Car of the Day: Lotus Emira, Where the Manual Costs Less

Hello, good morning, it's Hattie, with a small confession.

On Sunday, heading up Box Hill early, the RS4's clutch did a little thing. Second into third, foot down, and the revs went up quicker than the car did. Since then I've done the grown-up thing: not rung anyone, not looked up what a B7 clutch costs, and hoped it sorts itself out. It won't.

Anyway, it's Wednesday the eleventh, you're on episode four of the Vertar Show, and today's Car of the Day has a funny little thing going on with its manuals. Which feels a bit pointed.

The Lotus Emira. Revealed in 2021 to replace the Elise, the Exige and the Evora in one go, and the last petrol car Lotus will build at Hethel. Mid-engined, two seats, a four-cylinder from AMG or the supercharged 3.5 V6 with four hundred horsepower, and with the V6 you could still have a six-speed manual. There are nearly ninety at UK specialists at the moment, which for a Lotus is a lot to choose from.

The way in is just under sixty grand, but the one I keep going back to is at Hofmann's. A 2023 V6 First Edition, grey, twenty-two thousand miles, about fifty-nine grand, and a manual. That's the cheapest V6 First Edition on Vertar, and it's got the gearbox.

Which is the quirk. After Rob and the Aston on Tuesday, I'd assumed a manual would cost you extra. On the Emira it's the other way round: like for like, same version, same age, the manual asks about one per cent LESS than the automatic. Tiny, I know. But my coffee went cold while I stared at it, because I'd honestly have put money on it going the other way.

At the other end, Woodcote and Copse have the Clark Edition, marking sixty years since Jim Clark and Lotus won the Formula One title and the Indy 500 in 1965. Sixty were built. This one's brand new, manual, in Clark Racing Green, at about a hundred and twenty-two grand. If I'm honest, that green with his name on it is the one I'd stare at longest.

Right, the Pulse, and I'm biased. The Ferrari 550 Maranello: front-engined V12, gated manual, and my dream car since I was about twelve. Only two on Vertar, both listed in the last week, and the one at Roden Jones already has a deposit on it. And two more found new homes over the past month.

Tiny numbers, so call it a hunch, but it feels like people are watching for these. The other's at Kent High Performance Cars, a 1999 with forty-two thousand miles, about a hundred and fifteen grand. So a bit under that Clark Edition. I'm just putting them next to each other.

Steve in Stockport wrote after the Aston episode. He once drove a friend's manual V8 Vantage, 'heavy and a bit agricultural', loved every second, and wants to know if the manual premium keeps growing or has peaked.

Honestly, Steve, I don't know, and I'd be wary of anyone who says they do. But today's a nice test. On Tuesday, the manual DBS Rob talked about, ten years old, was asking what a far more powerful Superleggera asks. On the Emira, the manual's a touch cheaper. So my guess is the premium turns up once a car's out of production and the good manuals get hard to find. The DBS is there. The Emira isn't yet.

And Ollie in Exeter, whose lurcher Pickle is the reason he's got a Volvo estate, asks if Biscuit gets car sick in the RS4. Never. The boot is hers. She sleeps through the V8 at full noise, but open a packet of crisps in the front and her nose is over the seat. And a Volvo estate's hardly a punishment, Ollie. If it's a fast one, I'm, er, quite jealous.

I'd go for the grey manual at Hofmann's. The Clark Edition's the one I'd have on the wall, but the grey one's the one I'd take out on a Sunday... with a clutch somebody else has been looking after.

If this has kept you company, hit like and subscribe, because it honestly helps. Drop me a line at hattie at vertar dot com: your car, the one you're after, or a nudge about tomorrow's pick. Over on YouTube the comments are open, and I go through every single one. And I will ring someone about that clutch. Probably. See you tomorrow.