiness coming to full stop but something I can manage. Did not expect the brake feel to change so much in this positive way.

 

[seriously]

Got the 3rd cat delete and a K&N air filter installed a few days ago and WOW. The sound and drama is really amped up now. I’m not sure how much more power this setup makes as I was not yet fully 100% on the throttle before the change. However I figured to make a change to the intake and exhaust at the same time to maximize any potential gain of both.

From a driving experience perspective I love it and highly recommend at least the 3rd cat delete. I really don’t see the need for the Milltek valve controller as you get a very similar function with the stock sport and track settings. I’m not into loud obnoxious cars but I think the amplified noise really suits the exotic looks of the emira. It’s so much fun to hear that I find myself driving faster just to hear it sing. And you can be quite docile in tour mode which I think is important.

Finally, I used to be a high revving all motor kind of guy- but this engine with the intake, supercharger whine, exhaust note and off throttle burble is really theatrical and thrilling. I am genuinely surprised how good this car sounds. It was not a part of my original calculus.

 

[seriously]

I’ve noticed now that with the increased noise in sport or track (perhaps some HP increase) I’m less aware of the rather low redline. The car produces so much drama from 3k under load it’s plenty of revs until I shift into the next gear. It kind of reminds me of vtec where you use the sound of the engine to inform your next shift.

Man, this car is FUN to drive especially when you push it.

 

[seriously]

Drove past a few caymans and boxsters in the past few days. No disrespect as the cayman platform is genuinely amazing but this car feels absolutely exotic passing the Porsches. I really can’t imagine opting for the cayman unless you prioritize everyday usability.

The Porsche GTS used to be the car I wanted. Outside of the gearing it had everything I wanted. But now that the emira is around it’s no contest for me. The gt4 and gt4rs models feel too niche and would have to be a 3rd or 4th car for me, not a 2nd car.

 

[seriously]

Added a GRP short shift kit and took it out to Angeles crest again for some testing. Yup- I love it. The shifting essentially feels the same with significantly reduced throw and allows me to shift much more quickly and really drive the car differently. Gives the car a much more hardcore and sporty feel. It is shorter, tighter and feels more agro than my s2000 which works for me. The s2000 is truly a pleasure cruiser- silky smooth- a different kind of perfection. The emira is now the angrier a little harder to drive car. I like it.

During this drive I realized how good the brake feel is. Not the stopping power but the range of pressure you can apply or not. You can really squeeze and dial it in and ease off of it. There is just so much control with these brakes. Really outstanding and easy to notice on hard canyon work.

Last I was able to keep up with a few Porsches (the GT2 RS quickly disappeared out of view) but I could not handle the civics. Those guys are maniacs and I let them pass every time. Good times!