The Emira 420 Sport renews our love for Lotus

Everybody loves Lotus, right? It’s literally impossible not to have huge affection for the British sports car marque as so much of what they represent speaks directly to our souls. Simplify and add lightness. Swoon. A history rooted in the trailblazing days of F1 and sportscar racing. A deep connection to drivers like Emerson Fittipaldi, Jim Clark and Graham Hill. The team that gave Ayrton Senna his first victory in F1 at the rain-soaked Portuguese GP in 1985 at the wheel of the iconic JPS-liveried 79T. Plus, a long line of amazing, delicate (and often fragile) road cars.

From Elan and Esprit to the sublime Elise, Lotus is the ultimate underdog, and its purist ways have delivered some truly exceptional moments in amongst the financial chaos and brink-of-disaster drama. I guess that’s all part of the story, too. The most magical moment? Hard to say, but the Esprit Sport 300 is right up there. The fiercest of all four-cylinder Esprits, it was born out of the SCCA Escort World Challenge series, and a U.S.-only homologation special road car called the X180R. Just 20 Rs were built, but later the European market got a similar but even more intense model. The pumped-up, pared-back and simply brilliant Sport 300. Just 64 were made.

Now Lotus has given the ‘Sport’ treatment to the Emira, using the four-cylinder Turbo SE model as its base. That means no manual ‘box sadly, but the four-cylinder is a great base for a lightweight model, and Lotus argues that even Porsche GT owners with a track habit generally go for PDK.

The headlines are a bump in power to 416 bhp (420 metric horsepower, hence the name) and 369 lb-ft of torque, reprogrammed shifts for the 8-speed dual-clutch ‘box, a comprehensive aero redesign (that looks fantastic) plus unique suspension that sits 5 mm lower. Plus, for the first time, an optional lift-out roof panel, which can be stowed pretty easily behind the front seats.

However, to get the full 420 Sport experience, you’ll want to tick the box for the Lightweight Package. That consists of a titanium exhaust, lightweight battery, carbon-fiber louvres for the rear deck, and Multimatic spool-valve dampers with 11 clicks of adjustment. The standard car uses more conventional Bilsteins. The package saves 55 pounds (for a total of 3153 pounds with fluids and gas tank at 90 percent) and adds $12,900 to the $122,900 base price. Incidentally, Lotus only claims an additional 55 pounds of downforce at vmax, but the gains are made with zero drag penalty. With a top speed of 186 mph and 0-60 mph in 3.7 seconds, the 420 Sport is the fastest four-cylinder production car on sale. Although we’re not sure you’d want to brag to your buddy with a Chevrolet Corvette Z06 about that particular stat.

Regardless of your own perceptions of a sports car missing four (or at least two) cylinders, the Emira 420 Sport looks the real deal. In fact, the additions of the new splitter, bigger intakes, wheelarch vents, new shields for the side intakes and new rear spoiler really add to the mini-supercar vibe, and the lower ride height multiplies the ramp-up in visual aggression. Lotus claims 15-percent better airflow through the radiators and much better brake cooling for extended track sessions, too. Inside, the Emira still feels fresh, clean, and built to a high standard. New longer gearshift paddles with a much nicer action add to the tactile goodness, but the 420 Sport is crying out for some proper carbon sports seats. As it is, the driving position feels a shade too high and more lateral support would add to the sense of occasion and the car’s focused vibe.

Our first miles in the 420 Sport fitted with the Lightweight Package are on the narrow lanes near the Lotus factory in Norfolk, England, and while the company’s famed delicacy is in evidence, there’s no question this is a more physical and locked-down sort of car. The surface is craggy and the Sport stays composed, and the structure feels rock solid, but the steering wriggles in your hands and you feel very much connected to the surface. It’s closer to a Cayman GT4 than an original Elise, for example. The steering itself is much improved over the early Emiras. Some of the friction seems to have gone, and it’s got a finer, more high-definition texture. Shame the steering wheel itself is a bit too chunky—an odd touchpoint to get wrong for a company built on tactility.

The 2.0-liter four-cylinder Mercedes-AMG engine comes on strong, and from 3500 rpm, it really starts to bite. The insistent, surging torque melds with a clean, energetic top-end and is helped by super-short gearing for the 8-speed ‘box. The Sport does around 45 mph in second gear and smacks the limiter in third at not much over 70 mph. Let’s be clear, this isn’t an inspirational engine. Compared to the Corvette Z06’s flat-plane crank V-8, it’s quite ordinary, but it punches the Emira along well. On these roads, the Sport is a good step-up from the Emira Turbo SE. More controlled, more responsive, plain faster, and it feels lighter and more agile. Incremental gains that add up to a very different experience. There’s more urgency to everything it does and greater composure when you start really testing the chassis.

Some doubts remain. The gearbox is much, much better than before on downshifts (although still not PDK fast), but if you snag the limiter on upshifts it hangs there for an age. Frustrating. Those new paddles feel great, but more snap to the shifts would be a game-changer. For turbocharger fans there’s a decent amount of flutter and whoosh, but the engine note, even with the help of a titanium exhaust, is a little on the flat side. We’ve praised the small detail improvements and how they’ve added up to something that’s a big step up. Addressing these slight disappointments would exponentially improve the driving experience.

On track, the 420 Sport is pretty great. You still have to take care to get those upshifts bang on time, but otherwise the Emira frees you up to unleash all its grip, braking performance and power. The balance is really sweet. There’s a bit of understeer in the tighter turns, but trail-braking brings the tail easily into play and in the fast turns it’s really neutral without feeling too edgy. The short gearing means you have to drive a gear higher than your brain recommends, but once dialed in, the 420 Sport feels light, hooked up, and very easy as it transitions to oversteer, too. It is massively improved over the first V-6 model I tried at the initial launch.

It’s good enough that the lack of a proper sports seat feels a bit tragic. And although the brakes are very good and resist fade well, they’re not a match for a set of Porsche ceramics. Lotus has done a fantastic job with its resources, but you can feel the next step requires more funding to give it a chance to stand toe-to-toe with no caveats or excuses in any department. This is easily the best Emira yet. It’s a cool, left-field choice that actually feels really nicely thought out and well made. Plus it looks gorgeous, and the lift-out roof panel adds a new dimension. A new benchmark? Maybe not. But it’s another reason to believe in and love Lotus, which has got to be a very good thing.