Lotus Europa (06-10) - Review

Review by Ben Wall on
Last Updated: 20 March 2009
The Europa is quite a curious model from Lotus. It's supposedly a more useable and comfortable alternative to the Elise and Exige. The firm describe it as a 'Grand Tourer' but while it does offer slightly more interior space than other Lotus models, it's still cramped compared to alternative sports cars. In essence there's no hiding what the Europa is - basically an Exige or Elise underneath, but with a slightly different body on top. What this does mean is that it's great to drive with superb handling, wonderful steering and cracking performance. But it doesn't deliver the refinement or comfort Lotus promises. It does come well equipped but ultimately it's simply too similar to the rest of the Lotus line-up and not sophisticated enough to rival cars like the Porsche Cayman or BMW Z4.
3 out of 5

Other Lotus reviews

3 out of 5

Running costs

It may be a high performance car, but the Europa isn't overly expensive to run. Economy is reasonable (particularly given the power) with 30mpg averaged by the standard model. However, Lotus servicing is expensive and there aren't that many dealers around. It also sits in the highest insurance group (20) too.

Summary Running Costs

Servicing period

9000 miles.

Warranty

Two years/unlimited miles.

Road tax (12 months)

£270.00 - £270.00

Vehicle excise duty (VED) varies according to the CO2 emissions and the fuel type of the vehicle. For cars registered after March 1st 2001 VED or road tax is based on the car's CO2 emissions. For cars registered before March 1st 2001 it is based on engine size.

Full running costs data

2 out of 5

Green credentials

  • A
  • B
  • C
  • D
  • E
  • F
  • G
  • H
  • I
  • J
  • K
    220
  • L
  • M

CO2 emission figure (g/km)

Fuel economy rating

The arrows indicate the best and worst CO2 bands for this model.

Emissions summary

For a car with such impressive performance, the Europa has quite low emissions with the standard emitting 220g/km of CO2 - about the same as a Porsche Cayman. The standard model averages 30mpg while the more powerful version is close behind with 29mpg.

Find the exact engine and CO2