DrD
Emira Fan
Reviews amalgamated into one.
No doubt there'll be many corrections from you guys on here, but here is my rough summary of what's been written and videoed:
Cars were still pre-prod but very close to final. A small array of different spec. All V6 Manuals. Mostly Left hand drive, mostly sports suspension with Cup2s, however there were Sports suspensions with good years mixed in. A few touring with Goodyears, with an interesting back to back with Harry's garage. I've only seen Magma, Hethel Yellow and Shadow, no other colours yet.
Looks - Pretty barn door, general consensus sexy AF. Nothing new. Magma, Hethel and Shadow in varying photos and video in different lighting both look magical.
Quality - Again, really good, better than ever before etc...
Cabin - brilliant, good infotainment, screens are a bit dim, but these still have room for change according to multiple reviewers speaking to lotus. Buttons and layouts are welcome with real buttons for drive mode and AC.
Seats - Good quality, no comment on leather sag. One reviewer stated that it's nice and low now, but he'd still prefer lower. Rest of reviewers seem happy with driving position, rake, reach and adjustment of steering. Some concerns over lack of shoulder padding, especially around track.
Steering wheel - consensus seems to be too thick and a weird shape, but easy to get used to. Steering wheel buttons are easily accessible and useful.
Brakes - Varying opinion on this, sounds like variation on the tooling sample, pre production cars. Some reviewers said there was great feel and bite, but around 1-2cm too much dead pedal at the top, making it harder to heel and toe. However even amongst the reviewers chatting to each other, it seems other cars didn't have this problem at all and had brilliant feel and no play in the pedal.
Gearbox - Clutch heavier than expected. Similar but marginally better than old Evora Gearbox, i.e between gates a little bit vague. Requires a good strong throw, but satisfying when done right. Easy to get wrong. Very close to the steering wheel and a short firm throw. Not as good as a Cayman GTS or GT4. Estimated 7/10 in feel in comparison to a 10/10 Cayman box. Ratios are however nice and short and let you play with them well.
Engine - sonorous, however less so than the outgoing Evora GT. Has good torque but also enjoys being rev'd out. Most power and character above 4k rpm. Readline of 6.8k, however lotus have reassured that in sports mode it should be 7k. The engine doesn't really crescendo to the redline so can be hard to judge shifting at limiter sometimes. It's nowhere near as bespoke as a NA Porsche flat 6. In isolation a good engine, lots of emotional response in the noise. Not as refined as Porsche. Again sounds like a 7/10 engine performance wise. Adequate power for the road, however chassis can definitely take more power. Supercharger whine audible with the windows cracked. Loud but not loud as older cars (noise regs). One reviewer noted slightly flat torque right at the bottom of the rev range, other reviewers didn't comment on that.
Chassis:
Suspension - Quite a lot of variance amongst the reviewers about this. It seems that although there is only a small difference in spring rates between the sports and touring, the damping is very different and there is also a geometry change for the Cup2 tyres. There is outright disagreement between reviewers with Harry Metcalfe testing them both back to back on the road, showing that there is a lot more busy ride on rough british roads on sport than there is on tour. He used the words "gliding over the surface" with touring. He took so much from this, that he in fact changed his own spec. Take this with a pinch of salt and align your own priorities with the car.
In comparison, Jethro (who hasn't driven the tour), was a firm believer that the sport was soft enough, however he only had a brief stint on the road and spent the day on track (and was also driving a Cayman GT4 on the same day. So who knows, maybe this skewed his perception on what's "comfortable, controlled or pliant?").
Other reviewers raved on about how the suspension was great, turn in was good and that there was a fair amount of body roll, but this only added to the communication you felt with the chassis. There was consensus that less body roll would detract from that.
Tyres - It seems there's some variance on opinions on tyres too. Those that drove sport with CUP2s, had no qualms with the grip or turn in. Most of the consensus was a "neutral" turn in with a tendency to understeer if not managed, however easily rectified with coming off the throttle.
Evo had Goodyears and Sports suspension specifically on track. He vehemently disagreed with that combination for track work stating that it made the front end lose ultimate grip and ultimate feel on track. This aligns with the reviewers saying that the CUP2 had a specific geometry set up specifically for it. It is promising for those who have good years though, as it seems a geometry change may rectify that issue with sports + GY.
There was a 4 decibel decrease in cabin noise between Sports + Cup2 vs Tour + GY.
Conclusion:
It's 8/10 a cayman GTS in drivetrain, and it's 12/10 a cayman in looks. It's night and day better quality, feel and liveability than old lotus. It's similar but a small step forwards from Evora of old, with many added creature comforts. It still drives like a lotus, albeit with some sensitivity around suspension set up down to personal taste. The drivetrain may not be the top of the lot, but it's still plenty to put a smile on your face and it's still steps on from old Lotus, albeit in some ways a smaller one.
It's distinctly set up as a sports car, road car first. It works as a track car as a bonus down the line. No doubt there'll be more hardcore versions down the line that will fulfil the more hard core requirements for the enthusiast at some point. For the majority of reviewers it was still amazing round the track. For the racing driver it wasn't enough.
In isolation it's a phenomenal car that will no doubt make many very happy.
In comparison to Cayman GTS and Alpine A110s, they all do certain things better than others, but are exceptionally close to each other (less so the alpine, but not a million miles away). It's down to each of your own personal preference which priorities matter more and which will clinch it for you in any direction. Between the few tests that compare the cars, there's plenty of flipping back and forth between the Cayman and Emira in the minds of the reviewers, that probably says enough!
No doubt there'll be many corrections from you guys on here, but here is my rough summary of what's been written and videoed:
Cars were still pre-prod but very close to final. A small array of different spec. All V6 Manuals. Mostly Left hand drive, mostly sports suspension with Cup2s, however there were Sports suspensions with good years mixed in. A few touring with Goodyears, with an interesting back to back with Harry's garage. I've only seen Magma, Hethel Yellow and Shadow, no other colours yet.
Looks - Pretty barn door, general consensus sexy AF. Nothing new. Magma, Hethel and Shadow in varying photos and video in different lighting both look magical.
Quality - Again, really good, better than ever before etc...
Cabin - brilliant, good infotainment, screens are a bit dim, but these still have room for change according to multiple reviewers speaking to lotus. Buttons and layouts are welcome with real buttons for drive mode and AC.
Seats - Good quality, no comment on leather sag. One reviewer stated that it's nice and low now, but he'd still prefer lower. Rest of reviewers seem happy with driving position, rake, reach and adjustment of steering. Some concerns over lack of shoulder padding, especially around track.
Steering wheel - consensus seems to be too thick and a weird shape, but easy to get used to. Steering wheel buttons are easily accessible and useful.
Brakes - Varying opinion on this, sounds like variation on the tooling sample, pre production cars. Some reviewers said there was great feel and bite, but around 1-2cm too much dead pedal at the top, making it harder to heel and toe. However even amongst the reviewers chatting to each other, it seems other cars didn't have this problem at all and had brilliant feel and no play in the pedal.
Gearbox - Clutch heavier than expected. Similar but marginally better than old Evora Gearbox, i.e between gates a little bit vague. Requires a good strong throw, but satisfying when done right. Easy to get wrong. Very close to the steering wheel and a short firm throw. Not as good as a Cayman GTS or GT4. Estimated 7/10 in feel in comparison to a 10/10 Cayman box. Ratios are however nice and short and let you play with them well.
Engine - sonorous, however less so than the outgoing Evora GT. Has good torque but also enjoys being rev'd out. Most power and character above 4k rpm. Readline of 6.8k, however lotus have reassured that in sports mode it should be 7k. The engine doesn't really crescendo to the redline so can be hard to judge shifting at limiter sometimes. It's nowhere near as bespoke as a NA Porsche flat 6. In isolation a good engine, lots of emotional response in the noise. Not as refined as Porsche. Again sounds like a 7/10 engine performance wise. Adequate power for the road, however chassis can definitely take more power. Supercharger whine audible with the windows cracked. Loud but not loud as older cars (noise regs). One reviewer noted slightly flat torque right at the bottom of the rev range, other reviewers didn't comment on that.
Chassis:
Suspension - Quite a lot of variance amongst the reviewers about this. It seems that although there is only a small difference in spring rates between the sports and touring, the damping is very different and there is also a geometry change for the Cup2 tyres. There is outright disagreement between reviewers with Harry Metcalfe testing them both back to back on the road, showing that there is a lot more busy ride on rough british roads on sport than there is on tour. He used the words "gliding over the surface" with touring. He took so much from this, that he in fact changed his own spec. Take this with a pinch of salt and align your own priorities with the car.
In comparison, Jethro (who hasn't driven the tour), was a firm believer that the sport was soft enough, however he only had a brief stint on the road and spent the day on track (and was also driving a Cayman GT4 on the same day. So who knows, maybe this skewed his perception on what's "comfortable, controlled or pliant?").
Other reviewers raved on about how the suspension was great, turn in was good and that there was a fair amount of body roll, but this only added to the communication you felt with the chassis. There was consensus that less body roll would detract from that.
Tyres - It seems there's some variance on opinions on tyres too. Those that drove sport with CUP2s, had no qualms with the grip or turn in. Most of the consensus was a "neutral" turn in with a tendency to understeer if not managed, however easily rectified with coming off the throttle.
Evo had Goodyears and Sports suspension specifically on track. He vehemently disagreed with that combination for track work stating that it made the front end lose ultimate grip and ultimate feel on track. This aligns with the reviewers saying that the CUP2 had a specific geometry set up specifically for it. It is promising for those who have good years though, as it seems a geometry change may rectify that issue with sports + GY.
There was a 4 decibel decrease in cabin noise between Sports + Cup2 vs Tour + GY.
Conclusion:
It's 8/10 a cayman GTS in drivetrain, and it's 12/10 a cayman in looks. It's night and day better quality, feel and liveability than old lotus. It's similar but a small step forwards from Evora of old, with many added creature comforts. It still drives like a lotus, albeit with some sensitivity around suspension set up down to personal taste. The drivetrain may not be the top of the lot, but it's still plenty to put a smile on your face and it's still steps on from old Lotus, albeit in some ways a smaller one.
It's distinctly set up as a sports car, road car first. It works as a track car as a bonus down the line. No doubt there'll be more hardcore versions down the line that will fulfil the more hard core requirements for the enthusiast at some point. For the majority of reviewers it was still amazing round the track. For the racing driver it wasn't enough.
In isolation it's a phenomenal car that will no doubt make many very happy.
In comparison to Cayman GTS and Alpine A110s, they all do certain things better than others, but are exceptionally close to each other (less so the alpine, but not a million miles away). It's down to each of your own personal preference which priorities matter more and which will clinch it for you in any direction. Between the few tests that compare the cars, there's plenty of flipping back and forth between the Cayman and Emira in the minds of the reviewers, that probably says enough!
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