$125,000 bought the reviewer a Lotus Emira V6 that lingered after the loan ended, standing out among roughly 60 cars they test each year and even prompting thoughts of eventually owning one.
The 400-hp, supercharged 3.5-liter V6 and six-speed manual delivered the core appeal: crisp shifts, communicative steering, firm brakes, flat body control and 26 mpg highway efficiency in a mid-engine, rear-drive package.
Lotus also made the Emira livable, with leather-and-suede trim, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto and enough space for four carry-ons plus two backpacks, though the seats sat too high and the trunk latch and speed-limit beeps annoyed.
The review argues the Emira is a rare holdout in a market that largely ignores small manual enthusiast cars, giving Lotus a product that feels closer in character to a $300,000 supercar than its sticker suggests.
That enthusiasm also drove a self-produced video review, which the author says took weeks of planning and 30 to 40 hours of editing as a statement against quick-hit, pageview-driven automotive media.