Lotus Club Queensland
Dedicated to the promotion and enhancement of the Lotus experience
Login
Register
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Membership
    • Member Login
  • Events
    • Calendar
  • Motorsport
    • Lakeside DTC Timed Laps
    • LAKESIDE DTC RESULTS
  • Magazine
  • For Sale
    • Merchandise
    • Classifieds
  • Posts
  • Galleries
  • Directory
    • Suppliers & Parts
    • Advertisers
  • Archives
exige-review-banner

Lotus Exige review

MY20 Lotus Exige 410 Sport

Story and pictures by Justin Goosen.

After 4 months of ownership, what’s the verdict?

Perhaps some back story to give perspective, keep in mind I’m not a professional journalist so this is my opinion on what it’s like to own a Lotus Exige. This is the third Lotus I have owned in a relatively short time period. First was a Silver Elise S2, second was a Red MY17 Elise 220 Sport and now the Exige 410. Stick in a Porsche Cayman somewhere in the middle for good measure, but that’s a story for another time.

Let us start with some of the fun stuff and have a look at a few of the Exige 410 key specifications & performance figures –
• Engine 3456cc (3.5L) Supercharged V6
• Power 305kW (410Hp) @ 7000rpm
• Torque 420Nm @ 3000-7000rpm
• Acceleration 3.4 s (0-100km/h)
• Tare Mass 1083 kg
• Power to Weight Ratio 281.6 kW/t

The performance figures are impressive but that is only part of what makes the Exige great. There’s also the fully adjustable Nitro suspension, Eibach adjustable anti-roll bars, lightweight forged alloy wheels, AP Racing high performance brakes and plenty of factory fitted carbon fibre bits which save weight and look fantastic. Other standard features include Cornering Brake Control (CBC), ABS and Lotus Dynamic Performance Management which includes the Traction Control and driving modes (Sport/Race).

Numbers are important but need to be understood to be appreciated, for example the torque figure (420Nm) is good but the way the engine delivers the torque from low in the rev range (3000rpm) makes all the difference. Couple that engine through a 6 speed manual transmission to a vehicle which only weighs 1100kg makes for some real fun. In order to quantify the power to weight ratio of 281.6 kW/t you would need to compare it to some serious vehicles, as an example if you had $350k plus to spend the Porsche 911 GT2 (997) power to weight ratio is 283 kW/t and 0-100km/h takes 3.7 seconds, let’s not talk about cost of ownership.

The new Exige is not cheap, priced from around $180k, now that’s A LOT of money but I think all vehicles are overpriced! In today’s age of electronics (control systems) and technology, vehicles have become too refined, too subdued, almost ‘too good’ if you will. The result is a loss of character, feeling and being connected to the machine. Lotus is renowned for their handling, analogue controls, mechanical steering and paired back approach to building vehicles, add a 400hp engine to the recipe and you get a wild beast that literally ‘snorts’ as you change gears at the rev limiter. Point the steering wheel, press the throttle pedal to the floor and hang on… Is it worth it? HELL YES!

So nothing could be perfect right? If I had to find faults with the vehicle, the glass between the cockpit and engine bay gets really hot and transfers the heat into the cabin so AC will be used regularly. Very limited space between the drive and passenger, the side mirrors are horrible, the internal controls (indicator/wiper) stalks are cheap, fixings (bolts/clips) that hold things together are crap. Do these things really matter? If they do, buy yourself a Porsche/BMW/Audi/Merc and enjoy your regular, boring, fanny pack mode of transportation ha ha.

So what is the Lotus then? “it’s a go cart for the road”, “it’s the most fun you can have on four wheels”, “it’s the thing you don’t need but damn you really want”.

IMG_3371
IMG_3374
IMG_3375
IMG_3377
IMG_3380
IMG_3381
IMG_3386
IMG_3503
IMG_3557
IMG_3558

[Show slideshow]
50 Years with a Lotus Seven Europa Aerodynamics

Related Posts

mp-banner

Events, Gallery 2022, Homepage, Racing

Morgan Park Sprints R4

kevs-banner

EMRs, Gallery 2022, Homepage

Kev’s Big Day Out

duratec-banner

Articles, Homepage, Technical

Duratec Elise – better late than never

Random images

IMG_4374 emr-3 Timekeepers Gail and Daryl _MG_5012 as Smart Object-1 _MG_5010 as Smart Object-1 _MG_4783 as Smart Object-1 Alex what-have-we-here btiu-18 Jon The_offending_joint IMG_4285 IMG_4283 IMG_8802 IMG_3899 breakfast Group_Shot IMG_6821 Jon and Dick IMG_3344 Warwick-July-2019 Outright-winners-Paul-and-Kate IMG_0490-4 The Jury Liam chasing Matt Rhys Watson 2013 Renault Megane RS265 - 2 Carol-Suzanne_gw Ploughman's Lunch europas-3 IMG_1913 Lotus display in the street farm-life Carolyn & now Senior Craig 20160806_085605 Daryl, Steve and Adam Car 194 Rus_and_Leigh_Carter IMG_7309 image_110 122_2239_IMG IMGP8558 F1000002 IMG_0404 Winding-road-to-OReillys- main-10 IMG_7387 IMG_0233 IMG_0293_1 Joe,-scrutineer-and-Clive IMG_0032 IMG_4871 lot_005 IMG_3807 P1060260 Aug_F02_2388a IMG_7752 IMG_3946 IMG_0939 IMG_5227 36_MG_2621 IMG_1267e Daryl_Shane_Jenny 175_175 076_76 IMG_3187 P6220135 P6220116 IMG_8088 IMG_3638 The Lads image0-2 Sizing-up-the-competition Mal-Greg-Chris-Janette-Giles 1-DrewDundas Taking in the fresh air John and Debbie's Evora 3 IMG_0903 cid_440 Just-the-right-number-of-zip-ties-for-dynamic-flex-aero-by-Darryl-Ringuet Regrouping Steves-Europa-S received_676311546392473 winner-bill-blackmore-plus2 Flat-out-in-Poland Sam Murphy Martin esprit-3 _MG_9687 as Smart Object-1 The-tasting-table_GW classic-seven-cockpit main-29 gloria-rob-vyv main-24 mg-racer-2 main-25 alex's-elise Jason Trophy Orange is the new black IMAG6159

Recent Articles

  • Morgan Park Sprints R4
  • Kev’s Big Day Out
  • Duratec Elise – better late than never
  • Gold Rush Hill Sprint – 2022
  • Marburg Pub Run – 4 Sept 2022
  • Unique +2 Road Trip to Brisbane
  • Leyburn 2022
  • August 2022 DTC

Latest Gallery Images

20220220_093834 20220220_093818 20220220_093827 20220220_093743 20220220_093812 20220220_093730

Search articles by category

Archived articles

Lotus Club Queensland
© Lotus Club Queensland   |   Site by Black Eye Studios