Lotus Emira 420 Sport: the best Emira yet is a downsized supercar
The one percent keep getting richer, while the remaining 8.2 billion on the planet feel the squeeze. And this widening disparity in wealth even plays out in the enthusiast car market.
Just look at our coverage of Monterey Car Week. New hypercars revealed in California this month have included the Aston Martin Valen, McLaren McL 6GT, Gordon Murray Automotive S1, Lamborghini Revuelto SV, Bugatti Destrier, Hennessey Blackbird and many more. But while the high-net-worthers feast on automotive unobtanium, the aspirational, mid-market sports car seems to be off the menu.
Two of the main players in this sector, the Porsche 718 Cayman and Toyota GR Supra, recently ceased production without being replaced. The Alpine A110 is also on hiatus until its electric successor arrives later this year. Yes, the BMW M2 is still going strong, but that is a different sort of dish: meatier and, I would argue, ultimately less flavoursome than a dedicated sports car.
All of which, via finance, geopolitics and laboured culinary metaphors, brings us to the Lotus Emira. The new 420 Sport version combines more power from a feisty Mercedes-AMG engine with less weight and a sharper chassis. It’s Norfolk’s answer to the Porsche Cayman GT4, if that car still existed. So, what’s not to like?
Lotus Emira: Taking on the 911 Carrera
Well, the price for starters. The existing Emira Turbo and Turbo SE were broadly equivalent to the Cayman S and GTS, but the £105,900 asked here leapfrogs Lotus right into Porsche 911 Carrera territory. Particularly once you add the £12,900 Lightweight Handling Pack, which is more or less essential. The £2 million Lotus Evija hypercar might cater for the one percent – or perhaps the 0.1 percent – but a 420 Sport is still beyond the reach of most.
Just to recap, the Emira is offered with a choice of two different engine configurations. The 2.0-litre four-cylinder AMG motor is only available with an eight-speed dual-clutch gearbox and comes in three outputs: 360hp (Turbo), 400hp (Turbo SE) and 420hp (420 Sport). Alternatively, you can plump for a 400hp 3.5-litre Toyota V6 in the Emira V6 SE, which uses either a six-speed manual or six-speed automatic transmission.
What you can’t have is a Sport derivative of the V6, which makes this new 420 Sport the official flagship of the Emira range. Besides those extra horses, it musters 369lb ft of torque, generates up to 25kg more downforce and carries up to 25kg less weight. Zero to 62mph takes 3.7 seconds and top speed is 186mph. Lotus handling guru Gavan Kershaw says it can lap the factory test track in 1 min 27 sec – two seconds quicker than an Emira Turbo SE.
Styling inspired by the Turbo Esprit
Arriving at Hethel, where the Emira is assembled inside the Chapman Production Centre (the electric Eletre SUV and Emeya saloon are built in Wuhan, China), I meet design boss and Lotus lifer Russell Carr, who walks me around the 420 Sport. “The changes were about form and function working together,” he explains. “That is the Lotus way.”
The whole car is lowered by 5mm, with larger apertures in the front bumper and a new splitter to direct cooling air towards the brakes. Slash-cut vents in the front wings also help to evacuate air from the wheelarches. “You can see them while driving,” notes Carr. “Lotus calls these the Becker points – named them after Roger Becker, our chief test driver for many years, who insisted on having these visible peaks to gauge a car’s width, and place it accurately in corners.”
Seen from the side, the 420 Sport has more sculpted sills and deeper air intakes, plus a louvred tailgate inspired by the classic Turbo Esprit. Further back, you’ll find a lip spoiler at the trailing edge of the rear deck, smoked tail lights and a deeper diffuser.
It looks more aggressive than its Turbo and SE siblings, yet also fussier and less elegant – particularly if you spec the Sport add-ons in unpainted carbon fibre.
What’s in the Lotus Emira Lightweight Handling Pack?
The standard 420 Sport gets revised Bilstein dampers tuned for quicker turn-in and tighter body control. Go for the Lightweight Handling Pack, though, and you get race-bred spool valve dampers from Multimatic – the Canadian company that built the latest Ford GT. With 11 clicks of manual adjustment for both bump and rebound, Gavan Kershaw says they provide “a far more settled and responsive feel”.
Other goodies in the bundle include a titanium exhaust system (saving 10kg alone), compact lithium-ion battery, carbon fibre tailgate and bespoke, Lotus-stamped Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tyres.
A further option across the Emira range is a targa roof. Yours for £5,000, its tinted glass panel can be unclipped and lifted out – an easy, one-person job – then stowed in a dedicated bag behind the seats. Unlike in a Porsche 911, you will only find space for two people, while the boot holds a meagre 151 litres. There is no ‘frunk’ beneath the bonnet, either.
Inside the Lotus Emira 420 Sport
Some of the 420 Sport styling tweaks look a bit ‘aftermarket’ to my eyes, but there’s no doubt it swivels heads – particularly in the new and Sport-exclusive Tangelo Orange colour seen here. While few folk look twice at a 911 Carrera, the Lotus could easily be mistaken for a McLaren or Ferrari.
Inside, it feels far more luxurious than an Elise or Evora (not hard, admittedly), with wall-to-wall leather and Alcantara trim. The crisp, 10.25-inch touchscreen is straightforward to operate and provides wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity. Optional niceties include heated seats and a premium, British-made KEF audio system.
Behind the squared-off steering wheel, your fingertips will find new carbon fibre shift paddles: longer and with a more mechanical action. The view ahead is panoramic, but rearward visibility is reduced to 1970s supercar levels by the slatted engine cover. At least there is a reversing camera.
I lift the naff ‘bomb switch’ cover for the start button (leave such affectations to Lamborghini, please Lotus), and the mid-mounted four fires with an abrupt bark. Time to see if the 420 Sport can justify its billing as the ultimate Emira.
Emira 420 Sport on the road
I’m not sure the roads of Norfolk are worse than anywhere else in Britain, but goodness me some of them are bad. No wonder the cars honed here by Lotus Engineering for other manufacturers – from the Aston Martin DB9 to the Proton Satria GTI – have tended to ride and handle so fluently.
My Emira is fitted with the trick Multimatic dampers, so I can’t report on what a standard 420 Sport feels like. With this setup, however, and a middling ‘click five’ level of adjustment, the ride is firm without being brittle. It transmits every imperfection in the road surface, yet rounds off the worst impacts, maintaining the car’s composure even when Norfolk bitumen does its worst. “We talk about turbulence – the harsh, thudding sensation you sometimes feel aboard an aircraft,” says Kershaw. “It’s the opposite of what we work to achieve. You should never feel like you are fighting with the car.”
As you’d hope, the same carefully enunciated communication flows through the steering, this being one of a handful of new cars to still use hydraulic power assistance – rather than a CO2-saving electric setup. It feels wonderfully linear and full of feedback, helping you to make the most of the Emira’s enhanced cornering ability. The ‘mini McLaren’ analogy works well here, too.
The four-cylinder AMG engine isn’t as tuneful as the flat-six in a you-know-what, even with the titanium tailpipes fitted, but it’s mightily effective. Indeed, while previous four-pot Emiras were outgunned by the Mercedes-AMG A45 S hot hatchback, this one unleashes the M139 motor’s full potential. Its manic, always-on intensity might seem at odds with the car’s settled, balanced chassis, yet the whole package comes together to create the most polished and most convincing Emira yet.
Driving on-track at Hethel
Lest we forget, the 420 Sport is also the most circuit-focused Emira. So it seemed only right, after a cross-country blast back to Hethel, to squeeze in a few laps of the on-site test track. Fast, technical and with worryingly little run-off when you exit the Rindt Hairpin, it was a chance to drive the car to its limits – and perhaps test my own limits, too.
This is where the Multimatic dampers come into their own, riding the kerbs with conviction and giving the Emira an unburstable sense of composure for lap after lap. In the best Lotus tradition, this is a car you coax and finesse, rather than grab by the scruff, and it feels faithfully on your side – even at three-figure speeds through the long Windsock corner that opens onto the Mansell Straight. The standard-fit AP Racing brakes are powerful and tirelessly consistent, too.
Dislikes? The seats could do with more support for track driving (Lotus has surely missed a trick by not offering a hard-shell bucket option) and the gearbox isn’t the quickest or most intuitive dual-clutcher out there, despite some recalibration work. Still, there are no unexpected blots in the 420 Sport’s dynamic copybook. It feels limber and malleable, preferring to be driven with precision, but also game for throwing a few sideways shapes when the mood takes you. Track with ESC Off is the mode you need if so.
Verdict: Lotus Emira 420 Sport
For many car companies, the word ‘Sport’ simply denotes a trim level: a set of alloy wheels and some go-faster stripes, perhaps. At Lotus, though, it means something special. The story started with the Esprit Sport 300 in the early 1990s – a homologation special built for Stateside SCCA racing – then progressed to lighter, faster and more focused versions of the Elise, Exige and Evora. There have also been lightweight Lotus Sport bicycles, such as the carbon fibre Type 108 that Chris Boardman rode to victory at the Olympics in 1992.
True to form, the new Sport 420 is more than just a cosmetic makeover and an extra 20hp. It dials up the Emira experience, making it more engaging and exciting, but without unduly limiting its ability to be driven every day (something only the most committed Elise or Exige owner would attempt).
Granted, a Porsche 911 Carrera is still a better all-rounder. No surprises there. But the Lotus looks so much more special, has rarity on its side and is ultimately more fun on the right road (or racetrack). And versus the now-defunct Cayman GT4? That’s a close call, and the Porsche might edge it for me, largely thanks to its more emotive engine. Still, in a market with increasingly few options, there are no wrong choices here – and the Lotus Emira finally feels absolutely right.
• Tim Pitt writes for Motoring Research