The following article was produced in partnership with Lotus.
It’s almost impossible to talk about sportscars without mentioning Lotus. The British brand damn near wrote the book. Elemental road cars, championship-winning racers… Its history is storied. In the mid-1990s, it reinvented the mid-engined sportscar, the purest form of the genre – delivering the exotic layout in an affordable, light, and reliable package via the original Elise.
Now with the 2024 Lotus Emira Turbo, it’s breaking the mould again – creating a polished, refined but potent and pure mid-engined sportscar with class-leading driving dynamics, exotic looks, and often-promised but rarely delivered day-to-day comfort and amenity. As Lotus itself calls out – the Emira Turbo is everything you would expect from a Lotus, but like nothing you have seen before.
Lotus’ Mid-Engined Purity
The Lotus Emira formula starts with that perfect mid-engined layout. With the engine and gearbox behind the driver, it’s a configuration that has long been favoured by million-dollar exotics and the most potent of racing formulas.
The configuration delivers centralized mass, optimized traction, and ultimate handling. In the Emira, this is further enhanced by a compact wheelbase and low centre of gravity. There’s no heavy engine over the front wheels to encumber steering precision or purity. Equally, with the inherent balance a mid-engine layout delivers, Lotus’ legendary chassis tuning prowess can be exercised without mechanical compromise.
The result is a car whose driving experience is equal parts demanding and flattering. There’s a real fluidity to the way the Emira copes with poor road surfaces, yet on great tarmac or the track, it never feels underdone.
Influence of the Evija Hypercar
Aesthetics matter, but especially so in ‘statement’ cars like the Lotus Emira. If you’ve recognized those stunning lines, take a bow. The Emira proudly wears an evolution of the ‘Carved by Air’ philosophy of Lotus’ record-setting battery-electric Evija hypercar.
Its performance intent is unmistakable, yet the car still delivers easy access and, from the driver’s seat, great sight lines. It’s anything but intimidating to drive, which means you’re at home at the wheel instantly.
Take your pick of more than a dozen standard colours… There’s not a bad hue nor angle but, even more importantly given the new Lotus’ potential, the Emira’s bodywork generates substantial real-world downforce for predictable manners on the road and track.
No Performance Compromise for Comfort
Arguably the biggest departure from previous Lotus mid-engined models, however, is the Emira’s convenience and ergonomics. Not only has Lotus delivered a step-change in interior materials, fit, and finish, but there’s been equally massive improvement in the relationship between driver and machine.
The cabin pampers where once Lotus sportscars were more likely to punish. There are seats that work as well in the real world as they do on the track. The bespoke Lotus-designed Human Machine Interface is comprehensive and intuitive and includes all of the nice-to-haves absent from previous generations. No more aftermarket add-ons, this is a fully native integrated cabin that rivals the best the Germans deliver.
There’s even a practical side to the Lotus Emira. An option pack delivers park sensors, rear camera, and more. Smartphone storage and mirroring are standard. There’s room behind the seats for larger items, door pockets that fit more than a wallet, and a boot as well!
Turbocharging an Icon
All ‘hygiene’ items in a modern vehicle but what is a sportscar without a powertrain that can thrill from the moment you hit the starter? Four and six-cylinder powertrains are available, but take it from yours truly, the former is the pick – properly powerful and imbuing the Emira Turbo with balance and manners that top the six from the first turn.
Mind you, it’s no ordinary turbocharged four-cylinder proudly displayed under the Emira’s transparent engine cover. Hand-built in Afalterbach (Germany) by Mercedes-AMG’s most skilled engineers, the 2.0-litre packs 298kW and 480Nm in its most potent variant.
They’re numbers that match the supercharged 3.5-litre V6 option, but the AMG engine is torque-rich and optimizes center of gravity and weight distribution even further. A classic case of less being more.
The AMG four is also matched to the optimum choice of gearbox… A slick-shifting twin-clutch gearbox that gives you the choice of racecar-style manual mode or an efficient smooth-shifting auto mode for ultimate convenience.
If circa 4.0sec 0-100km/h time doesn’t get your attention, the real-world midrange performance of the turbocharged four-cylinder Emira Turbo will.
As you’d expect from a brand that proudly announces it’s For the Drivers, the Emira’s multiple driver-selected modes allow you to tune the engine, gearbox, chassis, and driver assistance systems to match your mood and/or location. Never mild, but also never wild, but you get the idea…
Make Emira Your Own
Personalization is a key differentiator of the modern Lotus and with myriad combinations of colour trim and equipment choices, you can make the Emira your own.
Choose colors, specify track or touring-focused suspension, add convenience or other equipment packs – the choice is yours. A smart adaptive configurator allows you to ‘build’ your Emira from the desk or phone. Just make sure you’ve got a gap in your diary – it’s addictive…
But not as addictive as the car itself. My hands-on experience came as part of the annual Lotus Days driving festival. And it was clear almost from before we turned a wheel that the Emira Turbo is a step-change car for Lotus.
Where the Elise and Exige were more toys than tools, my day in the Emira Turbo and V6 defines them both as Lotus all grown up and properly polished. The brand’s tenets remain – minimum mass, maximum performance, essential engineering – but the Emira Turbo adds a level of maturity and refinement Lotus has struggled to deliver to date.
The British brand has often talked about having its German and Italian competitors in its sights. The Lotus Emira Turbo is the first sportscar from the brand that confidently pulls the trigger…
