Why would you buy a new Emira in the UK?

[Nick in Sydney]

Sincere question for the Brits on this forum (I promise I'm not stirring): why on earth would you accept delivery of a new V6 Emira from Lotus at the moment? There are 73 cars available for sale in the UK with low or delivery miles and prices as low as £66,000.

Surely any rational person would cancel their order and buy one of these?

 

[PsymonR]

I think it is likely that the majority of us on here in the UK with ongoing orders are awaiting i4 cars.

If I was entering the market for a V6 right now then I certainly would be considering existing cars, though I would probably want to avoid early cars (especially if still only low or delivery mileage), I'd be willing to pay more for a more recent car that is less likely to suffer from new production line "teething troubles" and has more warranty on it.

 

[Superman]

I would personally be steering clear of any early builds too (a philosophy that applies to all cars, not just Lotus), I know not all the issues will necessarily be resolved yet on newer builds, but would expect a lot of the early teething troubles to be gone on more recent ones - History has proven this to be correct time and again.

 

[Nick Sticks]

I have a V6 on order.
There are no new already built cars or second hand/pre registered cars that are my exact specification.
I'm planning on keeping this car for a long time so I don't really want to compromise on it.

 

[Andy H]

The pool of used V6's could be a bit of a minefield as people have said. You also have to question why those people are selling so soon. Assuming the flippers cashed out early then these are people who either need the cash for something else, got bored of their car or want shot of it due to problems. I'm not a mechanic so I certainly wouldn't rate my chances in spotting the lemons!

In some ways, the i4 delays have been a positive thing for me as I'm now better funded for the purchase but also I would expect new i4's to be built on top of nearly 2 years of bedding in and improvements to the production line. Obviously the engine and gearbox are new propositions but most issues I've read about so far have been with ECU, electrics, ancillaries and bodywork which are hopefully mostly shared.

 

[anothersportscar]

2 cars just gone up on autotrader at Lotus Bradford for £60K!!!!!

 

[Andy H]

2 cars just gone up on autotrader at Lotus Bradford for £60K!!!!!

That's a long way from the early predictions of big residuals and premiums. I'm buying for keeps so not worried about the markets. However, I do think the Emira is the end of an era for Lotus and will become a future classic. Let's look again in 10 years

 

[Nick Sticks]

2 cars just gone up on autotrader at Lotus Bradford for £60K!!!!!

Which makes you wonder how much they effectively paid for them?
Someone must have lost a lot of money on these or traded them in for something far more expensive.

 

[Speedy Emira]

I bought mine at 8 months old and just over 2k miles. The previous owners wife struggled to get in and out of it and it was their first sporty car.
2 reasons for buying used as cheaper (I saved £10k against new one.
The other reason was finding my almost exact spec and had no waiting list.
What are people classifying as the ‘early models’ that had more problems? No real issues with mine yet.

 

[Speedy Emira]

Sincere question for the Brits on this forum (I promise I'm not stirring): why on earth would you accept delivery of a new V6 Emira from Lotus at the moment? There are 73 cars available for sale in the UK with low or delivery miles and prices as low as £66,000.

Surely any rational person would cancel their order and buy one of these?

I just looked in Auto Trade and the cheapest one which had the same spec as mine was £73,690. That’s about the same as I paid 4 months ago so I’m ok with the price.
I did hear there were a lot of owners who bought expecting to drive them for a year and sell them for the same price due to demands. You may be able to do that on a new Ferrari but this is a different market.
Hopefully the V6 stops production in 6-8 months and the demand will start going up.

 

[Beardedbradley]

My estimated delivery is Q1 2024 V6 manual. Im waiting on one of second released colour (zinc grey) first editions. Nothing currently on the market makes me want to change, I understand this is probably going to cost me 30k but I’d rather that than spend 60k on something I don’t want. Also just for fun I’ve never seen zinc grey in person and I have never driven the Emira

 

[SirSoysauce]

I'm US based so we haven't really seen the Emira's hit the used market yet, however, I think my reasoning may be similar to others.

To me, I'm enamored by the Emira and even have a specific spec layout for it. Although I traditionally tend to be a deal hunter, I'd need to find both similar spec and atleast get $10k USD off to have me change my mind. This mostly defaults to the fact that I plan to keep the Emira as very few cars really catch my eye like the Emira.

 

[Nick in Sydney]

My estimated delivery is Q1 2024 V6 manual. Im waiting on one of second released colour (zinc grey) first editions.

That makes sense. I don't think any of the FE2 colours are available "second hand" yet.

 

[Martylemoo]

My exact spec but different engine came up at the time Lotus were saying that the I4 was summer at the earliest, I dumped the order and purchased the V6. I don’t regret the decision at all and happy to have saved near on 20k against the current list.

 

[RoryBellows]

The UK car market is a bit depreciation crazy for any sorts of sports/supercar right now although to be honest I don't see the Emira as an investment unless you are willing to hold onto it until they stop making them and Porsche does a new gen of Cayman/Boxster without a manual.

EDIT: I should probably also point out in general cars are a bad investment strategy when they are as available as Emiras are. You are better off in the stock market long term than a car. Buy cars you want to drive and have fun with, not store in a garage for a mediocre payday later.

 

[Deeznuss]

Perhaps this is old news but I see the Lotus UK website lists
“EMIRA V6 FIRST EDITION
£85,995*
Due to high demand, new orders for Emira V6 are scheduled for delivery in 2026.”
Can anyone explain?

 

[SirSoysauce]

Perhaps this is old news but I see the Lotus UK website lists
“EMIRA V6 FIRST EDITION
£85,995*
Due to high demand, new orders for Emira V6 are scheduled for delivery in 2026.”
Can anyone explain?

My assumption is that, when they say high demand, they're referring to globally. I've heard a few things stating that Lotus is sending out as many V6 manuals as they can make and sending them to places like North America. No confirmation so take this with a grain of salt.

 

[Nick Sticks]

Perhaps this is old news but I see the Lotus UK website lists
“EMIRA V6 FIRST EDITION
£85,995*
Due to high demand, new orders for Emira V6 are scheduled for delivery in 2026.”
Can anyone explain?

Hmm, I wonder when that was added, well spotted.
At least for the moment V6's are still going to be made in 2026!

 

[Lex524]

I was told they have stopped producing manual FE cars for the next 12 months while they satisfy the i4 orders, hence the long lead time

 

[Lex524]

2 cars just gone up on autotrader at Lotus Bradford for £60K!!!!!

Clearly gone now... What were they?