📓 Journals Scoates' Magma Red Emira

[ADC]

You’ve kindled my excitement for the Emira even more! Coming from a history of “normal” sports cars (MR2, MX-5, GTI, BRZ) I would hate to be in a car that needs to be controlled rather than driven. I can’t understand how people can enjoy driving a car that will kill you if you press too hard.

That said, I’m a little nervous after seeing videos of the Emira doing 110km/hr in second gear. That’s our top speed here in little Tassie, and there are police and speed cameras around every corner. I hope the car will forgive me if I don’t often red-line it.

Dude... just sign up for this (the non-competitive category, not the one for nutters) - Targa Tasmania – Tour – Targa

 

[Johnson]

Dude... just sign up for this (the non-competitive category, not the one for nutters) - Targa Tasmania – Tour – Targa

Yep, Lotus has a strong showing in the Targa. The guys from Sydney and Melbourne always bring their cars down. I’m sorely tempted to get my Emira involved… when it arrives, of course.

 

[shaank]

Hopefully see you at a show in the Spring / Summer - and we can represent Scottish Emira owners Looks good, an hope your enjoying it so far!!

 

[scoates]

Does a set of golf clubs fit in the boot though !!

Golf clubs fit fine, just need to put the driver in separately

 

[VL3X]

Golf clubs fit fine, just need to put the driver in separately

Have you had any sunny days with it yet?!

 

[scoates]

Have you had any sunny days with it yet?!

Just the one, and it was great! Not expecting many more before around March though...

 

[TomAce]

For me the 86 does give the classic sports car experience, it does everything as well as it needs to to give the experience and nothing more, and does it brilliantly. The Emira takes everything to another level.

I don't think the GT86 has a transaxle.

I love the GR Yaris as well, but in terms of driving experience the 86 wins for me, the GR Yaris is far faster and more capable in all conditions, but less fun. I reckon Emira and GR Yaris would be a fantastic 2 car garage that would cover all weather conditions, and if I didn't own any cars at the moment, they would be the two I would be interested in.

Back in Dec. 2012 I had my first experience with the GT86 and I must say, it was so much fun! The most striking was the seating position in the GT86. The steering wheel, the seats, the gear lever position. Simply perfection.

Driving so basic, you can feel the low cfg, such a direct frontend. And so controllable. At that time my daily was a Renault Megane 3 R.S. Cup and that was a blast to drive, too. In the end it was the engine which was a little underwhelming, if it had 220-230hp it would have been the perfect recipee. So in that regard quite comparable to the Emira today...

But I believe the GR86 must be something very special as the engine is now punchier and has the top-end power I was missing in the days. I better don't drive the GR86...

 

[DaaS]

Congrats! Emira looks so good in Magma.

I will also give another positive vote to 86/BRZ. I had the last gen that I used to learn car control on a track. It was slow and cheap feeling, but it was a great tool for learning and doing stupid things at lower speeds.

 

[VL3X]

Congrats! Emira looks so good in Magma.

I will also give another positive vote to 86/BRZ. I had the last gen that I used to learn car control on a track. It was slow and cheap feeling, but it was a great tool for learning and doing stupid things at lower speeds.

BRZs are a blast. I had a friend trade in his STI for one and everyone thought it was a silly move until he was at the track every other weekend enjoying the full potential of an awesome handling rwd manual trans car!

 

[scoates]

Finally got the car out this weekend as the first dryish day with no salt on the road for the last few months. Started no problem and all working as expected! Up to around 550 miles now, done a couple of harder accelerations once warmed up as per the manual, occasional higher RPM and wider throttle can be beneficial it says, that's all the encouragement I need! Obviously still in moderation but the car really comes alive after 5000rpm, can't wait until it is fully run in.

Went out for a coffee and an A45 AMG parked next to me, thought it was funny to see the i4 next to the V6!

So far no issues, yet!

Looking forward to many more happy miles soon, once the weather begins to improve again...

 

[ino]

@scoates If you don’t mind, would you please take some photos under the direct sunlight? I want to know how Magma looks with yellow calipers and diamond cut wheels.
Thank you.

 

[donskibeat]

@scoates If you don’t mind, would you please take some photos under the direct sunlight? I want to know how Magma looks with yellow calipers and diamond cut wheels.
Thank you.

@ino - picking up my Emira tomorrow (Magma, black pack, diamond cut, yellow calipers), weather forecast at Hethel (suprisingly) is dry, blue sky and sunny, so will be getting as many photos as I can whilst car is nice and clean, so will hopefully be some photos / videos of that spec for you to look at on my thread as well when I get home.

 

[scoates]

@scoates If you don’t mind, would you please take some photos under the direct sunlight? I want to know how Magma looks with yellow calipers and diamond cut wheels.
Thank you.

Don't get many bright sunny days in Scotland in February but I can give it a go! If not, sounds like @donskibeat has it covered!

 

[Pugwash]

@ino - picking up my Emira tomorrow (Magma, black pack, diamond cut, yellow calipers), weather forecast at Hethel (suprisingly) is dry, blue sky and sunny, so will be getting as many photos as I can whilst car is nice and clean, so will hopefully be some photos / videos of that spec for you to look at on my thread as well when I get home.

I think mine was in the same trailer as Donskibeat‘s, from BCA back to Hethel. It’s the same spec apart from I don’t have the black pack. Picking it up next week from Hethel after it’s had a little extra TLC.

 

[scoates]

Had a good run out today, sunshine, dry roads so went up into the hills! Another hundred or so miles put on getting closer to the 1000. Even still, at about 3/4 throttle and 4-5k rpm on these kinds of roads the car is amazing, being able to keep it constantly above 5k soon will be unreal!

 

[scoates]

Just back from a week family holiday in the Highlands, not a driving holiday sadly, but the quickest route for me to get there is the Old Military Road through The Lecht and Tomintoul so of course had to take the Emira! Fantastic drive over, the Sports suspension still going well, happy with my choice for the driving I do, but still think it might be a bit grating if it was a daily. Over undulating surfaces and sweeping corners you can really feel the chassis and suspension working and it all seems to just flow which is amazing! Just need to give it a good wash now!

On the trip home though I got the "auto-hold" error. Didn't turn the car off to see if it went away by itself, will check later. I think it was caused by me parking on a slight up hill gradient with no handbrake and no auto-engaging handbrake and after I released the brakes the car did roll slightly until the gearbox/engine stopped it. I usually don't use handbrake when on flat as it definitely sticks on if not used for a few days, but do on slopes, this was just a bit steeper than I realised! I hope it will reset itself after the journey and sitting for a while.

Other than that, the car performed flawlessly! Surprisingly practical too:

3x Plane cabin bags behind the seats on the shelf, small black backpack behind passenger seat, other 3 bags in the boot with the jackets on top and still room for a passenger!

After the trip I'm now on 997 miles... Soon!

 

[scoates]

I'm now up to just over 2000 miles and still loving the car! The more I drive it the more confidence I get to push a little harder, and certainly on the roads around me I definitely don't feel the need for more power. Everything seems to have bedded in well and even the shifter seems a little more slick while still keeping the mechanical feel which is ideal. Above 5000rpm the exhaust note really opens up and is absolutely addictive if going past a wall or through a tunnel!

A couple of niggles have appeared since my last update which I have posted about elsewhere, but mainly an error saying "ESC and ABS temporarily unavailable". Thankfully I haven't had the need to find out if they are completely gone all the time or not (until recently, more on that later) but the dealer informed me the car is still completely safe to drive and they will contact me once they know of a fix. It has disabled the cruise control though which is a nightmare for any dual carriageway or motorway driving, and I really hope it is fixed before Goodwood as a 10h journey each way without it will be brutal...

I've also noticed something that may have caused a few of the people on here and in magazine reviews to report vastly different handling characteristics than others. A couple have said the steering was vague with poor turn-in and I hadn't noticed any of that until I put my inflatable kayak in the boot. With the extra weight behind the engine the steering became really quite vague and did not inspire any confidence compared to normal, to the point if I had a test drive like that I would have been considering pulling out. So for people test driving make sure there isn't anything in the boot!

At the weekend just past a friend mentioned he was going down to Crail Raceway with his Mustang for a Ford event and so I went along too. Found out when I got there that even though it was a Ford day any car can run down the drag strip, and since the car is now well run in and it looked like fun I did a couple of runs too. It was VERY wet and supposedly the runway has a notoriously poor surface, which is where I found out that the traction control absolutely isn't working any more! Wheels constantly spinning through first and second but fine after that. Times were poor due to the conditions (15.5 seconds) but the main thing is I beat my friend's times by over 2 seconds! Would like to have another go in the dry to see how things go...

After getting back from that trip I discovered my rear numberplate hadn't returned with me! No idea where it fell off, but there was a police car behind me for a while about an hour from home and they didn't pull me over so must have still been there then. Not happy with the quality of the adhesive they're using! I've sent an email off to the dealer to see if they can sort out a proper replacement but in the meantime had to just order a cheap one off the internet. Hope it arrives soon or the car will be off the road for a while!

Now just to get the car cleaned up again and that adhesive removed...

 

[dgrace]

The rear license plate isn't screwed in?(!!!?!?!)

 

[VL3X]

15.5s!? Man, I ran that in my Integra. I expected at least 12s.

Was it in track mode? It may have been quicker in normal or sport with some traction mode engaged. I noticed my GTI is actually quicker around the track with traction control on. The car is smarter and quicker than I am with everything turned off.

 

[scoates]

The rear license plate isn't screwed in?(!!!?!?!)

Nope, all just double-sided tape apparently...