New Exige

[Del Lardo]

Anyone else think this has kind of missed the point of Lotus'?

Dumping a V6 in to give it more power seems the lazy route. And then to price it at £55k seems a bit odd.

But we shall see. I fear Lotus are aiming their cars at companies who are just going to beat them hands down.

So now it's lazy to get rid of a flat4 and replace it with a V6 with ~50% more power

£55k is still cheaper than most of the competition, the only car I can see at parity price wise is the Cayman R and that is 200kg heavier despite the Exige V6 being 'heavy' and the Cayman R being the 'lightweight' model.

As said above, beat them at what? The Evora is widely recognised as being the best handling car in its class and I doubt that a freshly resurfaced Hethel will make Lotus engineers forget how to make a car handle overnight so the Exige V6 should handle like a Lotus. No doubt the interior will not be up to Porsche standards and it will not have the ability to go round corners really fast like a GTR but not everyone wants to drive a Playstation and not everyone gives a hoot about the ultimate interior stitching standards.

From what I've seen from the MY12 Evora, Lotus have made huge strides forward in terms of creating a nice looking place to sit (the actual sitting has always been brilliant IMO) and I think the big mistake Lotus have made with the Exige V6 is to call it an Exige in the first place as it strikes me as the spiritual sucessor to the Esprit 350......

 

[griffo_001]

I'm far more interested in the Exige RGT

That bonnet light pod has no right to look that cool!

 

[Lashout_UK]

Saw it testing around Millbrook several months ago - sounded pretty epic. Managed to overtake it on the Alpine circuit - when it pulled over for a rest break It was heavily camouflaged at the time but it was pretty obvious what it was.

 

[danza]

I get this.

But it is lardy compared to earlier cars.

 

[Flibster]

I get this.

But it is lardy compared to earlier cars.

Just had a quick search, can't believe the original Exige was 780kg. Around 60% of the V6's weight. Ouch.

 

[Will Gill]

Just had a quick search, can't believe the original Exige was 780kg. Around 60% of the V6's weight. Ouch.

which was my point entirely

it's very porky pig without a gigantic power increase to justify it's weight

plenty of better cars for the money, because lets face it, an exige has always been a balls out sparse interior lightweight nuts car, for 55k you can purchase a luxurious car with similar performance.

2p

 

[peterattheboro]

which was my point entirely

it's very porky pig without a gigantic power increase to justify it's weight

plenty of better cars for the money, because lets face it, an exige has always been a balls out sparse interior lightweight nuts car, for 55k you can purchase a luxurious car with similar performance.

2p

Or do it properly and buy an Ariel Atom.

 

[NathanE]

I don't understand why the new Exige has some crappy P-Zero road tyres on it? Why not semi-slicks like the old Exige?

 

[DJMK4]

MMmmmmmm

Extra Special

 

[Flibster]

I don't understand why the new Exige has some crappy P-Zero road tyres on it? Why not semi-slicks like the old Exige?

Isn't it £55K for the standard version.
There will probably be a track pack which will include the slicks and other stuff that should be standard for £5k or something like that.

If you can, milk it...

 

[Skeeter]

I don't understand why the new Exige has some crappy P-Zero road tyres on it? Why not semi-slicks like the old Exige?

Maybe a hint that this Exige is aimed at a different market than the last ones?

 

[Dredd]

P zero, strange move. That's for big girls with lotus Elise maybe hope of a faster more track aimed car later on?

 

[Skeeter]

P zero, strange move. That's for big girls with lotus Elise maybe hope of a faster more track aimed car later on?

I thought the Exige was meant to be the faster track focused car?

 

[-Neil-]

One of the options includes Pirelli Trofeo tyres which for all intents and purposes are sticky rubber.

As a current shape owner I'm on the fence regarding the looks, as for the performance I'll believe it when I see an independent test as the current Exige was supposed to do 4 to 60 and the ton in under 10 seconds hahaha which I don't think anyone has ever managed to do in a standard car!

Neil.

 

[Del Lardo]

Just had a quick search, can't believe the original Exige was 780kg. Around 60% of the V6's weight. Ouch.

which was my point entirely

it's very porky pig without a gigantic power increase to justify it's weight

plenty of better cars for the money, because lets face it, an exige has always been a balls out sparse interior lightweight nuts car, for 55k you can purchase a luxurious car with similar performance.

2p

Maybe I'm struggling to see your point through my Lotus tinted spectacles but why the obsession with comparing the weight of the Exige V6 with the original, each time a new 911 is launched do you sit around bemoaning the fact that it is 40% heavier than the 1970s model? Whether we like it or not the game has moved on and those who want a car like the S1 Exige will buy an S1 Exige (probably for ~1/3 of the cost of the V6).

Interestingly if you look at the power/weight ration of the two cars.....
S1 Exige - 780kg - 177bhp (190bhp later on) - 227bhp/ton (244bhp/ton)
V6 Exige - 1080kg - 345bhp - 319bhp/ton

Personally I'd say it's moved in the right direction. Also worth looking at the bhp/ton thread on here, 319bhp/ton would put it in 6th place ahead of a 911 GT3 (though I'll happily concede that the 997 GT3 RS 4.0 has 365bhp/ton though it is twice the price of the Exige V6) which is pretty damn impressive if you read down the list of cars though mk1_salamis' Eunos deserves some cudos for embarrassing us all

The Exige V6 is also 250kg lighter than the Cayman R which IMO is worthy of some note. I do wonder if at Frankfurt Porsche had announced a Cayman RS with 345bhp weighing in at <1100kg for sub £60000 if the reaction would have been somewhat different.

I don't understand why the new Exige has some crappy P-Zero road tyres on it? Why not semi-slicks like the old Exige?

I thought the Exige was meant to be the faster track focused car?

A lot of customers like to use their track focussed car as an everyday vehicle or a weekend toy and as great as semi-slick tyres are in the dry, on a wet December evening on the M25 they are a liability. All Lotus have done is recognise this this and spec standard road rubber as standard and give people the option of upgrading to semi-slicks if they want them.

Sounds sensible to me.

 

[Del Lardo]

Maybe I'm on a lot of ignore lists but I'm genuinely interested in peoples opinions on this car, especially those who don't like it

 

[NathanE]

I like it. And I think it will look better in the flesh. But the side view looks wrong to me, the rear is too long compared to the front and middle sections of the car.

Also not too fond of the GT1 / Esprit esque back end. But that could change when I see it in the flesh.

 

[Will Gill]

I like it but it will be sparse internally, so whilst it's lighter than the cayman R it will feel like it you are sitting in a gaunt aneorexic shell with a massive heavy belly - the Amy winehouse car!
For me a 55k car is all about personally perception, if I blew 55k on a 'lightweight' balls out car I'd want millions of horsepower not 345, infact I'd save myself 20k and buy a noble!

I love lotus's even though I owned an S1 exige and it spend 95% of the time in the garage, this one really doesn't float my boat although I'm sure it's hugely capable.

 

[Trifid]

Maybe I'm on a lot of ignore lists but I'm genuinely interested in peoples opinions on this car, especially those who don't like it

I would prefer a lighter, less powerful and cheaper track/fast road car. But then again at the price it is more marketed at someone a little older than myself with deeper pockets.

I don't mind the styling, the long tail styling gives the car more presence.

 

[eidolon]

That looks like my perfect car. As long as it handles like the Exige of old then I'm sure it'll be superb. I don't really care if it has electric heated cup holders or anything.

I've driven plenty of fast and capable cars but nothing has come close to the feeling I got from driving an Elise. I drove mine hard on the road and never got close to it's limits and I drove one on track a few weeks back and still couldn't get it out of shape, no matter how hard I cornered it it just laughed at me and almost asked if that's all I had. (believe me I wasn't hanging around either)