Potential purchase Exige 380 sport: clutch/trans rattles?

[deeps]

Hi All, any help appreciated please,

I'm looking at buying an Exige 380 sport, under 10k miles.

Apparently there is a noticeable clutch/trans rattle that the dealer says is normal.

Any opinions on that from owners would be great.

And any other things to look out for please?

[MarkM3Evoplus]

They do rattle, I understand the original Toyota engine was mated to an auto transmission, when Lotus fitted a clutch & manual box, a side effect was a bit of tranny rattle

[Rocketreid]

I’ve had 3 V6 Exige including a 380 Sport and can’t say I have experienced anything like that

My Current V6 drives as well as a 1 series BMW including the ride quality, although with a bit more engine noise

[CTE]

I`ve run 4 different Evora`s now and 2 Exiges...can`t say I've noticed a rattle? Probably not a big issue but have a go in some other cars to get some balance?

[shibby!]

I can confirm they rattle.

My first one rattled, so does my second. First one from 4k to over 20k miles, second from 1k to 9k miles now

Every Exige and Evora i have driven has rattled, although some more than others. Its not something to concern yourself with unless its really loud. Like another poster said, try another one or get someone to take you out in one and you will gauge if its quieter or louder.

Some are really quiet, but sometimes if you have heard it before you tune into it on even the newest and noisiest cars!

[gareth h]

My 350 Exige and 400 Evora did, 410 Exige didn’t, not sure if they changed anything on later vehicles.

[70EXG]

The 410 onwards uses a different clutch and release bearing to resolve the noise issue. This is now offered as replacement clutch for 350/380 when it needs one.

As others have said some do it more than others

[Francelise]

Can’t wait to have some spare cash for a car that rattles!

My mate has a 2014 8000 miles and bought from a Lotus dealer. 100 miles later the clutch was causing problems but I understand only a fault on these early cars. He had to pay for it! There a longer story after than but as it’s secondhand information I can’t fully back the story up. Involved another dealer in Notts and flywheel upgrade.

I bet/hope the 380 is great! Do love these cars from 1997 onwards (2020)

[deeps]

Thanks for the info everyone.

I've done a lot more research over the last few days, and there is a common rattle or release bearing noise.

I've decided to go for an Exige 410 which has the lightened flywheel and upgraded clutch from the 430.

From what I can gather the 410 is quite some car, has most of the same goodies as the 430 cup... charge cooler, clutch, 3 way nitrons set up more for road use, and apparently is 4kg lighter than the 430 and just as quick.

There aren't many about, but I should be picking one up on Weds, can't wait

[Rocketreid]

deeps said:

Thanks for the info everyone.

I've done a lot more research over the last few days, and there is a common rattle or release bearing noise.

I've decided to go for an Exige 410 which has the lightened flywheel and upgraded clutch from the 430.

From what I can gather the 410 is quite some car, has most of the same goodies as the 430 cup... charge cooler, clutch, 3 way nitrons set up more for road use, and apparently is 4kg lighter than the 430 and just as quick.

There aren't many about, but I should be picking one up on Weds, can't wait

A wise choice, the 410 is an excellent road car

Cup 430 is more track focussed and as such has more track hardware. Certainly quicker than a 410 on track but probably not much in it , Cup 1.24 round Hethel against 1.25 for the 410