2024 Lotus Emira 2.0T: Quick drive

Lotus had a bit of a challenge on its hands after it announced the departure of its much-loved and longest-lived Elise, as well as the Exige and Emira. What to do next? The car not only had to speak to the Lotus sports cars of the past – Europa, Eclat, Evora and Esprit (among others) – but also point to the future.

And to really increase the difficulty, at the time of its release, it also had to bridge the gap to Lotus’s all-electric future.

Chinese giant Geely now owns the plucky British brand, which has suffered much over the years with indifferent ownership. It still managed to turn out innovative, basic drivers' cars powered by engines not unfamiliar to millions of Toyota owners all over the world.

Geely seems to have used its billions wisely, and while it hasn’t chucked the keys to an existing management team like it did with Volvo and let them get on with it, it has still allowed Lotus to build something different. And in a way rebuild itself.

The Emira is easily the least-Geely car in the current range, mostly because it’s not electric.

At the moment you can still nab an Emira First Edition, powered by an AMG-developed 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo engine that retails at $199,990. You can pick any colour you like for no extra charge, a black pack for $3000, or choose between the Sport and Touring chassis options for no cost. Three wheel options are all free, and either the Goodyear Eagle F1 Supersports or the Michelin Sport Cup 2s (although the latter are only available on the Sport chassis) are available.

You can also choose from a variety of interior themes and steering wheels. 

Standard is a reasonably sized 10.25-inch media screen, a 12.3-inch digital dashboard, power windows and mirrors, keyless entry and start, LED headlights and tail-lights, climate control, powered and heated seats, choices (and mixes) of leather and Alcantara, along with choices of stitching.

Storage is limited, with 208 litres behind the seats and a bucket behind the engine with 151L. It’s not a lot, but is comparable to a Mazda 3 if not nearly as easily accessible.

The media system includes satellite navigation as well as Android Auto and Apple CarPlay.

When the Emira was first announced, the venerable supercharged Toyota V6 that has served the Exige and Evora so well proved an instant hit, with local importer Simply Sports Cars selling out of the six-speed manual V6 First Edition extremely quickly. Then came the news that the Emira would also be available with the Mercedes-Benz-sourced M139 four-cylinder turbo from under the the AMG A45’s bonnet. And it would be a paddle-shift automatic.

The quick explanation for that choice is that Geely is the single biggest shareholder in Mercedes-Benz – and probably owns rather less Toyota stock.

Here in the Emira, the M139 is mid-mounted across the car and developing 268kW at 6500rpm and 430Nm between 3000 and 5500rpm. The A45's gearbox came with the deal, too, an eight-speed twin-clutch, driving the rear wheels in this application. Lotus says it will go on to 275km/h after reaching 100km/h in 4.4 seconds. The company also quotes a 3.1-second sprint from 80 to 120km/h.

Compared to the V6, the inline four-cylinder is about 30kg lighter at 1455kg. Part of that saving is an aluminium subframe replacing the bent six’s steel item and saving 12kg. Power is down by about 20kW, but the compact four-cylinder sits lower in the chassis so the swings and roundabouts are many and varied. Given there’s a 310kW version of the M139, one wonders if there’s a higher-performing Emira on the way to fill in for the V6 as the horsepower hero.

I recommend pushing the start button with the windows down. Like a Ferrari 360 Spider, the air intakes are about level with your ears. Like the Evora, you can also see the engine through the rear window but you hear so much more.

This engine is not exactly dripping with natural charisma in the A45, but Lotus unleashes a host of noises, including an extravagant wastegate chuff and noticeable turbo whistle. For some reason it feels more flexible than the occasionally peaky hyper-hatch, but a longer drive will chase down whether that’s the result of a short introductory run.

I’d like to say how good the stereo was on this short drive, but I was too busy enjoying and laughing at the mechanical cacophony behind me. Also keeping me busy was the brilliant, direct steering assisted with electro-hydraulics, McLaren style. The Emira is held off the ground by aluminium double wishbones, Eibach springs and Bilstein dampers (surely name-checking the suppliers is a nod to the Lotus of days gone by), and the ride is hugely impressive for such a low-slung car. 

The roads we covered were the usual broken, patchy nonsense supplied by the NSW Government and its local councils, but the Emira shrugged it all off. It’s a confident car company that sends you across this stuff. The short stretch of highway was remarkably quiet for a car on this much rubber and this close to the ground too.

One particular corner in the drive program was a properly cambered left-hander, and that’s where the sheer level of grip, as well as the four’s impressive mid-range, really felt great. The car was completely planted and felt like it could tackle the bend at twice the speed.

As I said, this was a short drive, but my brain jumped to thinking about how much this felt like a McLaren 570S to drive – for half the price. How much it felt like an Audi R8 to sit in – for half the price. The Emira is not quite as quick as either, but not $200,000 less quick.

Again, for a quick drive I couldn’t work out how to access the sat nav (I was lost), and Vodafone chose this particular day to be fundamentally unusable. So again, a long drive will chase down if that was just flustered-user error or compared with the Emeya and Eletre’s systems, which were far easier to use.

The funny little fighter jet-style cover on the starter button could probably go in the bin too. It feels flimsy, but so far that’s the only complaint about the cabin, which is leagues ahead of the Evora’s.

And for a car made for driving, if you were to take it on a trip, you’d have to be extraordinarily selective with what you take. That’s hardly limited to the Emira, but worth knowing if you don’t have a support crew.

Some Lotus purists were never going to be happy with the Emira, whether a V6 or in-line four. I approached the car with some trepidation, as I am a massive fan of the Elise/Exige/Evora trio, and wondered how a car that is an easy half-tonne more than an Elise could do the same thing.

The signs are good, and it will be fascinating to put the V6 and four-cylinder together to see which one really does deliver for the traditionalist.