Comparing The 2025 Lotus Emira V6 and Porsche Cayman GTS

Forbes

6 days ago

While not as populous as it once was, the new sports car market is stacked with excellent hardware. With lively powertrains, extensive chassis and suspension tuning, sharp looks, and pique automotive technology supporting it all, it's a great time to be in the market. Especially for anyone after something higher-end from Germany or the United Kingdom, and with just over $100,000 to spend.
The 2025 Porsche 718 Cayman GTS 4.0 and Lotus Emira V6 start at $101,695 and $102,250, respectively, and couldn't be more evenly matched in their ability to put a smile on any enthusiast's face. Both produce around 400 horsepower from their mid-mounted engines, are available with a manual transmission and possess just two seats in their cabins. I recently had the chance to drive each of these six-speed manual-equipped luxury sports cars within a three-week timespan, and they both arrived with around 500 miles on the odometer. This comparison couldn't be more perfect; here's how they stack up against each other.
Exterior and Interior
The quickest of glances reveals each model's sporting intentions. They're low-slung and focused fare, with pronounced front and rear fenders and hatches in place of conventional trunk lids, plus energetic facial expressions by way of their respective grille, headlight, and front bumper designs. But each conveys sportiness in a different way—no matter color, the Porsche is more understated, ready to blend in with normal traffic. The Lotus is more angular, and, with such large vents straked across its rear fenders and doors, conjures up an aesthetic that's usually reserved for Ferrari and McLaren. They're both handsome little devils, and it's truly up to the eye of the beholder which they'd rather accumulate mileage in as a weekend toy, spicy daily commuter, or both.
Inside, it's harder to differentiate between the two. Materials are well-appointed with leather and Alcantara throughout, a comfortable sports car driving position, and a center infotainment screen that's small and out of the way. Both felt like they underwent thorough quality control in rooting out squeaks and rattles, though the Lotus is ever-so-slightly lacking here—there's also less insulation between the seats and engine, so you hear more of what's going on back there. Again, personal preference, and both have their fair share of road and tire noise.
Two areas where the Cayman has a clear advantage is cargo room and visibility. It's easier to see out of it—although the Emira isn't terrible—and it has quite a lot more storage between its trunk and frunk. However, there are interesting trade-offs between the two: The Lotus may only have a small trunk area, but it has much larger door pockets and interior storage. On the other hand, the Porsche has miniscule door pockets and not much for interior storage besides a small shelf behind the seats and the glovebox—its center armrest flips up to store exactly one average-sized cell phone, and nothing more. Connectivity-wise, the Emira reigns supreme, but that's not saying much, as it has two USB-C ports as opposed to the Cayman's single USB-A. Neither possesses the best cupholder design, but at least the Cayman's two flip out from the dashboard in front of the passenger, whereas the Emira's are rather small and inconveniently placed right behind the shifter.
Finally, interior space is quite good between the two. My tall, lanky stature fit in both quite comfortably with lots of headroom, though the Porsche was just a bit more spacious and airy, and its seat felt tailor-made for me, too. The Lotus' dimensions are more condensed, but not to an annoying degree, and its seat felt like it was better-suited for someone standing a few inches shorter.
Inputs
In our modern era of electrically assisted power steering reigning supreme, and gears being selected by way of hydraulic pressure, this may be the most important trait between the Cayman and Emira. The Porsche has the best-of-the-best on the electric end of the steering spectrum: It loads up in corners, has great feedback, and even cues you in on available grip and road texture quite well. And, because it's electric, if you choose to just cruise around in comfort and not think about these things, it'll ensure you never have to. The Lotus' hydraulically assisted rack is all this and more; you feel so much of what's going on at the front end, it's so busy and granular. Not to any unsettling degree, but you do have to keep a firmer grasp on it across awkwardly cambered surfaces and large bumps. Like their respective designs, this one's a toss-up—it all comes down to personal preference.
It's a pleasure to shift one's own gears in 2025, and both the Porsche and Lotus offer it free-of-charge at their base MSRPs. The Baden-Württemberg bruiser gets the upper-hand in this department—its shifter has perfect spring and a very positive and smooth engagement. The Emira is still a treat, but is clunkier in its operation and smooth/fast shifts are harder to master.
However, the Emira edges past the Cayman in the pedal box. While not for every shoe size, I absolutely adored the Emira's formula car-like dimensions, as it made for very precise inputs and the perfect heel-toe downshift felt like a real accomplishment. The Cayman wasn't bad here, but spacing between the brake and gas—on either axis—wasn't quite as ideal. In terms of braking inputs, themselves, I also preferred the Emira's firmer and grabbier offering, whereas the Porsche's had a hair too much initial softness.
Performance
These two European sports cars continue to be neck-and-neck in regards to their respective outputs. The Cayman's naturally aspirated 4.0-liter flat-six produces 394 horsepower and 309 lb-ft of torque, whereas the Emira V6's 3.5-liter supercharged V6 puts out 400 and 310, respectively. Considering the former's 3,196-pound curbweight, and the latter's 3,279, there couldn't be a closer match. As tested by Car And Driver, they're within a half-second of each other's 0-60 time.
It's even tougher when you start pondering each powerplant's respective personality. The 4.0's deep howl was legitimately intoxicating—I wanted to drive the Cayman as much as possible, just to hear its angry bark from the 3,000 RPM and higher. But then, the same goes for the Emira—while higher-pitched and sharper, it too sounded awesome from the mid-range and beyond, and the harmonizing supercharger whine was simply beautiful.
Finally, one area where there's a clear advantage: Gearing. The GTS is geared rather long, so it took some readjusting in my brain to determine the best cog to be in while ripping through my favorite test roads. Enthusiasts say this is to help sandbag it against Porsche's coveted 911 badge, which makes sense, but I wouldn't say it was bad. Rather, not as ideal. The Emira's gearing was much more natural and akin to what you'd expect from a small sports car, therefore it's at the top of the podium in this category.
Driving Experience
Finally, it all comes down to how each of these little mid-engine monsters take on a fun, twisty road. But, yet again, it's quite hard to select a clear winner.
They're both eager to turn in, have great overall communication, and respond with the slightest amount of roll to help key drivers in on how much lateral G each tire's contact patch is putting up with. Well, the Cayman does so with adaptive dampers (Sport was my preferred overall setting), whereas the Emira does so with conventional passive units, but both are excellent. Even though the Cayman has MacPherson suspension up front, whereas the Emira is double-wishbone all around.
Since the Emira has less bodywork and equipment ahead of the front axle, it feels slightly more lively. But the Cayman is no slouch here, either. They both have blissfully low centers of gravity, and no self-respecting cornering aficionado would gripe about their sizes on the road—between the two, you feel like it's easier to safely carve the line you want, inside your lane, unlike a lot of bloated high-performance sedans these days.
The Lotus feels more like an event, thanks to more interior noise, having to climb down into it, and its more exotic looks and driving position. The Porsche, while more refined, is also a real treat to plop down into, hear the guttural anger of its 4.0 across the entire rev band, and generally enjoy in any scenario. They're both enthusiast-comfortable in daily driving, though, the Porsche rides just a tad smoother, thanks to its adaptive dampers.
Here, it's a draw. Prospective owners will simply have to drive both and go from there.
Two Brilliant Sports Car
I was thrilled to get to drive the 2025 Porsche 718 Cayman GTS 4.0 and Lotus Emira V6 within a few weeks of each other, and with both having around 500 miles on their odometers. They're both top choices in the high-end European sports car market—it's incredibly tough to argue with either. The Emira is also available with a Mercedes-AMG-sourced turbocharged four-cylinder and dual-clutch automatic gearbox, which is also a lot of fun, but the stick-shifted V6 is my preferred iteration. The Cayman and Emira V6 handle, steer, and accelerate brilliantly, and their inputs are truly top-shelf. It would take a lot of pondering and soul-searching to decide between either, especially if purchased as new.
However, with the Cayman reportedly ceasing production this fall, the decision process may be a bit easier. I'm still pulling for Porsche to come out and say that a new gasoline-powered Boxster/Cayman generation is on the way, but time is ticking. The Emira won't be around much longer, either, so get in while the gettin's good.