Speculation: FE I4 will have 400HP and 480NM?

[PaperLawyer]

I don’t think that the i4 FE, will be cheaper, has more features (ADAS), same hp, more torque, lighter weight figures, therefore better performance, and have the more expansive gearbox. That doesn‘t seem logical, neither would it be fair for V6 FE buyers.

Ah, but it will not have the tactile enjoyment of a manual gearbox, nor the aural pleasure of a V6 engine...

 

[Duncx]

I won't try to speculate on the power of the i4 LE (in the UK) but I'm expecting it to be about £5-6K cheaper than the V6.
However, I have been told that the i4 LE will have 'a couple of extra options' to consider over the V6 LE. Maybe that's a choice on ADAS and a choice of power? Now that would be great fun

 

[Tonyshepp]

I don’t think that the i4 FE, will be cheaper, has more features (ADAS), same hp, more torque, lighter weight figures, therefore better performance, and have the more expansive gearbox. That doesn‘t seem logical, neither would it be fair for V6 FE buyers.

Exactly this, Lotus won’t make the cheapest car quicker than the more expensive. There’s no manufacturer that does that…

 

[ADC]

If you are hoping your i4 in Europe will come with 400ps as a bonus I suspect you are going to be disappointed

The thing is, I don't expect it as a "bonus"... I'd be perfectly happy to pay for it! (i.e. price it the same as the V6)

If there really is a 400hp tune already in existence, and they hold it back from the non-China markets just because they don't want to hurt V6 buyers' feelings, I'm going to be pretty unimpressed. Bollocks to 'em... think they're so great with their manual gearboxes and fancy exhaust notes. Throw us i4 FE buyers a bone FFS

 

[New to Lotus]

Personally I don't care how much bhp and torque the i4 has I see them as 2 different cars I've said it before if you want the i4 with dct big bhp smart electronics and gearbox great if it has more bhp than the v6 so what I'm buying the v6 for the manual box and how it sounds and how that makes me feel.

 

[~el~jefe~]

The edelbrock supercharged engine + toyota will last a lot longer and be really cheap to service. If you want to add just another luxury toy and you will drive it like 2k miles a year, i guess it wont matter. As a daily driver or cross country machine, I would take the toyota+edelbrock

I wonder if anyone aside from me here has used supercharged sports cars? I have driven them since 2006. You can service them and work on them so easily. You can alter their boost pressure sometimes for like $150 dollars + tuner. no joke. They just waste gas when you hit them and their top end is not logarithmic. Kind of linear. My first turbo car is this 718 Porsche. It gets fantastic gas mileage and is really fun. Supercharger is more practical though for all situations aside from gas range.

a 2.0 turbo with 30 lbs of boost would be sad to pair with a MT. It needs a DCT or else it will be really irritating to drive. 30 lbs is a lot to spool up. Anyone have the weight differences? Remmber that a DCT is a lot heavier than a Manual transmission, so i am doubting the i4 is lighter. never know though

 

[Matthaus]

The thing is, I don't expect it as a "bonus"... I'd be perfectly happy to pay for it! (i.e. price it the same as the V6)

If there really is a 400hp tune already in existence, and they hold it back from the non-China markets just because they don't want to hurt V6 buyers' feelings, I'm going to be pretty unimpressed. Bollocks to 'em... think they're so great with their manual gearboxes and fancy exhaust notes. Throw us i4 FE buyers a bone FFS

Yup 400BHP and ADAS etc and I don't really care if its no cheaper than the v6

It would be literally the car I want.

 

[IanO]

The thing is, I don't expect it as a "bonus"... I'd be perfectly happy to pay for it! (i.e. price it the same as the V6)

If there really is a 400hp tune already in existence, and they hold it back from the non-China markets just because they don't want to hurt V6 buyers' feelings, I'm going to be pretty unimpressed. Bollocks to 'em... think they're so great with their manual gearboxes and fancy exhaust notes. Throw us i4 FE buyers a bone FFS

If your willing to pay the V6 auto price for the i4 DCT then that seems reasonable, same power and both change gear for you.

I think it is unlikely to be an option though as it would require homologating for Europe and I can’t see Lotus paying 2 lots of homologation cost for 2 power packs with the same horsepower. Even though a 360 and 400ps i4 would be physically the same the increase in power affects the homologation requirements.

Here’s hoping your lucky, all your dreams come true and you get a 400hp Christmas presentbut it might be Christmas 2024 for the performance version

 

[Duncx]

I wonder if anyone aside from me here has used supercharged sports cars?

Dude, for the past 10 years (here in the UK) that's pretty much ALL that us Lotus owners have been buying/driving. The Elise, the Exige, the Evora, all supercharged (with some NA variants). None of the later supercharged Lotus are easy or cheap to tune. If you think that a bolt on power upgrade for the V6 is going to be a few hundred dollars I'm afraid that you will be sadly disappointed.
Turbo cars? Lotus have a bit of recent history with the VX220 Turbo - mapped to give a virtually flat torque curve from 2K revs upwards - I'm expecting similar from the i4.

Finally, there's no bad choice here, they will both be great

 

[~el~jefe~]

Dude, for the past 10 years (here in the UK) that's pretty much ALL that us Lotus owners have been buying/driving. The Elise, the Exige, the Evora, all supercharged (with some NA variants). None of the later supercharged Lotus are easy or cheap to tune. If you think that a bolt on power upgrade for the V6 is going to be a few hundred dollars I'm afraid that you will be sadly disappointed.
Turbo cars? Lotus have a bit of recent history with the VX220 Turbo - mapped to give a virtually flat torque curve from 2K revs upwards - I'm expecting similar from the i4.

Finally, there's no bad choice here, they will both be great

in the USA, almost no one has a supercharged car, especially who are now buying a Lotus.

 

[FederGigant]

Just about every muscle car, every American SUV, every American saloon and every Corvette are supercharged in their respective highest engine spec.

 

[Nova]

Exactly this, Lotus won’t make the cheapest car quicker than the more expensive. There’s no manufacturer that does that…

No one knows the I4 FE will be cheaper. No one has this info.

 

[darkling]

elephant in the room there nova from the rumors we won't know cost of anything base or i4 til march .

 

[John walker]

I wouldn't hold your breath my friend 4-cylinder engines, especially turbocharged 4-cylinder engines have very poor exhaust notes that's just the nature of the beast.
The turbo chargers muffle all the good exhaust sounds.
Hyundai seem to be the one that can get an "OK" exhaust note out of a turbocharged 4 cylinder.
My Veloster N sounds pretty good as does the European i30N, but not even close to the V6 supercharged 3.5L Toyota engine in the Exige and Emira.
After driving my turbocharged car for a few years, I'm looking forward to driving the v6 supercharged Emira with no turbo lag, and that instant throttle response, it'll be a breath of fresh air for me.
That's what I really liked about my Ariel Atom instant throttle response, and that supercharger whine is intoxicating.
To me the exhaust note of a car is just as important as horsepower, speed, handling and looks.

It may be true that the 2.0t wont sound nearly as good, however, as we have seen with the a45, Mercedes has tuned the car to produce almost no turbo lag. If you watch any of the reviews of the a45 many of them are shocked at just how well AMG has seemed to eliminate the turbo lag, and made the engine rev like a naturally aspirated one. That is one of the main reasons Im sure, that made lotus choose to use the amg's engine.

 

[DrNio13]

It may be true that the 2.0t wont sound nearly as good, however, as we have seen with the a45, Mercedes has tuned the car to produce almost no turbo lag. If you watch any of the reviews of the a45 many of them are shocked at just how well AMG has seemed to eliminate the turbo lag, and made the engine rev like a naturally aspirated one. That is one of the main reason Im sure, that made lotus choose to use the amg's engine.

is the a45 AWD?
also, AMG is a great technical partner

 

[Persad12]

in the USA, almost no one has a supercharged car, especially who are now buying a Lotus.

Acutally i have a stillen supercharged nismo 370z with a larger pulley. been driving it for the past few years and always wanted a lotus. so this was the perfect opportunity. With that said. I driven both supercharged and turbo charged vehicles and with the lotus i am going to the I4 with hopes of aftermarket from the a45s leaking into the emira.

 

[Singularity]

It may be true that the 2.0t wont sound nearly as good, however, as we have seen with the a45, Mercedes has tuned the car to produce almost no turbo lag. If you watch any of the reviews of the a45 many of them are shocked at just how well AMG has seemed to eliminate the turbo lag, and made the engine rev like a naturally aspirated one. That is one of the main reason Im sure, that made lotus choose to use the amg's engine.

I’m running the 2017 A45 so it has the older engine (M133 twin scroll turbo I think rather than twin turbo as in the M139). Peak power (381PS) turns up at 6000rpm and it revs quickly and freely a bit beyond this to but there’s not much point since the peak torque is flat between 2250 and 5000 rpm. If using the race mode the car seems to hold the revs above 3500 and the car just takes off - no discernible lag and previous turbos I’ve had you needed to prime the gasses but not with this engine, the thing just takes off (not literally!).

I’ve not driven an M133 but by all accounts it revs pretty much the same. Peak power is in the band 5800 - 6100rpm but the torque is a bit perkier at the flat range of 3000-4000 rpm and this is the same whether the A45 S ‘flavour or the plain vanilla A45.

And to answer @DrNio13 query it is front wheel drive biased but shifts torque rearward (very quickly) when needed. I can get the front wheels to spin a little from a standing start but the rears take up the slack almost instantly.

 

[Maverick1]

However, going with the i4 you'll be missing out on the more fun to drive, more driver focused, driver involving and driver engaging experience.
I personally want to drive the car, not the car drive me.
They've actually done surveys and discovered that the majority of people who buy cars with automatic transmissions, with paddles to shift gears, very rarely use the paddles, and basically keep the transmission in Drive.
Boring experience to me.
I mean for 98% of us the Emira is going to be a second or third car, so why not make it a really fun drivers car.
LOTUS="FOR THE DRIVERS"
This video explains my point well.

 

[Maverick1]

I personally think they should bring back the manual transmission in Formula 1, it would make it much more exciting and highlight the better drivers.
Before you know it formula one will be all electric cars with no gear changes, no sound, and two pedals and really boring.

 

[PaperLawyer]

The point about the Emira being an individual's second or third car for 98% of owners is an interesting one. That may have been the case for the vast majority of owners of the more compromised (from a daily driver perspective) Lotus models. That is why I bought an S2000 twenty years ago, over an Elise. However, the Emira is a daily driver proposition, hence I have a deposit placed for the i4 and the S2000 was sold in the Summer of last year.

I suspect the Emira will be the primary car for a large proportion of drivers. Lotus needs to appeal to a wider audience and the Emira is the result.