Why The Lotus Emira Is the Only New Car I’ll Never Stop Obsessing Over

I want to tell you a secret. I review a new car every week of my life, totaling around 60 vehicles per year. Lots of these vehicles impress me, and a few stay in my heart long after they’re gone. But as soon as I step out of whatever new, five- or six-figure loaner car I’ve driven and back into my 2004 Mazdaspeed MX-5 Miata, the new car doesn’t matter. I don’t need it. I likely won’t ever buy it, new or used. My 22-year-old Miata is enough. 

A couple of weeks ago, I got to drive the one car that breaks my pattern: the Lotus Emira. I’ve thought about the car ever since, and about what it would be like to buy one someday — as an addition to my Miata-filled garage, of course. Never as a replacement. 

Why the Lotus Emira Is One of My Favorite Cars in History 

The Lotus Emira is a diamond in a car market full of pebbles. The Emira replaced the famous Evora, which went off the market in 2021, and carried over its mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout. The Emira debuted with two engine choices: a turbocharged four-cylinder from the Mercedes-AMG performance division, and a supercharged, 3.5-liter, Toyota-sourced V6. You could get the V6 with a six-speed manual, and my recent Emira loaner was that exact spec. 

The Emira is magnetic. Modern Lotus isn’t the Lotus of the past; back in the day, the British automaker was all about race cars and lightweight, simple sports cars. But things are different now. Lotus is owned by Geely, a conglomerate based out of China, and its cars reflect its ownership: electrified, high-tech, and comfortable despite their size and weight. Lotus’ cars aren’t simple and light anymore; the Emira is the lone holdout.

My loaner Emira made 400 horsepower and 310 pound-feet of torque from its Toyota V6. Everything about it — the purple paint, the visceral engine sounds in the cabin, the crisp shifting action — screamed “nimble, purist supercar.” Its interior styling and upholstery made it feel like a baby cousin to the McLaren 720S or Lamborghini Huracan. Its total price hit $125,000, but it nailed the personality of a $300,000 supercar. 

In the Emira, every input is rewarding. The shifter clanks into gear with a mechanical, notchy feel. The engine is so close to your head that when you hit the accelerator, it’s like you’re wearing earbuds wired straight to the engine bay. The brakes are firm, powerful, and stiff, and the pedal has very little travel. The clutch pedal springs in and out. The car steers like a torpedo — quick and precise — and the steering wheel is communicative. You can feel the road under your fingertips. There’s almost no rearing when you accelerate or diving when you brake, and that’s the experience you crave in a sports car: flat and predictable when you make major inputs. To add to the joy, I got 26 mpg on the highway all week. It was exactly what I wanted from a sports car. 

Plus, the Emira is comfortable for what it is. There’s suede and leather all over the inside, making the Emira feel like a real car instead of a go-kart (like the Lotus Elise does). There’s a surprising amount of storage, from pockets in the doors to a cargo shelf behind the seats, allowing my husband and me to haul four carry-on suitcases and two backpacks inside. There’s also Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, and real cupholders under the shifter, even if you’ll hit your arm on your drinks in the manual version of the car. 

There were only a few disappointments in the Emira. The seats were too high, especially because the car has a low floor. If you’re tall, you should shop for aftermarket seats that will let you sit lower in comparison to the wheel. 

The trunk didn’t like to open and close; it would get stuck on the “closed” setting, and we’d have to press down on it while pressing the “open” button to get it to unlock. And while there were virtually no driver-assistance features in the Emira, the car would display the speed limit on a given road and beep incessantly if we went even slightly over it. You can turn the beeps off in the infotainment screen, but they turn back on when the car restarts. (Lotus says a software update is on the way to fix this.) 

The beautiful thing about the Emira is that it doesn’t have to be good. Lotus doesn’t sell the car in large numbers, and it has very little competition, because modern automakers generally don’t cater to people who want small, manual enthusiast cars. The Emira could phone it in and still get customers by virtue of its rarity, but Lotus took it seriously. It’s a true enthusiast car. It’s not just good; it’s unforgettable. 

The Emira Metaphor: Making Good Products Requires Care, Effort, and Disregard for the Most Lucrative Approach

I first drove the Emira a couple of years ago, and I figured I’d probably never get in a new one again. Lotus keeps its fleet of review cars centralized in Los Angeles, and now that I make videos on my own YouTube channel instead of working full-time for an outlet, I have less flexibility to pay my way for a week in LA with a fun car. I have cars to drive and videos to make at home. 

But earlier this year, I decided it was time to get in an Emira again. I was reading The Long Game, the sequel to Rachel Reid’s popular hockey romance book Heated Rivalry, and one of the main characters almost bought a Cyan Blue Lotus Evora. (Reid puts a lot of enthusiast cars into the narrative. It rocks.) Inspired by the scenes and cinematography in the television adaptation of Heated Rivalry from creator Jacob Tierney, I decided I’d go to California, take out a Lotus loan, and do a full video review based on scenes from the show. (The video is embedded above.)

I spent weeks planning, scripting, and storyboarding this review. I sifted through about 3,000 songs in YouTube’s royalty-free music catalog to find ones that resembled (or complemented) the soundtrack of the show, and I asked my husband to recreate the show’s moving title card in Adobe After Effects. It took him about two hours, and the result was a roughly 8-second graphic. He also spent a couple of hours making a thumbnail that resembled the promotional poster for the show.

We ultimately filmed the review in one day, and I edited it in four long workdays. My total edit time was probably about 30 to 40 hours over the course of a week, and we were able to do everything so quickly because I’d spent weeks planning every word and shot. 

This Emira video is my favorite automotive project I’ve ever done. But as I worked on it, I realized it never would’ve happened if I’d stayed in any of my day jobs in automotive media.

As the years have gone on, many outlets have changed course: Instead of trusting writers and creators to produce the best work, thus gaining and retaining a loyal audience, we’re pushed to do quick hits and get cheap pageviews. It’s why outlets like the Autopian feel special. The writers here get the freedom to put love and care into their work, as we all did back in the day. 

If I’d pitched my Heated Rivalry Emira review to most car outlets, they would’ve told me it was too time-consuming — two hours for an 8-second graphic?! Weeks of scripting?! — and ultimately, that time wouldn’t translate to views. Because my husband and I work for ourselves, we get to decide that we don’t care about time translating to views. We care about doing good work, and we want to do it. 

Heated Rivalry is a low-budget Canadian show that ended up being revolutionary for a lot of people, including me, because it was a reminder of how transformative art can be when we trust artists instead of trying to suck as many views and dollars as possible out of their work. The relentless pursuit of money cheapens the things we’re passionate about, and the unfortunate thing about modern creativity is that a 9-to-5 creative career is often the antithesis of it. 

The Moral of the Story: Drive Good Cars and Make Good Art 

The Lotus Emira isn’t a huge money-maker for Lotus. It’s just a great car, made for people who love great cars. 

My Lotus Emira video isn’t a huge money-maker for me. I even purposely left out a sponsor slot, because I didn’t want anything to distract from the art. But every work hour and decision was worth it, because it’s the best piece of automotive media I’ve ever done. It’s a great car video, made for people who love great car videos. The world needs more of that. 

And maybe, one day, I’ll add an Emira to my garage alongside my Miatas. I think I need that, too. 

All photos by Brian Jones