Lotus at IAA Mobility

[GetawayDriving]

I’m attending IAA Mobility in Munich and was curious about Lotus’ presence. This event is heavily EVs and pretty much all sustainable, although there were a smattering of M3s, ICE Porsches and general automotive supplier tech (agnostic to drivetrain).

Lotus didn’t have a presence that I saw in the main conference / Summit, but downtown where everything is open to the public, they have set up a luxury storefront. They were showcasing Emira and Eletre. You can schedule test drives of the latter, which I’ve done for tomorrow.

Emira was a V6 automatic. Got a LOT of attention from window gawkers and those who ventured inside.

I asked if Emeya would be making an appearance, since it debuts Thursday and the event continues into the weekend. I was told no. Also no Evija, which seems odd for an event so focused on EV. Porsche had their Mission X in attendance, and Rimac had a booth as well.

 

[GetawayDriving]

I’ve now driven the Eletre R, ask me anything.

 

[Green]

I’ve now driven the Eletre R, ask me anything.

Are you buying one?

 

[GetawayDriving]

Are you buying one?

Can’t afford it. But I’d definitely consider it. If anything it makes more more excited for Emeya and 135.

 

[Lotustoronto]

I’ve now driven the Eletre R, ask me anything.

How's the fit and finish / luxury appointments? What marquee would you say it competes with directly in those terms? From a speed perspective we know they are quick, but an EV SUV is more about feel and quality than anything else... Tech vs Tesla?

 

[Pegasi]

I’ve now driven the Eletre R, ask me anything.

What SUVS have you driven to compare it to? Cayenne, Stelvio, Urus?

 

[GetawayDriving]

How's the fit and finish / luxury appointments? What marquee would you say it competes with directly in those terms? From a speed perspective we know they are quick, but an EV SUV is more about feel and quality than anything else... Tech vs Tesla?

Fit and finish was excellent. Exterior was black, so harder to tell if there were imperfections. Interior was stellar. On the level of the best, which would make sense because I consider the best to be Volvo and they’re sisters now.

Walking around the show floor, I sat in a LOT of cars. Almost every type of EV currently available and soon-to-be available. The best interior quality belonged to Polestar and Lotus. Props to the new Minis, they are quite good but very different and much cheaper materials (but hide it well).

This thing was stupid quick. It was the R model, which is the faster one. I hammered it on the highway and it nearly got away from me. It squirmed and wiggled under its own power, feels like all 4 wheels were spinning on launch. It’s nuts. I had it in track mode, I don’t know how much that dials down the traction control but it definitely felt like it wasn’t fully babysitting.

Tech hard to say because I didn’t play. But the screen is super slick, the interface reminded me a lot of Tesla, and it’s the most on-par I’ve experienced from a hardware perspective (super fast input, tapping screen feels like an iPad and I say that as a compliment). Graphics are sharp and I love the ribbon. Wish I had seen the ambient lighting in low light. Ventilated seats were very nice.

 

[GetawayDriving]

What SUVS have you driven to compare it to? Cayenne, Stelvio, Urus?

I’ve driven all modern Lotus (Elise, Exige, Evora 400, Evora GT, Emira) and almost no SUVs of any kind lol.

I will say this. While it’s clearly a big, big car… it doesn’t feel big behind the wheel. In fact, I was immediately feeling playful. The last car that had that impact on me was the Evora GT so, there’s some reason to think they worked some magic.

The view out over the bonnet is reasonably Emirai-ish. There are Becker points, they just don’t rise higher than the rest of the nose. Similar shapes to Emira, less pronounced.

The steering didn’t have any feedback, but was firm and direct. The throttle response was direct, and regen was strong - both big positives in my book. Those two aspects are the new “steering feel” leaving you feeling directly connected to the electric motors, if that makes sense. It works well here. No one-pedal-drive, which is a bummer, but that could ultimately be a software update.

Turning circle was impressive, thanks to 4 wheel steering. With the steering and the 360 cam which worked well, I was able to maneuver the very tight test drive lot confidently.

Cornering was flat, and ride was supple.

The back seat is truly massive. Like massive. I sat back there and could have worn a top hat and roller blades and had room to spare. The boot is also very very generous. This is a big car.

I hated the screens in place of side mirrors but I just wasn’t used to them. They should really use 3D cameras/displays.

Overall I really enjoyed it, and could definitely picture myself owning one.

 

[Porter]

The back seat is truly massive. Like massive. I sat back there and could have worn a top hat and roller blades and had room to spare. The boot is also very very generous. This is a big car.

Makes me wonder whether they aren't missing the boat by not having a 3 row variant. If Lotus isn't planning to include families in their idea of what a large SUV is for, regardless of luxury, they are missing the boat.

A friend of mine got his long-awaited Rivian R1S last week, and we immediately went out to dinner with 3 full size adults and 3 children in the car, with 2 of the kids in bulky child seats, and everyone was comfortable. And it's so obnoxiously fast it gave us a stomach ache.

 

[Green]

I find the Rivian headlights to be annoyingly ugly. Besides that i like the rest of the design. Fire whoever approved the cartoon eyeball headlights.

 

[GetawayDriving]

Some images, now that I’m on wifi.

One other thing I found very very cool and that I think us Emira folk will be very jealous of…

at a red light I switched it from Eco to Track Mode. Immediately the air suspension drops. Like not a slow and barely-noticeable progression like most, but a very pronounced “ASSUME POSITION!” At the same time (and here comes the jealousy) the seat bolstering got TIGHTER.

The combined effect was that the car felt alive underneath me, and like it was gripping me tighter. It was completely silly and also the coolest feature I’ve experienced in a long time.