I Drove A Lotus For The First Time And It Changed Driving For Me Forever

As many of our readers know, I’m a serious cheapskate. I don’t usually buy powerful, expensive, or terribly luxurious cars. A “good” driving experience for me is one that ends with the vehicle returning home with as many functional gears as it started with. I also don’t really test sports cars, so you can imagine my reaction when I was recently tossed the keys to a Lotus Emira. I’m now desperately trying to find $100,000 from somewhere, anywhere, so I can get another hit of this car again.

I’ll be frank here. This isn’t going to be a true review. If you’ve read my work for long enough you know that I review tiny cars, crossovers, trucks, RVs, and the occasional locomotive. I have driven ridiculously powerful vehicles, but those engines are usually tacked onto a cab and a long bed. The last sports car review I can remember was when I drove the first and the last Acura NSXs more than two years ago. The only sports car in my fleet is a Saturn Sky Red Line and that’s hardly sports car royalty.

So, how did I end up in an Emira? Truth be told, I wasn’t supposed to be. This press car was supposed to go to Thomas for the duration of our stay in Los Angeles for the 10th Annual Galpin Car Show. However, poor Thomas came down with something heavy, so Matt stole the press car [Editor’s Note: It’s true, I was incredibly sick last week. —TH]. I then spent the weekend trying to steal the keys from Matt. I finally succeeded on Sunday, and honestly, what happened after is an experience I cannot stop thinking about.

I was a ’90s kid, so I grew up with posters of McLaren F1s and Audi TTs on my walls. I spent my nights and weekends playing Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec, Gran Turismo 4, and then later, Forza Motorsport. So many of the cars I love today came from video games, Top Gear, and my early online experiences.

It seemed like two car brands stood out as rites of passage for car enthusiasts. If you listened to Top Gear, you had to own an Alfa Romeo at least once in your life. Everyone else seemed to talk up Alfa, too, but enthusiasts also couldn’t stop singing the praises of Lotus. I’ve heard it all, from founder Colin Chapman’s philosophy of “simplify, then add lightness” to how the Elise was built with a fiberglass body on top of a bonded extruded aluminum chassis. To me, the Lotus always sounded like the purest driving experience on the road. You got just exactly what you needed and nothing you didn’t because extras added weight.

Yet, the whole brand always seemed just a little bit too inaccessible for me. When I was younger, there was no way I could swing the kind of cash to bring home even the front-wheel-drive Elan. Making payments on a new $16,200 Smart Fortwo was about where my personal limit was. Today, I could probably swing a used Elise if I sold most of my cars, but now, thanks to the Emira, my aspirations are higher and thus, once again out of my reach.

That just seems to be another cruel twist to this thing called life. The Japanese cars I loved when I was a kid were cheap back then, but now that I finally have some money, people are paying stupid money for them today, locking me out of them once again. If you’re a teen reading this, I hope your future is different!

Right, so the Emira. This car is supposed to be Lotus’ swan song to the combustion engine. This car is a love letter to over seven decades of tiny, lightweight sportscars that have lived rent-free in the minds of gearheads across so many generations. Lotus cranked its wheel toward electrification after this, and the Emira is Lotus retiring combustion engines with grace and dignity.

The Emira is also a big deal for Lotus. It’s a single-car replacement for the famed Elise, Evora, and Exige. As Car and Driver writes, Lotus spent its first handful of decades revolutionizing Formula 1 and creating generations of gearheads. Then, Chapman passed in 1982, and Lotus, without its legendary founder at the wheel, began falling off of the tarmac. From there, Lotus modern history is filled with hits like the Elise and misses like the Elan. Lotus planned to come out swinging through the 2010s with a bunch of cars like Aaron Judge hitting a Grand Slam, then that didn’t happen.

But Lotus didn’t give up. Geely grabbed the wheel in 2017 and injected the brand with enough cash to finally introduce a new sports car, the last of the internal combustion Lotus.

The Emira also represents the new Lotus design language. I’ve always thought Lotus had stunning cars, but I think the Emira elevates the brand to a more upscale look. An Emira looks like a baby supercar. Yes, it still has some modern tropes like an angry face, but I love how there are more curves here than jagged edges. I also found myself getting lost in the press car’s deep blue paint and the aroma of its interior.

Oh, and that interior. Now, I’ve never driven a Lotus before. Heck, I’ve never even sat in a Lotus before. But even I could tell that interiors haven’t always been Lotus’ strong suit. This interior appears to be filled with Alcantara, leather, and real metals. It’s a really inviting space, too. Pop open the wide door, sink in under the roof, and you’ll gracefully land in the seat almost every time. I’m told previous Lotus cars required you to be a bit of a contortionist for entry and exit, but that’s not really the case here. I can get in and out of this thing without issue, which is something I could not say about something like a BMW i8.

I want to make a flight deck reference again like I did with the Audi S5, but you know what? That’s wrong. The Emira’s interior is better than a flight deck. Lotus followed modern trends and removed as many buttons as possible, which I don’t normally like, but I actually approve of here. Yes, HVAC controls and such are locked behind annoying menus on the infotainment screen, but for some reason I find that okay here. I just love looking at that vast expanse of clean dashboard. Beyond that, a steeply raked windshield and bulging fenders are the last bits of the car I see before the road the Emira is set to conquer ahead.

This Emira press car is powered by a 2.0-liter Mercedes-AMG M139 turbocharged four. This is the same engine you’ll find in a Mercedes-AMG SL 43, but it’s tuned to make 400 HP and 354 lb-ft of torque in an Emira First Edition like the one I drove. Starting this four-pot of fury involves flipping up a metal cover and hitting a start button. Then, the little guy roars into life. The AMG-engined Emira comes bolted to an eight-speed AMG Speedshift DCT. Sadly, the only way to get a stick is to spend a little more money to get the 3.5-liter supercharged Toyota V6 engine that also makes 400 HP.

Yes, somewhat confusingly, Lotus is selling the Emira in America with two different engines with similar specs. At first, the four-cylinder option made 360 HP and 317 lb-ft of torque, which meant that going for the Toyota engine got you 40 more ponies. However, now the four-cylinder makes more overall power.

Putting the AMG Emira into gear is an interesting affair. The gearshift is digital, so you’re only really telling a computer what to do. Slapping the shifter down a couple of times puts it into Drive while a couple of slaps in the other direction gets you Neutral or Reverse. Hitting the sides of the shifter puts it into a permanent manual mode. You also get paddle shifters, but if you use them without slapping the shifter to the side first, the manual mode you get is temporary.

I like this setup. Sure, Lotus could have gone with a push-button affair, but this shifter does give you a little feel, even if you really aren’t really in control.

Driving the Emira is an entirely different experience compared to most other cars I’ve driven. The first thing I noticed is just how low to the ground I was. I sat slightly taller than I do in my Honda Beat, but Nissan Altimas towered over me and I’m fairly convinced I could have driven under semi-tractors. The long, slim interior gave me the feel of driving a go-kart, but this was a go-kart for affluent adults, not my cheap self.

I adjusted my power seat to a height that allowed me to see better, then set off. The Emira starts its drama right away. You hear the turbo chittering behind your head the second you’re off idle. Give it a little right foot and that little turbine spools up and sounds just like the boosted cars from a Fast Saga movie or a video game. That made my ears perk up and my right foot sink further. If you’re not careful, you’ll engage the Emira’s warp drive, which seems to blur time and space as you race the 3187-pound car to 60 mph in just 3.8 seconds.

The funny thing about electrification is that 3.8 seconds isn’t all that “fast” anymore. Okay, it is to me, but the spec sheets of plenty of cars show speeds that are much faster. My Zero DSR/X impossibly long tester accelerates to 60 mph in 3 seconds and the new NSX I drove two years ago did the same. Pure EV cars do even way better than that.

Yet, the Emira did its acceleration runs with a performance that other vehicles couldn’t match. You redline, hear the chitter of the turbo, the cogs swap faster than the blink of an eye, then you get to do it all over again as LA traffic, street signs, and your adult responsibilities become fuzzy objects in your rearview mirror. It’s an experience that involves most of your senses and one I still remember vividly.

Once I remembered that I was on a public road and I didn’t want to go to a Los Angeles lockup that day, I settled into a cruise. It was here I discovered that golly, the Emira is actually a great car for American highways. It was surprisingly comfortable and its suspension remarkably compliant. Look, I’m used to driving notoriously rough vehicles like Smarts and trucks. The Emira’s ride was luxurious compared to what I’m used to.

Reviewers also love to talk about passing power regarding driving cars on a highway. This part makes me giggle because that AMG engine comes alive and builds speed so quickly that passing isn’t even a question. Pick a car, any car on the highway. Heck, pick a line of cars on the highway. You’ll outrun them all in seconds while cackling like a Bond villain. The Emira takes off at any speed like it’s a sportbike. This car gets to triple-digit speeds faster than a microcar and bus girl like myself can even comprehend. If you run into someone doing that Big Altima Energy thing, you’ll pass them like they’re sitting still. Oh, and Lotus says this thing does 182 mph. It’s barely getting warmed up with highway pulls.

While the highway runs were great, they weren’t the goal. I was in the middle of a convoy with David Tracy and our excellent video guy Griffin Riley. David was in his BMW i3S while Griffin was in a minty base model Corvette C6 with a manual transmission. Our destination? A place called the Angeles Crest Highway. Now, if you’re like me, you’ve been told the Pacific Coast Highway is one of the greatest drives in America.

I’ve done the PCH before and I’m inclined to agree. However, the PCH is sort of a terrible driving road. Yes, the curves are great and blend perfectly with the ocean scenery. But, the PCH is also clogged up with crossovers filled with families on vacation and locals who don’t give a darn about you wanting to go fast. The Angeles Crest Highway is a scenic byway ascending up a mountain and wrapping its way through the Angeles National Forest. It appears to be a bit of a driving Mecca as everyone with a cool car or motorcycle is driving on it during the weekend.

In our case, David led the group and I was surprised at how well that i3S gripped those curves. But I was even more impressed in the Emira, which handled those same hairpins, sweeping turns, and mountain curves with poise I hadn’t experienced in another car before. David’s BMW got close to its limit, but it was a Sunday drive for the Emira.

Eventually, David’s fiancée had to tap out, which meant we lost him. That left Griffin and I, and we sort of just punched the throttle. I put the Emira into Track Mode and gave it a wallop of size 10 high heel. The Emira responded by lighting up its rears, catching, and everything around my cabin melted away. Without a BMW slowing it down, the Emira was unfathomably good in the curves. Apparently, an Emira can hold 1.06 g in a turn, which I’m told isn’t just sports car good, but supercar levels of grip. You bet I tried my best to get there.

It’s hard to describe just how well this car corners. It drives as if the tires are bonded to the ground and it has the kind of stability I imagine something like a Boeing 747 has. The Emira just doesn’t care if the turn is off-camber, has some sand peppered in your lane, or if there’s a pothole or two mid-curve. The car is laser-focused on following your commands. Its limit is far higher than you could ever achieve on a public road without ending up so screwed the cops put you under the jail. Its limit is so high it makes the 2025 Audi S5 seem like a pedestrian car.

Admittedly, I did find the Emira’s limit. It was high enough that Griffin’s Corvette was miles behind me, and he was, as the kids say, “mobbin’ it” trying to keep up with me. The Emira responds by kicking out its rear end, but keep calm, turn into the slide, trust yourself and the car, and recovery happens. Another good thing is that the steering wheel is almost an anachronism in today’s world of numb steering. There was enough feel that I could run over a penny and almost tell you what year is stamped on it. Okay, that’s obviously an exaggeration, but the communication was fantastic.

Apparently, a lot of folks don’t run the entirety of Angeles Crest, just the initial climb or so. When drivers and riders are done, they park at this abandoned bar in the forest. When I got out of the Emira my hands were shaking and my heart felt like it matched the RPM gauge from a moment earlier. It was equal parts adrenaline and love. I experienced the sort of thrill of a first date with the love of my life, but it happened at high speed in a little car. I did fall in love.

It’s funny. This job has given me access to the sorts of vehicles I would have never driven in my entire life if I stayed a Java programmer. I’ve gotten to drive one of the first Acura NSX in America and one of the very last. I’ve gotten to do an epic burnout in a 700 HP work truck. I’ve even gotten to tow 40,000 pounds with another work truck. The Emira now joins the Ford F-150 FP700 as my favorite press vehicle.

What I also found fascinating was just how much more I loved the Emira over the NSX. The NSX was faster and tugged harder on my JDM-loving heart. But that car also felt a bit like I was driving a laptop. I didn’t really feel that connected to driving that car fast. That wasn’t the case here. The Emira made me feel like I was in charge of my destiny. The Emira gave me doses of what I loved about the original Acura NSX, but with the brutal power and theatrics that you can only get with a modern car.

I even loved how people reacted to the car. The Emira gets thumbs up and pictures from smartphones wherever you go. Every time I entered and exited the Emira I felt so many eyes staring in my direction. Some of the men even did double takes after realizing that I’m very much not the kind of person you’d expect to emerge from a car like this. I was in a low-cut dress, heels, and dolled up in makeup for the Galpin car show. Probably the opposite of who you’d expect to drive a Lotus. And my driving was probably the exact opposite of what these people expected someone who looked like me would handle a car like this.

I’m sure if I brought a car like this home I would probably become a local celebrity. For an assorted number of hours on Sunday, I felt fancy. I got just a sprinkle of that Los Angeles, maybe Hollywood-ish life.

Sadly, I did not love absolutely everything. The seats in the Emira will probably suck if you’re any wider than I am. The engine also doesn’t sound that great. Most of the time it just sounds like a generic four-cylinder, which doesn’t seem to match the rest of the vehicle’s design and performance. The turbo certainly spices things up, and the sound does become nice right before redline. You also get some nice crackles and pops, but I feel like I have to force myself to like the sound outside of the chittering of the turbo. Maybe a custom exhaust would fix this?

I also hate how the engine is under a plastic cover. As a kid, I dreamed about rear-mid-engine cars like the Audi R8, which happily displayed their powerplants under a glass hatch. The Emira only emulates that. You see what looks like the top of an engine under the glass, then pop the hatch to see nothing at all. The V6 does a similar thing. I get that modern engines don’t look that pretty, but come on, if you put the engine under glass I want to look at it!

(Update: I have been informed that what I was looking at in a picture of the V6 was the top of the supercharger, not an engine cover. Even more motivation to get the V6!)

I also wasn’t a huge fan of the KEF 10-channel sound system. It was clear and crisp at lower volumes, but distortion at higher volumes was very noticeable. It’s good enough to be Mercedes Jam Session Approved, but doesn’t seem to live up to the hype put out by Lotus.

Then there’s the price. I felt this car would have been a great $65,000, maybe around $75,000 car. Then I found out that the car I was driving started at $99,900. Now, again, I don’t really test sports cars, so I had to ask if the price made sense. Matt tells me this car is actually a heck of a deal. He tells me that what I experienced is basically 90% of what sports cars costing twice as much feel like. So, maybe the Emira is secretly a sports car bargain.

What I can tell you is that, even as I write this, my heart flutters for that little blue car. No matter how many times I check my bank account I do not have $100,000. I’m not even sure if I sold all of my cars I’d come halfway to owning one of these. It’s a shame because my dream car list just grew one car larger. I didn’t want to give the Emira back. I wanted to keep it forever.

I didn’t want to break my fancy illusion. But I had to. I gave the car back, hopped on a dirty shuttle bus, and then rode in cattle class in the back of a Boeing 737 before riding in a Scion iQ back home. As I sit here, I’m thinking about what I read and heard from those enthusiasts so many years ago. They were right. Drive a Lotus. I don’t care which one, just drive a Lotus. You’ll experience driving nirvana unlike you’ve experienced before. Just be careful because, like me, you might just fall in love.

(Images: Author, unless otherwise noted.)