Top Gear Photos with Chris Harris Track Testing

[Evotion]

Chris Harris is in my good books.

Great review I think- one that most people will relate it.

 

[frazzer]

Interesting that the DV Emira is an auto, paddles are just about visible, the wheel has a centre marker and nice perforated leather. Such a shame these were not offered on the manual.

I don't like leather wheels on long drives, they feel warm and sweaty after a while. Alcantara is better but packs down and is hard to keep clean. Perforated leather would have been a great option.

 

[digilotus]

For those of you who don't know, Chris H loves his banana yellow 991 GT3 touring daily driver and is about to replace it with a 992. He has a wide variety of other cars and isn't wedded to any particular marque. He comes across as quite genuine and down to earth.

An amazing fact: His mother was an autocross driver!

 

[digilotus]

Interesting that the DV Emira is an auto, paddles are just about visible, the wheel has a centre marker and nice perforated leather. Such a shame these were not offered on the manual.

I don't like leather wheels on long drives, they feel warm and sweaty after a while. Alcantara is better but packs down and is hard to keep clean. Perforated leather would have been a great option.

The default black leather wheel is perforated on the outside/back.

 

[FederGigant]

View attachment 6641View attachment 6642

How unprofessional is that?

 

[Leonard]

Interesting that the DV Emira is an auto, paddles are just about visible, the wheel has a centre marker and nice perforated leather. Such a shame these were not offered on the manual.

I don't like leather wheels on long drives, they feel warm and sweaty after a while. Alcantara is better but packs down and is hard to keep clean. Perforated leather would have been a great option.

Looked like it was i4 as well.

 

[xen]

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.

I agree. The problem is any objectivity or rational reason is glass half-empty now. If a reviewer criticises the beloved Emira he’s wrong, if they don’t he’s the only one worth listening to.

It’s undoubtably an amazing impression of the car and I was really happy watching it. A few more details would have been great - the specification he was driving etc but top gear isn’t that type of show anymore.

I’d still like to see some clarity on the max redline / bhp changes and any other changes from the final pre-production to customer cars. I’m likely going to change my configuration from a pure sports car to a more GT spec car as I get the impression that’s what the car is designed to be.

Print review is a bit more grounded

Lotus Emira Review 2023 | Top Gear

The last ever petrol-powered Lotus looks fantastic and drives with precision, but not quite as much emotion as we might’ve hoped

www.topgear.com

 

[Leonard]

How unprofessional is that?

Is it???
People need to accept that other people are allowed to have a different opinion to them.
Zero point being an independant journalist if you cannot have your own non-censored opinion

 

[TomE]

Looked like it was i4 as well.

Looks like a V6 I think. You can see the top of the V6 engine through the rear screen when Flintoff gets into the car. The i4 engine cover sits lower and has a grey centre line.

 

[NicolasB]

Looks like a V6 I think. You can see the top of the V6 engine through the rear screen when Flintoff gets into the car. The i4 engine cover sits lower and has a grey centre line.

View attachment 6643

Remember that photo of the dark verdant car that everybody said was from the Top Gear filming? That one had an i4. To me, this photo looks exactly like the engine cover on the 4 cylinder.

 

[Leonard]

Looks like a V6 I think. You can see the top of the V6 engine through the rear screen when Flintoff gets into the car. The i4 engine cover sits lower and has a grey centre line.

View attachment 6643

What is that big bit of black plastic? Just assumed that it was the larger i4 cover

 

[MCS]

Defo i4

 

[Leonard]

 

[switchlanez]

i4 has that same stripe running down the center of the engine cover:

 

[Nick in Sydney]

How unprofessional is that?

Not particularly?

 

[TomE]

View attachment 6645

You're right, it's an i4 and I'm wrong about it being a V6. The i4 engine cover is sitting higher in the rear screen when viewed from inside the cabin than I remember from seeing i4 cars at Hethel.

 

[klho001]

and till now any driving audio from an I4 engine is still as elusive as bigfoot

 

[frazzer]

TopGear Online: "With a sweeter gearshift, a less annoying steering wheel and perhaps a fruitier sounding engine, it would be unbeatable."

So it was pretty close to being unbeatable, would be even closer with a 3rd cat delete to get a bit more sound. I expect the i4 will be unbeatable in its class, although it'll still have that silly wheel.

 

[Flashback]

and till now any driving audio from an I4 engine is still as elusive as bigfoot

Unfortunately, there’s probably a good reason for that.

 

[Evotion]

Do we know for sure that deleting the last Cat will improve the sound, not just louder, though that might be the same thing

Is it the exact same system used on the Evora and Exige before it?
I might wait until I see how it sounds when others have done it before committing on it.