Top Gear Photos with Chris Harris Track Testing

[CarGuy07]

This makes me feel better about the car, but still need to drive it for myself. Doesn’t matter if it’s good or bad, one must test it out for themselves (just like how sometimes a movie is rated horribly but you end up liking it a lot).

 

[Climber]

This makes me feel better about the car, but still need to drive it for myself. Doesn’t matter if it’s good or bad, one must test it out for themselves (just like how sometimes a movie is rated horribly but you end up liking it a lot).

I am done , does it the Emira meet expectations “ absolutely, steering sublime “ and the smile on Chris’s face priceless! Drive it if you want, but she had me the moment I saw her curves, lines the drop dead gorgeous design. Can’t wait, my Porsche was named the ice cream machine because I used it to get Ice cream with my daughter and take my wife on dates. I am wondering what this one will be named.
Can’t wait

 

[Cachaco131]

Brilliant! Although I have no idea what those two taller guys are saying. Are they speaking English?

It seems daft that white wasn’t an FE colour…

For real, those dudes need subtitles. Like Liam Gallagher and his brother in the old MTV times.

 

[klho001]

I wonder how this is going to affect the orders now.

i think we need another poll-

 

[VL3X]

Just thinking about things after watching this again... wasn't it pretty unanimous that everyone loved the Verification Prototypes over a month ago? Then come June 7th and the reviews were generally good, but kinda mixed... not 100%.... more 90%. Good, but could be better? My question is what happened from the VP cars to the Press Cars??? What did Lotus change? Knowing that the car Chris drove was a VP car has me wondering if his excitement would be the same with the latest round of Press cars? Or is the car unchanged and it's simply politics getting involved? From an advertising standpoint, "don't bite the hand that feeds you" type of thing? At the end of the day it doesn't matter... Chris's excitement is infectious and it's the type of press Lotus needed! Can't believe it's almost a year since my deposit... So looking forward to seeing you UK peeps taking delivery very soon... Then finally getting mine stateside!

I wonder the same. It's possible Lotus lowered the redline and raised the ride height from the proto to the production car.

 

[switchlanez]

I first heard about Chris Harris in 2012 when he test drove the GT86 on Jarama Circuit for The Drive. After researching his past experience with much more upmarket sports cars and comparing his reactions to those vs his much more positive reactions in this lowly econo-coupe, he gave ultimate confirmation that my years long wait for the BRZ (my first new car purchase) would be worth it.

His video didn't serve me wrong and left a lasting imprint. I'd rewatched and shared that video many times through my years of ownership and was happy when Top Gear finally signed him on. His new Emira video shows joy in driving that echoes that 86 video. A highlight reel potentially worth taking to the bank.

 

[Eagle7]

Just thinking about things after watching this again... wasn't it pretty unanimous that everyone loved the Verification Prototypes over a month ago? Then come June 7th and the reviews were generally good, but kinda mixed... not 100%.... more 90%. Good, but could be better? My question is what happened from the VP cars to the Press Cars??? What did Lotus change? Knowing that the car Chris drove was a VP car has me wondering if his excitement would be the same with the latest round of Press cars? Or is the car unchanged and it's simply politics getting involved? From an advertising standpoint, "don't bite the hand that feeds you" type of thing? At the end of the day it doesn't matter... Chris's excitement is infectious and it's the type of press Lotus needed! Can't believe it's almost a year since my deposit... So looking forward to seeing you UK peeps taking delivery very soon... Then finally getting mine stateside!

I think the main difference is the VP cars were their first time in an Emira, so the excitement of 'new' was at work. The second time, that wasn't in play, and they probably felt the need to be more picky and start criticizing something so they didn't look like gushing fanboys. For some reason, the perception of a fanboy is that it's a negative.

I don't think that would necessarily be the case for Chris though. He's been doing this long enough to know what's good and why, and doesn't have to concern himself about impressing people and trying to make a name for himself. That same dynamic shows in Harry's reviews too.

 

[Leonard]

I think the main difference is the VP cars were their first time in an Emira, so the excitement of 'new' was at work. The second time, that wasn't in play, and they probably felt the need to be more picky and start criticizing something so they didn't look like gushing fanboys. For some reason, the perception of a fanboy is that it's a negative.

I don't think that would necessarily be the case for Chris though. He's been doing this long enough to know what's good and why, and doesn't have to concern himself about impressing people and trying to make a name for himself. That same dynamic shows in Harry's reviews too.

I'm not being negative and it was a great Chris Harris first impression.
But I think we need to be able to take a bit of criticism about the Emira, without thinking that anyone giving anything less than a glowing review has an agenda.

 

[emiraspain]

I am done , does it the Emira meet expectations “ absolutely, steering sublime “ and the smile on Chris’s face priceless! Drive it if you want, but she had me the moment I saw her curves, lines the drop dead gorgeous design. Can’t wait, my Porsche was named the ice cream machine because I used it to get Ice cream with my daughter and take my wife on dates. I am wondering what this one will be named.
Can’t wait

Maybe just “the cream”

 

[FederGigant]

Just thinking about things after watching this again... wasn't it pretty unanimous that everyone loved the Verification Prototypes over a month ago? Then come June 7th and the reviews were generally good, but kinda mixed... not 100%.... more 90%. Good, but could be better? My question is what happened from the VP cars to the Press Cars??? What did Lotus change? Knowing that the car Chris drove was a VP car has me wondering if his excitement would be the same with the latest round of Press cars? Or is the car unchanged and it's simply politics getting involved? From an advertising standpoint, "don't bite the hand that feeds you" type of thing? At the end of the day it doesn't matter... Chris's excitement is infectious and it's the type of press Lotus needed! Can't believe it's almost a year since my deposit... So looking forward to seeing you UK peeps taking delivery very soon... Then finally getting mine stateside!

Good question, but there were only a few weeks between those VP cars and the PP cars from the July 7th reviews. So realistically speaking they could have only changed some software bits like the redline and some adjustment and setup things. Maybe even some different springs, but that's it. I guess they just had a bit more aggressive alignment on the VP cars and the higher redline for whatever reason. What that means is that you could make the PP cars behaving exactly like the VP car with just some different alignment and another map. From a hardware standpoint, they are probably a 100 percent equal, just because the VP was only a few weeks older and they already were too far into the process to change any hardware from the VP cars on.

 

[eclat2emira]

I'm not being negative and it was a great Chris Harris first impression.
But I think we need to be able to take a bit of criticism about the Emira, without thinking that anyone giving anything less than a glowing review has an agenda.

Spot on, a closed mind is a dangerous thing. There will be room for development and improvement, even from the very high bar Emira V1.0 has set itself.

 

[Leonard]

Good question, but there were only a few weeks between those VP cars and the PP cars from the July 7th reviews. So realistically speaking they could have only changed some software bits like the redline and some adjustment and setup things. Maybe even some different springs, but that's it. I guess they just had a bit more aggressive alignment on the VP cars and the higher redline for whatever reason. What that means is that you could make the PP cars behaving exactly like the VP car with just some different alignment and another map. From a hardware standpoint, they are probably a 100 percent equal, just because the VP was only a few weeks older and they already were too far into the process to change any hardware from the VP cars on.

If there were changes you are right they should all be easily replicable.
This is where I am at now.
IF the car isnt quite what I want, then a trip to Litchfield will sort any necessary chassis tweaks and some exhaust mods and an ECU map at some point will sort the noise, raise the redline and find the 'missing' 15bhp.
I didnt really want to start modding again, but it's all easy stuff that is easily reversible as required

 

[Honeywell]

Porsche/VAG are industry titans with massive - probably the biggest - advertising spending in the European market, they have press launches every other week across 9 brands, their PR teams control which journalist get to go on which and have access to special models.

You don't bite the hand that feeds.

Especially when Porsche is the most profitable part of the VAG crown.

Harris is now a multi millionaire with a global TV platform that he leads and he's unquestionably only outranked by Jeremy Clarkson in motoring journalism now. Porsche can't really cancel him and he's already demonstrated that he was willing to fall out with Ferrari who black listed him for several years. Similarly Harry is free from the need to earn a PAYE salary cheque from a magazine and can just say what he thinks on a YouTube channel filmed by his wife.

There are lots of smoke and mirrors in the motoring press.

 

[digilotus]

I am done , does it the Emira meet expectations “ absolutely, steering sublime “ and the smile on Chris’s face priceless! Drive it if you want, but she had me the moment I saw her curves, lines the drop dead gorgeous design. Can’t wait, my Porsche was named the ice cream machine because I used it to get Ice cream with my daughter and take my wife on dates. I am wondering what this one will be named.
Can’t wait

If its got tan leather, maybe you can call it "peanut butter cup".

"Honey, should we take peanut butter cup tonight?"

 

[Leonard]

If its got tan leather, maybe you can call it "peanut butter cup".

"Honey, should we take peanut butter cup tonight?"

Just call it Reece in normal company lol

 

[Leonard]

Porsche/VAG are industry titans with massive - probably the biggest - advertising spending in the European market, they have press launches every other week across 9 brands, their PR teams control which journalist get to go on which and have access to special models.

You don't bite the hand that feeds.

Especially when Porsche is the most profitable part of the VAG crown.

Harris is now a multi millionaire with a global TV platform that he leads and he's unquestionably only outranked by Jeremy Clarkson in motoring journalism now. Porsche can't really cancel him and he's already demonstrated that he was willing to fall out with Ferrari who black listed him for several years. Similarly Harry is free from the need to earn a PAYE salary cheque from a magazine and can just say what he thinks on a YouTube channel filmed by his wife.

There are lots of smoke and mirrors in the motoring press.

 

[freefall_junkie]

There are lots of smoke and mirrors in the motoring press.

I also can't help thinking there was a faint whiff of 'this car isn't good enough for my god-like driving skills' with the most negative review we have seen.

Anyway, I am now running with the happy assumption that the car is going to be completely awesome unless proven otherwise by a test drive

 

[eclat2emira]

I also can't help thinking there was a faint whiff of 'this car isn't good enough for my god-like driving skills' with the most negative review we have seen.

Anyway, I am now running with the happy assumption that the car is going to be completely awesome unless proven otherwise by a test drive

That assumption seems not only happy but eminently reasonable!

 

[eriegz]

Just thinking about things after watching this again... wasn't it pretty unanimous that everyone loved the Verification Prototypes over a month ago? Then come June 7th and the reviews were generally good, but kinda mixed... not 100%.... more 90%. Good, but could be better? My question is what happened from the VP cars to the Press Cars??? What did Lotus change? Knowing that the car Chris drove was a VP car has me wondering if his excitement would be the same with the latest round of Press cars? Or is the car unchanged and it's simply politics getting involved? From an advertising standpoint, "don't bite the hand that feeds you" type of thing? At the end of the day it doesn't matter... Chris's excitement is infectious and it's the type of press Lotus needed! Can't believe it's almost a year since my deposit... So looking forward to seeing you UK peeps taking delivery very soon... Then finally getting mine stateside!

How many of those earlier VP reviews were done by the same individuals as in this latest round? I.e.: did any reviewers review the car in both rounds, and change their answer from one round to the next?

The only reviewer that I remember from the VP round who also reviews it in this latest round is Catchpole, and we're all still waiting on that one to drop.

 

[NicolasB]

Based on the turnaround this review did in the forums, I believe Chris H. deserves a free Emira.