Thursday 10th June 2021

Lotus Europa S | Spotted

There's a new, more usable four-cylinder Lotus sports car coming next month - sound familiar?

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Plainly there's a lot of eager anticipation around the Lotus Emira - as there should be; new Lotuses really don't come around all that often. The new car is promising what so may have been hoping for in a 21st century Lotus: the famed ride and handling panache, with sufficient usability to make regular driving viable. And not a mission best planned in advance. Something along the lines of the Alpine A110, in fact. Albeit with a manual gearbox, and a V6 option.

But the Emira isn't Lotus's first attempt at combining what makes its cars great to drive with a car that's easy to use. Remember the Europa? Launched 15 years ago, its premise was so simple it's strange to think it had taken Lotus 10 years to conjure up. The Europa idea was to use Elise architecture to make something almost as good to drive, but equip it with additional comfort features - as well as a torquier engine - to make it more suitable as an everyday prospect.

What came out of Hethel was lavishly praised. Despite carrying more than 100kg over an Elise and with a GM turbo 2.0-litre rather than a screaming supercharged Toyota engine, the Europa was still tangibly a Lotus product - it drove beautifully. It still weighed just under a tonne, it still had fabulous steering and it still flowed down a road better than pretty much anything else.

From a driving perspective, it was job jobbed - as usual. But as an everyday proposition the Europa was flawed, the platform not really lending itself to the remit of easy access, low effort sports car. There was more sound deadening and leather and a better stereo, but the Europa was still pretty raw by the standards of the class. And if you wanted a raw British sports car, why not have an Elise or Exige?

In the end, despite an improved Europa SE arriving in 2008, Lotus made just 500 Europas, meaning precious few are around nowadays. According to HowManyLeft, just 145 Europas remain on UK roads, and just one - one! - Europa SE. Which, as a secondhand purchase, may well work in the Europa's favour.

Rarer than a contemporary Elise, better to drive than all the opposition and still plenty fast enough - the past 15 years has probably served to enhance the Europa's appeal, rather than diminish it. And values are reflecting that: when we featured a 50,000-mile car in January 2020, it was for sale at £20,995. Now a similar car is on offer at £27,450, said to benefit from a comprehensive service history and "an incredible condition throughout". The upgraded tan leather interior certainly elevates the interior ambience above an Elise and the condition seems commensurate with careful ownership over the past 14 years. This example is also about half the price any Emira will be. Perhaps now, a decade and a half after launch, might be the Europa's time to shine...

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SPECIFICATION | LOTUS EUROPA

Engine: 1,998cc four-cylinder turbo
Transmission: Six-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 200@5,400rpm
Torque (lb ft): 200@5,000rpm
MPG: 30.7
CO2: 220g/km
Recorded mileage: 51,202
First registered: 2007
Price new: £32,995
Yours for: £27,450

See the original advert here.

[Turini]

I do like these, don't see many at all, seemed a good concept but not that well executed..

[Kennyforever]

Avery underrated car, would buy it tomorrow if I could get into it, ever heard of Taraga roofs Lotus.

[Oilchange]

They probably haven't actually.

[Frimley111R]

IIRC this was made for another manufacturer who pulled out at the last minute and as all the work had been done Lotus just made it into the Euorpa. Not very popular and not much different to an Elise/Exige.

[Fastlane]

This is effectively a slightly upmarket VX220 turbo, but far pricier...

[Evil.soup]

I have a feeling that it was originally a car designed for release by Proton of all companies, still, it's a Lotus and goes like hell and handles 95% like an Elise. Plus there is the bonus in my opinion of having the Vauxhall engine.

The one I drove was a little modified but the noise was lovely with real pops and bangs on changes, I really loved it!

[B10]

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/concept-cars/pr...

[Fermit and Sexy Sarah]

The Evora was launched at Geneva 2009, making it pretty much redundant as a proposition.

[Dombilano]

Stick a Ford badge on it and charge £50k

[Castrol for a knave]

I always liked these, and for a while you could pick one up for about £15,000.


Then, they all disappeared and when you find one, they're £25,000 plus, so maybe people have realised they are not a bad car. .

[Nimerino]

Love everything about Lotus. Except for this. This looks exactly like what it is - a botched outsourcing job for a Malaysian budget manufacturer. Hell, it wouldn’t surprise me if the exterior design was signed off by Proton, as I can’t for the life of me imagine Lotus themselves thinking this looked decent, had all the tooling not been finished already.

[Iamnotkloot]

Well, I like them - I even like the look of them too. I must be weird

[cerb4.5lee]

This makes current BMWs look pretty!

I still can't believe that it ever got signed off looking like that to be fair. I didn't like the way it looked back then and I still don't now.

[tom77]

I ran one of these for two years - I always fancied an Elise but quirkiness of the Europa appealed to me.

It was great fun - did a round Europe adventure with my soon-to-be-wife and every journey we did felt like an adventure.

The engine was the weak link in my opinion - sounded like a diesel at idle and like a washing machine when revved, plus there was a sodding great flatspot in the powerband at 4.5k - the only way round it was to lift the throttle at the moment. Not what you want to do on a sweeping corner, while trying to maintain boost.

Still, glad I owned it. The handling and ownership experience was a joy - it cost pennies for servicing and trade in when I moved it on was only £1.5 less than I paid for it.

[Six Potter]

Nice motor, I'd forgotten about these. It does seem to be looking a bit dated now, I think the older S2 Elise is fairing better and the S1 Elise has a nice retro appeal now.

This one seems pricey for me, for this money I'd rather a newer, faster and better looking Evora.

[SpudLink]

Six Potter said:

Nice motor, I'd forgotten about these. It does seem to be looking a bit dated now, I think the older S2 Elise is fairing better and the S1 Elise has a nice retro appeal now.

This one seems pricey for me, for this money I'd rather a newer, faster and better looking Evora.

Not sure you could get an Evora in that condition for anything like that price. I would also say the Evora is closer to a GT, with the Europa being a pure sports car (with a reasonable boot).

[shih tzu faced]

Iamnotkloot said:

Well, I like them - I even like the look of them too. I must be weird

Me too, really nice looking car in my opinion and quite unusual too. They always seem to get a bit of a slating for some reason and I've never understood why. Different strokes and all that though.

Not normally a fan of black but the metallic on this one together with the tan interior looks great I think.

For all the thousands of people who would apparently definitely buy an Alpine A110 if only it had a manual gearbox, this seems a pretty good alternative for half the price.

[Six Potter]

SpudLink said:

Six Potter said:

Nice motor, I'd forgotten about these. It does seem to be looking a bit dated now, I think the older S2 Elise is fairing better and the S1 Elise has a nice retro appeal now.

This one seems pricey for me, for this money I'd rather a newer, faster and better looking Evora.

Not sure you could get an Evora in that condition for anything like that price. I would also say the Evora is closer to a GT, with the Europa being a pure sports car (with a reasonable boot).

This Evora is the cheap on 'trader, looks okay?
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202105112...

I've never thought of the Evora as being a GT, doesn't look like one being a compact mid engine two seater, not driven one though...

[AFell93]

shih tzu faced said:

Iamnotkloot said:

Well, I like them - I even like the look of them too. I must be weird

Me too, really nice looking car in my opinion and quite unusual too. They always seem to get a bit of a slating for some reason and I've never understood why. Different strokes and all that though.

Not normally a fan of black but the metallic on this one together with the tan interior looks great I think.

For all the thousands of people who would apparently definitely buy an Alpine A110 if only it had a manual gearbox, this seems a pretty good alternative for half the price.

I like them too, can't explain why! I was in my early teens when the Europa came out and for some reason it caught my imagination and I've liked them ever since.

[SpudLink]

Six Potter said:

This Evora is the cheap on 'trader, looks okay?
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202105112...

That does look like a decent example.

Six Potter said:

I've never thought of the Evora as being a GT, doesn't look like one being a compact mid engine two seater, not driven one though...

Well, it’s all relative. For most companies the Evora would be the lightweight sports car. But when the other cars in the range are the Elise and Exige, then the Evora is the car for trans continental grand touring.