New owner perspective

[Subw00er]

I have only put about 300 miles on my car, but I thought someone would like to hear about my first time observations whilst they wait for theirs. I have seen every YouTube review (like even the ones in other languages), read all the paper ones, hammered forums.. I'm that guy. So I'm not going to comment on common things, just things that stood out to me as either not mentioned, or if only mentioned once, I thought I'd back up that reviewer's opinion. I'm just going to list them, in no particular order..

• The car is much prettier in person than any video or photo. Everyone immediately says "wow that's beautiful" when seeing it. There truly is no bad angle. The car gets a lot more attention than anticipated, and its everyone, not just the enthusiasts. You don't get that in a Porsche these days. I kind of like how there is no set "type" of Lotus owner because most people don't know about Lotus - my nearest dealer is 3 hrs away. I might as well be driving on the back of a unicorn. I had so much baggage driving the Boxster around. Not because "its not a 911," but because its a Porsche, and most of those guys are weenies. I swear I'm not, I don't own a single Polo and I suck at investment banking.
• The interior is nice too. The tan leather is actually a nice tan. Many pics make it look orange, reddish or washed out - its more of a nice coach bag tan/brown. Lotus really went above and beyond on the styling and design. I honestly wouldn't change much and, FWIW, I have degrees in engineering, design and HMI so my mindset is always on how annoying things are, and how I'd fix it.
• Even though I'm not done with break-in, you can tell the power is going to be very nice. It feels linear with a wafty effortlessness; like a big Mercedes.. but with sound too.
• It sounds nothing like a Camry, thank God, as this was my biggest fear. The noise is a big part of a car for me, honestly, maybe 35%, because its aids in giving a car character. I value character over anything else these days. The intake/exhaust engineers did a great job - each bring their own interesting cacophony, on top of the already interesting mechanical sounds and kerplunks and dingle-whoosits emanating from the engine bay. I'm assuming all those weird sounds are supposed to be there. Its reminiscent of that sewing machine-esqe sound that Porsche owners want back in their cars, but has been mostly engineered out. I can just start to hear the supercharger whine up before I have to let off, so I'm looking forward to that at full tilt. You can really hear it nicely with the window down. I have a zl1 with a supercharger, and I actually made a mod to hear it more. I had a supercharged JCW mini that also made a good noise. I like it a lot, but I should note here that the sound is not overwhelming at ALL, and if you put it in normal mode and drive chill, its very amenable/quiet. I love this Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde aspect in cars. My '17 zl1 is the same, comfortable with all the modern accoutrements, but hit a button and its a freaking animal that abuses pavement. The Emira is a good complimentary car to a 650hp v8.
• The pedals are quite tight together and offset to the right to make way for the wheel well. Its a bit like the Gen 1 Viper, but not nearly as extreme. I like it actually.. adds character. I like when cars tell me what shoes I'm allowed to wear. The clutch is just slightly above average harder to push down. In traffic, its a little tiresome. I wouldn't want the manual in LA/NYC. When I push the clutch, my foot doesn't really hit the pedal well. I can feel I'm pushing down on the bar above the pedal. My size 10.5 shoe will wear the paint off of that bar soon. You do drive a little tip-toey, which is a weird. I'm always cognizant of a calf cramp.
• The two rear vent holes behind the rear tires are constantly dirty. I expect someone will make a mod there. I'd expect the plastic is going to get wasted. Perhaps they are easy and cheap to replace. The sides of the car also get quite dirty which entices one to scan the road constantly for water or debris. We all do that with all of our cars, but it matters more here. I'd love to see some low profile front mud guards to help with that. I hate PPF so I'm just going to deal with it as Lotus intends. A fellow stopped me at a light and said I made his day for seeing the car, and seeing it so dirty. I got a kick out of that. Its nice to know this car grew up on muddy unkept back roads of the UK, so a little dirt shouldn't hurt.
• When washing, the rear vent hole under the window is a direct shot to the motor (as you know), but if you shoot water in there, it will hit the window behind your head too, which is funny for some reason. Its not clear if you can spray water on the engine compartment. Its sort of a pita to clean and because its open, it gets dusty pretty quick there. I'm glad I have the smoked glass to hide my unmentionables.
• The trunk area is a littler bigger than I thought as it dives under the latch, and the interior behind the seats is a little smaller than I thought. Its not a very practical car, but for me, that's ok.
• Seat comfort is well above average. This is the first time I have ever been in a car's seat where I didn't need the lumbar out and low. I have old man back syndrome. I was cross shopping this and a AMG GT-c and the seat was going to be hard to live with on the Merc. The seat heaters are just average, but nice that you can program them to stay on and they remember your last setting. Love that. When I first got in, I wanted the seat 1" lower, but what's really going on is the front of the sill unusually dives down giving the impression that you're sitting high, but if you look to your left, you'll see the door sill is actually higher than expected. Its a funny optical illusion. Some complain about the seat being too wide on the back and sliding on hard corners, but I think that would only happen with a pretty thin build. This seat is graciously made for the aging fatso UK and American markets.
• Lights at night are great. No complaints, but would have liked the auto dip feature.
• My Volvo s90 has a lot of the same switchgear and coachwork feel. Its all excellent and feels Audi-level. I like the interior much better than the 981s. It is annoying that you change the mini menus a lot because of the touchless buttons on the wheel. I think an option to turn that off would be good. I can probably just deal with that and enjoy the roulette-ness of it. None of those menus are critical, so no biggie. It is mostly annoying when you want to cycle through a playlist with the ">" right button, but you have to be on the music widget first. I would have liked a next track hard button somewhere - its not always visible on the screen and because my playlist is from the 90's, I do a lot of skipping.
• The screen quality is great. Only slightly convoluted. It is aesthetically pleasing, pretty quick and simple. A little more effort on the UI design would be good to kill some of the black and white motif, but there are joyful elements in there and overall its [Borat] great success!
• With 50deg cold tires and still in break-in, I haven't explored handling limits, but I have tried to make it understeer mid corner and mess around a bit. I haven't had any scary moments and its clear the cornering capability is quite high. The Goodyear's are nice tires. I think this would smoke my 981s with its GT4 rear sway bar - an impressive car to corner in its own right, albeit no where near as communicative and special. You have the sensation driving it that the wheels are right there in front, like a go kart setup where perhaps your legs instinctively feel a little too far forward, but they're not. Its really helping the car feel a certain way that is different than others under $100K. The feedback from this gently forward sensation, the wheel, and your butt, add up to quite a nice little package of enjoyment. Its a lot like the old NSX where you can feel its little feet stretched out to all four corners as far as it can. Its what makes it fun and pleasurable to drive. I've had lots of cars from front to mid engine, awd to rwd.. This car feels different. Its lower slung, tidy, willing, rewarding and stout.
• The touring suspension is better than I expected, but not by much because everyone raves about it. There is mild body roll, with a tiny bit of setup, but then its glued - like a c5z06 over 80mph when aero has kicked in. Sorry if some of my analogies are random. I've owned lot (most?!) of sub 100K sports cars. The shocks are quite good. I was reminded of my test ride on a new Triumph motorcycle fitted with high end Fox shocks - you'd go over bumps, clench and prepare, but then never really feel it, but at the same time, you did get enough feedback to know you did actually go over it, so the road feel and feedback remains. This is an interesting balance that I'm sure took a lot of engineering and experimentation. The ability of the car to remain un-nervous on crap roads is not life-altering, but pretty well done. I don't think I'd want it stiffer or softer. Roads near me are pretty good, well they were pre-covid anyway.

[cont.]

 

[Subw00er]

[cont.]

• The Verdent green is as expected - mostly black with occasional moments of green. I like the assumed stable resale value of green, and the understatedness of it, but the yellow calipers pop and help folks notice the car. I love them! The calipers are hard to photograph too. Its matched to the lotus yellow and looks stunning. I wanted the new light gray or the darker red (forget names now) body paint, but this car will be stunning in any color, so put that lower on your priority list.
• I can see why folks have trouble with the trunk. Just gently entice it downwards from half open and it closes perfectly with a nice thud. Its not like the Porsches where you wanna gently close and press on the emblem.. its easier.
• The shifter is nice. Like a s2000, but a tiny bit more notchy, with perhaps even shorter throws. The ball on top has rough edges where it was milled/stamped, and a hole in the back which I may stick an eraser in for fun rubbing. It could have used a bit more edge breaking on that shift gate machining job. My shifter can move fore and aft more than I like. I will have those few MM adjusted out at the first oil change, or if the dealer gives me a hard time, I'll just adjust the linkage myself.
• Ground and front clearance feels a tad better than the Boxster. Its good for most of around town.
• The car is unintimidating to drive, which is good and bad. If it were intimidating, it would require more growing into, which can be rewarding to an enthusiast, but if its a shared vehicle, there are huge benefits to ease of use, in addition to general daily drivability. Its very easy to gage where the wheels are. My friend thought it should feel more special inside, and I get why he says this, but his litmus is much higher end cars, so just the fact that he's comparing it to them and not something lower on the food chain is revealing in of itself. I disagree with him btw, the interior is awesome. It is a very special place to be.
• The brake pedal is very touchy, but I like that. It takes time to get used to.
• 1st gear take off is kind of tricky, but I'm improving. The clutch lets out in a small area, and as such, without huge feel. This is why its hard to modulate. All of the other gears are easy. FWIW, I'm not new to manual cars, most of my 20 or so sports cars have been manual.
• Visibility forward is above average, rearward 3/4 kind of sucks. The rear window can reflect other cars elsewhere and that confused me for a bit till I realized. I just use the mirrors now which are quite good. Don't let this bother you, most sports cars at this level suck viewing out the back.
• Interior space in general is good, not great, just big enough I suppose. This would not be a good car to have sex in, so if you're using the car to pick up chicks, plan accordingly. 6'ers will be happy, even if most of their scale is in the torso. Side to side room is no where near an AMG GT, but its bigger than a s2000; its not claustrophobic. Elbow resting points are good with nice soft touch areas.
• The stereo supports Apple play and Tidal - a huge plus. I use the garage door opener (Chamberlain doohicky) feature in Carplay and it works good enough that I haven't bothered to program the Homelink. Its also a Kef, which I was excited about because I am an audiophile and know the brand well. I'm not a huge fan of their Uni-q driver in the ls50 everyone raves about, its highly overrated, BUT their R3 bookshelf speakers are really quite good, and on my radar to find used. Unfortunately though, that is not a driver that performs off-axis at all. Its as laser beam as a Magnepan and the positioning of the audio drivers is flat out wrong. Additionally, the sub behind the passenger is wholly incapable of musicality, and reverts to thuds, accentuated by the car's internals itself, so I turned it down to 30% (I've boosted the mid to about 75%, and the treble 60%, but I haven't done any critical listening yet). I've read that the interior vent is just behind the sub and at volume can rattle as well. So clearly whoever they used for designing the audio system, I could give them an audio design class; Give me a call Lotus. FWIW, I used to compete in sound quality competitions in my youth and have built perhaps 15 high end car audio systems in my cars. I may enclose and swap out the sub at some point in the future if I'm bored. The audio systems in the e92M3, s550, and zl1 are superior. As a small aside, I've owned a few B&W home systems, which have high wife acceptance factor (WAF) due to their looks, but they are usually pretty shrill drivers (good for old people with lots of money and high frequency audio loss). But, I have to mention for the enthusiasts in the room, go listen to the B&W system in the Volvo s90. It is shockingly, fascinatingly good, and almost a reason to buy the car! Sometimes I go listen in the garage and turn the massaging seats on to boot (also good). It is the only system I've ever heard that is better than what I can do. Getting back to the Emira, and to be fair, the overall tone of the system is not horrible and on music that doesn't use a lot of sub, like classical, its above average. Max volume is quite low. Tinnitus sufferers; unite, and crank that shit, its ok! Most drivers will think it sounds nice; my frame of reference is just different. The metal grills are also very pretty, but I'm sure block many sonic benefits of the midrange drivers behind. The sail panel grills have nothing behind them, le poseurs, mon dieu! If you're into this stuff, my good friend and long time audio cohort Mike Michne is doing a highly detailed rebuild of an iconic B&W-based BMW, check it out:
• The rear tires are a lot wider than expected - at 295 they are just a hair shy of my zl1's 305's which are visually massive. It gives the rear a real presence, and along with other interesting features like the heat shields and red poly exhaust hangers, give a lot of visual interest to the rear that does not come across in photos. The rear is the best angle, and the one most people will see! Amazingly, side by side, it looks wider than my zl1, which is cool because what man doesn't like a big boot-y. Perhaps its just the lower profile nature giving that effect. The front is the second best angle - very Ferrari inspired (not copied), which is a good thing. The overall scale is a funny one in the lotus. sometimes it looks big and sometimes small. Its a big small big car.
• I like when I look out the side mirrors, I see the sexy rear haunches. I point them in a bit more than I should!
• I wish it had a sunroof.
• I wish I could open the exhaust valves in normal mode.
• I like looking at it in my garage.

I hope that's interesting to you. I'm not easy to please with cars, but the Emira is a GREAT car and has exceeded nearly all of my expectations - most notably around exterior looks, interior kaka and how it makes me feel. I've only experienced half the motor, but its still a total winner. Lotus should be very proud of this special car and its heart-breaking to think there will not be a follow up to it. I think that's a huge mistake. This is by far the best option for a sports car in the $75-150K sector, and there are only a few in that range to pick from now. Most people cant stretch to $200-300K for a car, and if they just could, would likely have a lot of trouble rationalizing it. This car really fills a need in the market and I'd expect resale to hold pretty solid for a long time, even though I'm sure Lotus is going to sell a cubic assload of them.

 

[Green]

Quite the juxtaposition to read this glowing review from a new owner two threads below someone trying to reject the same car after 6 months.

 

[Porter]

This matches my own feelings and experience with the car (after 500 miles) so closely in the broad strokes that I feel like I could have written it. Well done, and glad you are enjoying it as much as I am.

 

[Superman]

Great, comprehensive write-up. Will be good to get your continuing thoughts as you put more miles on.

I am still formulating initial thoughts on mine, only 150 miles in so far.

 

[DPB]

Excellent review and commentary! You captured so many of the same feelings I get driving and looking at the Emira. I especially liked your description of the "kerplunks and dingle-whoosits" sounds from the engine and transmission. It's a raw and mechanical soundtrack that is so uncommon in modern cars. It makes you know you are operating a finely engineered machine, not being shuttled around in a people-mover. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and keep them coming!

 

[Go Kart]

Quite the juxtaposition to read this glowing review from a new owner two threads below someone trying to reject the same car after 6 months.

No kidding… I read some of the horror stories and it makes me think twice about what this car will be when it finally shows up. Will my wife receive a winner or a lemon? … and how will I deal with her deep disappointment if it ends up being the latter?

I do realize negative aspects of ANY product are typically the loudest and most pronounced voices and opinions, so this very well done, articulate, and immersive review is a welcomed read.

Truly great review @Subw00er…
Who knew an engineer could be so thoughtful and poetic?? lol

 

[benjh1028]

• My Volvo s90 has a lot of the same switchgear and coachwork feel. Its all excellent and feels Audi-level. I like the interior much better than the 981s. It is annoying that you change the mini menus a lot because of the touchless buttons on the wheel. I think an option to turn that off would be good. I can probably just deal with that and enjoy the roulette-ness of it. None of those menus are critical, so no biggie. It is mostly annoying when you want to cycle through a playlist with the ">" right button, but you have to be on the music widget first. I would have liked a next track hard button somewhere - its not always visible on the screen.

[cont.]

You're correct that a lot of the interior components are shared with Volvo as both use controls from Lynk & Co. THERE IS an easy swap available to go from the tactile steering wheel controls to hard buttons (which as you point out makes way more sense). I've attached a picture, and more info can be found in these threads, where someone swapped this during a repair job:

Chinese First Osmium Silver 2.0T

Congratulations！

www.emiraforum.com

Lotus Emira interior is pretty much Lynk & Co...

I was pretty blown away with how similar this interior is to the Emira... Let me know how many items the exact same. Other video's show how the infotainment works... Looks decent. I found the drive mode select, start button, volume control screen operating system and color scheme, climate vents...

www.emiraforum.com

 

[VL3X]

Thanks for the real world review @Subw00er! It's so great to have actual owner feedback finally. I can't wait to drive one again myself.

 

[seriously]

Really enjoyed that write up. Comparisons are also interesting. I’m shocked some are comparing the shifter to s2000, but if it’s even close that’s amazing. You’re not the only person to make the comparison. Makes sense that notchy is more like the rifle bolt feeling s2000 vs the Porsche excellent but kind of butter smooth action.

 

[Go Kart]

Really enjoyed that write up. Comparisons are also interesting. I’m shocked some are comparing the shifter to s2000, but if it’s even close that’s amazing. You’re not the only person to make the comparison. Makes sense that notchy is more like the rifle bolt feeling s2000 vs the Porsche excellent but kind of butter smooth action.

It felt like a gated shifter to me. Precise, no slop, with a metal on metal sensation and a sort of *thwick* sound. Definitely better feeling shifter than Porsche (and I really love that Porsche stick).

The description of a rifle bolt would fit as well, but I’m not a gun person, so my mind never went there.

 

[Atlantis Blue Emira]

I have only put about 300 miles on my car, but I thought someone would like to hear about my first time observations whilst they wait for theirs. I have seen every YouTube review (like even the ones in other languages), read all the paper ones, hammered forums.. I'm that guy. So I'm not going to comment on common things, just things that stood out to me as either not mentioned, or if only mentioned once, I thought I'd back up that reviewer's opinion. I'm just going to list them, in no particular order..

• The car is much prettier in person than any video or photo. Everyone immediately says "wow that's beautiful" when seeing it. There truly is no bad angle. The car gets a lot more attention than anticipated, and its everyone, not just the enthusiasts. You don't get that in a Porsche these days. I kind of like how there is no set "type" of Lotus owner because most people don't know about Lotus - my nearest dealer is 3 hrs away. I might as well be driving on the back of a unicorn. I had so much baggage driving the Boxster around. Not because "its not a 911," but because its a Porsche, and most of those guys are weenies. I swear I'm not, I don't own a single Polo and I suck at investment banking.
• The interior is nice too. The tan leather is actually a nice tan. Many pics make it look orange, reddish or washed out - its more of a nice coach bag tan/brown. Lotus really went above and beyond on the styling and design. I honestly wouldn't change much and, FWIW, I have degrees in engineering, design and HMI so my mindset is always on how annoying things are, and how I'd fix it.
• Even though I'm not done with break-in, you can tell the power is going to be very nice. It feels linear with a wafty effortlessness; like a big Mercedes.. but with sound too.
• It sounds nothing like a Camry, thank God, as this was my biggest fear. The noise is a big part of a car for me, honestly, maybe 35%, because its aids in giving a car character. I value character over anything else these days. The intake/exhaust engineers did a great job - each bring their own interesting cacophony, on top of the already interesting mechanical sounds and kerplunks and dingle-whoosits emanating from the engine bay. I'm assuming all those weird sounds are supposed to be there. Its reminiscent of that sewing machine-esqe sound that Porsche owners want back in their cars, but has been mostly engineered out. I can just start to hear the supercharger whine up before I have to let off, so I'm looking forward to that at full tilt. You can really hear it nicely with the window down. I have a zl1 with a supercharger, and I actually made a mod to hear it more. I had a supercharged JCW mini that also made a good noise. I like it a lot, but I should note here that the sound is not overwhelming at ALL, and if you put it in normal mode and drive chill, its very amenable/quiet. I love this Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde aspect in cars. My '17 zl1 is the same, comfortable with all the modern accoutrements, but hit a button and its a freaking animal that abuses pavement. The Emira is a good complimentary car to a 650hp v8.
• The pedals are quite tight together and offset to the right to make way for the wheel well. Its a bit like the Gen 1 Viper, but not nearly as extreme. I like it actually.. adds character. I like when cars tell me what shoes I'm allowed to wear. The clutch is just slightly above average harder to push down. In traffic, its a little tiresome. I wouldn't want the manual in LA/NYC. When I push the clutch, my foot doesn't really hit the pedal well. I can feel I'm pushing down on the bar above the pedal. My size 10.5 shoe will wear the paint off of that bar soon. You do drive a little tip-toey, which is a weird. I'm always cognizant of a calf cramp.
• The two rear vent holes behind the rear tires are constantly dirty. I expect someone will make a mod there. I'd expect the plastic is going to get wasted. Perhaps they are easy and cheap to replace. The sides of the car also get quite dirty which entices one to scan the road constantly for water or debris. We all do that with all of our cars, but it matters more here. I'd love to see some low profile front mud guards to help with that. I hate PPF so I'm just going to deal with it as Lotus intends. A fellow stopped me at a light and said I made his day for seeing the car, and seeing it so dirty. I got a kick out of that. Its nice to know this car grew up on muddy unkept back roads of the UK, so a little dirt shouldn't hurt.
• When washing, the rear vent hole under the window is a direct shot to the motor (as you know), but if you shoot water in there, it will hit the window behind your head too, which is funny for some reason. Its not clear if you can spray water on the engine compartment. Its sort of a pita to clean and because its open, it gets dusty pretty quick there. I'm glad I have the smoked glass to hide my unmentionables.
• The trunk area is a littler bigger than I thought as it dives under the latch, and the interior behind the seats is a little smaller than I thought. Its not a very practical car, but for me, that's ok.
• Seat comfort is well above average. This is the first time I have ever been in a car's seat where I didn't need the lumbar out and low. I have old man back syndrome. I was cross shopping this and a AMG GT-c and the seat was going to be hard to live with on the Merc. The seat heaters are just average, but nice that you can program them to stay on and they remember your last setting. Love that. When I first got in, I wanted the seat 1" lower, but what's really going on is the front of the sill unusually dives down giving the impression that you're sitting high, but if you look to your left, you'll see the door sill is actually higher than expected. Its a funny optical illusion.
• Lights at night are great. No complaints, but would have liked the auto dip feature.
• My Volvo s90 has a lot of the same switchgear and coachwork feel. Its all excellent and feels Audi-level. I like the interior much better than the 981s. It is annoying that you change the mini menus a lot because of the touchless buttons on the wheel. I think an option to turn that off would be good. I can probably just deal with that and enjoy the roulette-ness of it. None of those menus are critical, so no biggie. It is mostly annoying when you want to cycle through a playlist with the ">" right button, but you have to be on the music widget first. I would have liked a next track hard button somewhere - its not always visible on the screen.
• The screen quality is great. Only slightly convoluted. It is aesthetically pleasing, pretty quick and simple. A little more effort on the UI design would be good to kill some of the black and white motif, but there are joyful elements in there and overall its [Borat] great success!
• With 50deg cold tires and still in break-in, I haven't explored handling limits, but I have tried to make it understeer mid corner and mess around a bit. I haven't had any scary moments and its clear the cornering capability is quite high. The Goodyear's are nice tires. I think this would smoke my 981s with its GT4 rear sway bar - an impressive car to corner in its own right, albeit no where near as communicative and special. You have the sensation driving it that the wheels are right there in front, like a go kart setup where perhaps your legs instinctively feel a little too far forward, but they're not. Its really helping the car feel a certain way that is different than others under $100K. The feedback from this gently forward sensation, the wheel, and your butt, add up to quite a nice little package of enjoyment. Its a lot like the old NSX where you can feel its little feet stretched out to all four corners as far as it can. Its what makes it fun and pleasurable to drive. I've had lots of cars from front to mid engine, awd to rwd.. This car feels different. Its lower slung, tidy, willing, rewarding and stout.
• The touring suspension is better than I expected, but not by much because everyone raves about it. There is mild body roll, with a tiny bit of setup, but then its glued - like a c5z06 over 80mph when aero has kicked in. Sorry if some of my analogies are random. I've owned lot (most?!) of sub 100K sports cars. The shocks are quite good. I was reminded of my test ride on a new Triumph motorcycle fitted with high end Fox shocks - you'd go over bumps, clench and prepare, but then never really feel it, but at the same time, you did get enough feedback to know you did actually go over it, so the road feel and feedback remains. This is an interesting balance that I'm sure took a lot of engineering and experimentation. The ability of the car to remain un-nervous on crap roads is not life-altering, but pretty well done. I don't think I'd want it stiffer or softer. Roads near me are pretty good, well they were pre-covid anyway.

[cont.]

Great summary. I have 200 miles on mine and echo your sentiments. I have sports suspension so a tight ride and can feel most bumps on the road, but I like that and that is why I picked this spec.

Furthermore for this issue "The two rear vent holes behind the rear tires are constantly dirty. I expect someone will make a mod there. I'd expect the plastic is going to get wasted"...I had the back vent holes PPF before I drove off the lot. The Lotus dealer said nobody has requested this, and I mentioned there is a 100% guarantee it kicks up dirt and rocks and will damage this plastic piece. When I took the delivery of the car, I had so much dirt and rocks in it, but just wiped it off with a rag that I keep in the trunk and do this every time I park back home and it is very easy and smooth.

 

[seriously]

Great summary. I have 200 miles on mine and echo your sentiments. I have sports suspension so a tight ride and can feel most bumps on the road, but I like that and that is why I picked this spec.

Furthermore for this issue "The two rear vent holes behind the rear tires are constantly dirty. I expect someone will make a mod there. I'd expect the plastic is going to get wasted"...I had the back vent holes PPF before I drove off the lot. The Lotus dealer said nobody has requested this, and I mentioned there is a 100% guarantee it kicks up dirt and rocks and will damage this plastic piece. When I took the delivery of the car, I had so much dirt and rocks in it, but just wiped it off with a rag that I keep in the trunk and do this every time I park back home and it is very easy and smooth.

I suspect PPF would do really well here. Of course it gets dirty. It’s designed to move air from the rear tire!

 

[virtualmacho]

I went the other way: Those vents are the only place I did not have PPFed thinking that I can replace them with new parts (carbon if I feel like it) if they crack or break. So far no issues other than being constantly dirty.

 

[Subw00er]

Thanks for the kind replies! I added a couple more bullets near the end I forgot about.

 

[seriously]

It felt like a gated shifter to me. Precise, no slop, with a metal on metal sensation and a sort of *thwick* sound. Definitely better feeling shifter than Porsche (and I really love that Porsche stick).

The description of a rifle bolt would fit as well, but I’m not a gun person, so my mind never went there.

Sounds incredible and that’s the way it should be. S2000 feels like a video game shifter, gated but shouldn’t be that precise in a real car. I’m used to sloppy vague manuals like Toyota or BMW . Strange how good it is. P is also excellent, precise, easy but feels less connected. Especially if you have throttle blip. Ready to try the emira shifter!

 

[kitkat]

Really enjoyed that write up. Comparisons are also interesting. I’m shocked some are comparing the shifter to s2000, but if it’s even close that’s amazing. You’re not the only person to make the comparison. Makes sense that notchy is more like the rifle bolt feeling s2000 vs the Porsche excellent but kind of butter smooth action.

It’s not close to the s2000 action, nor is the transmission as smooth or quick as the s2000.

 

[seriously]

my reference for sound is the high end system in the e92m3 comp which I think is great. I heard the kef parked and it sounded fine. If I can get clear sound at a reasonably high volume I am good. I don’t need booming bass or some magical 3dness from car audio. Have not heard at speed though where I hear it suffers a bit. The m has great insulation so it performs fine at speed.

 

[Subw00er]

Quite the juxtaposition to read this glowing review from a new owner two threads below someone trying to reject the same car after 6 months.

Its all perspective!

For me, now, this car rocks. If in a month parts start falling off, or the idle hesitates, or it strands me, you can be damn sure my follow up review would have a different tone!

 

[Subw00er]

Excellent review and commentary! You captured so many of the same feelings I get driving and looking at the Emira. I especially liked your description of the "kerplunks and dingle-whoosits" sounds from the engine and transmission. It's a raw and mechanical soundtrack that is so uncommon in modern cars. It makes you know you are operating a finely engineered machine, not being shuttled around in a people-mover. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and keep them coming!

I totally agree. Its funny how these little things all add up, but each are really important in their own right.. Especially if they are part of a new experience.