OK. Be honest. Looks or Performance?

[EspritGuy]

Not even the Esprit that Roger Moore drove under the sea?

That's the iconic one that created waves....,

 

[switchlanez]

Ok let's be honest (pick one):
Why buy a daily driver Toyota? It's A) Reliable or B) Affordable
Why eat a steak? A) You're hungry or B) You like the taste
Why shower? A) Personal health/hygiene or B) To not offend others by smelling putrid

It's usually a combination of reasons but framing in an either/or poll completely strips the importance of other features down to 0 when people really put different weightings on each. I chose looks but absolutely wouldn't buy if it lacked performance or Lotus character at its price point. Its appeal is still substantially dependent on those other things.

 

[Eagle7]

Looks pulled me in initially because I'd seen pictures of the Evija which I thought was the best super/hyper car I'd ever seen. When I saw the Emira and the price point, I called and made a deposit immediately. To be able to get a Lotus that looked like this for a price like that was a no-brainer for me. I'd owned a Lotus before, and been a fan of the marque most of my life. It was a "This is a special car; I want one" moment.

As inflation chews into people's lives, I consider myself very fortunate to be in a position to get this car, and while I don't expect it to be perfect (what car is really?), I expect it to be the best Lotus ever. Thank you Matt, Russell, Gavan and everyone there for making this magic automotive moment happen.

 

[Pegasi]

Looks pulled me in initially because I'd seen pictures of the Evija which I thought was the best super/hyper car I'd ever seen. When I saw the Emira and the price point, I called and made a deposit immediately. To be able to get a Lotus that looked like this for a price like that was a no-brainer for me. I'd owned a Lotus before, and been a fan of the marque most of my life. It was a "This is a special car; I want one" moment.

As inflation chews into people's lives, I consider myself very fortunate to be in a position to get this car, and while I don't expect it to be perfect (what car is really?), I expect it to be the best Lotus ever. Thank you Matt, Russell, Gavan and everyone there for making this magic automotive moment happen.

Ditto to this. But I am not a previous Lotus owner.

 

[CHEESE]

Looks, manual trans, something modern and reliable.

I was considering doing something like building a turbo LS-swapped BRZ, or importing an R32 GTR. Those options would've been cheaper, but come with some headaches of old and/or modified cars, and I've already got a heavily modified and boosted japanese sport compact from the golden era (90's).

 

[LotusB]

I think it's easy to define looks, especially as it's subjective. Not so easy to define performance as different people will have different expectations and which performance figures? Is it pure acceleration? Top speed? Steering? Handling? Level of grip? Braking performance? Etc. And even in those cases, you're talking about objective measurements, so it's relative to a certain expected benchmark.

I'm not surprised looks is winning. Most of us placed deposits before even knowing the performance information. We still don't exactly know, we just put faith in Lotus that it'll be a "Lotus." So for me, I'll assume the performance will be at least passable... and the looks (or rather its uniqueness) are really what I'm after.

 

[d15b7]

the way it drives and feels from the tips of my toes to the sensations of the pedals when I'm working them and the clickety click of the manual shifter and the sounds that the engine makes on song as it pulls to redline. that's what's most important to me. the real hard numbers that it puts down in a straight line and on a racetrack lag behind those things I mentioned. and it is a looker. I already have two totally dedicated track only cars (one is a stripped down caged Lotus Super Seven with a race crossflow in it that I vintage race. not much in the world can match that for raw feel and engagement! but it's beyond horrible on the road now with that state of tune on the engine and the extremely stiff springs and shocks and bars). I also own a completely bone stock street car that will most likely totally destroy the Emira in any sort of performance metric (it is a '20 Camaro ZL1 1LE 6sp manual. driving this car is totally beyond bonkers on a road. you can't even begin to explore it's abilities. you touch the throttle and in an eye blink it's 650hp/650tq has rocketed you to speeds that are stupid and dangerous. plus that DSSV suspension is non adjustable and so hard and stiff that it rattles your eyeballs out. this car was built for tracks and pretty much nothing else. but by god YES it'll perform!). I drive the ZLE very infrequently; it's honestly not much fun to drive unless you are feeling like a gangster and want to go out and crush all the little people around you. I'm betting the Emira will feel nothing like that (in a GOOD way!). really looking forward to the Emira being an awesome road car.

PS my ZLE is in a color called Rally Green Metallic. very rare one year only color option for the ZLE. I wonder how close to DV it is? it is very dark green with some metallic flake in it that changes it's color depending on if it's natural sunlight or artificial light:

 

[Matthaus]

Looks, as much as I want an Emira with an i4 and DCT, I feel it is under powered so defo not performance.

Hopefully what it lacks in power and out right excellerantion it makes up for in handling.

 

[nosirrahx]

I would not say performance, feel would be more accurate.

 

[emiraspain]

Looks Let’s face it if lotus produced something that looks like the emira years ago their would be a lot more “lotus owners “
For me personally this is the only lotus I like none of the other cars they have produced have done anything for me so I’m glad they have made this beauty and I look forward to the fun that is coming

not even the espirit? pretty woman... james bond...
I love that car......

 

[CarGuy07]

A combination of all the it factors for me. It’s like meeting a very attractive woman but she has the personality of a potato. Sure you can date her for a while but you will quickly get bored of the looks. In short, not only does the outside matter, the inside and everything else too.

 

[vision]

A combination of all the it factors for me. It’s like meeting a very attractive woman but she has the personality of a potato. Sure you can date her for a while but you will quickly get bored of the looks. In short, not only does the outside matter, the inside and everything else too.

Very deep! I must have got the spud!

 

[dgrace]

The car definitely ticks both boxes, but it was the looks that made me put down a deposit within an hour of the reveal last July.

 

[pfbz]

Performance to even be considered, looks to seal the deal...

 

[wallstbear]

In fairness, it's hard to consider performance as there is so little information on performance other than a few bland numbers that do not seem so certain...

 

[dgrace]

The results of this poll may go some way to explaining why the ride height debates get so spirited. The appearance of the car is a primary, not secondary, motivator of sales.