Hardcore new Lotus Emira SE models launch the British Porsche Cayman rival close to £100k

New entry-level ‘Turbo’ and range-topping ‘V6 SE’ versions of the Lotus Emira are now available to order, with the two bookends of the British-built sports car’s line-up costing from £79,500 and £96,500 respectively.

The Emira Turbo features, as you’ve probably deduced, a turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine from AMG that spits out 360bhp – enough to fling the Porsche 718 Cayman rival from 0-62mph in 4.4 seconds. The new edition sits below the recently launched Turbo SE that produces a round 400bhp from the same engine, and can pull off the benchmark sprint in 4.0 seconds, but costs £10,000 more. 

Both the Turbo and Turbo SE are available exclusively with a dual-clutch automatic transmission, although Lotus has tweaked it to deliver better, faster gearchanges than earlier examples.

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These versions come with unique Turbo badges, yellow-black Lotus emblems and satin-silver details. Standard equipment includes 12-way electrically adjustable seats with a memory function, a 12.3-inch digital driver’s display, a 10.25-inch touchscreen, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, plus various safety and driver-assistance systems.

New Lotus Emira V6 SE tops the range

Meanwhile the Emira V6 SE uses a supercharged 3.5-litre V6 engine that also produces 400bhp – good for 0-62mph in 4.3 seconds – however the six-speed manual gearbox it comes with as standard has been tuned for better driver engagement. More specifically, Lotus has fitted a new compression mount, which the firm says allows for more precise gearchanges.