Lotus Emira - Road Trip Vehicle?

[chenner]

I'm wondering how many of you have taken a road trip, or plan to, with your Emira?

And I don't mean just a long distance drive that you may have taken on delivery. I'm talking extended drive and everyday use of the car at your destination.

I'm planning on driving to Toronto from Denver and am contemplating taking the Lotus. It would be 1,500 miles each way plus whatever driving I end up doing there for a week.

In the past, I've driven my Corvette C7 and Porsche Taycan to Toronto from Georgia which was 1,000 miles but those cars were more GT cars with plusher rides and less engaging. I'm hoping that the louder cabin and more "engaging" ride doesn't get old to the point where I don't want to drive the car when I get there because it's too tiring and too much work.

Would love to hear from those who have taken or plan on taking their Emira on a similar trip.

 

[ToonFan]

I'm wondering how many of you have taken a road trip, or plan to, with your Emira?

And I don't mean just a long distance drive that you may have taken on delivery. I'm talking extended drive and everyday use of the car at your destination.

I'm planning on driving to Toronto from Denver and am contemplating taking the Lotus. It would be 1,500 miles each way plus whatever driving I end up doing there for a week.

In the past, I've driven my Corvette C7 and Porsche Taycan to Toronto from Georgia which was 1,000 miles but those cars were more GT cars with plusher rides and less engaging. I'm hoping that the louder cabin and more "engaging" ride doesn't get old to the point where I don't want to drive the car when I get there because it's too tiring and too much work.

Would love to hear from those who have taken or plan on taking their Emira on a similar trip.

Toronto to Georgia more appealing than Denver to Toronto. Once you head east, it's flat and boring. I've done Michigan to Denver- very boring! Denver to the north, south or west YES PLEASE-any day, every day. My trips have been in a C7 but will be in an Emira once it arrives............................ The Emira will be my new road trip machine.

 

[912Matt]

Did a road trip loosely based on the Mille Miglia route a couple of weeks ago. Shipped cars from UK to Milan and met them there, then covered approx 1200 miles over 6 days, with a track session in Modena on the penultimate day. I was slightly nervous given reliability issues some have had, but the Emira was absolutely brilliant, never missed a beat, and felt like it was made for the twisty mountain roads. Swapped with a friends 992 GT3 Touring for one day, and whilst a brilliant car, wasn’t as much fun - even the owner agreed. Do it, you won’t regret it

 

[VL3X]

It really comes down to personal preference. I've driven my manual transmission Evora GT (which is slightly harsher than an Emira) on numerous multi-day road trips with no real complaints. Other than being overly cautious where I parked, I didn't really have any concerns or discomforts along the way... just lots of attention and good memories. These cars are made to be driven!

 

[chenner]

Toronto to Georgia more appealing than Denver to Toronto. Once you head east, it's flat and boring. I've done Michigan to Denver- very boring! Denver to the north, south or west YES PLEASE-any day, every day. My trips have been in a C7 but will be in an Emira once it arrives............................ The Emira will be my new road trip machine.

I agree with you on the route. I bought a Ford Raptor from Grand Rapids earlier this year and drove it back. Very uneventful and boring drive.

 

[chenner]

Did a road trip loosely based on the Mille Miglia route a couple of weeks ago. Shipped cars from UK to Milan and met them there, then covered approx 1200 miles over 6 days, with a track session in Modena on the penultimate day. I was slightly nervous given reliability issues some have had, but the Emira was absolutely brilliant, never missed a beat, and felt like it was made for the twisty mountain roads. Swapped with a friends 992 GT3 Touring for one day, and whilst a brilliant car, wasn’t as much fun - even the owner agreed. Do it, you won’t regret it

Glad to hear that the Emira did great on your trip. Reliability is a bit of a concern given all the posts that I've been seeing so your experience gives me some confidence that it can handle the trip.

 

[MickOpalak]

I drove my Evora 400 from Atlanta to Salt Lake City and back via West Virginia and it was great. Practical and comfortable but also brilliant on track or in the twisties. Do it.

 

[Speedluvver]

I took mine down through France to the Pyrenees - it was epic on the mountain roads - especially with the window down, v6 howling against the rock faces... Then I drove home 800 miles in a day (due to a 'messing about' Mercedes) and it took it in its stride.. it will be great on your trip

 

[chenner]

I drove my Evora 400 from Atlanta to Salt Lake City and back via West Virginia and it was great. Practical and comfortable but also brilliant on track or in the twisties. Do it.

That's impressive and in an Evora no less. I'm definitely getting excited about doing the trip in the Emira now.

 

[Blackthought_]

I’ve road-tripped my Emira from Indiana to NJ, then NJ to Vermont, and now NJ to TN. Currently at the tail of the dragon! I think as long as you don’t have tons of stuff it’s a great road trip car

 

[seriously]

You can definitely road trip this car. The cabin is spacious and a nice place to be. You have to dial in the seating position and be mindful of packing, but that’s it. After logging over 1000 miles I can see the appeal of the tour suspension. I’m still happy with my sport setup.

 

[MickOpalak]

That's impressive and in an Evora no less.

The Evora is actually more practical than an Emira. I believe it has a slightly bigger trunk, and can you fit 4 carry on bags behind the seats of an Emira? I think not.

 

[Drambeenie]

I’ve road-tripped my Emira from Indiana to NJ, then NJ to Vermont, and now NJ to TN. Currently at the tail of the dragon! I think as long as you don’t have tons of stuff it’s a great road trip car

What's the drive like from Indiana to NJ? I might be doing the same but it looks like 10 hours of boring roads.

 

[Blackthought_]

What's the drive like from Indiana to NJ? I might be doing the same but it looks like 10 hours of boring roads.

For the most part it’s boring highway roads (we did midway stop at Pittsburgh which was really nice). I drew up alternate twisty roads on the app calimoto but it ended up adding 3 hours to the route and my wife wasn’t about that life lol

 

[Simon]

Did a road trip loosely based on the Mille Miglia route a couple of weeks ago. Shipped cars from UK to Milan and met them there, then covered approx 1200 miles over 6 days, with a track session in Modena on the penultimate day. I was slightly nervous given reliability issues some have had, but the Emira was absolutely brilliant, never missed a beat, and felt like it was made for the twisty mountain roads. Swapped with a friends 992 GT3 Touring for one day, and whilst a brilliant car, wasn’t as much fun - even the owner agreed. Do it, you won’t regret it

This sounds amazing!! Can you tell me who you used to ship your cars (and what price if you don't mind!)? I want to take my Emira to the Alps next summer, so getting to Milan without driving would be perfect. (Just can't face the long boring French motorway journey).

To the original post, I have road tripped mine from London, through South Wales, over to Ireland, all the way around Ireland and back via Dublin, through Snowdonia and back to London. Think it ended up being about 1,500 miles and the car was perfect - fun on the good roads, comfortable on the boring roads, plenty of space for bags for a week. Didn't miss a beat!

 

[EM12A LS]

I'm just back from taking my Emira to the Artic Circle posted this on my Journal earlier today

Our journey consisted of the following itinerary.
Day 1 – Harwich via overnight ferry to Hook of Holland
Day 2 - Hook of Holland via Germany to Copenhagen
Day 3 - Copenhagen via overnight ferry to Oslo
Day 4 - Oslo to Ostersund
Day 5- Ostersund to Arjeplog (summer solstice)
Day 6- Arjeplog via Arctic Circle to Grong
Day 7 - Grong via Trondheim to Averoy
Day 8 - Averoy to Geiranger
Day 9 - Geiranger via Breheimen National Park to Larvik
Day 10 - Larvik ferry to Hirtshals to Billund
Day 11 - Billund (Lego) to Bremen
Day 12 - Bremen to Hook of Holland to Harwich to Home

There is so much I could write about this trip, I was able to share the driving with my son, which was great as it broke the traveling down and gave him his first taste of , some of the days where to long and whilst the roads are generally amazing we often ended up in convoys of camper vans and lorries which slowed progress, don’t under estimate journey times in Scandinavia we should have added at least 3 or 4 more days to break the trip down.

How was the car? the Emira is definitely a grand tourer it eats up the miles in comfort we shared the driving which is must, with no fatigue after a good days driving, we had one issue with the boot which didn’t fully shut one morning and would neither fully shut or open and we had to find the emergency boot pull to open, but other than that it has behaved perfectly. tour and sport modes are great, sport was perfect for the twisty roads and tour simply perfect for the boring bits.

I love the auto gear box, it is slick and smooth very responsive and goes through the gears very nicely, in tour mode there is a tendency for the auto to upshift quite early but a pull on the paddle or a switch to sport mode solves that issue. The car easily outperforms this drivers abilities so I’m afraid there isn’t much by way of critique here.

Niggles in all honesty it’s hard to find any, the boot shape is annoying and despite soft bags it didn’t take as much as I’d hoped but the shelf behind the seats more than makes up for the space, but other than that in my view this is one of the best sports cars I’ve owned and it will be in my garage for many more years.

Some Stats

Total journey 2877 miles 4630km (I have now completed 9500 miles in the car)
1276 miles 2052km to the arctic circle (from the Hook of Holland)
Average Full Consumption 33mpg
Top Speed 120mph on the Autobahn
9 Ferries (no issues with ride height on entry and exit ramps)

 

[912Matt]

This sounds amazing!! Can you tell me who you used to ship your cars (and what price if you don't mind!)? I want to take my Emira to the Alps next summer, so getting to Milan without driving would be perfect. (Just can't face the long boring French motorway journey).

To the original post, I have road tripped mine from London, through South Wales, over to Ireland, all the way around Ireland and back via Dublin, through Snowdonia and back to London. Think it ended up being about 1,500 miles and the car was perfect - fun on the good roads, comfortable on the boring roads, plenty of space for bags for a week. Didn't miss a beat!

Sure, we used EM Rogers who were very professional. The transporter would have accommodated 6 cars, but we only took 5. Cost for this was £2,200 per car (from Stamford, Lincs to Milan). Met the cars just outside the airport, so very easy. You’ll see from photo how nice the trailer was. Let me know if you need more info

 

[chenner]

I'm just back from taking my Emira to the Artic Circle posted this on my Journal earlier today

Our journey consisted of the following itinerary.
Day 1 – Harwich via overnight ferry to Hook of Holland
Day 2 - Hook of Holland via Germany to Copenhagen
Day 3 - Copenhagen via overnight ferry to Oslo
Day 4 - Oslo to Ostersund
Day 5- Ostersund to Arjeplog (summer solstice)
Day 6- Arjeplog via Arctic Circle to Grong
Day 7 - Grong via Trondheim to Averoy
Day 8 - Averoy to Geiranger
Day 9 - Geiranger via Breheimen National Park to Larvik
Day 10 - Larvik ferry to Hirtshals to Billund
Day 11 - Billund (Lego) to Bremen
Day 12 - Bremen to Hook of Holland to Harwich to Home

There is so much I could write about this trip, I was able to share the driving with my son, which was great as it broke the traveling down and gave him his first taste of , some of the days where to long and whilst the roads are generally amazing we often ended up in convoys of camper vans and lorries which slowed progress, don’t under estimate journey times in Scandinavia we should have added at least 3 or 4 more days to break the trip down.

How was the car? the Emira is definitely a grand tourer it eats up the miles in comfort we shared the driving which is must, with no fatigue after a good days driving, we had one issue with the boot which didn’t fully shut one morning and would neither fully shut or open and we had to find the emergency boot pull to open, but other than that it has behaved perfectly. tour and sport modes are great, sport was perfect for the twisty roads and tour simply perfect for the boring bits.

I love the auto gear box, it is slick and smooth very responsive and goes through the gears very nicely, in tour mode there is a tendency for the auto to upshift quite early but a pull on the paddle or a switch to sport mode solves that issue. The car easily outperforms this drivers abilities so I’m afraid there isn’t much by way of critique here.

Niggles in all honesty it’s hard to find any, the boot shape is annoying and despite soft bags it didn’t take as much as I’d hoped but the shelf behind the seats more than makes up for the space, but other than that in my view this is one of the best sports cars I’ve owned and it will be in my garage for many more years.

Some Stats

Total journey 2877 miles 4630km (I have now completed 9500 miles in the car)
1276 miles 2052km to the arctic circle (from the Hook of Holland)
Average Full Consumption 33mpg
Top Speed 120mph on the Autobahn
9 Ferries (no issues with ride height on entry and exit ramps)

Wow, that sounds like an epic journey and you definitely put the car through it's paces. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Simon]

Sure, we used EM Rogers who were very professional. The transporter would have accommodated 6 cars, but we only took 5. Cost for this was £2,200 per car (from Stamford, Lincs to Milan). Met the cars just outside the airport, so very easy. You’ll see from photo how nice the trailer was. Let me know if you need more info View attachment 47102

That's great, thanks a lot!

 

[Bod27]

Took mine down to Nice last year , got the ferry in Hull to Rotterdam, and on the way back we did Route Napoleon in reverse , which was great . Mines an auto with tour , we managed to get enough kit in for two weeks away . We have done the same trip in my V6 Exige , a few years ago , on that one we had to get back to uk overnight due to covid restrictions changing, that was a fun drive home .
It’s funny as we had exactly the same boot issue and had to use the manual release. The problem is when we closed the boot , one of the straps on the soft bags got caught under the boot seal , this meant I couldn’t click it closed properly, and because of this it wouldn’t pop open, anyway it’s an easy fix after a bit of panicking in the car park .
Great car , I’ve done 10000 in the first year , and can’t wait do do some more European road trips