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Watch Jenson Button Stretch the 2022 Lotus Emira’s Legs at Laguna Seca

Prior to its American premiere at The Quail on Friday, the brand-new Emira has been put to the test at the Laguna Seca circuit in California. 2009 Formula 1 world champion Jenson Button likes how the car handles on the racetrack although there are better cars for the job out there.
Jenson Button drives the 2022 Lotus Emira at Laguna Seca 34 photos
Photo: Lotus
Jenson Button drives the 2022 Lotus Emira at Laguna SecaJenson Button drives the 2022 Lotus Emira at Laguna SecaJenson Button drives the 2022 Lotus Emira at Laguna SecaJenson Button drives the 2022 Lotus Emira at Laguna SecaJenson Button drives the 2022 Lotus Emira at Laguna SecaJenson Button drives the 2022 Lotus Emira at Laguna SecaJenson Button drives the 2022 Lotus Emira at Laguna Seca2022 Lotus Emira sports car2022 Lotus Emira sports car2022 Lotus Emira sports car2022 Lotus Emira sports car2022 Lotus Emira sports car2022 Lotus Emira sports car2022 Lotus Emira sports car2022 Lotus Emira sports car2022 Lotus Emira sports car2022 Lotus Emira sports car2022 Lotus Emira sports car2022 Lotus Emira sports car2022 Lotus Emira sports car2022 Lotus Emira sports car2022 Lotus Emira sports car2022 Lotus Emira sports car2022 Lotus Emira sports car2022 Lotus Emira sports car2022 Lotus Emira sports car2022 Lotus Emira sports car2022 Lotus Emira sports car2022 Lotus Emira sports car2022 Lotus Emira sports car2022 Lotus Emira sports car2022 Lotus Emira sports car2022 Lotus Emira sports car
Designed as a replacement for the Elise, Exige, and Evora, the Emira marks the final chapter for Lotus as we know it because the British automaker is going electric after this model. That’s right; no more internal combustion!

While on the subject of combustion, the sleek-looking sports car is available with a 3.5-liter V6 at launch. Complemented by a Harrop supercharger, the Toyota-sourced engine develops 395 horsepower (400 PS) and 317 pound-feet (430 Nm) of torque on full song. Customers who go for the six-speed automatic transmission miss out on the Torsen-style LSD of the six-speed manual, which fits the character of the mid-engine model so much better.

New to Lotus and to Mercedes-AMG for that matter, the 2.0-liter turbo four-cylinder engine will be available only with a dual-clutch transmission. If those seem a little familiar to you, that’s because the German automaker uses that combo in the 45 series. But as opposed to the A 45 S 4Matic+, the Emira makes do with 355 horsepower (360 PS) instead of 415 hp (421 PS).

The United States is a key market for the Emira according to Lotus, but I beg to differ. As long as the Corvette Stingray retails below $70,000 including freight charge, the British interloper has no changes whatsoever.

Back home in the United Kingdom, the Emira retails from just under £60,000 or $82,870 at current exchange rates. Given these circumstances, one could argue that even the Corvette Z06 is a better choice at this price.

On that note, General Motors has a flat-plane crankshaft V8 in the offing for the soon-to-be-revealed Corvette Z06. Codenamed LT6, that engine will one-up the V6 and I4 of the Emira in terms of numbers and ear candy alike.

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About the author: Mircea Panait
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After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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