Lotus, as the legend goes, was built on a whisper and a prayer, and a borderline obsession with lightness. Colin Chapman, the man behind the badge, would probably break into hives at the thought of thick door insulation or soft-close tailgates.

AMG, meanwhile, marches to a different drumbeat altogether. It’s a name that conjures mental images of burly saloons with flared nostrils and a rumble so deep it frightens the wildlife.

Yet here we are with the Emira Turbo SE, the by-product of this improbable pairing. A parting gift from Lotus to the internal combustion engine.

The result of a complicated family tree rooted in Norfolk, with a branch extended generously by Geely, and somewhere on that family board, Mercedes-AMG.

Pretty. Purposeful. Poised.

Visually, the Emira is a triumph. You could park it next to a Ferrari 296 and it wouldn’t blink. All those scoops and scallops give it an unapologetically attractive presence. The tailpipes, those twin-chambered cannons, are shared with the V6, as are the proportions. But this I4 model is something different beneath the skin.

Gone is the shouty Toyota-sourced supercharged V6. In its place, a turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder sourced from AMG, the same firecracker that lives in the Mercedes-AMG A45 S. But here, it’s dialled down slightly to 360bhp and slotted into Lotus’s aluminium chassis.

You wouldn’t know it at first. Start her up and she’s almost shy, burbling quietly, almost apologetically, as if unsure whether it belongs here. But then you prod the throttle, feel the tension build, and the magic begins to stir.

It’s Not the V6. But That’s the Point.

The Emira Turbo SE doesn’t try to imitate its bigger-engined sibling. In fact, it takes a different route to the same destination.

At full tilt, the engine wails its way to a lofty 7,200rpm, accompanied by the sharp suck and blow of turbo breath and valvetrain chatter, like mechanical jazz in surround sound.

Paired with an 8-speed dual-clutch gearbox, shifts are snappy… mostly. There’s the occasional moment where a downshift comes with delayed enthusiasm, and upshifts in Sport mode feel unnecessarily dramatic.

Fortunately, flick the paddles yourself, and the Emira remembers it’s a Lotus – crisp, intuitive, and eager.

Is it fast?

Yes, decisively so.

0–100km/h in 4.4 seconds is nothing to sniff at. But it’s not just about numbers. It’s about how those numbers feel. The Emira makes you feel every millimetre of tarmac pass beneath your seat.

Lotus has always been about the drive, and the Emira carries that torch proudly. The ride is supple, polished, almost elastic. It glides over bumps, yet sharpens up when you dive into a bend.

And oh, how it corners.

There’s no fancy trickery here, just sound fundamentals. Steering is direct and communicative. Brakes from AP Racing deliver feel and bite in equal measure. With its rear-biased weight distribution and vast 295-section rear tyres, the Emira can easily switch between planted and playful.

Is it as precise as a Cayman GTS? Not quite. But the Emira has an organic, old-school fluidity. It talks to you, with a steady, knowing hand on your shoulder.

Form Meets Function, Mostly.

Inside, Lotus has finally shed its kit-car past. The cabin feels modern and mature, awash with Alcantara, aluminium, and crisp digital displays.

It’s no German, but it’s no plastic fantastic either. There’s a real sense of occasion, with beautifully milled shift paddles and an artful gear selector that’s part sculpture, part switchgear.

The seats, however, are a mild letdown, plagued by oddly intrusive headrests. A shame, considering how lovely everything else feels.

Once you play around with the infotainment, the switches, the cubbies, you realise: this isn’t just a Lotus you drive. It’s one you can live with.

The Compromise.

The Emira Turbo SE weighs just 11kg less than the V6, thanks to the DCT gearbox and added complexity. And despite its AMG bloodline, the engine doesn’t quite deliver the throttle response or aural drama you get in the V6. There’s a sliver of disconnect, as if the chassis is ready to waltz but the powertrain has brought along a metronome.

Still, for every moment it hesitates, there’s one where it comes alive. It reminds you that this is the last of its kind. A pure, mid-engined, petrol-powered Lotus built for people who still care about driving.

A Heartfelt Swan Song

The Lotus Emira Turbo SE is many things. Beautiful. Engaging. Occasionally infuriating. But above all, it’s a love letter to the analogue, the mechanical, the joyful.

It’s a car that exists not because it’s the easiest or cheapest to make, but because someone at Lotus believed it should.

Sure, the I4 doesn’t deliver the same visceral theatre as the V6. And yes, the price is creeping dangerously close to Porsche Cayman GTS territory. But then again, in a world of silent EVs and hyper-intelligent software, this is one of the few sports cars left that still looks you in the eye and asks, “Shall we dance?”

Technical Specifications

Lotus Emira Turbo SE

Engine: 2-litre in-line 4, Turbocharged
Drivetrain: Rear-Wheel Drive
Power: 400 bhp
Torque: 480 Nm
Gearbox: 8-Speed (A) DCT
0-100km/h: 4 seconds (claimed)
Fuel Tank Capacity: 52.5 litres 
Fuel Economy: 11 km/litre (claimed)
Price: POA (accurate at the time of this article)

Photo Credits: Sean Loo (@auto.driven)

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For those with even a hint of petrol in their veins, those two initials bring to mind the spirited Esprits of the past, the agile Excel SEs, and the turbocharged thrills of a bygone analogue era.

Now, for 2025, Lotus channels that same energy into its latest stunner, the Emira Turbo SE, which has just landed in Singapore.

The Emira Turbo SE ditches the familiar V6 that some markets still enjoy. Instead, Singapore gets a more lithe turbocharged four-cylinder sourced from Mercedes-AMG. This porker delivers 400bhp and 480Nm, making it the most powerful and quickest Emira yet.

0–100km/h is dusted in 4.0 seconds, and if you’ve got a long enough stretch of tarmac, this featherweight will go on to a very un-British 290km/h.

What truly sets the Turbo SE apart is the standard Lotus Drivers Pack, a veritable buffet of driver-focused goodies.

There’s a dedicated Track mode complete with bespoke graphics, Launch Control for perfect starts, and switchable exhaust notes depending on your mood (or your neighbours’ patience).

Braking is taken care of by cross-drilled and ventilated two-piece discs, and handling is predictably sublime. The Emira comes fitted with a Sport Chassis by default, but should you fancy something a touch more forgiving for Singapore’s potholes and speed bumps, the Tour Chassis is available at no additional cost. A nice touch, considering Lotus’s focus has always been on offering purity without punishment.

The visual tweaks also whisper seductively. New 20-inch V-spoke forged wheels are finished in Satin Grey, Zinc Grey body paint, and red brake callipers peek through with just the right amount of aggression. The ‘Emira Turbo SE’ badging, black tailpipes, and black Lotus insignia complete the ensemble like a well-fitted Savile Row jacket.

Inside, the car is finished in Alcantara with a sporty Alcantara headliner, and for those with more particular tastes, the personalisation options are delightfully extensive. Choose between leather or Alcantara finishes, a range of caliper colours, and if you want your beats to match your drive, there’s even an optional KEF Premium audio system to fill the cabin with rich, high-fidelity sound.

Add the Convenience Pack and you’re treated to front park sensors, reverse camera, auto-dimming mirrors and storage netting in the cabin.

While the Lotus Emira Turbo SE is no longer being displayed at New Bahru, you can catch a glimpse of it at the Lotus Singapore showroom.

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Having driven various iterations of Elises and Exiges over the last 25 years or so, there was never any doubt about how wonderfully pure the driving experience was. However, it always seemed to be at the expense of comfort, practicality, convenience, and, crucially, quality. 

Every time I got into a Lotus, I loved how they drove, but always wished that they were just that bit easier to live with, or had air-conditioning that worked. Also, a few other creature comforts like Apple CarPlay and cup holders, for example, would be nice.

This brings us to the Lotus Emira tested here. Popularly referred to as the “Lotus without excuses”, it promises to be the most complete sports car the British manufacturer has made yet. 

By the time I got to drive my first Lotus around 1999, it was the Elise Mk1. By this time, Lotus had entered a very different era. It had become so focused on lightness and handling that the sexiness and glamour of iconic models such as the Esprit was put on the back burner.

The Emira however, is set to bring sexy back to Lotus. Painted in a two-tone colour scheme of Magma Red and Black, you’d be forgiven for mistaking it for a Ferrari. Many did during the few days that I had the car.

It certainly turns heads in a way that I haven’t seen in a car for quite some time.  

The Emira’s interior doesn’t disappoint either. Gone are the bare aluminium interiors of the Elise and Exige. In the latest Lotus, every surface is covered in leather or carpet. There are also proper cupholders, a generously sized infotainment touchscreen and electrically adjustable seats with memory. 

Importantly, getting into the Emira no longer requires the dexterity of a contortionist like the Exige demanded. The sills are now lower than the seat bolsters. Yet, from the outside, the Emira cuts a low-slung silhouette expected of a supercar. 

The Emira may have the presence and poise of a proper supercar, but happily, it doesn’t come at the expense of outward visibility that afflicts many such cars. The driver gets a good view of the road ahead and even the sides, thanks to a window line that swoops downward towards the wing mirrors.

This makes it easy to sight apexes and inspires confidence in placing the car exactly where the driver intends it to be. In town, it also makes parking a cinch. 

It wouldn’t be a Lotus, however, without some quirks. The placement of the parking brake switch, for example, feels odd when you’re driving the manual gearbox version as was the case here. It’s over on the lower right side near the door. This means getting used to an unintuitive action of shifting into first gear with your left hand, and then using your right to release the parking brake before moving off.

So at some point, one hand lets go of the steering wheel while the other takes over. Feels a bit like learning to do that hand clapping thing when singing Edelweiss around a campfire…

The location of the parking brake switch happens to be the same as that in Mercedes-Benz cars. This is fine because now they’re all autos anyway. So I suspect that the Emira, sharing the same switch location has something to do with the 360hp 2.0-litre turbo models being fitted with the M139 Mercedes-AMG unit that can be found in the A 45 models. 

Another ‘Lotus’ oddity is that it has keyless ignition. You still have to fish the key fob from your pocket or bag to work the door locks, but no need when starting the engine.

If you want to drive a manual Emira, then it only comes with a 400hp 3.5-litre V6 supercharged unit built by Toyota. An auto version powered by this engine is also available for $11,000 more for a six-speed automatic with shift paddles.

But I mean, who wouldn’t want to row your own gears, right? That’s entirely the fun of it.

Driving impressions

The Lotus Emira may be more civilised, but it hasn’t gone soft. The bolt-action gear shift feel is still there, with a ringside view of its linkage visible to its occupants. Look through the rearview mirror, and the driver will spy the throttle actuator working in unison whenever the accelerator is blipped.

Pulling away from low speeds reveals a rather truck-like clatter which can be unflattering but power through the gears and the sound of the V6 starts to sing with a distinctive supercharger whine supported by the baritone of the V6 through its exhaust. 

The real highlight here, however, is its ride and handling. This, after all, is a Lotus and once again it shows the world how to make a car that can care up your favourite corners without shaking your fillings loose. 

It has a relatively long-travel suspension set-up for a sports car and a front-rear weight distribution of 38:62. This rear-biased setup actually resembles that of a Porsche 911 (40:60) rather than its most direct competitor, the 719 Cayman GTS 4.0 which features 45:55, in case you were wondering.

The Emira’s rear-biased setup affords it fluency with the way it changes directions with hardly any understeer to speak of. Another ace up its sleeve is that the Lotus still employs a hydraulic steering rack while its German rivals have gone electric. The result is a more organic steering feel. 

When you have such a finely tuned driving tool, the most minor details start to become apparent. In this case, Lotus should have paid more attention to the design of the steering wheel. The delicacy of the steering feel is sullied somewhat by a misshapen rim that’s too fat and the multi-function spokes too wide for even this writer’s large hands to wrap around. 

Porsche currently has the best steering wheel in the business. Just try to hold the standard, thinner-rimmed one – and you’ll know what I’m on about. That is the steering wheel the Emira – or just about any car, really – needs.

The Emira can be ordered with either a Tour or Sport suspension setup. The car tested here wore a Tour suspension setup, which makes the car comfortable enough to be a daily driver proposition. Sport is supposed to be a more track-focused setup and the customer can specify Michelin Sport Cup 2 tyres as well.

That said, this writer found absolutely nothing lacking with the superb Goodyear F1 Sport rubber and Tour chassis combo on the test car. For that matter, the drive mode selector didn’t seem to improve the experience with the manual gearbox. For 99 per cent of the drive, leaving it alone in the default tour mode was satisfying enough. 

Reasons to get one

For those of a certain age, Lotus is a brand that holds a special place in the hearts and minds of a generation of car enthusiasts. For this writer, mind-blowing moments that introduced me to the brand started with James Bond’s Esprit transforming into a submarine in The Spy Who Loved Me, then Aryton Senna’s first F1 win at the rain-soaked Portuguese Grand Prix in 1985. 

A few years later, this young man’s loins were stirred when a silver Lotus Esprit was skillfully driven by Julia Roberts in the opening scenes of Pretty Woman. Then again, this time by Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct…

More than any recent Lotus, the Emira looks and feels more like a spiritual successor of the iconic Esprit. Along with the fact that this is said to be the last ICE sports car from the hallowed brand, it’s easy to see why the order books are filled for the next 3 years in the UK. 

At current COE prices, the Lotus Emira costs the best part of $700k in Singapore. While this might be an outrageous amount of money for most of us, the next closest thing to offer this combination of a ride-handling balance of this calibre would be a $2 million supercar like the McLaren 720S. 

That cliché that Lotus stands for Lots Of Trouble Usually Serious casts a long shadow. This would weigh on my mind if I were to order an Emira. The infotainment screen going dark towards the end of my three-day affair with the car started to remind me of this. 

Then again, the combination of a Toyota V6 with a manual gearbox would suggest a more robust package than the highly-strung Mercedes-AMG 2.0-litre turbo unit with a multi-clutch automated gearbox, especially in our tropical heat. 

The Emira however, just might seduce you to live on the edge…

Technical Specifications

Engine: 3,456cc V6 supercharged, rear-mid mounted
Power: 400hp @ 6,800rpm
Torque: 420Nm @ 3,500rpm
Gearbox: 6-speed manual, RWD
0-100kmh: 4.3 seconds (claimed)
Top speed: 290kmh (claimed)
Base price: $548,800 before COE

Photo Credits: Sean Loo (@auto.driven)

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Incorporating cutting-edge technologies to offer outstanding performance and impressive efficiency, this turbocharged 2.0-litre unit is based on the current world’s most powerful four-cylinder engine in production.

The Emira First Edition, equipped with this engine, has been further developed by Lotus with new intake and exhaust systems, along with a bespoke calibration that complements the new transmission shift-mapping.

Generating 360bhp and 430Nm of torque, it perfectly complements the Emira’s lightweight, strong, stiff, bonded, and extruded aluminium chassis structure, embodying Lotus’s philosophy of achieving higher performance through reduced mass.

The result? A century sprint timing of just 4.4 seconds and a top speed of 290km/h. It also brings its own unique character to the Emira range, with a dual-clutch transmission that enhances day-to-day usability and comfort.

Additionally, it offers the advantages of lower fuel consumption and a target CO2 emissions figure of 208g/km (WLTP combined), further highlighting Lotus’s commitment to efficiency and sustainability.

We managed to get a sneak peek on the grounds of the Goodwood Festival Of Speed. Lotus has meticulously tuned the suspension settings for the 2.0-litre Emira, ensuring exceptional body control and precise handling without sacrificing ride quality.

The engine and transmission mapping, combined with the Drive Modes, provide a refined and relaxed character in Tour mode, while Sport and Track modes offer exhilarating launch performance, enhanced driveability, and quicker throttle response. 

The Emira’s design language builds upon the sculpted surfaces and technical detailing introduced in the all-electric Evija hypercar. Its sleek proportions, athletic stance, and meticulously crafted form embody the DNA of Lotus sports cars.

The front of the Emira is dominated by full-LED headlights with a distinctive double ‘blade’ daytime running light signature, while angular bonnet ducts contribute to reducing drag and underline the car’s performance potential.

Sculpted doors with deployable handles enhance aerodynamics, seamlessly merging with the muscular rear haunches that integrate intake ducts for cooling and feed air to the engine’s intake system.

The rear of the Emira features gloss black vents for air outflow from the wheel arches, along with a rear diffuser that houses the neatly integrated exhaust pipes and rear number plate. Through meticulous development utilising computational fluid dynamics simulations and wind tunnel testing, the Emira achieves passive downforce that is perfectly balanced between the front and rear axles at all speeds. 

The Emira offers a wide range of 13 colours and optional features like the Black Pack you see here that further enhance the Emira’s distinctive appearance.

It’s great to see Lotus making a comeback, and the Emira stands as a testament to Lotus’s heritage and future ambitions.

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