A test drive of the new Lotus Aira, a luxury car that's quite unlike any other car they've ever made. I think it's more important to say that it's a credible luxury car than anything like an Audi. What does it have? It has a relatively compliant ride. We're on a pretty choppy road and it's not bad - the body control is the blend of body control and ride, quite good and the steering is you know evenly weighted, quite responsive and accurate.

It doesn't behave like a traditional Lotus because it can't. The physics are the physics, but to me, it rides a bit better than that Audi I know. It's handling as well as I expect a car like this to handle, I don't think it's you know I dare say when you get to the maybe the the r model or you add the the active roll bars and and the and the four-wheel steering, it probably does feel a bit more agile. Yeah, there's room for it maybe to do that but I'm you know I'm kind of I'm fine with it.

They are surely they are addressing somebody with this car who doesn't come with the baggage you know I know it's a Lotus but I'd love to know how many people they expect to take out of the existing pool of Aira ivora Elise owners and you just can't imagine somebody going yeah that's the lowest I've that's the one I've waited for.

Where are we? I like it. Yes, I think I think I'm quite I think I'm more disposed towards it than I thought I might be and I think I'm quite impressed with it objective what I come back to with it is um it really could be almost from any you know modern luxury car brand really you could put almost any badge on this. It seems to me um and say this is our next chapter you know.

And so it's a bit of a test of the lotus brand and what it means to people because when Porsche put a Porsche badge on a Ken it did something for that car the act of sticking a Porsche padge on it made it Greater and it still felt like a Porsche yeah bit. That's the thing they still you know it's still steers like a Tian steers like a 911 does in a way you know it's it it has that kind of level of that mix of body control and ride comfort and steering response and feel and this does not have that because there has never been a Lotus anything like this at all.

It's so far removed from anything else they've done. I know we obviously we got to we got to take the car as it is yeah but they could they could have decided to make something smaller and lighter and simpler if they wanted to I think they're probably making a statement sort of saying we can do Luxury we can do technology we can do sophistication we can do size and comfort and everything you want from from a luxury car we can do yeah with this test.

Which one are you going home in are driving for the next 12 months? Um, some of that is down to the you know neile stuff I you know this is the new car so it's interesting yeah um but I think this is probably a more appealing luxury car to me as well actually. Yeah, um but I'm not hung up particularly on the fact that it's a Lotus and you know I don't whether that's a Bigg a factor for I'm with you I'm with you yeah I'm with you.

I think this is the better car and as you say you know I think we could have actually in retrospect could have pitched it against something more expensive even again yeah and it would still have come out pretty well anyway.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhello welcome to the channel where my friend and colleague Matt Saunders and I have two cars one of which is the new electric Lotus Electra SUV so Matthew what's the other car so this this is the new Audi sq8 rron sportb right all 500 horsepower and three motors of it and it is I guess quite a close arrival for the Lotus that you bought I mean there are a bunch of cars we could have chosen as a Ral for the Lotus this is what they are the Electra arrives in a market where there is plenty of competition from the likes of the very new K ev9 through to a Tesla Model X BMW iix Mercedes eqs SUV and more besides but Audi says its newly updated sq8 sportback rron is sporty and dynamic its Words which are two things you might also expect for a Lotus to be so here we are so mate should we go for a drive see what's what see which one is the new Choice electric SUV of the moment the Electra comes in three different specifications the base model costs just under 90,000 and there's an R which has over 900 horsepower and costs more like £130,000 then there's the S which is this in the middle which puts it bang on the money with the sq8 in terms of performance and range and cost quite a lot of cost £100,000 to oh What's the phrase for spending on an EV to spank on an EV to £100,000 to to lump on an EV to spark on an Eva um on a luxury battery electric vehicle how luxurious is this I think I think it's pretty it's pretty good you know it is well it is it's basically a big Audi with electric motors isn't it there was nothing particularly um alternative or different or Innovative about the way that they did this interior um and it's you know it's got some nice sorts of touches to it but it feels quite classically Audy to me it's sort of um you know lots of um lots of sorts of satin Chrome and and piano black and and you know nice leathers and it's not but it's it's not as materially Innovative different alternative perhaps um is that is that Lotus you know but it does it has that a high level of perceived quality doesn't it which is you know how well we think it's screwed together it does have that going for it very much and they've been doing it a while so they kind of know know the Playbook don't they ergonomically pretty sound yeah I feel like I'm a bit higher up I think um I feel like I'm sitting you know medium medium high pretty I suppose you know SUVs can certainly sit you sit you up high on this but feel like I'm perched a little bit got good visibility um I haven't sat in the back of this yet so I don't quite know how luxurious it feels back there and whether the roof line would bother me a bit but then I'm quite large yeah I mean I have but you're quite a lot taller than me so it would it may bother you more than it bothers me it was F it was I'm sort of aage I suppose uh it was fine and you could always just buy the the the the UN sport back yeah the not sport back they going need a name for that soon a hatchback antiport back antiport what's the opposite of Sport the lazy back the the idle back hun back the uncompetitive back hunt back hun back that's that's going to be that's it that's a winner they'll sell a million oh there we go had all the benefit of of asymmetrical talk Vector is that what did you notice I felt that yeah I felt that right so dynamically how are you feeling um yeah I'm feeling quite Audi I'm feeling you know it feels like a car that is maybe 5% firmer than I would like it to be from a sort of a nice comfy luxurious standpoint but um it you know it is I guess it's the sporty um it's the sporty model and it needs to feel a little bit like that um it's got it's interesting this car because it's the age it is um they used asynchronous motors for it which are very very tky so this actually has more torque than the load car interesting um but they don't run as efficiently when they're cruising at speed as um permanent magnet synchronous Motors it's heavier than that lo as well even though it's smaller you see how that is because because on so many so many areas these are kind of i s pick these two cars because they are on the money in terms of their accelerative performance their weight their price their range and everything else they are bang on with so many things they do feel quite they are not the same car by somehow by any means ride Comfort nice and quiet um is quiet isn't it yeah it is in fact I don't think I mean the the Lotus for all that it's newer and larger and everything else I'm not sure it's any more refined is it I know it's on 22s but isolation on this is maybe it benefits slightly smaller cabin yeah maybe but they do it well and if you know um yeah I just I guess I would what I'm missing is that extra Comfort ride setting yeah yeah just yes just that degree of suppleness isn't there but I think you get in the Lotus that you don't get in this but should we hop into that Lotus and double check ourselves double check our marking for sure do that well then welcome inside my Lotus right I mean not my Lotus but what I mean interior quality yes it's pretty impressive and there's loads of room in here there's loads of room I mean it's a big car in it because it's like 5.1 meters longer it's bigger than the Audi but I if you took somebody who had not been in a Lotus for well it doesn't matter if you spent any time in any Lotus before the material quality in here is off the scale good it's I have spoken to people from other car companies who say I would love to know what the material cost is for this M for this interior cuz it's that's it I mean if job number one is make it a credible luxury car I mean the Audi is very nice but doesn't seem to be working as hard as this yeah this somehow feels like it's a whereas the Audi feels like an Audi of not even necessarily the latest gen Audi this feels like an you know a new generation of thing and a new generation of it um it's big though is it it is it's funny I think because of the size of it and this sort of luxury feel in a way you can go well this is only 100 Grand car I mean this could almost be mortal yeah um and maybe it's the Lotus Factor work you know because it's just for them at the moment it feels like a finger in the air you know they could sort of go where do we put this car well you know that's interesting yeah that is interesting um ergonomically it's working pretty well for me I like the fact that the regen is on one paddle that quite that is quite nice it seems to weirdly it seems to default to not where you left it sometimes which is a bit weird and then on this panel I get the drive mode this one is on airs Springs but doesn't have some of the optional active anti bars or active R deer which is standard on the r yeah optional on this s but not fitted here but that's good so you can change the drive modes without taking your hands off for yeah which is cool does it drive like a Lotus mate well here's the thing mate they say it does they go drives like a lotus lotus for the drive for the drivers that's what the strap line is isn't it you know but you know it's a very different Lotus but it drives like a Lotus I drove it on the original launch didn't feel like a Lotus to me and I'm not I'm not sure it I'm not sure it does drive like a Lotus I mean it's a 5 m long 2.7 ton SUV when did Lotus ever make one of those well exactly I mean and that's my take really I why would it have any rights to drive like a lus you know they have never made a car like this the whole point is they're doing something different you know they're kind of breaking new ground when you go through the press material on this car it's you know it's the first Lotus even to have electric power steering never mind four-wheel drive and to weigh two and a half tons and to be electric and you know it is just so unlike any car they have ever even tried to make to me it's more important that it is a credible luxury car than it's anything like an yeah I think so too yeah what what it does have I think it has a a relatively compliant ride we're on a pretty choppy Road it's not bad is it it's not bad body control is the blend of body control and ride is quite good and the steering is you know evenly weighted quite responsive and accurate and everything else but it doesn't it doesn't behave like a traditional Lotus because it can't you know you know the physics are the physics but to me it is riding a bit better than that Audi you know it's um I don't know is it it's handling as well as I expect a car like this to handle I don't think it's you know I dare say when you get to the maybe the the r model or you add the the active roll bars and and the and the four-wheel steering it probably does feel a bit more agile yeah and there's room for it maybe to do that but I'm you know I'm kind of I'm fine with it and they are surely they are addressing somebody with this car who doesn't come with the baggage you know I know it's a Lotus but I'd love to know how many how many people they expect to take out of the existing pool of Aira ivora Elise owners and you just you can't imagine somebody going yeah that's the lowest I've that's the one I've waited for yeah so where are we I like it yes I think I think I'm quite I think I'm more disposed towards it than I thought I might be and I think I'm quite impressed with it objective what I come back to with it is um it really could be almost from any you know modern luxury car brand really you could put almost any badge on this it seems to me um and say this is our next chapter you know and so it's a bit of a test of the lotus brand and what it means to people because when Porsche put a Porsche badge on a Ken it did something for that car the act of sticking a Porsche padge on it made it Greater and it still felt like a Porsche yeah bit that's the thing they still you know it's still steered like a Tian steers like a 911 does in a way you know it's it it has that kind of level of that mix of body control and ride comfort and steering response and feel and this does not have that because there has never been a Lotus anything like this at all it's so far removed from anything else they've done and I know you know we obviously we got to we got to take the car as it is yeah but they could they could have decided to make something smaller and lighter and simpler if they wanted to I think they're probably making a statement sort of saying we can do Luxury we can do technology we can do sophistication we can do size and comfort and everything you want from from a luxury car we can do yeah with this test which you going home in are driving for the next 12 months uh I'm more interested in this car I think I genuinely would be more interested to spend 12 months in this car than the Audi yeah um some of that is down to the you know neile stuff I you know this is the new car so it's interesting yeah um but I think this is probably a more appealing luxury car to me as well actually yeah um but I'm not hung up particularly on the fact that it's a Lotus and you know I don't whether that's a Bigg a factor for I'm with you I'm with you yeah I'm with you I think this is the better car and as you say you know I think we could have actually in retrospect could have pitched it against something more expensive even again yeah and it would still have come out pretty well anyway thank you for joining Matthew and me for this we have more uh on the YouTube pretty much weekly you can also find us at autocar.co.uk and if you want full access to the entire autocar archive you can find find that at the magazin shop.com autocar particularly thanks very much see you next time why don't you not overtake somebody on a blind BR unbelievable uh viewer if you do if we lead this in my shocked face there was a cyclist coming up the hill and somebody on the wrong side of the road overtaken him as we as we came over the brow the hill which gave a bit of a St thing they were very they did look very apologetic didn't they cyclist was just like anyway um\n"