Its mini supercar looks and easy-to-drive nature make the Turbo SE good for everyday driving

The Lotus Emira looks like a mini Lamborghini and, in its latest Turbo SE guise, is even faster than an Italian supercar.

- Lee Nian Tjoe

Car enthusiasts of a certain age may find the "Turbo SE" name familiar, with its distinctly 1980s ring. Famously, American actor Richard Gere's character in the 1990 movie Pretty Woman was terrible at driving the Esprit Turbo SE, clumsily crunching the manual gearbox.

Gere was so bad at "driving stick" that he resorted to engaging a social escort, played by American actress Julia Roberts, to drive him back to his hotel.

Judge the movie any way you like, but the story would not be possible today with the modern Turbo SE, if only because the Emira Turbo SE comes with an eight-speed dual-clutch transmission.

The power comes from the same 2-litre turbocharged engine that Lotus introduced in Singapore in 2024, but the output has been cranked up by 40hp to 399hp, matching the 3.5-litre supercharged V6 version. This is enough to make the Turbo SE the quickest accelerating Emira yet, getting from 0 to 100kmh in four seconds, 0.3 seconds faster than the V6.

It would leave a Lamborghini Gallardo (4.2 seconds) in the dust.

Lotus buys its engines from larger companies. Past suppliers include General Motors and Rover.

The Emira is a bit unusual to have engine variants from more than one supplier at the same time. The V6 engine comes from Toyota, while the turbocharged 2-litre is a Mercedes-AMG unit.

Lotus still offers the 3.5-litre engine in some countries, either with a manual gearbox or a conventional six-speed automatic, and it is possible to custom-order one in Singapore. Otherwise, the Turbo SE is the only version that Lotus is selling here.