• Very high quality materials used
• Seems well made, as well
• Immensely comfortable seats

How is the quality and layout?

If you have preconceptions of what the Lotus Emeya’s interior is like based on the frequent shoddiness of the brand’s old sports cars, erase such notions from your mind and be prepared for a shock. The Emeya’s interior isn’t just luxurious, it gives similarly priced BMWs and Mercedes a sound thrashing for quality and ambiance.

The vast expanse of dashboard is largely familiar from the Eletre SUV. It’s a two-tier design, a strip of display screens for driver and passenger sitting on top of a lower section. But the interior is dominated by the 15.1-inch infotainment system display, where you’ll find the controls for most of the interior’s functions. There’s also a smattering of shortcut buttons plus the volume control and gear selector on the centre console. Back seat passengers have their own touchscreen controller for the rear climate control.

We would like more physical controls, but the Emeya’s interior isn’t really any less user-friendly than its rivals, such as the Porsche Taycan, which are also dominated by touchscreens. But where the Emeya stands apart is in the quality of the materials used throughout its interior. Everything, whether it’s fabric, leather, plastic or metal, looks good, feels ultra-plush and has a lovely tactility to it. There’s something quite calming about it all, and that makes the Emeya a fabulous place to while away a journey.

Infotainment and tech

The vast majority of the Emeya’s features and functions are controlled through the vast 15.1-inch infotainment system touchscreen display. It’s a good-looking system with sharp, bright graphics and a largely logical menu structure, but many of the icons are rather small – especially given the amount of space there is on the screen.

The driver also has a 12.6-inch display configured as a thin strip – as does the front passenger – that shows a wide range of useful information and allows access to a limited range of the car’s features.

Standard features are many and include Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, wireless phone charging, matrix LED headlights, four-zone climate control and a KEF stereo that sounds like you’re in the room with the band.

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Comfort

• Hugely comfortable seats…
• …With lots of adjustability
• Optional rear recliners

All Emeya models have wonderfully comfortable seats, front and back. All our testers thought they have just the right level of firmness while holding you in place in corners. All models feature soft Nappa leather, electrically adjustable heated front seats with memory, an electrically adjustable steering column and heated steering wheel. Sport SE and Sport Carbon models add extra features to the front seats – massage and ventilation, extending under-knee cushions, and electrically adjustable headrests and side bolsters.

Adding the optional Executive Pack upgrades the rear seats with heating, ventilation, massage and electric adjustment, including a reclining function. They’re even more comfortable than the regular rear bench and provide a luxury car feel that just isn’t available in the Audi E-Tron GT and Porsche Taycan. Here it feels far closer to the BMW i7 or Mercedes-Benz S-Class and arguably betters the Mercedes EQS.