Good (out of the box) track oriented cars

Soldato
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Went to view my first Exige today -

Exige350

Exige350

Advert - https://www.lotuscars.com/preowned/vehicle/11697

The good news was that I was able fit.... Getting in and out was a different story :) . The not so good news was that I was unable to drive it - Rush hour traffic. The plan is to arrange a test next year.

Couple things that concerned me (only slightly) -

1. Not being able to adjust the steering column and
2. I felt as though I was sat a little too high.
 
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Soldato
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Alfa Romeo 4C?

Very light and an all carbon fibre (fiber?) tub I think. Would give a lot of things a run for their money around the track.

Im sure it would. However it wouldn't be as focused as something like the Lotus (imo). And I could see myself wanting to mod the 4C.... The seats would need to go for starters as I want to be able to use harnesses.
 
Man of Honour
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Alfa Romeo 4C?

Very light and an all carbon fibre (fiber?) tub I think. Would give a lot of things a run for their money around the track.
Nah they are not very good on track. I was at Donington a while back with a friend in his stock 4C, quick driver with lots if race winning experience and he said he was disappointed by it on track. He has an XBox too as his point of reference. My R8 left him for dead and in braking and twistes nothing in it.
 
Man of Honour
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Im sure it would. However it wouldn't be as focused as something like the Lotus (imo). And I could see myself wanting to mod the 4C.... The seats would need to go for starters as I want to be able to use harnesses.
Lotus much better
 
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Yea a lot of people say the 4c doesn't actually drive that well.

Drive one, every review I watched says AMG GT-S is amazing, I drove it, I felt totally underwhelmed.
We all like different things, the 4C is an awesome car, its also a safe car to buy, I can see them exploding in value in future, think of it as a pretty Alpine A110 for less money.

I enjoy watching reviews, but I will always drive cars for myself to form an opinion on them.
 
Soldato
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Nah they are not very good on track. I was at Donington a while back with a friend in his stock 4C, quick driver with lots if race winning experience and he said he was disappointed by it on track. He has an XBox too as his point of reference. My R8 left him for dead and in braking and twistes nothing in it.

XBox? You mean XBow or is he comparing to Forza? :p
 
Soldato
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29 Jun 2004
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Went to view my first Exige today -

Advert - https://www.lotuscars.com/preowned/vehicle/11697

The good news was that I was able fit.... Getting in and out was a different story :) . The not so good news was that I was unable to drive it - Rush hour traffic. The plan is to arrange a test next year.

Couple things that concerned me (only slightly) -

1. Not being able to adjust the steering column and
2. I felt as though I was sat a little too high.

The scuttle on the Exige is quite low with the base of the windscreen is lower than the tops of the wheelarches. That does have the effect of making the driving position appear higher than it actually is.
 
Soldato
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So I finally got to drive the Sport 350 today.

The goods news is that I'm now able to get in and out of the car with "relative" ease. I'm starting to see this as a small price to pay for such a special car.

The Good:
* The ride - I was hugely surprised with how well the suspension coped with your average UK road surface and (more importantly speed humps). I rides far better than my GP.
* Seating position - Back when I first sat in the car, I was concerned that would would be sat too high. After driving he car on the road, I've come to the conclusion that it's not as bad as I thought it would be. Visibility was perfect.
* Engine - This is the first V6 powered are I've ever driven . In fact... This is the first supercharged car I've ever driven on road. Unlike the Mini's 1.6 4 pot. This V6 was both sharp, linear and silky smooth.

The not so Good:
* Pedals - Probably not fair, as I had only driven the car for about 20 mins. The pedal positioning (and perhaps width) did feel a little off... Making it difficult for me to rev match / heel and toe.
* Getting in and out - Yes it's a bit of a pain. But is it a pain that I am prepared to live with? I think so!

Overall its a fantastic car. And offered up so many surprises.

Whats next?

I've been given a price list. So plan to review that over the coming weeks. I'm also going to look into signing up to the Lotus Academy. This should give me the opportunity to really explore this car's potential.

I think this could end up replacing the GP!
 
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