Lotus Emira V6 depreciation!

[Boyo]

All that said, if you were driving an Emira, kids (and some adults) would turn their heads to look and ask you to rev it up at traffic lights, which is an essential part of what makes a supercar. I doubt many Cayman drivers experience that.

That is exactly what I mean. OK it may not be an exotic 'supercar', but if others think it is, then it is. It certainly looks like a traditional supercar should.

For me, Lotus have always been special. Not always good special, as they have suffered from all the problems that go with being a small British marque. Nowhere near the level of TVR and those are still very popular.
The whole point of this thread was it would seem that no-one deems Lotus to be 'special' anymore, judging by the residuals of the Emira.

And yet try buying an Esprit for pennies. Or an Elise, or an Exige.

Happened to me plenty of times

[Sit]

My friend with his previously had a 991 Carrera 4S in Crayon which was a visually stunning car but also £30k more than the Emira. In the short time he has had the Emira he has had more interest/peteol station chats/photos taken than he ever did in the Porsche and has £30k in his bank!!

It’s a stunning design and brings the Lotus game on in leaps and bounds.

Si

[tiglon]

The Emira is a head turner in the way that no Porsche is, apart from maybe a really beautiful classic.

There's little link between that and price/residuals though. I used to work in Knightsbridge and you'd see all manner of purple and gold Bugattis and Lamborghinis go past, but the one car I witnessed actually attracting the most attention from passers by was a white Alfa 4C, which was worth about £45k at the time.

[coldel]

Interesting read. I would agree with some that Lotus overpriced the Emira, I also remember pre launch they were talking about £60k for one which made it possibly the best sports car money could buy new if it drove like a Lotus. I think we could all see it was Lotus swansong, they wanted something that looked stunning but wasn't the low volume hardcore cars they made of old.

I appreciate the Porsche technical prowess, but it doesn't hold a candle to driving a Lotus. I owned two VX220s and to be honest, climbing out of that and into an E85 is like swapping over and driving a bus. The difference is night and day. Every petrolhead should whilst they have the chance have a go at owning a Lotus chassis car.

BTW how are prices of the Evora going? My mind makes me wonder if these have been forgotten about and could be a decent purchase, they are in their own right brilliant cars too.

[Pondrew]

BTW how are prices of the Evora going? My mind makes me wonder if these have been forgotten about and could be a decent purchase, they are in their own right brilliant cars too.

Very strong from what I gather. Which is strange, considering the Emira is essentially an Evora with a prettier frock and a much classier interior.

[Beerman]

BTW how are prices of the Evora going? My mind makes me wonder if these have been forgotten about and could be a decent purchase, they are in their own right brilliant cars too.

There is a thread on Pistonheads from 2015 with the discussion being when the Evora will drop to £20k. 10 years later the cheapest Evora on AutoTrader is £26k.

Looking at the top end of the Evora sales the prices overlap the Emira. I don't get that at all. I would buy an Emira over an Evora. The Emira is 6 years newer.

The same happened with the last Lotus Europa. It wasn't liked too much when new. Values tanked, but somehow later in life they have become more desirable and valuable. I can't see the Emira continuing to slump on the initial depreciation curve.

One thing that does surprise me is the volume of Emiras registered so far. By Q2 2024 there is already around 1350. That's big numbers for Lotus. Maybe oversupply is an issue.

[coldel]

I remember during COVID years Evora's being sub £20k

[Fred Smith]

I don't understand why someone who doesn't like cars would spend £80k on a sports car. And I don't understand why someone who does love cars would buy a sports car brand new unless they were certain it was a car to own long term, or they were very confident of low depreciation. Surely if you love cars you want to get as close to break even as possible so you can afford to buy the next one sooner?

The Emira look to me like A.N.Other "supercar". Obviously lovely and a head turner, but special? Not for me. Lotus are a brand I like a lot, but don't love... if I were buying one I'd be looking at something like an Exige or something really old. I would not be looking for comfort or frills.

And I don't get the comparison to Porsche... Porsche to me are their own special thing. If you want Porsche looks and performance buy a Porsche, because Porsche are Porsche and Porsche do Porsche better than anyone else does Porsche. I can see why many people want Porsche looks and performance, but then again they're not for everyone.

[coldel]

To be honest you could use the Porsche analogy for anything. A TVR is a TVR for example. For me Porsche are just too mainstream, they are everywhere. I guess that does though make them affordable to buy (less so to own). I would compare an Emira to a Cayman because they both try to do similar things, and are in similar price brackets, in terms of being an every day sports car.

But the Emira and the Exige are totally different beasts, you could jump in an Emira and comfortably drive about, flip the fan on if its hot, listen to some music. An Exige has an asthmatic air con system and you need to install one million watt speakers to hear anything. It will also rattle and shake your body apart, whilst giving you a very visceral experience. For me the Emira sits between the Exige and the Cayman.

[buzyg]

I thought buying a Lotus was about the driving pleasure. This thread seems strange to me. All about the value. Something wrong with the world there.

[coldel]

Yep, Lotus are that. As I mentioned you won't get the refinement of a Porsche in an Emira but thats not the point. As I said further up, getting out my VX220 and getting into an E85 is like climbing into a van, I don't think people realise just how hardcore and connected a Lotus is. The Emira though is less of a Lotus if you like, if you set the benchmark as the Elise, its got some compromises to make it more of a sports car than a road going track car which is what the Elise/Exige is.

I would once again encourage anyone who has the chance to snap it up and own a VX220 or Elise/Exige. They are often bought for the ownership moment, so many have 10 owners by now but thats perfectly fine. Driving one on the road is utterly epic.

[BMWZ4MC]

Yep, Lotus are that. As I mentioned you won't get the refinement of a Porsche in an Emira but thats not the point. As I said further up, getting out my VX220 and getting into an E85 is like climbing into a van, I don't think people realise just how hardcore and connected a Lotus is. The Emira though is less of a Lotus if you like, if you set the benchmark as the Elise, its got some compromises to make it more of a sports car than a road going track car which is what the Elise/Exige is.

I would once again encourage anyone who has the chance to snap it up and own a VX220 or Elise/Exige. They are often bought for the ownership moment, so many have 10 owners by now but thats perfectly fine. Driving one on the road is utterly epic.

Here, here
My daily driver:

IMG_0853.jpeg (213.86 KiB) Viewed 1409 times

[Fred Smith]

Yep, Lotus are that. As I mentioned you won't get the refinement of a Porsche in an Emira but thats not the point. As I said further up, getting out my VX220 and getting into an E85 is like climbing into a van, I don't think people realise just how hardcore and connected a Lotus is. The Emira though is less of a Lotus if you like, if you set the benchmark as the Elise, its got some compromises to make it more of a sports car than a road going track car which is what the Elise/Exige is.

I would once again encourage anyone who has the chance to snap it up and own a VX220 or Elise/Exige. They are often bought for the ownership moment, so many have 10 owners by now but thats perfectly fine. Driving one on the road is utterly epic.

This sums up my non-expert viewpoint perfectly.

If I were to have to buy a Lotus I might buy something very old like a Lotus Elan Type 36 Coupé. But more likely I'd get an Elise/Exige because of how extreme they are in terms of not making compromises for the road. To me this is what Lotus are all about, or should be all about.

If I were to have to buy a high price sports car maybe verging on supercar then I would consider offerings from all sorts of brands, including the Lotus Emira, and I'd be astonished if the Emira were the winner.

[Fred Smith]

Here, here
My daily driver:
IMG_0853.jpeg

Yeah, but does it make you happy?

[no need to answer!]

[pvr]

Here, here
My daily driver:
IMG_0853.jpeg

Yeah, but does it make you happy?

[no need to answer!]

Would it make his patients happy though. After coming out of that bone shaker, with trembling hands he gets his scalpel