📓 Journals New member with actual Emira

[Lots_Of_Trouble]

Is it quicker to add in full harness belts? Seriously.

I did that on my integrale and left the old belts in.

I would love this option ,where can I do it

 

[Leonard]

This is really exciting.
Its like you just picked up my car (bar interior), looks amazing.
REALLY interesting hearing your total experience warts and all. These are the real world reviews I think we have all been waiting for!
Look fwd to hearing part 2 and some GTS comparisons later.
Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts

 

[sam041]

Hi again !

First trip in my Emira is done and I can share my impressions and thoughts. As we are all different then for the context bit about me. I'm 53 y. petrolhead, owned many enthusiast cars from every possible category and toured in them all over the Europe and UK. So I know well British b-roads. I'm acitve trackday goer, done these for over 20 years and also have raced in Baltics and German VLN, incl 2x24 hrs on Nürburgring. Did reasonably well.

Like said in my first post, mainly I will compare Emira to 4.0 Boxster GTS which we have in family since last June and have done 16 k. km in it. By numbers GTS and Emira are almoust identical, but actually they are enough different, so its easy to make choice based on individual preferences.

Handover, Friday morning in Mendig and its raining heavily:

View attachment 10071

Handover ws done professinally, I was explained all functons, displays and etc. Everything is easy to understand and use, no issues at all to get familiar in 15 minutes.

View attachment 10073

About buttons on steering wheel. Left side controls cruise and right is for all other functions. Although they can be pressed, it is much more convinient to slide a finger on direction of arrows, they work also as touchpad. All except radio volume slider works well, as its too tiny for exact adjustment. For volume is better to use knob on central tunnel. What is bit strange, once you have a phone connected, carplay will start as soon as you open the door and music will play from phone immideatly. My other cars it requires to start engine first.

Second strange thing I noticed is related to cruise control. It works well, but if you set a speed it keeps GPS, not speedo reading. For example I set it on 135 kmh, speedo was showing 140 and Waze was indicating 135. Never seen that before. These are not a problems of course.

View attachment 10074

After handover was finshed, car was driven out and off I go to south towards Schwartzwald.

View attachment 10075

Biblical rain, autobahn, trusck, crazy Germans still doing 150+ kmh on left lane, new car, new tyres, still looking for convinient driving position and windshield wipers work only on interval position. Not ideal ! Fortunately it was fastest interval so somehow managed. After I stopped at petrol station and shut off the car, wipers started to work normally. Happened once again during the trip. Will be investigated why ?

This is part 1, will continiue bit later.

Thanks for the photos and initial feedback - fairly testing conditions for your first run I have the same spec aside for interior colour (I've gone for red), yours looks absolutely stunning! Great to see some pics without black pack and with silver wheels which seem far less popular, very happy with my choice having seen this

 

[Forlorn]

That really looks classy, I have gone for ice leather also, I think it goes well with most exterior colours, I have gone Magma but your colour combination is superb. I bet you were worried in that rain, driving your new car home, it’s really worrying on the Autobahn where the water doesn’t seem yo disperse very well and trucks are cutting through it and drenching you all the time, it happened to me in Belgium in my Evora and was excruciating. Well done for being so brave. Now looking forward to episode 2.

 

[lynchy73]

Car looks great in that spec.

Looking forward to hear your driving impressions in the comings weeks, keep us informed

 

[Eagle7]

Hi again !

First trip in my Emira is done and I can share my impressions and thoughts. As we are all different then for the context bit about me. I'm 53 y. petrolhead, owned many enthusiast cars from every possible category and toured in them all over the Europe and UK. So I know well British b-roads. I'm acitve trackday goer, done these for over 20 years and also have raced in Baltics and German VLN, incl 2x24 hrs on Nürburgring. Did reasonably well.

Like said in my first post, mainly I will compare Emira to 4.0 Boxster GTS which we have in family since '21 June and have done 16 k. km in it. By numbers GTS and Emira are almoust identical, but actually they are enough different, so its easy to make choice based on individual preferences.

Handover, Friday morning in Mendig and its raining heavily:

View attachment 10071

Handover was done professinally, I was explained all functions, displays and etc. Everything is easy to understand and use, no issues at all to get familiar in 15 minutes.

View attachment 10073

About buttons on steering wheel. Left side controls cruise and right is for all other functions. Although they can be pressed, it is much more convinient to slide a finger on direction of arrows, they work also as touchpad. All except radio volume slider works well, as its too tiny for exact adjustment. For volume is better to use knob on central tunnel.

What is bit strange, once you have a phone connected, carplay will start as soon as you open the door and music will play from phone immideatly. My other cars it requires to start engine first. During all the trip there was no issues with displays and media, all worked well. Didn't use navigation as I prefer waze.

Second strange thing I noticed is related to cruise control. It works well, but if you set a speed it keeps GPS, not speedo reading. For example I set it on 135 kmh, speedo was showing 140 and waze was indicating 135. Never seen that before. These are not a problems of course.

View attachment 10074

After handover was finshed, car was driven out and off I go to south towards Schwartzwald.

View attachment 10075

Biblical rain, autobahn, trucks, crazy Germans doing 150+ kmh on left lane, new car, new tyres, still looking for convinient driving position and windshield wipers work only on interval position. Not ideal ! Fortunately it was fastest interval so somehow managed. After I stopped at petrol station and shut off the car, wipers started to work normally. Happened once again during the trip. Will be investigated why ?

This is part 1, will continiue.

How was the car in the rain; handling, interior noise, etc.? Beautiful spec by the way; the ice interior is very elegant looking.

 

[richbrown]

Hi guys and girls ! My car arrived to dealer last week. I will pick it up this Friday and first road trip is planned for oncoming weekend. Posted some pictures in Nimbus Grey thread, but to share my impressions its probably better to have separate thread. Car will live mostly on quite rough roads, so I went with touring suspension. No track action is planned.

As background, I own Exige V6 with EX460 upgrade which I use for trackdays and my wife drives 4,0 Boxster. Will use these as reference once I got to drive the car. Will come back with some comments next week if all sorts out like planned.

View attachment 9861

Looks awesome! I went with the ice grey interior too! Identical to mine except yellow callipers and black pack, ah and Auto which could make my delivery super super delayed ! June/July 23 would be perfect

 

[emiraspain]

Bell and Colvill (authorised dealer) put a turbo on the Esprit before the factory did, I don’t know if reliability suffered.

how can the suffering suffer any more.. haha

yes they did. Ive seen the thames television clip

 

[lion shf]

The elephant: wipers didn’t work

 

[frazzer]

The elephant: wipers didn’t work

Perfectly understandable, the UK doesn't get much rain to test wipers with

 

[lion shf]

Perfectly understandable, the UK doesn't get much rain to test wipers with

I don’t think it’s funny but I think you are funny

 

[VL3X]

windshield wipers work only on interval position. Not ideal !

The FE has rain sensing wipers, right? I'm betting the stalk was set to an incorrect position or the micro adjuster for the sensitivity/speed wasn't properly set. Please report back! Looking forward to the GTS comparison. Congrats again!

 

[lion shf]

The FE has rain sensing wipers, right? I'm betting the stalk was set to an incorrect position or the micro adjuster for the sensitivity/speed wasn't properly set. Please report back! Looking forward to the GTS comparison. Congrats again!

With our opees history, I’m guessing not

 

[ott]

To finish with description of electronics, few words about audio system. I am no audiophile, its my non-educated opinion. But I listen music all the time in cars. Sound is clear and high-mid frequencies are perfect. There is not much bass like Bose gives in Porsche. I have listened Burmeister and would say KEF is similar, but dont quote me as it was some time ago. If you like loud electronic or rock music you may wish for lower frequencies.

Seats and cabin. Interior is modern with very good view out, front and side windows are much larger than in GTS. I dont know the difference in seat height, but it feels that Emira seat is higher. It may-be because of lower glassiline and dashboard, as there is little difference in headroom and Emira is 5 cm lower. I always set seat height as low as possible and seat back almoust upright.

Porsche uses Recaro seats, to find good seating position is easy and you sit "in" the car. Emira seats are made by Lear and they are softer with more cushion material. Initially they feel hard and not comfortable, but in couple of days get softer, adopt to you body and provide more side support. Then its comparable to GTS and no problem to drive 5-8 hrs. Of course it much depends of your size. I'm 174 cm and not too fat. Have to mention headrests, for me they are in right height and support head correctly. If you are taller it may be a problem as they are not adjustable and quite large. Probably have to recline seat back more then. Otherwise there is plenty of room for taller persons. Overall driving position of GTS is my preference, but nothing much wrong with Emira.

It took me half day to find comfortable seat position, as pedals are deeper under dashboard compared to GTS. Initially when I adjusted seat so that distance to dash was like in other cars and postion of gearlever was natural, I couldn't press clutch fully. After I moved seat closer gearlever was too close, have to move also my shoulder when changing gears. Not good.

Slight annoyance it that strip of metal mesh on top of instrument binnacle reflects on windscreen under some light conditions:

Don't know much about optics, but if you put on sunglasses it dissapears and in general its only under some certain angle of sun.

Pedal spacing is unusual, clutch is close to brake pedal and center of the seat. After some time you get used to it and as a result there is plenty of room for left footrest, which for example does not exist in Exige. Clutch engagement is smooth and car has hill start control, so no issues at all in stop and go traffic.

Gearchange is with short throw and precise, but requires firm hand. Cannot see any fault, maybe on racetrack you would desire more slickness for quicker changes, but on street its even fun that you need to put effort into it. GTS has PDK so can't compare.

Gear ratios are reasonably short, Porsche is often criticised for long gearing. I didn't exceed 4000 rpm and in 6-th its 180 kmh. Transmission rattle is well known on Exiges and it is still present in Emira, but much less. You hear it only when accelerating from idle up to 2000 rpm on lower gears. No rattle on idle as opposed to Exige.

Cabin noise in Emira is lower than in GTS. Latter has lots of tyre noise, not so much in Emira although tyre size is comparable. Emira has surprisingly low level of wind noise, almoust none up to 130 kmh and then only slight buffeting near b-pillar. Cant say that GTS has more wind noise because tyre and engine noise dominate so much. Emira engine in Touring mode makes very little noise and on high speed you hear mostly supercharger whistling. It gets annoying with time. Solution is easy, put the car into Sport mode and there will be enough exhaust noise to mask it.

Aerodynamics I should mention separately. Lotus claims that Emira creates "significant" downforce and there are lots of tasty functional aero details. Probably true, because the faster it went the more stabile it became. On unrestricted road I kept it between 150-180 when traffic allowed and once took up to 225 after running in was completed. Unfortunately there was no space to test top speed. As most of us have no access to unlimited roads its not maybe that relevant, but aero works on this car.

Thats part 2, will continiue tomorrow.

 

[Leonard]

The FE has rain sensing wipers, right? I'm betting the stalk was set to an incorrect position or the micro adjuster for the sensitivity/speed wasn't properly set. Please report back! Looking forward to the GTS comparison. Congrats again!

I did think that, but certainly didn't want to call it user error as Mr OTT is being so kind with his feedback

 

[ott]

The FE has rain sensing wipers, right? I'm betting the stalk was set to an incorrect position or the micro adjuster for the sensitivity/speed wasn't properly set.

Tried all positions, it has 2 constant speeds in addition to auto. Yes it has sensor and after reset auto function worked properly, switching by itself between speeds depending on rain intensity.

 

[Leonard]

To finish with description of electronics, few words about audio system. I am no audiophile, its my non-educated opinion. But I listen music all the time in cars. Sound is clear and high-mid frequencies are perfect. There is not much bass like Bose gives in Porsche. I have listened Burmeister and would say KEF is similar, but dont quote me as it was some time ago. If you like loud electronic or rock music you may wish for lower frequencies.

View attachment 10076

Seats and cabin. Interior is modern with very good view out, front and side windows are much larger than in GTS. I dont know the difference in seat height, but it feels that Emira seat is higher. It may-be because of lower glassiline and dashboard, as there is little difference in headroom and Emira is 5 cm lower. I always set seat height as low as possible and seat back almoust upright.

Porsche uses Recaro seats, to find good seating position is easy and you sit "in" the car. Emira seats are made by Lear and they are softer with more cushion material. Initially they feel hard and not comfortable, butin couple of days get softer and adopt to you body. Side support is comparable to GTS and its no problem to drive 5-8 hrs. Of course it much depends of your body, I'm 174 cm, not that tall. Have to mention headrests, for me they are in right height and support head correctly. If you are taller it may be a problem as they are not adjustable and quite large. Probably have to recline seat back more then. Otherwise there is plenty of room for taller persons. Overall driving position of GTS is my preference, but nothing much wrong with Emira.

I assume you have the standard Porsche Sports seats in the GTS and that lateral support is the same? That was one of my concerns as the Lotus/Lear seats look more similar to the non sports seat option found in the 981/718

 

[ott]

I assume you have the standard Porsche Sports seats in the GTS and that lateral support is the same? That was one of my concerns as the Lotus/Lear seats look more similar to the non sports seat option found in the 981/718

Yes standard sport seats in GTS. Like I said Emira seats first feel firm and not supportive, but they get better with use. Probably alcantara seats are better in terms of lateral support.

 

[Lots_Of_Trouble]

To finish with description of electronics, few words about audio system. I am no audiophile, its my non-educated opinion. But I listen music all the time in cars. Sound is clear and high-mid frequencies are perfect. There is not much bass like Bose gives in Porsche. I have listened Burmeister and would say KEF is similar, but dont quote me as it was some time ago. If you like loud electronic or rock music you may wish for lower frequencies.

View attachment 10076

Seats and cabin. Interior is modern with very good view out, front and side windows are much larger than in GTS. I dont know the difference in seat height, but it feels that Emira seat is higher. It may-be because of lower glassiline and dashboard, as there is little difference in headroom and Emira is 5 cm lower. I always set seat height as low as possible and seat back almoust upright.

Porsche uses Recaro seats, to find good seating position is easy and you sit "in" the car. Emira seats are made by Lear and they are softer with more cushion material. Initially they feel hard and not comfortable, butin couple of days get softer and adopt to you body. Side support is comparable to GTS and its no problem to drive 5-8 hrs. Of course it much depends of your body, I'm 174 cm, not that tall. Have to mention headrests, for me they are in right height and support head correctly. If you are taller it may be a problem as they are not adjustable and quite large. Probably have to recline seat back more then. Otherwise there is plenty of room for taller persons. Overall driving position of GTS is my preference, but nothing much wrong with Emira.

It took me half day to find comfortable seat position, as pedals are deeper under dashboard compared to GTS. Initially when I adjusted seat so that distance to dash was like in other cars and postion of gearlever was natural, I couldn't press clutch fully. After I moved seat closer gearlever was too close, had to move also my shoulder when changing gears.

Slight annoyance it that strip of metal mesh on top of instrument binnacle reflects on windscreen under some light conditions:

View attachment 10079

Don't know much about optics, but if you put on sunglasses it dissapears and in general its only under some certain angle of sun.

Pedal spacing is unusual, clutch is close to brake pedal and center of the seat. After some time you get used to it and as a result there is plenty of room for left footrest, which for example does not exist in Exige. Clutch engagement is smooth and car has hill start control, so no issues at all in stop and go traffic.

Gearchange is with short throw and precise, but requires firm hand. Cannot see any fault, maybe on racetrack you would desire more slickness for quicker changes, but on street its even fun that you need to put effort into it. GTS has PDK so can't compare.

Gear ratios are reasonably short, Porsche is often criticised for long gearing. I didn't exceed 4000 rpm and in 6-th its 180 kmh. Transmission rattle is well known on Exiges and it is still present in Emira, but much less. You hear it only when accelerating from idle up to 2000 rpm on lower gears. No rattle on idle as opposed to Exige.

Cabin noise in Emira is lower than in GTS. Latter has lots of tyre noise, not so much in Emira although tyre size is comparable. Emira has surprisingly low level of wind noise, almoust none up to 130 kmh and then only slight buffeting near b-pillar. Cant say that GTS has more wind noise because tyre and engine noise dominate so much. Emira engine in Touring mode makes very little noise and on high speed you hear mostly supercharger whistling. It gets annoying with time. Solution is easy, put the car into Sport mode and there will be enough exhaust noise to mask it.

Aerodynamics I should mention separately. Lotus claims that Emira creates "significant" downforce and there are lots of tasty functional aero details. Probably true, because the faster it went the more stabile it became. On unrestricted road I kept it between 150-180 when traffic allowed and once took up to 225 after running in was completed. Unfortunately there was no space to test top speed. As most of us have no access to unlimited roads its not maybe that relevant, but aero works on this car.

Thats part 2, will continiue tomorrow.

Great write up

 

[Speedluvver]

I listened to the KEF at the B&C open day - wasn't lacking in bass for me.. so maybe a mess with the sound settings is needed