The Lotus Emira is about pure driving
One of the first toy cars I remember owning as a child was a version of the classic F1 black and gold JPS Lotus Type 72.
I dare say if you’d told me back then that one day I was going to get to drive a Lotus, I might not have believed you, but it would’ve been the dream.
So you may well be able to imagine my excitement when I got my hands on a Lotus Emira last week.
This car is a lot of fun, possibly too much fun.
There are some cars you borrow for a weekend, hand back the keys on Monday morning and forget about by Monday evening... and then there's a Lotus.
After a few days of this you may, like me, be left wondering why more cars aren't this bonkers.
Within five minutes of being behind the wheel it was clear this was going to be a far from calm and serene weekend that left a grin stapled to my face for days afterwards.
For starters, the Emira is low... really low. Getting in and out probably qualified me for a level one gymnastics badge. But once you’re settled in and press your foot down on the accelerator, you forgive and forget everything.
With a a 3.5-litre supercharged V6 engine (0-100km/hr in four seconds) it’s undeniably nippy and sounds happy (albeit somewhat unhappy on 20mph London roads). When you get out on to the motorway, what you hear is real, raw growling. And it makes it very clear it expects to be driven properly.
Because out on the open road, the Lotus is an absolute riot.
So we spent some time up the M1 and delving into the countryside exploring The Chalfonts, a place I used to spend a lot of time driving around when I was younger, but where haven’t been for 30 years. The steering is so sharp it feels like it’s reading your mind... which is a good job, because by the time you have thought about corners, the car’s already halfway through them.
The Emira grips like it’s glued to the tarmac, shrugging off bends that would leave other cars begging for mercy. Every roundabout becomes an event. Every overtake feels heroic.
You feel everything. Every ripple, every bump, every slight change in surface. On smooth roads it’s glorious. On rougher ones it’s… real. But that's the point.
The thing is, it never once gets boring. Even crawling through traffic, the Lotus feels special. Other drivers stare. Kids point. You catch your reflection in shop windows and grin like an idiot.
Inside, it’s not cheap but it's not luxury either, and it doesn’t pretend to be. There's nothing fitted that's pointless, rather it's all functional and driver-first.
But then you don’t buy a Lotus for massage seats or mood lighting. You buy it because you love driving. Proper driving. Even if prices start at a cool £83,000 before extras.
The Emira turned an ordinary weekend into something memorable. It reminded me that cars don’t need to have huge bootspace or be clever or loaded with gadgets to be brilliant. Sometimes, all you need is lightness, noise, and a car that makes every journey feel like an occasion.
I am still grinning.
