Exige to T350 - My Review
Discussion
Posted this on SELOC for the lotus boys, but thought it might have some interest on here.. Comments welcome 
Thought i would write up a quick review as I am sure there are people on here who have at least considered the change to a TVR. Anyways, I decided to trade my NA 06 Exige in for a T350 and have had it three weeks now.
Reasons for the change were, the exige just wasnt getting used as it should (track) and was sitting on A roads all the time, plus the small boot was becoming a pain.. So decided I wanted something comfier, bigger boot, and just as rare.. Quick surf around and thought about a T350! Push came to shove and decided to go for it.. I made sure i bought a fully comp warranty with it aswell just incase
Anyways.. As for the car itself, I think i prefer the looks of the exige, but the TVR seems to grab a HUGE amount of attention, quite un nerving at times tbh.. The boot is massive in comparison! And is also much comfier..
When i first drove it away, I was still on the honeymoon period, I loved it! The power is massive! there is torque everywhere, and the noise is immense! I really cant get over just how loud this car is! Yet cruising on the motorway its just a small rumble.. The one thing that really got to me was the handling, being used to the exige, it feels a bit 'wallowy'.. Bit too much body roll for my liking.
The interior is a really nice place to be, adjustable seats and wheel, meaning it quite easy to find a decent driving position.. The pedals are bottom hinged which takes a bit of getting used to, as does the massive pedal travel! In traffic the clutch can be hard work, and it gets very hot inside the cabin, which i believe is due to the transmission tunnel.. but the leccy windows are a nice touch! So not too much of a problem
The car feels bigger than the lotus, but it also feels safer for some reason!?
Running costs - insurance was a few hundred more, and the petrol is probably about the same, unless around town where i think the exige was a good bit better, but on a run, the TVR can see about 30mpg
All in all, I'm pretty happy, i know one day i will go back for an orange exige S, once i dont need a boot etc.. But for now i'm happy I think its something people at least have to try once in their lives
Comments etc welcome
Few Pics
To..
Thought i would write up a quick review as I am sure there are people on here who have at least considered the change to a TVR. Anyways, I decided to trade my NA 06 Exige in for a T350 and have had it three weeks now.
Reasons for the change were, the exige just wasnt getting used as it should (track) and was sitting on A roads all the time, plus the small boot was becoming a pain.. So decided I wanted something comfier, bigger boot, and just as rare.. Quick surf around and thought about a T350! Push came to shove and decided to go for it.. I made sure i bought a fully comp warranty with it aswell just incase
Anyways.. As for the car itself, I think i prefer the looks of the exige, but the TVR seems to grab a HUGE amount of attention, quite un nerving at times tbh.. The boot is massive in comparison! And is also much comfier..
When i first drove it away, I was still on the honeymoon period, I loved it! The power is massive! there is torque everywhere, and the noise is immense! I really cant get over just how loud this car is! Yet cruising on the motorway its just a small rumble.. The one thing that really got to me was the handling, being used to the exige, it feels a bit 'wallowy'.. Bit too much body roll for my liking.
The interior is a really nice place to be, adjustable seats and wheel, meaning it quite easy to find a decent driving position.. The pedals are bottom hinged which takes a bit of getting used to, as does the massive pedal travel! In traffic the clutch can be hard work, and it gets very hot inside the cabin, which i believe is due to the transmission tunnel.. but the leccy windows are a nice touch! So not too much of a problem
The car feels bigger than the lotus, but it also feels safer for some reason!? Running costs - insurance was a few hundred more, and the petrol is probably about the same, unless around town where i think the exige was a good bit better, but on a run, the TVR can see about 30mpg
All in all, I'm pretty happy, i know one day i will go back for an orange exige S, once i dont need a boot etc.. But for now i'm happy
I think its something people at least have to try once in their lives Comments etc welcome
Few Pics
To..
justin220 said:
I think i prefer the looks of the exige ...
Comments etc welcome
Are you blind? Seriously, welcome. I made a 'similar-ish' move last year. There are a good few tweaks that may improve handling, depending on current set up.Comments etc welcome
T car looks beautiful btw!
Edited by earlyriser on Wednesday 11th June 12:11
Glad you're enjoying it as a road car as much as the rest of us
If you want to reduce the roll further, firmer springs are widely available (Sagaris spec) which have virtually no effect on the ride, the standard springs are unusually soft but the anti-roll bars are stiff.
Mine's ended up a little track biased now, so for second car for Winter/long drives at work/TVR off-road being developed some more..... I'll be buying either an Elise 111S or an older NSX now I've had test drives.
If you want to reduce the roll further, firmer springs are widely available (Sagaris spec) which have virtually no effect on the ride, the standard springs are unusually soft but the anti-roll bars are stiff.
Mine's ended up a little track biased now, so for second car for Winter/long drives at work/TVR off-road being developed some more..... I'll be buying either an Elise 111S or an older NSX now I've had test drives.
I went from an Elise to a T350 because I couldn't bear the (lack of) power of the Elise on the motorway.
The T350 certainly had the power, but everything else was awful and it cost me a fortune.
I really miss the Lotus though and have often wondered if an Exige would be the ideal compromise.
In day to day driving, what are the performance differences?
The T350 certainly had the power, but everything else was awful and it cost me a fortune.
I really miss the Lotus though and have often wondered if an Exige would be the ideal compromise.
In day to day driving, what are the performance differences?
espresso said:
In day to day driving, what are the performance differences?
Well generally the T350 will see the pants off the Lotus.Lotus is always accepted as an alround 'Girly car' but ANY TVR is obviously a Blokes car.
Thats about the size of it......
( Hand-granade Lobbed ~ awaiting incoming fire )
espresso said:
I went from an Elise to a T350 because I couldn't bear the (lack of) power of the Elise on the motorway.
The T350 certainly had the power, but everything else was awful and it cost me a fortune.
I really miss the Lotus though and have often wondered if an Exige would be the ideal compromise.
In day to day driving, what are the performance differences?
In general driving, the T350 is massively fast.. The exige was quick, but needed to be really worked hard.. ie 8k revs then gear change! Overtaking on a back road had to be planned.. The T350 certainly had the power, but everything else was awful and it cost me a fortune.
I really miss the Lotus though and have often wondered if an Exige would be the ideal compromise.
In day to day driving, what are the performance differences?
Saying that, it was alot easier to drive along a country road, and round corners the exige was also alot better.
The exige wasnt really any use on the motorway to be honest. Rock solid suspension, tiny boot etc
Did similar thing myself went from Cerb to Exige Mk1 to exige Mk2 NA back to Cerb 4.5.Truth of the matter is the Exige is a great car on track, On the road it's not much quicker than the average hot hatch.The Lotus massive will have you believe that the Exige is a seriously quick car but in standard form I'm afraid it's myth.
S'one
S'one
[quote=s,one]Did similar thing myself went from Cerb to Exige Mk1 to exige Mk2 NA back to Cerb 4.5.Truth of the matter is the Exige is a great car on track, On the road it's not much quicker than the average hot hatch.The Lotus massive will have you believe that the Exige is a seriously quick car but in standard form I'm afraid it's myth.
S'one
[/quote]
Yeah i agree, i had it round track once and it was epic.. Also felt it increased my confidence in it for road driving. Though i still think on a twisty back road, it would be pretty even Exige/TVR.
S'one
[/quote]
Yeah i agree, i had it round track once and it was epic.. Also felt it increased my confidence in it for road driving. Though i still think on a twisty back road, it would be pretty even Exige/TVR.
I went from an Exige to a Sagaris, I found the Exige great on the little bendy roads and very forgiving, but anywhere else it just felt like an everyday car if i'm being honest.
The sagaris feels so different, the power is a bit scary, if I have one criticism it's too fast, the attention it gets is unbelievable, and that sound!
I am a lover of the Exige and always will be, I am waiting for the novelty of the Sagaris to end before I go back, however the novelty is still there after 2 years with the Sag.
The sagaris feels so different, the power is a bit scary, if I have one criticism it's too fast, the attention it gets is unbelievable, and that sound!
I am a lover of the Exige and always will be, I am waiting for the novelty of the Sagaris to end before I go back, however the novelty is still there after 2 years with the Sag.
Just to throw my 2pence in..
Having driven a very well spec-ed MR2 and a Exige (only for a few months) I can say the move to the Sagaris certainly makes u appreciate just how well planted this thing is..
Would also agree with the power, its truly scary when given the room - my only gripe is a little more low torque (sub 3000rpm)
Still 4 months later and the novelty is still making me grin.. Just counting down the hours til I get home for blast in the sun
J
Having driven a very well spec-ed MR2 and a Exige (only for a few months) I can say the move to the Sagaris certainly makes u appreciate just how well planted this thing is..
Would also agree with the power, its truly scary when given the room - my only gripe is a little more low torque (sub 3000rpm)
Still 4 months later and the novelty is still making me grin.. Just counting down the hours til I get home for blast in the sun
J
zebra said:
Bomb, Roadhog _ normally I wouldn't rise to the bait. However, as you are both family; B road of your choice, your t350's against my stripey girly machine. Interested? 
Zebra _ the stripey one!
The Family Fued !!Zebra _ the stripey one!
I spotted a nice stretch of road in Germanyshire a couple of weeks ago.
Hows about that then........
Are you up for that !!
Welcome to the TVR side of life (though I'm a big Lotus fan aswell!) .. if you like the idea of a fast T350 you might like to look through www.tvr-racing.co.uk it charts the development of our T350 race car (amongst the years with our tasmin also) .. might make you think a bit about how a T350 can be made fast on track. OK you might not need the aggressive rear wing but essentially our T350R uses upgrade parts that can be directly applied to the road version (brakes,suspension,mapping etc). There are no bespoke racing performance parts on our car at all except the aero
hab1966 said:
bomb,
completely off topic - sorry, but where did you get the model car in your profile picture?
dont know if its same place but I got a yellow T350t model from ,completely off topic - sorry, but where did you get the model car in your profile picture?
http://www.gtmodels.com/?source=webgains&sitei...
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