RE: Auto 'box for Lotus Exige S

[otolith]

But the TTRS is the best second best (now that you've got something else) car in the world.

[JohnT993]

Dear Lotus.
Don't call it an Automatic.
Trust me on this one.
Whilst it may well be an automatic, no one wants to hear that word and Lotus together. Even the people who will buy it.
Come up with a made-up name for it. IPS wasnt a great name, but ok. PDK is good. I always kinda' liked 'Switchtronic'.
Thanks
Lotus Exige owner

[MrTappets]

JohnT993 said:

Dear Lotus.
Don't call it an Automatic.
Trust me on this one.
Whilst it may well be an automatic, no one wants to hear that word and Lotus together. Even the people who will buy it.
Come up with a made-up name for it. IPS wasnt a great name, but ok. PDK is good. I always kinda' liked 'Switchtronic'.
Thanks
Lotus Exige owner

Makes it sound like a Rover 800

[stephen300o]

Yup, I presumed typo, that description died in the seventies.

But a torque converter in an exige.. Eh?

[kambites]

dapearson said:

The front end does look bad, surely anyone can see that??!

Horses for courses. I prefer the s1 and s2.

The S1 is certainly more cohesive, if rather dated looking now. Personally, I think the S2 is a bit of a mess from most angles, although the front looks better than the back. Everything based on the 111 platform looks more interesting than 99% of things on the road, though, including all of the obvious competition, and looks are hardly the primary reason to buy one.

Edited by kambites on Friday 24th October 14:16

[bobo]

JohnT993 said:

Dear Lotus.
Don't call it an Automatic.
Trust me on this one.
Whilst it may well be an automatic, no one wants to hear that word and Lotus together. Even the people who will buy it.
Come up with a made-up name for it. IPS wasnt a great name, but ok. PDK is good. I always kinda' liked 'Switchtronic'.
Thanks
Lotus Exige owner

Dear Lotus ... pls make me an exige with 430ish bhp and stick whatever you want in it!

me and all my friends will all buy one

Lotus Exige v6 owner

[Europa1]

otolith said:

But the TTRS is the best second best (now that you've got something else) car in the world.

Otolith, noooo, don't feed the troll! Having had an Evora S, I can't say I particularly quaked in my boots at the sight of a TT RS. Oh no, now I've fed him too.

[Oz83]

4oClock said:

Lotus can't afford to develop a fancy dual-clutch system, and this opens up part of that market. day-to day I barely use 50% of the elise's ability, let alone using a much more capable car. so in real terms, an auto exige is going to be a very usable car. and Lotus need usable cars to survive.

Dunno if it's the gearbox that makes these cars less usable than the competition for daily use. Who climbs over a tall, 8" wide door sill, lowers them self into a very low, fixed bucket seat in a cramped cockpit that's virtually devoid of any luxuries, then thinks 'wait a minute, this would be much better if I didn't have to change gear today'.

[redroadster]

hopefully it will help them sell cars if there is a demand for it, and that's what they need to do to stay alive sell more cars the increasing power and speeds of everyday hot hatches true sports cars need to feel special I am surprised by there direction but they must feel that's what the market wants its just seems strange.

[kbf1981]

mrdemon said:

AN Auto Exige , what ever next !!!!!

An old engine, now fitting an old style Auto and adding even more weight.

Lotus are going backwards not forwards ;-(

Very sad to read...

Cars going to weigh more than a basic mk3 Audi TT now !!!

Edited by mrdemon on Friday 24th October 13:21

You comment on every thread about Lotus. It's like reading the facebook comments girls make when they have a go at their ex. Tbh I love my Exige V6, it's like a little racing car and it's silly fast even coming from supercars previously.

[kbf1981]

bobo said:

JohnT993 said:

Dear Lotus.
Don't call it an Automatic.
Trust me on this one.
Whilst it may well be an automatic, no one wants to hear that word and Lotus together. Even the people who will buy it.
Come up with a made-up name for it. IPS wasnt a great name, but ok. PDK is good. I always kinda' liked 'Switchtronic'.
Thanks
Lotus Exige owner

Dear Lotus ... pls make me an exige with 430ish bhp and stick whatever you want in it!

me and all my friends will all buy one

Lotus Exige v6 owner

Totally this! or 500bhp!

[JohnT993]

bobo said:

JohnT993 said:

Dear Lotus.
Don't call it an Automatic.
Trust me on this one.
Whilst it may well be an automatic, no one wants to hear that word and Lotus together. Even the people who will buy it.
Come up with a made-up name for it. IPS wasnt a great name, but ok. PDK is good. I always kinda' liked 'Switchtronic'.
Thanks
Lotus Exige owner

Dear Lotus ... pls make me an exige with 430ish bhp and stick whatever you want in it!

me and all my friends will all buy one

Lotus Exige v6 owner

so your saying a power to weight of around 300 isn't enough?!?

http://www.komo-tec.com/LOTUS-Exige-V6/Leistungsph...

some people are never happy ;-)

[Europa1]

kbf1981 said:

mrdemon said:

AN Auto Exige , what ever next !!!!!

An old engine, now fitting an old style Auto and adding even more weight.

Lotus are going backwards not forwards ;-(

Very sad to read...

Cars going to weigh more than a basic mk3 Audi TT now !!!

Edited by mrdemon on Friday 24th October 13:21

You comment on every thread about Lotus. It's like reading the facebook comments girls make when they have a go at their ex. Tbh I love my Exige V6, it's like a little racing car and it's silly fast even coming from supercars previously.

This. I do wonder if he came one evening to find an Exige doing his missus on the kitchen table.

[Vee12V]

JohnT993 said:

Dear Lotus.
Don't call it an Automatic.
Trust me on this one.
Whilst it may well be an automatic, no one wants to hear that word and Lotus together. Even the people who will buy it.
Come up with a made-up name for it. IPS wasnt a great name, but ok. PDK is good. I always kinda' liked 'Switchtronic'.
Thanks
Lotus Exige owner

Exactly, Lotus has to have the worst marketing department in the whole industry.

[Wkotuning]

Zoin said:

Wkotuning said:

Stick to what your good at lotus. Elise + Exige = Track focused fun to drive cars. Forget the daily driver market its not your seen. The Cayman's got that market sown up and has the prestige to boot.

Drop the Evora/Europa and any others, your diluting the brand. Concentrate on the Elise / Exige, scale down production just to these two in all markets and you'll find profitability and stronger market presence from it.

Similar advice could have been given to Porsche with regard to their entry into the SUV market some years ago. JLR, BMW and Mercedes appeared to have that market sown up.

Die-hards would argue it has diluted Porsche's 'brand' but just look at the effect on their profitability and market presence. Hasn't hurt their sports car sales either.

Lotus need to be flexible enough to respond to a changing global market. As such, this is a good move if executed well.

Porsche entering the SUV market is completely different from what Lotus was trying to do unsuccessfully with 4 models a few years back....that was dilution.

I agree that putting paddle shift is a step forward on the Exige, but it needs to be done right, rather than making it a lazy commuter tool it should be there to give a better driving experience.

You can tell there scared of this perception too.... hence the story update.

[T4NG0]

Glad to hear it's an improvement on the Evora IPS , which I found to be sluggish in terms of changing gear, from the time you pulled the paddle to the time it changed gear.

Now if they can drop that in the Evora , I could be tempted

[DP33]

Bring on the new Esprit. Please?!

There's so much goodwill for / towards the Lotus brand that I'm seriously thinking about starting one of those Downing Street petitions to get the launch of a new Esprit debated in Parliament. Once its enshrined in law the even the Malaysians will have to comply. Won't they?

[4oClock]

Oz83 said:

Dunno if it's the gearbox that makes these cars less usable than the competition for daily use. Who climbs over a tall, 8" wide door sill, lowers them self into a very low, fixed bucket seat in a cramped cockpit that's virtually devoid of any luxuries, then thinks 'wait a minute, this would be much better if I didn't have to change gear today'.

i know what you mean, but you get in and out once a trip. In traffic you change gear often, but the pedals are set for quick driving. i use my elise every day and it's a chore to commute in, but an utter joy at the weekends. maybe it's just mine, but the gearbox & clutch aren't the easiest. of course i'd rather see a high-tech duel version with paddle-shifters and all, but Lotus would need Toyotas help to develop it.

[pycraft]

Europa1 said:

otolith said:

But the TTRS is the best second best (now that you've got something else) car in the world.

Otolith, noooo, don't feed the troll! Having had an Evora S, I can't say I particularly quaked in my boots at the sight of a TT RS. Oh no, now I've fed him too.

Otolith is just providing balance.

(Medical joke)

[pycraft]

What's interesting is that they've sort of returned to their lineup circa 1990. Back then you had a 2-seater mid-engined car (Esprit) and a 2+2 (Excel) which shared an engine, plus a smaller car (Elan). Granted the Evora has an engine at the opposite end, but it's fascinating to see how the Exige has grown into a new model identity. Given that there probably isn't a lot of extra cost in manufacturing an Exige to making an Elise, and the markup is thus significantly higher, it will be interesting to see if they leave the sub-£50k market altogether in the coming few years.