Getting a Exige

[TheHun]

Hi folks,
I'm about to get a car here and leaning towards an Exige. I testdrove an Exige S today with the Touring and Sports pack (and the sports exhaust). I also drove an Elise R just for the engine (well and the woman would prefer the Elise). I'm pondering now which Elise to get and which packs it should have. The Touring pack is a must, the Supertouring pack would be nice for the airbags and the other small bits and pieces. The Sports pack is ok, but I don't know how big the difference is to not having it. So is it worthwhile having it? I will do the occasional track day and the rest on normal UK roads (and London).

And does it have to be the S? (Obviously I'd like to have as much power as possible but is it worth the money?

I'm not necessarily keen on a new one since it's above my budget (30K) but then you know with a new one that no one has fooled around with it.

[Alexbturbo]

I bought my Exige S a few months ago and the only luxuries i asked for were aircon & elec windows - otherwise the car was supplied new with just the sports pack, no touring packs, etc - i have been using it as a daily driver for most of the time i've owned it and tbh glad i didnt specify the touring pack as the sports pack seats, etc are still more than confortable for daily driving

[bogie]

id try and get a used Exige S then ...you will only want more power later and aftermarket supercharger kits are like £7K

as for the packs, well the minimum i would want is aircon - after that you can add everything else yourself later if you really find you need it

[TheHun]

Aircon is a must so didn't mention that, and electric windows are sort of as well. Just don't want to go back to the 80s ;-) Getting everything from the touring pack later is a bit of a pain (if possible at all) and I don't want the car to be in a constant state of change. How important are the oil coolers from the sports pack for the occasional track day?

[boobles]

So why this then?

[peter450]

Supercharged car has much more torque, makes accessing the performance much easier, many have commented the S is amuch nicer drive becuase the performance is there in any gear.

Non supercharged car has it's powerband right at the top of the RPM range, if you love to work the engne, then thats not gonna be a problem, if you dont like revving your car like crazy maybe it will, you said you went for a testdrive on both, which did you prefer?

The extra oil cooler would only really be neccesary for those putting in some serious trackwork/on the limit driving lap after lap, for the track novice/occasional trackdayer a single oil cooler should be fine.

Airconn is the only real essential extra, lot of people like the sports pack seats aswell

Remember that most of the stuff in the add on packs consists of a bit of carpet or some matts, a differant style of seat etc it's not hard to add the vast majority of these extra's later

Edited by peter450 on Sunday 19th August 09:31

[TheHun]

Thanks, basically out of all the touring packs I only want noise insulation panel, electric windows, radio and airbags. Can do or without the rest.

What is the opinion on the sports pack suspension (remember that the sales guy said there are different dampers in)? The traction control might be good in wet conditions.

[London Lotus]

TheHun said:

Thanks, basically out of all the touring packs I only want noise insulation panel, electric windows, radio and airbags. Can do or without the rest.

What is the opinion on the sports pack suspension (remember that the sales guy said there are different dampers in)? The traction control might be good in wet conditions.

Hi Markus,
The Sports Pack doesn't change the suspension set-up, that is the Exige S over the Exige. You get a double-shear rear traction control arm brace. The dampers are Bilstein mono-tube on both Exige and S.It is different however to the Elise R that you drove.

Hope this helps.
Regards, Kris

[TheHun]

Thanks Kris, got that wrong then. will drop you an email later this week. Just very busy at work

[Grinzzz]

London Lotus said:

You get a double-shear rear traction control arm brace.

Whats that when its sat at home drinking G&T then?

[Figgis]

Grinzzz said:

London Lotus said:

You get a double-shear rear traction control arm brace.

Whats that when its sat at home drinking G&T then?

It basically helps with track usage more than anything else, with a specific help when negotiating kerbs on the corners of the track it takes the brunt of the abuse from the raised kerbing.

[Phil-CH]

If you get a standard Exige and want to upgrade it at a later time with a non-Lotus aftermarket supercharger, you may want to make sure it has the twin-oil coolers.

Cheers Phil

PS: If you don't want airbags standard, you may want to hurry and get a MY07 (or earlier), as MY08 will have quite a few changes (see MY08 topic).

[TheHun]

I most likely will be ending up with a used/07 model hence not too much concerned about the 08 changes but thanks for pointing out.