V6 Rant

[LotusRising]

Play along with me

Car journalist review blinded to V6 engine source but given specifications:

“ The V6 has everything you want in a modern engine: aluminum, DOHC , four valves per cylinder with Variable valve timing on the induction and exhaust. To boot it has Japanese origins with millions of miles of proven reliability. It backs up the supercar looks with the midship mounted V6 an aural masterpiece. Shrieking up to its 6800 RPM redline with supercharger whine adding to the drama. The supercharger gives an every day flexibility to the engine with torque approachable down low and a surge of speed built predictably. The fact that Lotus have attached a manual gearbox in 2022 has us basking in automotive Nirvana.
Thank God Lotus didn’t ruin these good looks with ANOTHER boring muffled turbocharged four-cylinder and an automatic slush box!”

Actual automotive journalistic take with knowledge of the engine source:

“ Its got the same old boring Camry engine. It doesn’t redline to 8000 like the flat six in the Cayman. I can’t wait for the turbocharged four-cylinder with the automatic that might really be the one!”

This isn’t to put anyone down who is choosing the inline four it will probably be a lightweight maniac. It’s just to call out the absurdity of some of the reviews when automotive journalists keep lamenting the loss of manuals, the loss of cylinders, and the loss of sound with turbocharging.

 

[kitkat]

Thankfully you as a consumer have a choice.

 

[dgrace]

Thankfully you as a consumer have a choice.

Not for long! The car is so delayed at this point the final V6 order might already be in the queue.

 

[Hedge]

I tend to agree with your point. And I love the fact that a Lotus has a robust engine. And performance is more than enough for the road.

The noise is one I like, although it’s more the exhaust than engine I think. Perhaps someone can elaborate what an actual Emira sounds like from the inside?

I understand it’s a 6.6k redline. But it’s more about the characteristic of the engine, it works hard to eek round to 3.5k-4K rpm and then it flies Roy s the last 2k or so and smacks into the cutout very easily - hence my personal frustration at the engine. But that can be managed and driving style adjusted.

So, while it’s great to have a manual, we shouldn’t forget it’s a cable linkage and has drawbacks because of that.

It’s definitely a characterful combination - and reliable (except supercharger which has been known to fail) but not designed from the ground up as a bit of high performance engineering, hence the relatively negative or neutral reviews of it.

 

[VL3X]

I tend to agree with your point. And I love the fact that a Lotus has a robust engine. And performance is more than enough for the road.

The noise is one I like, although it’s more the exhaust than engine I think. Perhaps someone can elaborate what an actual Emira sounds like from the inside?

I understand it’s a 6.6k redline. But it’s more about the characteristic of the engine, it works hard to eek round to 3.5k-4K rpm and then it flies Roy s the last 2k or so and smacks into the cutout very easily - hence my personal frustration at the engine. But that can be managed and driving style adjusted.

So, while it’s great to have a manual, we shouldn’t forget it’s a cable linkage and has drawbacks because of that.

It’s definitely a characterful combination - and reliable (except supercharger which has been known to fail) but not designed from the ground up as a bit of high performance engineering, hence the relatively negative or neutral reviews of it.

I'm really excited to get the 2GR-FE! It's a strong engine with a lot of potential. It'll last forever if you leave it stock and if you don't care about warranty, it'll be fairly inexpensive to build and squeeze a lot of power out of. Cracking the ECU is the hardest part, but once that's figured out... The sky's the limit. Of course the manual transmission will need to be built to support 500+ HP, but I've seen 2GRs supercharged and turbocharged simultaneously making extreme power (800+)!

Imagine a built trans, upgraded supercharger running more boost, with supporting mods (revised intake, exhaust, fuel), and tune making ~550+ to the wheels out of the ~3200 lb Emira. That thing would be a supercar killer with the looks to back it up!

All that aside, it's a Toyota engine with a cheap Edelbrock blower. Assuming you can do some of the wrenching yourself, it's a very inexpensive powertrain to work on and to source parts for. Plus it gets decent MPG!

 

[Hedge]

I'm really excited to get the 2GR-FE! It's a strong engine with a lot of potential. It'll last forever if you leave it stock and if you don't care about warranty, it'll be fairly inexpensive to build and squeeze a lot of power out of. Cracking the ECU is the hardest part, but once that's figured out... The sky's the limit. Of course the manual transmission will need to be built to support 500+ HP, but I've seen 2GRs supercharged and turbocharged simultaneously making extreme power (800+)!

Imagine a built trans, upgraded supercharger running more boost, with supporting mods (revised intake, exhaust, fuel), and tune making ~550+ to the wheels out of the ~3200 lb Emira. That thing would be a supercar killer with the looks to back it up!

All that aside, it's a Toyota engine with a cheap Edelbrock blower. Assuming you can do some of the wrenching yourself, it's a very inexpensive powertrain to work on and to source parts for. Plus it gets decent MPG!

Shame then that Lotus haven’t been able to get more out of it than 400 in the Emira or 430 ever.

 

[EspritGuy]

Not for long! The car is so delayed at this point the final V6 order might already be in the queue.

Gotta be the best one yet!

 

[TomE]

Shame then that Lotus haven’t been able to get more out of it than 400 in the Emira or 430 ever.

Lotus have had 450 out of the V6 on the bench. Concerns about thermal management in the very cramped Evora engine bay meant they didn't want to warranty it at that output.

Komotec have got the V6 up to 500 in Evora/Exige and will probably do so for Emira. But they require extra work to be done to deal with thermal management as part of the upgrade, including an open louvre rear hatch, otherwise they won't warranty it.

 

[Pegasi]

Hey man, what's that you are driving? Oh, it's a mid engine Camry with a supercharger.

 

[kitkat]

Hey man, what's that you are driving? Oh, it's a mid engine Camry with a supercharger.

I mean let’s not get too carried away, the alternative is a mid engined A-class.

 

[LotusRising]

I mean let’s not get too carried away, the alternative is a mid engined A-class.

Exhibit A at 11:40 secs



Vs

Exhibit B at 2:50

 

[Porter]

Not for long! The car is so delayed at this point the final V6 order might already be in the queue.

I wouldn't worry about that part too much. The EU end dates don't have any impact on manufacture for sale in the rest of world.

 

[Porter]

...require extra work to be done to deal with thermal management as part of the upgrade, including an open louvre rear hatch, otherwise they won't warranty it.

I mean this is exactly why the Emira has the side venting along the rear glass along with the extraction channel at the bottom of the rear window in the low pressure zone, right?

 

[TomE]

Yes, plus moving the firewall forward to enlarge the engine bay. So Emira thermal management should be better than Evora. The main concern on the Emira appears to be the i4 turbo heat dissipation, not the V6.

 

[Pegasi]

I mean let’s not get too carried away, the alternative is a mid engined A-class.

Oh, my post was just making a joke about the subject of this thread an the OP original post.

This isn’t to put anyone down who is choosing the inline four it will probably be a lightweight maniac. It’s just to call out the absurdity of some of the reviews when automotive journalists keep lamenting the loss of manuals, the loss of cylinders, and the loss of sound with turbocharging.

I agreed with this post that journalists all cry about no more manuals. So I made a sarcastic joke about the car being a mid engine Camry. Rather than down the V6 I think Lotus should be applauded for giving us a choice of three engine/trans setups.

 

[Hedge]

Lotus have had 450 out of the V6 on the bench. Concerns about thermal management in the very cramped Evora engine bay meant they didn't want to warranty it at that output.

Komotec have got the V6 up to 500 in Evora/Exige and will probably do so for Emira. But they require extra work to be done to deal with thermal management as part of the upgrade, including an open louvre rear hatch, otherwise they won't warranty it.

I should have been more qualified in my remark: in an actual Lotus car. I know about Komotec tweaks

I’d heard that the extra weight of the Emira put more load on the gearbox and so they had to limit power etc etc. … part of the reasons why it’s only 400 or 394 and not 410 or 416 story. But that may well be tosh.

If they’re all ready to go with 450 or 500, then with only 394/400 the FE seems like a real low ball effort given it’s not going to keep up with a few hot hatches and struggle with a few more (ok it’s not about straight line speed!).

But nothing seems to make much sense to me anymore with this car & Lotus though.

 

[Steve24]

Agreed ^^

To be absolutely clear, I don’t care that much about straight line speed - I’ve had a Ferrari 355 for 11 years (which is slower than the Emira) and it has NEVER felt too slow to me. In fact I’d say the performance is about perfect for the road. Lots of fun, but not silly fast.

Having said that, I do find it a little odd that Lotus didn’t put the 430hp version in the FE at least, and aim for a 0-100kmh time of around 4 flat.
Why would you put a less powerful version of the same engine in the new car than the car it’s replacing?

 

[~el~jefe~]

very few people reviewing things or on this forum owned and regularly used a supercharged sport car. Turbos suck, naturally aspirated is an endearing gimmick. Supercharged is where it is at for a road race car. It will make you cackle with glee once you experience one in traffic situations, getaway situations, road race situations, deciding to not be law abiding situations. I know that sounds odd, but you'll see if you never owned one and pushed it as a daily city and suburb psycho car. I cannot wait to go back to one. Things like Hellcat Challenger are so addicting, so was my 2006 Mini cooper S. So long as you toss another radiator or increase the flow of the coolant system (either cheap to do), you can just change a pulley and rocket this badboy to 475 hp with no problem bob.

 

[xen]

very few people reviewing things or on this forum owned and regularly used a supercharged sport car. Turbos suck, naturally aspirated is an endearing gimmick.

At your budget maybe. I’ve owned an SVR sports car and a 488, sound aside it wasn’t a question which the better engine was. Having recently tested an F12 I can tell you your N/A statement is utterly misinformed.

 

[~el~jefe~]

At your budget maybe. I’ve owned an SVR sports car and a 488, sound aside it wasn’t a question which the better engine was. Having recently tested an F12 I can tell you your N/A statement is utterly misinformed.

what a douche comment