Small, efficient, and often viewed as the underdog of sports cars, Lotus, with their long-running tradition of "E" names, has produced some of the finest handling cars ever to see the light of day. The Europa is one of the best kept secrets to come from Hethel in the brands' history.
Making do with engines and transmissions already available is what Lotus does best. They're innovators, finding solutions that deliver the best performance on either road or track. The Europa was simplicity in itself, small engines affixed to a steel backbone chassis with independent suspension front and rear followed Colin Chapman's ethos of "adding lightness" to make better sports cars. It wasn't until the arrival of the Elise/Exige that steel made way for aluminum in Lotus chassis design, kicking off a new breed of Lotus cars. Which is better is a hard question to answer, any Lotus is a good sports car, old or new is a personal choice.
10 Old Vs New
Immediately we're faced with a dilemma, Lotus first using the Europa name as far back as 1966 with the slightly awkwardly styled Type 46. It was best known for its glass-fiber body, backbone chassis and high-sided rear flanks, giving rise to a shooting-brake appearance that had more to do with its engine mounting than practicality or load carrying ability.
With the resurrection of the Europa in 2005, while not as unique in appearances, the Type 121 was a more complete sports car thanks to its Elise-based chassis set-up. Both are great cars in their own ways, the original delivering a purer driving experience versus the new Europa's class leading handling.
9 Types 46,47,54, 65, And 74 - All Europa Models
The Europa, like every Lotus before and since, is a work in progress. Different working relationships between Lotus Cars and third party manufacturers gave rise to a whole host of variations of the Europa. In 1966, Type 46 designation, was just the beginning, by the time production ended in 1975, five different "Types" had been used, spanning Series 1/2 cars.
With new working relationships came new power trains, more power and performance, along with a number of Lotus fixes for the countless manufacturing gremlins. Owners could, if they so desired, carry over early Type 46 chassis and use later improved engines and suspension.
8 Renault Vs Ford
Early production Europas shipped with Renault R16 engines and transmissions, tweaked naturally by Lotus to produce 82 hp from a 1.5-liter, 4-cylinder configuration. Installation in Lotus' steel back-bone chassis design posed a few headaches, left untouched, the Lotus would have four reverse gears and a single forward ratio, inverting the crown wheel remedying the situation.
By the Type 74 Europa's launch in 1971, Lotus had made significant progress with Ford's DOHC engine boasting 105 hp from a 1.6-liter displacement. Later, bigger valve blocks increased output to 126 hp, with sixty taking 6.6-seonds.
7 A New Beginning
2006 marked a new beginning for the Europa, Lotus, already enjoying huge success with the Elise and Exige, needed a softer and more user-friendly sports car, one based on the same basic principles, but with a little more in the way of refinement.
The concept was sound, take a world-class chassis set-up, throw in a few extras in the way of civility and call it a job done. Unfortunately, Lotus underestimated what its customers really wanted, the Europa, although very rewarding to drive, didn't sell well with a little over 500 cars produced. Bad news for Lotus, great news for gearheads seeking something unique.
6 Tweaked GM Power
Trading up to the middle leagues, Lotus needed to give the heavier and softer Evora more power, in doing so, keeping the UK carmaker's sporting heritage intact. The Elise first used Rover power, then later Toyota-sourced and supercharged engines, but with the Evora, Lotus took a different path.
First the performance gains, boasting 197 hp from 2-liter turbocharged engine the Europa could hit 60 mph in 5.9-seconds with a top speed of 140 mph+, definitely a Lotus then. Confirmed by Lotus Performance script atop its cam-covers, but its origins are more GM than Lotus, borrowing its block and heads from the insane Opel Speedster.
5 Still A Lotus On The Inside Too
Softer, more luxurious? If we didn't know better, the idea of Lotus playing an April fools' joke would be our best guess. By comparison, the Lotus Elise Sport above is as pared back as we'd like to get, manual windows winders anyone? Carpets?
Now take a look at the Europa S, looks eerily familiar, right down to the seats, instrument binnacle, stalks, and gear shifter. As a daily driver, you'd be hard pushed to tell the difference, carpets and electric windows the only notable nods towards a softer, more refined car. And that's fine with us, Lotus ownership should be about speed, and handling, anything else just isn't Lotus.
4 Cheaper Than You Might Think
Lotus ownership comes with a certain amount of trepidation. Will it break down? How much will it to cost to keep it on the road? All valid concerns. Remembering the chassis is an all aluminum affair, corrosion won't be a problem.
Near bomb-proof mechanicals restrict maintenance to just the essential fluids and filters falls under Lotus "light use" special offer, with servicing around $300. And should the worst happen, parts are reasonably priced too. Best of all, despite the rarity, we found that a low-mileage SE spec Europa can be had for as little as $40k.
3 Small Concessions to Accessibility
One area of the Elise/Exige experience that strikes a cord with Lotus fans that thankfully did get some attention; To make the Europa more practical, it saw the introduction of wider-opening doors with lower sills. This is definitely a plus, even if they are monstrously wide.
The Europa retains some semblance of load carrying ability, with a full-width trunk located behind the engine compartment, handy for access under a new glazed trunk lid/engine cover, less so if you're carrying anything susceptible to higher temperatures. Space for two weekend bags is possible in a larger 154 liter trunk, just be wary of Lotus' maximum 50kgs load warnings.
2 Its Bigger Too
Good news for taller gearheads who might have passed by their local Lotus dealer, the Europa although closely relate to the Elise should be easier to drive thanks to a stretched wheelbase adding valuable leg space.
How much bigger is difficult to gauge, Lotus managing to make the Europa's extra 7-inches (153.5-in overall) appear bigger in the metal than it actually is. Much of the gains are hidden behind the cockpit, the cabin itself accounts for an increase of just 1.5 inches.
1 Going Out On A High
The Europa never really took off, too close in design and form to the Elise, and not quite living up to Lotus' promise of a softer more refined sports car, and yet ask anyone who has behind the wheel, and you'll get a resounding thumbs up.
If rarity is your kind of thing, then look no further than the Europa's swan song, going on a high with a more powerful SE spec car boasting a tweaked turbocharged engine punching out 223 hp. The gains representing a hike in power of barely ten-percent that reduced its 0-60mph to 5-seconds dead, topping out at 149 mph. However, only 48 SE spec cars were made, finding is going to be tricky, but worth it.