2024 Lotus Emira vs. Corvette E-Ray: Middle Ground Found?
These two very different cars actually have a lot in common—but only one can win this comparison.
The first hybrid Corvette versus what might be the last internal combustion Lotus? It’s a strange matchup at first glance, but while the Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray and the new Lotus Emira are coming from two different directions, they’re approaching a common point. The Corvette has switched to a mid-engine layout to better compete with European exotics like the Lotus, while the Emira has grown in size and added amenities to better measure up against GTs like the Corvette. With both cars carrying six-figure price tags, we felt the time was right for a little U.K.-versus-U.S. action.
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Meet the Newest Corvette and Lotus
The 2024 Corvette E-Ray is the latest iteration of the mid-engine C8 ’Vette, with an electric motor delivering power to the front wheels and a big honkin’ V-8 turning the rears. Total combined output is a monstrous 655 hp. The Corvette has always been a solid value at the low end, but this isn’t the low end: The E-Ray starts at $117,545, and a deep dive into the Corvette’s extensive well of options raised our test car’s price to $148,415. It’s worth noting that most were appearance-related; the $500 Performance package, with its upgraded tires, was probably the most functional option on the list, though one could argue about the effect the $13,500 carbon-fiber wheel package has on the car’s unsprung weight and acceleration. That said, the $2,595 nose-lift system, with GPS-linked memory, is a useful thing to own, as we learned with our long-term 2020 C8 Z51.
Lotus kept things simpler: Our test Emira was a First Edition model with a six-speed manual transmission. Power comes from the same Toyota-based supercharged V-6 we know from the Evora, and its 400-hp output seems modest compared to the Corvette. The First Edition comes with nearly every comfort, convenience, and performance feature Lotus offers for the Emira, including the Lotus Drivers package with sport suspension and Michelin Pilot Cup 2 tires. Its base and as-tested price were the same at $107,750.
Breathe in the Beauty
We were eager to drive them (with these two cars sitting in the parking lot, who wouldn’t be?), but secure in the belief that delaying gratification only increases one’s joy, we took time to admire our steeds. Both are beautiful cars; the Corvette is almost brutish in its chunkiness, while the Emira is slick and sinewy. The Corvette will better satiate the egos of those who view cars as extensions of their masculinity, but as an objet d’art, we think the Emira has the advantage.
Inside, once you get past this particular Corvette’s seventh-circle-of-hell red leather, the two cars share a first-glance similarity. Note the podded digital gauges, squared-off steering wheels, and cupholder placement. But for the difference in scale (stretch out in the Corvette, scrunch up in the Emira), the two cabins could have been laid out by the same architect. Of course they differ in detail; contrast the Corvette’s majestic center console and its array of buttons sweeping through the interior like a grand staircase with the Emira’s simpler arrangement, headlined by a caged start button which is hard to use and exposed shifter mechanism which is hard to see.
It’s the Corvette that leads on presentation, but credit to both cars for execution. Ever since its launch, the C8 has heralded the end of the Corvette’s plastic-craptastic interiors. The Emira, meanwhile, parts with Lotus tradition in that it feels like it was built in a factory rather than a backyard. This is the first Lotus in recent memory that genuinely approaches the level of finery British brands are supposed to be known for. Even so—and aware as we were that this was the fully equipped Emira—there was something vaguely spartan about it, and more than a few MT staffers wondered aloud if this was really all we got for $108,000.
Enough Drooling, Let’s Drive
The Corvette E-Ray’s engine starts with a fusillade from the exhaust, not the deep, bassy rumble of a muscle car but rather the hard-edged back-of-the-throat blat of an Italian exotic. Contrast that to the Emira, which you won’t be able to hear until the Corvette settles down to idle. Not that it matters. Firing up the Corvette may turn heads, but people will be staring at the Emira long before you start the engine. Besides, the Emira gets shoutier on the road, with the screamin’ supercharger singing along with the racy engine note. We chuckled at the presence of a stereo: Once an unheard-of extravagance in a Lotus, in the Emira’s noisy cabin, it’s merely unheard. Who needs Spotify when you have a supercharged soundtrack?
Both our butts and our instrumented testing showed the Corvette to be the quicker machine by far. Its hybrid system is intended to improve low-end acceleration, and by God it does: The E-ray stormed to 60 in a neuron-scrambling 2.6 seconds. The Emira First Edition being, er, the first edition, rather than one of the souped-up models we expect to follow, should probably be compared to the 495 hp base-model Stingray. Problem is, even the least potent ’Vette gets to 60 in 3.3 seconds in our testing. The Lotus? 4.2. The E-Ray ran the quarter mile in 10.6 seconds at 128.0 mph, while the Emira showed up two seconds later and more than 18 mph slower. (The Stingray splits the difference: 11.5 seconds at 121.9 mph.) The punctilious shifter of the Lotus, which we’ll complain more about in a moment, likely cost the Emira a precious couple of tenths every time we had to touch it.
Calm down, Lotus fanatics, we can hear you crying foul. We know straight-line performance has never been the British marque’s modus operandi. (Besides, 4.2 and 11.4 are not exactly slow numbers.) Handling is what a Lotus is all about, because you don’t need to accelerate if you don’t have to slow for the curves. Rather than limit our comparison to public roads, we took each car for several hot laps at Chuckwalla Valley Raceway.
Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray: How Fast You Wanna Go, Son?
General Motors has a lot of chassis-engineering talent, and it shows in the Corvette. Setting aside the theatrical sound and fury, which the E-Ray delivers in Las Vegas quantities, this is an impressive car on the track. It’s not the most communicative thing, particularly when it comes to steering feedback, and you can feel its weight (especially in comparison to the Lotus), but it’s exceptionally quick and grippy. With power added to the front axle, we found we could jump on the accelerator earlier on corner exit than with rear-drive Corvettes. The best thing about the E-Ray is how predictable it feels, with powerful brakes to bail you out of the trouble you’re unlikely to get into.
We don’t mean to imply that Chevrolet has bleached the fun out of the E-Ray; it’s equal parts thrilling and amusing. We love that you can push to either its own limits or yours, and it never feels like the car will do anything scary or unexpected. You’ll get out of the Corvette thinking what a solid track car it is ... and then you’ll get in the Emira and have your perspective totally changed.
Lotus Emira: Let’s Kill Some Giants
A McLaren engineer recently said to us, “The British are as fussy about handling as we are about our tea.” The Emira is, indeed, a fussy car. Its pedals are jammed together in a tiny box. The clutch is stiffly sprung, and the brake pedal is race car firm. Neither steering nor shifter like to be manhandled, and the transmission responds best to the largely lost art of matched-rev, double-clutched downshifts. The Emira expects the driver to possess a level of knowledge and experience that, sadly, is fading from the enthusiast psyche—not merely how to drive a car, but how to finesse a car.
Approach the Emira like you do the Corvette, and it’ll frustrate you. Approach it with the right attitude, and it’ll perform honest-to-goodness magic. Don’t clamp down on the steering wheel; grip it with your fingertips as gently as you would an egg filled with nitroglycerin, and it will communicate every little nuance of the track and let you position the car with micrometer precision. That said, don’t drive the Lotus gently. Hell, no! Push as hard as you dare, and if you’re going to open the throttle, open it wide. The Pilot Cup–shod Emira has grip in abundance, and its chassis is every bit as predictable as the Corvette’s, with an underlying aggressiveness. Think David and Goliath, keeping in mind that David knew, based on who was backing him, that he was totally going to kick Goliath’s ass. The Emira won't catch the ’Vette in the straights, but with a skilled driver at the helm, it’ll sneak up in the corners.
Emira vs. Corvette: The Winner Is Obvious
If we look at which of these two contenders is closest to that imaginary middle ground, then the Corvette E-Ray is the front-runner. The C8 platform has finally given the Corvette supercar legitimacy, and the E-Ray is a great blend of straight-ahead power and twisty-road prowess. It’s easy to drive, easy to live with, and a lovely road-trip companion. Expensive? Yeah, but Chevy offers other models for less coin, and while the hybrid system has its advantages, it’s not like doing without it makes the C8 significantly less enjoyable.
The Emira is arguably the most comfortable and livable Lotus ever made, and while it will no doubt benefit from further refinement and development—think of how the original Evora evolved into the Evora GT—we marvel at how, even with the stiffer suspension, it can road trip like a proper grand tourer with no compromises to its track-car roots. (What a shame Lotus stumbled upon this formula right at the sunset of internal combustion power.) Still, the Lotus is still a Lotus, and compared to the Corvette, it’s cramped, noisy, impractical, and trouble-prone, and it demands to be driven just so. The Corvette is closer to that great middle path than the Emira.
But who the hell wants to tread the middle path? These are sports cars, ga’dammit, and if you look at them that way, the Emira is the front-runner. Compared to the Corvette E-Ray, the Lotus is—dare we say—electrifying to drive, coming alive in the driver’s hands in a way the Corvette just can’t. A lengthy road trip will prove its luxurious cabin is not merely a veneer—or is it? Attack the track, the environment Lotus designs its cars for, and you can see the Emira didn’t fall far from the tree. The Corvette E-Ray lets anyone make great lap times, but it’s more of a coroner’s bone saw, whereas the Emira is a surgeon’s scalpel.
The Emira’s grand achievement is delivering that purist Lotus character in a truly livable package. No, it’s not as easy to drive as the Corvette (or a Porsche 718 Cayman for that matter), but does everything in life have to come easy? The Corvette E-Ray puts up a great defense, but it’s the cagey little Emira that shoots through the gaps to take the win.
2nd Place: 2024 Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray
Pros
- Insanely quick, delightful and predictable on track, a great grand tourer.
Cons
- Pricey by Corvette standards, numb by Lotus standards, hefty by any standard.
Verdict: A big and brilliant car that makes every driver a hero.
1st Place: 2024 Lotus Emira First Edition
Pros
- Beautiful to behold, comfortable to cruise in, exhilarating to drive if you have the skill to unlock its secrets.
Cons
- Tricky shifter, British build quality, expensive for what you get.
Verdict: A magnificent grand tourer for the sports car purist.
After a two-decade career as a freelance writer, Aaron Gold joined MotorTrend’s sister publication Automobile in 2018 before moving to the MT staff in 2021. Aaron is a native New Yorker who now lives in Los Angeles with his spouse, too many pets, and a cantankerous 1983 GMC Suburban.
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