Exige first drive - now I'm smitten
Discussion
Hi all,
I attended a track day at the weekend at Bedford (GT track) with some mates. One of them had a 480hp Westfield Turbo that was just about the most frightening experience I've ever had in a car! I imagine that this 800bhp/tonne monster is about as close as you can get to a pillion ride on an R1...
Anyway the reason for this post is that I also got a drive in a Lotus Exige (supercharged) - my first drive of any Exige/Elise car. I used to have a 160bhp 7, so I've some experience of lightweight cars, and have since poured a huge amount of time and money into a prolonged love affair with manual gearbox Porsche 928s. "You'll fall in love" said my friend before we headed out on track, and it was so.
It was quick - didn't feel massively faster than my 7 but obviously we were 2 up and an Exige weighs more than a 7. But it wasn't the raw pace of the thing but the overall package, the steering, the brakes, even the limit handling which I thought might be twitchy due to the mid engined layout, was beautiful. We had a couple of oversteer situations which I was able to blend out nicely with some corrective lock and a soft foot on the gas.
Overall what caught me was the simplicity of the experience - great vision (forwards and side at least), lovely controls, endless feel and the feeling of being able to drive around anything.
I have to have one, only question is which model. I think an S2 Elise 111S looks like stonking value at around £13k.
Joel
I attended a track day at the weekend at Bedford (GT track) with some mates. One of them had a 480hp Westfield Turbo that was just about the most frightening experience I've ever had in a car! I imagine that this 800bhp/tonne monster is about as close as you can get to a pillion ride on an R1...
Anyway the reason for this post is that I also got a drive in a Lotus Exige (supercharged) - my first drive of any Exige/Elise car. I used to have a 160bhp 7, so I've some experience of lightweight cars, and have since poured a huge amount of time and money into a prolonged love affair with manual gearbox Porsche 928s. "You'll fall in love" said my friend before we headed out on track, and it was so.
It was quick - didn't feel massively faster than my 7 but obviously we were 2 up and an Exige weighs more than a 7. But it wasn't the raw pace of the thing but the overall package, the steering, the brakes, even the limit handling which I thought might be twitchy due to the mid engined layout, was beautiful. We had a couple of oversteer situations which I was able to blend out nicely with some corrective lock and a soft foot on the gas.
Overall what caught me was the simplicity of the experience - great vision (forwards and side at least), lovely controls, endless feel and the feeling of being able to drive around anything.
I have to have one, only question is which model. I think an S2 Elise 111S looks like stonking value at around £13k.
Joel
barchetta_boy said:
Apart from the numbers on the speedo are the driving experiences really so different?
Well they're more like each other than anything else, but they are appreciably different. The Exige has more grip; quite a lot more power; and significantly more weight. The Elise has better steering feel and marginally better throttle response. The brakes feel completely different - the Exige is a servo assisted ABS setup, the Elise is unassisted; neither is "better", it's just a matter of personal preference. The K-gearbox in the K-series Elise feels quite crude compared to the Exige, being longer of throw and significantly more "wooly", but the lack of precision seems to vanish if you double declutch and rev match properly which makes it quite a rewarding 'box to drive with if you can be bothered.
Try one. For me the 111S is the best Elise derivative (possibly excluding the V6, since I haven't driven one) for general day-to-day road use. Others are better for track or "sunny day only" road driving.
Another possibility is the 111R, you might pick one up for £1-2K more. Similar to the Exige you drove, engine/drivetrain/brakes wise
Still differences in Suspension and power, although only 30bhp. Power delivery is also different to both the 111S & Exige 220 as the 111R needs to get into the higher rev range to provide the smiles usually.
Still differences in Suspension and power, although only 30bhp. Power delivery is also different to both the 111S & Exige 220 as the 111R needs to get into the higher rev range to provide the smiles usually.
barchetta_boy said:
Can't afford an Exige 220 and my wife would not want to be seen in one! Elise I reckon I can just about get away with as its open top. Such things matter for family harmony.
Apart from the numbers on the speedo are the driving experiences really so different?
I had a 160 S1, an S2 111S and a supercharged (250ish bhp) Exige. I have driven NA 111Rs and Exiges too.Apart from the numbers on the speedo are the driving experiences really so different?
None of them differ 'that' much in terms of driving experience and they are clearly very closely related and very different to anything else on the road. They all have sublime steering feel and handling.
The 111S simply didn't have enough straight line pace to keep me amused apart from on the tightest of backroads. That said, it is still a sublime car and if you budget won't stretch beyond one of those, then I don't think you would be disappointed. Worth trying a 111R I guess as I would imagine they can't be more than £15k - £16k for an early one so not far above the price of a 111S, but in a non-supercharged Toyota car -v- a lighter K-series I found that the performance difference negligible and the NA toyota seems harder work to extract that performance. To me the Toyota needs the charger to make it work properly, whereas the ideology behind the K-series in an Elise works adopting a difference approach.
kambites said:
Well they're more like each other than anything else, but they are appreciably different.
The Exige has more grip; quite a lot more power; and significantly more weight. The Elise has better steering feel and marginally better throttle response. The brakes feel completely different - the Exige is a servo assisted ABS setup, the Elise is unassisted; neither is "better", it's just a matter of personal preference. The K-gearbox in the K-series Elise feels quite crude compared to the Exige, being longer of throw and significantly more "wooly", but the lack of precision seems to vanish if you double declutch and rev match properly which makes it quite a rewarding 'box to drive with if you can be bothered.
Everything he said... except IMHO the unassisted brakes on the 111S are better than any others I've ever used (will be closer in feel to your previous 7).The Exige has more grip; quite a lot more power; and significantly more weight. The Elise has better steering feel and marginally better throttle response. The brakes feel completely different - the Exige is a servo assisted ABS setup, the Elise is unassisted; neither is "better", it's just a matter of personal preference. The K-gearbox in the K-series Elise feels quite crude compared to the Exige, being longer of throw and significantly more "wooly", but the lack of precision seems to vanish if you double declutch and rev match properly which makes it quite a rewarding 'box to drive with if you can be bothered.
kambites said:
Try one. For me the 111S is the best Elise derivative (possibly excluding the V6, since I haven't driven one) for general day-to-day road use. Others are better for track or "sunny day only" road driving.
Yep - daily drive a 111S! Test drove the V6 last week though... 
I think to really enjoy the naturally aspirated Toyota engine in the 111R/R and NA Exige you have to like that kind of thing. Mine replaced an RX-8, which replaced a Civic Type-R, so yes, I do like that kind of thing. The Toyota unit is actually even more peaky than either the Honda's K20 or the Renesis, but the car is light enough that it doesn't really matter.
All good thoughts, thanks guys.
I had a 'K' in my 7 and I loved the power delivery of the engine. It loved to rev but was relatively linear in the way it made power (160bhp from a 1.6 @ 7300). Actually it sounded and felt like it was about to explode above 6000rpm but that was part of the fun.
I'll try and get a drive in a 111S.
Joel
I had a 'K' in my 7 and I loved the power delivery of the engine. It loved to rev but was relatively linear in the way it made power (160bhp from a 1.6 @ 7300). Actually it sounded and felt like it was about to explode above 6000rpm but that was part of the fun.
I'll try and get a drive in a 111S.
Joel
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