Lotus Emira V6 First Edition 2022 UK review
Should I buy one?
Regardless, at low speeds, poor roads are smothered well by the Emira. This version has a Touring suspension set-up, while a stiffer Sport alternative is an option (and better mated, Lotus says, to stickier Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 rubber than the Goodyear Eagles that this car wears, 245/35 R20 fronts and 295/30ZR 20 rears).
It’s absorbent like this at a cruise, too. There is noticeable road and wind noise, but it’s a car that you could happily cover big miles in. I doubt you would want it much stiffer for that.
There are driving modes, but they leave the steering and damping alone. The Driver’s Pack includes a fruitier exhaust and a track mode for the stability programme, plus a limited-slip differential, and this car has it.
And as a driver’s car, it’s mostly great. On challenging stretches of road is where it’s absolutely at its best, in fact. On a road where there are loads of inputs on one side of the car and fewer on the other, strewn with cambers and crests and gradients, it shows its true Lotus origins.
Across my favourite test route, it feels seriously good, refusing to lose traction over an off-camber crest where most cars scrabble a little and only giving the merest ripple of vibration through the steering when encountering big surface imperfections while both braking and cornering.
The steering is direct and accurate, with 2.8 turns between locks, and it does that Lotus thing of offering good road feel while filtering away nasties. The Emira feels like it was made for roads like that.
Issues? Some. The brake pedal has an amount of dead travel at the top of the pedal that drops it too low for easy heel-and-toe downshifts. That's unusual in a Lotus but might yet be an anomaly. Less unusual is that the six-speed gearbox’s shifter mechanism is till a bit slack compared with the best in this class. A Porsche shift is tighter.
Still, there’s nothing wrong with the engine delivery once a gear is engaged. It revs easily and has plentiful torque, and while it's nowhere near as shouty as the last Exiges, that suits it; and at least in Sport mode, it crackles discreetly.
And that’s where we are. It’s a traditional Lotus underneath it all, which, given that it’s a traditional Lotus at heart – same engine, Evora-derived chassis – isn't so surprising.
Whether it has the measure of its rivals is a question for another time, but this is the best Lotus for a generation.
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