RE: Lotus Exige Automatic spec confirmed
Discussion
Frimley111R said:
Its great! I have it on my Evora and when' pressing on you get 'flat shifts' (ok they might not be the fastest but they are still damn fast) and blips on the downchange for that 'driving god' feeling!
You do realise you can blip the throttle yourself in a manual, if you have a modicum of coordination between your left hand and your right foot? It doesn't take a 'driving god' to manage it! 
Am I missing something here? £2000 for something that is no faster around Hethel and yet is EIGHT miles per hour slower at the top end? Oh, it's a mile per gallon more economical, so how long would that take to recoup the £2000 outlay: 30 years??? Uhhh, I'm all for progress, but in this case - I think I'd stick with a manual!
Matt Bird said:
kambites said:
thatdude said:
Is it a ZF unit, or is it lotus's own design?
I assume it's the same Toyota unit used in the Evora (which probably isn't made by Toyota at all). Edited to add: Yes. Appears to be the Aisin U660E as used in the Toyota Camry.
Toyota own a large chunk of the company, so a lot of folk describe the gearboxes as "Toyota" ones.
Edited by CraigyMc on Friday 30th January 09:25
Baryonyx said:
Frimley111R said:
Its great! I have it on my Evora and when' pressing on you get 'flat shifts' (ok they might not be the fastest but they are still damn fast) and blips on the downchange for that 'driving god' feeling!
You do realise you can blip the throttle yourself in a manual, if you have a modicum of coordination between your left hand and your right foot? It doesn't take a 'driving god' to manage it! 
RobM77 said:
I fear it'll reduce driver involvement, but it's surely good news for those with limited use of their left leg, or even completely disabled drivers.
As someone with a dodgy left leg due to motorbike broken back I heartily agree. Having said that, getting into my mates Elise is quite an experience in itself with the injury. It's not very graceful 
Cracking cars though so the more people who can drive one the better, and good for Lotus bank balance to boot.
PS the manual gearbox on the Elise is not actually that great from what I have seen. From watching it in action it is not like a rifle bolt.
Edited by Gandahar on Thursday 29th January 17:37
Arsecati said:
Am I missing something here? £2000 for something that is no faster around Hethel and yet is EIGHT miles per hour slower at the top end? Oh, it's a mile per gallon more economical, so how long would that take to recoup the £2000 outlay: 30 years??? Uhhh, I'm all for progress, but in this case - I think I'd stick with a manual!
Yes you are missing something. The UK market and its particular tastes are almost irrelevant. Asian markets are the fastest growing game in town. Asian markets don't really go for manual cars. Therefore, you need to have an auto to get a slice of the pie. No auto, no sales. So whether it's slower or faster than a manual car doesn't really matter. What matters is product acceptance in a fast growing market, and that requires an auto gearbox.
Have I made it clear enough for you?
It may be worth pointing out that it's not compulsory to buy the self shifting car. The manual box is still available for those who may prefer a more conventional set up. I doubt that will placate any further frothing - especially from those who have never even sat inside an Exige, least of all are considering buying one - but I felt it was worthwhile mentioning there is a choice.
k it off back where it came from!!! alock said:
Is this from when you start to pull the lever? Are the other times (i.e. 80ms for BMW) just the actual gear change process even though it might occur several hundred milliseconds after starting to pull the paddle?
You wouldn't have thought Lotus would pick a measure that makes it look very slow.The 911 GT3 PDK is quoted as under 100ms.
kambites said:
rhinochopig said:
240ms is ages - that's quarter of a second or about 5 times slower than the best DC boxes.
Indeed. a quarter of a second is easily perceptible. 
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