With a weightier mid-mounted engine you may expect the Exige to feel tricky on the limit, but on wet roads it’d swing progressively either with a raise or by keeping your foot in. Even yet in sixth gear on the motorway the Exige will leap forwards eagerly at the slightest prod and on an A- or B-road it is as fast as you could realistically want. It was an easy task to catch too, which will be not something you can say of the old four-cylinder car. The quicker steering is strictly what you would expect from Lotus – saturated in feel and it dances in your hands as the car follows the cambers of the road. It’s a stunningly strong engine and throttle response is scintillating, regardless of what your location is in the rev range. The supercharged V6 makes an environment of difference to the type of the car. The Sport setting on the DPM was perfectly judged on the highway, allowing an interesting quantity of slip before reigning things back in beautifully calmly. Last although not least, the newest V6 sounds great – there’s something of the historic racecar about its rich growl and there’s no overpowering supercharger whine either.
The Exige Cup is really a committed car and may be work in the actual for many — it feels far more firmly suspended than every other Lotus we’ve ever taken on the road. The Exige’s price point puts it up against tough rivals — those seeking a road and track capable sports vehicle can find a Porsche Cayman GTS (or its Boxster sibling) or the new BMW M4 coupe for similar money. Almost literally – the firmness of the leading end ensures that everything gets through, both good and bad, with bumps and camber changes doing their best to tweak the wheel out of my hands. The steering is alive, too. The Lotus is just a deliberately dedicted choice, though, and if you’re able to forgo some day-to-day practicality it delivers bigger thrills and higher highs than some of its less compromised foes.
The Exige S feels stunningly quick, to the stage where in actuality the claimed 0-62mph time of 3.8sec seems almost conservative. It might not have the absolute most charismatic V6, 2021 Lotus but it has an addictively rich seam of punchy torque thanks compared to that supercharger. As standard, the thing preventing the Cup from off-the-shelf competition use is having less a roll-cage for the front of the cabin, but Lotus will sell this being an option; apparently several buyers are planning to race their cars in the Lotus Cup.
Per year later, a Roadster version accompanied the Exige S in the price lists (and is practically identical to drive) while there is now the offer of the hardcore Exige V6 Cup. It feels like a mini supercar and proved exciting enough to share our 2012 Car of the Year honours with the Pagani Huayra. Supercharged 3.5-litre engine aside, the greatest piece of technological trickery is the brand new Dynamic Performance Management system. The latest generation is of 2021 Lotus Exige is longer and wider compared to original, and comes with notably more potent V6 power. Exige prices start at £52,900, with the cup requiring yet another £10,000.
But it’s a whole lot more of a thriller than either of those two and is even more compromised. The Lotus Exige is really a rival for similarly priced high-performance coupes just like the Porsche 718 Cayman and Audi TT RS. Previous models range from the Sport 380 and Sport 430. All models make their power from a Toyota-sourced 3.5-litre supercharged V6 engine. The Exige range has changed a good bit over the years, but now starts with the 345bhp Sport 350, before moving around the 410bhp Sport 410, and topping out with the track-focused 430bhp Cup 430. Unlike its lightweight predecessor, it’s powered by way of a supercharged 3.5-litre V6, so performance has brought a big leap forward.
The extra ten grand you will have to locate for the Cup doesn’t buy you any extra power. Performance gains have instead been made on one other side of the power-to-weight ratio, with an extensive stripping-out reducing the Cup’s mass to just 1110kg – 66kg less compared to the Exige S.Trim is predictably minimal, with the cabin floor and sills in bare alloy, and switches for the battery isolator and fire extinguisher where you’d normally get the audio system (which isn’t even an option). There exists a correspondingly serious-looking fire extinguisher bottle filling the majority of the passenger footwell, as the seats are carbon-framed motorsport buckets with four-point harnesses. It has the identical Toyota-sourced 3.5-litre supercharged V6 with a similar 345bhp peak output.
It’s on the basis of the Elise, and despite the bigger price tag, you don’t have more safety kit for your money. Lotus hasn’t had the best reputation for reliability either, with numerous gremlins creeping in after a few months of ownership. Still, a lot of people don’t purchase a Lotus to drive on a daily basis. The Lotus Exige features a driver and passenger airbag and ABS with stability control, but that’s about this for safety aids.