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Boxster/Cayman 981s or 987.2 next step, Life after Z


GranTurismoEra

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I didnt watch the whole thing but the main points. Thought id post it here. Instead of hijacking the adjacent thread. My mate reckons the Emira will drop further to used 4.0 Cayman GTS territory. I dont think theyll go below mid 50s at best by next summer. I saw a video of the Emira in shadow grey. It does look even better! 

 

 

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  • 4 weeks later...
Posted (edited)

Test drove the Emira this morning. Arrived and chatted with the sales guy. They ask to sign for day insurance with a £2500 excess. All that out of the way. We went around the industrial estate then he jumped out and said you go unaccompanied. Took it on a host of roads picks up well. Picks up like an NA car. Its nippy not mind blowingly fast. Supercharger is much like an assistant than a devil on the shoulder. Seating position is good, snug cabin and more space in it than an F Type. Good ground clearance and not the most storage space. Getting in and out is not bad for a 6 foot 2 guy. Good amount of headroom.

 

Its a tricky one as couldnt really push the car on a public road with a dashcam recording. Despite driving around 11am traffic was still a bit heavy. Only drove in touring and sports modes. It grips well around corners. A bit light in the front due to engine being behind the driver. Also i felt the car does damp well with Touring suspension. Im not used to lightness at the front end. Its probably similar to the Cayman and Alpine. That would take getting used to. Steering feedback is good. You can feel everything even small rocks on the road through the hydraulic system. 

 

One tunnel run not bad at all you can hear the exhaust but not the loud angelic trumpety sound of the Z without a backbox lol. Some people get Larini or other custom exhaust for a few grand. 

 

The car is head turner. As I took it around the industrial estate it did turn heads. I circled a few roundabouts like a crazy test engineer to a few onlookers, grip was good. Exhaust is not too loud. Theres a bit of OPF filtering going on. So its reasonable for residential areas. In Sport you can still hear the burbling from the exhaust. 

 

Not the best test drive as hit 15 minutes of typical roadworks traffic. So levelling the clutch wasnt the most fun thing. It is what it is. 

 

Soon after the traffic cleared up was off, put on Sport mode on the A road and responsive but felt light at the front on occasion and stuck to the return route to HR Owen Hatfield dealership. Coming off the roundabout and into the slip road car picks up great. Could do with a bit more shove but its well balanced. The car felt good. I wouldn't say its much faster than the 370Z but the handling is better and car feels lighter. There is more shove and less agricultural feel than the 370Z. 1450kg vs 1550kg. 

 

Edit: Gearbox felt tight and gaited. Clutch was solid and well sprung. No synchro rev match apparently. 

 

If buying through Lotus they have cars with 10 miles pre registered at £79,000

 

Privately you can sneak one with a few thousand miles for a good £64000 to £70,000. As a Polish guy once said. "Price is price". Apparently theyll stop making the v6 temporarily and i4 has a slow build time. Performance wise not much in it. I4 will have DCT. Its not a V6 though. The i4 already being tuned in China. 4 pot is from A45 amg but detuned from 430 hp to 360hp. From reading around the Emira has a shorter rev range than Evora. Not sure how true that is. Never driven an Evora so cant comment. 

 

Also somehow walked out of the dealer and saw yiannimize Revuelto with white wheels and the Urus  with white wheels filming with a crew and cameras. Wife in tow...Got to get content right?!...right.... Had a bit of a laugh when the sales guy said you have to pander to these guys. I said its not personal its business 😂. The same dealership sold Bentleys and Ferrari was next door. Not sure what he and his crew were doing there though. There is a service site for Lamborghini, Ferrari, Bugatti and Maserati there. Its possible the car came from there and maybe getting checked over. Probably got issues already.

 

 

Also thanked the sales guy and was off. He did enquire about possible sale. I told him id let him know. I want to test a few other cars. Parking this car in my area not sure about that. Would probably need a garage in all honesty. 

 

Anywho that was my wee little adventure on a Monday morning! If you're curious you should book a test drive. 

 

 

 

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Edited by GranTurismoEra
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Beautiful write up of the test drive. Which weighs 1450kg? Book on the Lotus is 1568kg for the V6 manual. Possibly a balls out launch of the line to 60mph and the Emira would feel noticeably quicker, however how often would you realistically do that. 

 

The 310lb-lf again won't feel night and day to a Z while on the move (25 more than my bolt-on DE) however how stunning is that Emira to behold 🥵 and the handling/braking will be amazing! 

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Posted (edited)

 A bit surprised the Emira weighs that much?! Maybe I'm looking at dry weight of 1405kg according to autotrader. Possibly 1460kg with fluids and an extra 80kg for driver. Still lighter than Z. Its worth a test drive since its open to public. Yeah its a very nice car no doubt. The Emira is around 4.3 or so. The fastest 370Z is 4.7 and manual 5.1

 

According to fastest laps Emira 0.2 seconds quicker on the quarter mile than new Z lol. Since autos are not a hit with the v6 Emira. I assume the auto Emira will be a match for auto Z with Auto Z doing 12.3. couldn't find any results for IPS version. So ive gone with 12.0 for the Emira quarter mile Auto

Edited by GranTurismoEra
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1 hour ago, GranTurismoEra said:

 A bit surprised the Emira weighs that much?! Maybe I'm looking at dry weight of 1405kg according to autotrader. Possibly 1460kg with fluids and an extra 80kg for driver. Still lighter than Z. Its worth a test drive since its open to public. Yeah its a very nice car no doubt. The Emira is around 4.3 or so. The fastest 370Z is 4.7 and manual 5.1

 

According to fastest laps Emira 0.2 seconds quicker on the quarter mile than new Z lol. Since autos are not a hit with the v6 Emira. I assume the auto Emira will be a match for auto Z with Auto Z doing 12.3. couldn't find any results for IPS version. So ive gone with 12.0 for the Emira quarter mile Auto

 

No one shows weight of the car including a driver lol site could be wrong of course. 

 

Those 1/4 mile times are very impressive!! 

 

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I think you guys might be missing the point of anything with a Lotus badge when you start mentioning 0-60 and 1/4 mile times… 

 

They’ve always been about the chassis and the suspension. That’s what makes them so special compared with the competition. On a crappy British b-road, nothing will flow better or give you more confidence and feedback. 

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Its just a performance measurement against other cars. In the real world we know the results of pitting them against each other. On a straight road or winding track. I know its not about 0-60.. if youre putting £79k which is what HR Owen are charging for a new pre reg one and comparing with other similar sports cars new and used and in some cases supercar. You tend to look at the whole package. Then again ive never driven any other Lotus.

 

I still doubt it weighs 1568kg. If its a car built around a skeleton Evora. Many sites including official forum are saying 1460 to 1480kg depending on interior materials when weighed on a scale. American sites say slightly over 3200 pounds. Obviously chuck in carbon custom seats and can get it closer to 1405 claimed weight. 

 

Some car check database claiming 1568 i wouldn't trust it...It didnt feel as heavy as a 370Z which weighs around that. Especially taking roundabout multiple times and swerving pot holes. 

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2 hours ago, GranTurismoEra said:

Some car check database claiming 1568 i wouldn't trust it...It didnt feel as heavy as a 370Z which weighs around that. Especially taking roundabout multiple times and swerving pot holes. 

 

But we all know internet screenshots trump reported first hand experience. The only thing than can beat internet screenshots is YouTube. Around here, this is established fact that can and will be ignored at will.

 

 

But, also what @Ekona did gone done say; you buy a Lotus for how it feels to drive, regardless of internet (or dealership) numbers.

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Posted (edited)

Lol No doubts there for "feel" "proper" "sports car" out of the extreme and useable daily. Touring suspension has a good balance. Still very compliant. Cant be debated.

 

My only criticism would be more downforce at the front and add synchro rev matching. Aside from that all good. 

 

 

Edited by GranTurismoEra
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Posted (edited)

Interesting reading your feedback...

 

In terms of the light front end - i used to have a 911 (a 996 - the crap one) and I really didn't like how light the front end was in that - i found it quite disconcerting and it took me a long time to trust it... but the Emira - i'd had mine a week before it dawned on me that I hadn't noticed a light front end at all, i think it's quite neutral. :shrug:

 

Speed-wise... on my test drive i was pretty underwhelmed too - it didn't feel especially quick - but once i'd collected it and i was on my own (without a dashcam 😅) i was suitably impressed... it's got a very narrow power band, 5k-7k revs for the peak power - it sounds like an F1 car and propels you at silly speeds... upshifting from 2nd to 3rd at the red line feels brutal.

 

I had a 5.0 Mustang a few years ago which was 4.8 0-60, 420bhp, and that felt alarmingly sedate in retrospect... I can really feel the 0.s less it takes the Emira...

Edited by marzman
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  • 2 weeks later...
18 hours ago, davey_83 said:

The running costs would be crippling I'd imagine 

 

Based on 8 to 10k Miles a year It would be 1.5 to 2 times what it cost to run the Z at its cheapest. Around £7,000 per year. That one had the brakes done recently so saving £2000 already. Its the bi-annual service that costs and who knows whats due next. 

 

When you add all the costs together including £730 tax, insurance its expensive thats why lots of GTR are just sitting for 6 months. If you add fuel, insurance, tax and service Zed was pretty much near 5k to run per year. GTR will be 50% more i reckon if a major service plus brakes needed to be done for example thats like 2.5 to 3k alone. It is what it is.

 

Next time you see me I might be "sports" EV lol or back in a Z 

 

 

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I tend to not factor road fund licence and fuel into running costs, as these are a given for any vehicle. Things like servicing (has to be at a specialist to maintain value) brakes, tyres, wear items, insurance premium with GTR value added tax would be substantial.

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9 hours ago, davey_83 said:

I tend to not factor road fund licence and fuel into running costs, as these are a given for any vehicle. Things like servicing (has to be at a specialist to maintain value) brakes, tyres, wear items, insurance premium with GTR value added tax would be substantial.

 

Another reason the 67 Zeds are being kept pricey. The tax is 190 or so. I definitely want to try other cars first ngl. I think ill arrange some test drives coming days/weeks. 

 

Certain costs are given but they vary vastly over an extended period from car to car. 

 

The GTR is what it is for costs. I even think its inline with R8 maintenance. Theres a couple in my area. 

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R8 vs GTR wouldn’t even be a question, in my mind. Unless you need the back seats, it’s not even close. 
 

However, we’ve now gone a budget class or two above a 987.2/981 🤣

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2 hours ago, GranTurismoEra said:

 

Another reason the 67 Zeds are being kept pricey. The tax is 190 or so. I definitely want to try other cars first ngl. I think ill arrange some test drives coming days/weeks. 

 

Certain costs are given but they vary vastly over an extended period from car to car. 

 

The GTR is what it is for costs. I even think its inline with R8 maintenance. Theres a couple in my area. 

 

Whatever you do end up getting, can't wait to see it on a drive out 

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14 hours ago, Ekona said:

However, we’ve now gone a budget class or two above a 987.2/981 🤣

 

Isn't this how everyone does car shopping?

 

I have a budget. I know my budget. I will stick to my budget.

...But that's only a little bit over my budget.

...[man maths] I can make that work if [insert unrealistic caveats here].

...But if I can make that work, this isn't much more than that...

 

And suddently you've convinced yourself that doubling budget is perfectly reasonable and realisitic, especially if you just wait a little bit longer for prices to drop/savings to be saved/bonus to be paid/etc.

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23 hours ago, Ekona said:

R8 vs GTR wouldn’t even be a question, in my mind. Unless you need the back seats, it’s not even close. 
 

However, we’ve now gone a budget class or two above a 987.2/981 🤣

 

Now or never. By the time we all wait these cars will have over £1000 road tax, fuel will be £2.00 due to a 10 year long war in Russia, pay per mile will be active and ULEZ will probably add more cars to list with higher emissions

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I wish I had boss babe money. Id get a 2020 GTR or better yet a T Spec import. Speaking of GTR it was spanking Porsches and Audis at one point. They needed improved gearbox and more power to compensate. Also has done very well in Super GT racing with record wins. Reputation is not for nothing. Production finishes in October this year

 

Not to mention a very nice road presence about it. Even though the 350Z, 370 and 370Z Nismo are all better looking imo. GTR has popularity with 12 year old boys and is somewhat a guy magnet. NGL

 

 

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