RE: Lotus announces Exige S Club Racer
Friday 20th March 2015
It won't take a genius to realise Lotus's intention with the Exige S Club Racer. There are quite a few people currently very disappointed that they won't be able to buy a Porsche Cayman GT4. Quite a few people who have allocated c.£60K for a mid-engined, six-cylinder manual track car. Oh, to have another option...
15kg saved over standard ExigePH pitched the Exige Cup as a GT4 alternative, Lotus actually receiving a lot of interest off the back of that story. But even as track focused cars go, there remains quite a big leap from the Cayman to the race-ready Exige. So now there's this, the Exige S Club Racer.
Lotus announces Exige S Club Racer
The Elise Club Racer has gone but looks what's arrived instead!
15kg saved over standard Exige
Like the Club Racer Elise just replaced by the 20th Anniversary, the new Exige is a tad lighter (15kg) than standard with a few styling tweaks to mark it out as well. The weight saving comes from a lighter battery, lighter doors, new seats and a new centre console. So the Club Racer kerbweight is 1,161kg but with performance unchanged from the Exige S (four seconds to 62mph, 170mph top speed) and identical downforce (42kg at 100mph) as well.
Paint options for the Exige Club Racer are Metallic White, Exige Orange, Metallic Yellow and optional Matt Black. On all colours the front splitter, rear wing, roof and mirrors are black with Club Racer decals on the seat, dash and wings also marking it out.
Lotus claims the Club Racer extras are worth £4,500 while only adding £2,400 to the price of an Exige S(note the Club Racer is only available as a coupe). That puts it at £56,900, just £1,500 more than a Cayman GTS and £7,500 less than a GT4. Orders are being taken from today - form an orderly queue!
Discussion
Krikkit said:
Looks cracking, must be a serious contender against the Cayman GT4, and available in reasonable numbers too!
I havent spent any time in a new shape Exige, but I am familiar with the 981 Porsche platform Boxsters & Caymans.Is the Exige really a serious alternative to the Cayman (any model, S, GTS or GT4) and vice versa? I would imagine the Exige is a lot more raw, uncompromising and more of a all out drivers car compared to a Cayman - even the GT4. The interior of a GT4 will be up to usual 981 levels with refinement and generally good build quality, how does this compare with an Exige? Likewise the Cayman GT4 weighs over a couple of hundred kilos more than the Exige, and I'm fairly sure it wouldn't be able to keep up with an Exige around a track. Would the same buyer consider both? I'm not sure they would.
What I'm getting at is: modern Porsche products are fairly easy to use every day, and on the whole offer a good balance of feel vs refinement. I have a GT3 myself and used it as a daily driver for a few years without too many problems. Could the average punter who would buy a GT4 for the same use really put up with an Exige day to day? That's not to say that no one could put up with an exige day to day, I'm sure there are many who do and also those who drive more uncompromising cars than an exige regularly. But for the chap who already has a non GT Porsche or similar level sports car who wants something more hardcore and was eyeing up a GT4 - is he/she really going to say "screw this, lets look at an Exige?". I'm sure a small minority may, but the majority will not IMO.
How many people buying GT4s will use them as daily drivers? I doubt it's very many.
You are of course right that most Cayman buyers wouldn't even consider an Exige, but Lotus don't need more than a tiny proportion. They're probably only aiming to sell as many of these in total as Porsche do Caymans in a week.
You are of course right that most Cayman buyers wouldn't even consider an Exige, but Lotus don't need more than a tiny proportion. They're probably only aiming to sell as many of these in total as Porsche do Caymans in a week.
kambites said:
How many people buying GT4s will use them as daily drivers? I doubt it's very many.
You know, I think you may be surprised - I don't think everyone will use it as a daily, but a good proportion probably will. Whatever the amount of Cayman S/GTS owners as a percentage that use the cars regularly or as a daily will be mirrored by GT4 owners I'd say. There will always be owners who use their 2 seater sports car as a weekend toy or garage queen, whatever the model. But why would the usability of a GT4 be greatly reduced compared to an S/GTS? Same storage/practicality as standard car, just more driver focussed and faster. It's going to be interesting to see how harsh the suspension is compared to standard Caymans as the ultimate test of day to day usability.I think the biggest test for its day-to-day usability will be how much mileage affects residuals. An awful lot of them will be bought with a strong eye on residuals if not as outright investments.
What proportion of 911 GT3s are daily drivers? That's probably the closest comparison we have to go on.
What proportion of 911 GT3s are daily drivers? That's probably the closest comparison we have to go on.
EK993 said:
The Exige is the car that Lotus really need to be selling over here in the US, such a shame it doesn't meet federal regulations. Instead we are stuck with the Evora. So frustrating to not be able to get my hands on one.
The forthcoming Exige V6 400 will be federalised apparently.EK993 said:
andy_s said:
The forthcoming Exige V6 400 will be federalised apparently.
That would be great news - any links to corroborate this, I just did a Google search and couldn't see anything?Was there anything intrinsically difficult for the Exige or was it just stuff like side airbags...if it's just stuff then it's a no brainer to federalise it.
Sorry for the bum steer!
andy_s said:
Was there anything intrinsically difficult for the Exige or was it just stuff like side airbags...if it's just stuff then it's a no brainer to federalise it.
As I understand it, the Elise varients have never been properly type approved in the US, they've always been sold under some sort of time-limited exemption for various things which couldn't meet type approval (such as headlight height?); I guess that exemption expired. kambites said:
As I understand it, the Elise varients have never been properly type approved in the US, they've always been sold under some sort of time-limited exemption for various things which couldn't meet type approval (such as headlight height?); I guess that exemption expired.
Yes expired a few years ago 
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