Lotus Eletre (2023 - ) Electric review

We couldn’t believe the price tag on our mid-range Eletre S test vehicle. It feels like a hell of a lot of car for the money given the luxury materials inside, copious space, and long electric range. Frankly, it puts the Mercedes EQS to shame in every respect, pound for pound. It’s not cheap, but if it’s value for money you’re after, the Eletre can go to the top of the tree. As for those running costs bring it on and put a cherry on top. Ultra cheap to charge at home, not so cheap on a public rapid charger, but you don’t pay congestion charge, some towns offer free parking for electric cars, there are fewer moving parts to go wrong, the battery is covered by a long warranty, you get cheap VED/’road tax’ and with two per cent tax on Benefit In Kind if you put this down as your company car, everyone’s coming up smelling of roses.

This is where that Made in China tag beats the stereotyped “Lots Of Trouble, Usually Serious” label applied some of Lotus’s older, Norfolk-built products. Parent company Geely also owns Volvo and Polestar, so there’s a shared engineering rigour but, apparently, almost no shared parts. Hmm. On the other hand, software and hardware have been developed in Germany, which restores confidence. The Eletre is all-new, so it’s not possible to give it a confirmed rating, but the stars are our reasonable guesstimate thus far. We had what we thought was a dodgy tyre valve during our week with it, but that turned out to be our fault for driving over a nail. And that’s the only glitch we had to report.

Can you dock a point for having too much safety in a car? We reckon you can when the systems become so intrusive while driving. There's an overload of pings and bongs, and in order to disable the lane-change warning or speed warning pings and bongs, you have to go through two steps on the touch-screen every time you start the darn car. It drove us mad. But for those who like the car to nurse them along the highways and byways, they will be pleased to know every available warning system is built in to the Eletre. Along with very handy features like a warning about low tyre pressure accompanied by a graphic showing all four tyres, their individual pressures in Bar or PSI and what they should be so you don't have to go hunting for the pressures chart. Thankfully, you also get front and rear cameras and a 360-degree camera, all of which you'll need when trying to park this beast.

The Eletre is truly massive, with wide seats, loads of leg-, shoulder- and head-room front and rear, and a huge boot. That’s not great for driving and parking in tight spaces but it’s brilliant for the long-distance journeys which the enormous battery’s enormous range will provide. It is silent at speed, of course, but also silky smooth as it slinks off down the road, and it’s easy for passengers to nod off in the light-filled cocoon. Lotus has introduced some neat touches for extra comfort, such as the leather-clad cup holders which sit raised, flush with the centre console arm rest, until you press them gently down. In the back, you can choose three- or two-seat configurations, the latter with an extra storage area and rear touch-screen between them in the Executive Seat Pack.

The driver has large screens, the front passenger has their own to control media, and so do the rear passengers, which is a lovely touch. The software had a couple of moments to itself during our test, with the odd glitch switching between media sources that will hopefully be fixed with the next over-the-air update. It shouldn’t be happening on a car of this price, though. In better news we love the gold-coloured knurled metal toggles and switches everywhere, which make this the best luxury SUV interior out there. The gold volume toggle on the steering wheel, pretty as it is, is too stiff and fiddly for such a commonly used function, though. You get a head-up display and all-round camera, which you’ll be grateful for in a car that’s five metres long and two metres wide.

The standard Eletre and the Eletre S get 603 horsepower, and still offer up to 373 miles of range, which is just staggering given more power usually equals less range. If you have the money and the desire for the Eletre R, you get an insane 905 horsepower, and “just” 310, which is, well, to be expected. The steering is a delight for such a big, heavy car - it’s smooth and precise with a pleasing weight to it. In fact, the whole manner of the car on the road invokes confidence and relaxation, which is what you should be entitled to if you’re parting with six figures’ worth of cash. But a disappointingly high number of expensive cars inspire neither. To our mind, the Eletre is the best interpretation yet of an SUV from a high-performance brand with a heritage of building two-seater sports and supercars. The fact it’s also electric and offers such a long distance between charges the cream on top. Congratulations to all the engineers and designers involved.