Lotus Emira
Why 6.5: Hethel's last combustion car, bought by people who know exactly what that sentence means. Early cars get driven; the 'final V6 manual' hoarding hasn't started yet.
Layout
Natural habitat
Ride comfort
Sound
The supercharged 2GR sits inches behind the bulkhead with Lotus-grade insulation, so blower whine layers over a hard V6 bark. But 6,800 rpm and a Toyota saloon block cap what it can become. A good noise in a car that deserved a great one.
6-cylinder · supercharged · 6,800 rpm redline · rated 7.0 / 10 for engine sound
Market value
Median asking price, good condition · €87k (2022) → €72k (2026), trending down · illustrative data
Child seats · ISOFIX
There aren't any — strict two-seater.
No front ISOFIX — a child seat here has to be seatbelt-mounted, and Lotus's manual requires the passenger airbag switched off first.
Lotus Emira Owner's Handbook
The long version
Lotus built this as the bridge before going all-electric, and the buyers so far are mostly veterans of an Elise or Exige trading up to something that can survive a real road trip without punishing them for it — upgrade buyers, not collectors front-running the badge. Values have slid at a normal used-sports-car pace rather than holding, meaning the 'last gas Lotus' premium that eventually attaches to cars like this hasn't shown up yet. Anyone buying now for driving reasons is effectively getting ahead of the moment the manual V6 becomes a hoarding target the way similar cars elsewhere on this list already have.