RE: Lotus Exige S Roadster: Review
Discussion
stu0056 said:
The thought has crossed my mind 
Do you think the coupe would hold its value better than the roadster?
I doubt there will be a great deal of difference in terms of residuals. I suspect the coupe will be rarer, which might firm up prices a bit. I could easily be wrong about that, though. Do you think the coupe would hold its value better than the roadster?
Daniel1 said:
Really?
People who are in the market for £100,000+ 465bhp big winged manic 911 really going to say "hang on, ill buy the £55,000 no winged mini manic boxster instead?"
Im not convinced.
You said a hardcore GT3 Boxster, so it'd be more than £55k, it'd have a big wing, it'd have power (given its lighter weight) to match lesser 911s and better handling.People who are in the market for £100,000+ 465bhp big winged manic 911 really going to say "hang on, ill buy the £55,000 no winged mini manic boxster instead?"
Im not convinced.
Why else haven't they done it?
Bill said:
Daniel1 said:
Really?
People who are in the market for £100,000+ 465bhp big winged manic 911 really going to say "hang on, ill buy the £55,000 no winged mini manic boxster instead?"
Im not convinced.
You said a hardcore GT3 Boxster, so it'd be more than £55k, it'd have a big wing, it'd have power (given its lighter weight) to match lesser 911s and better handling.People who are in the market for £100,000+ 465bhp big winged manic 911 really going to say "hang on, ill buy the £55,000 no winged mini manic boxster instead?"
Im not convinced.
Why else haven't they done it?
Lotus have reinvented the ferrari 3x8GTS line. Its that simple.
For £50k it is staggering value and its the Alfa 4C's worst nightmare.
Lotus would have my order already if they werent in deep s
t and had a prospective future. Now, their future looks a little rosier, but I will still bide my time thankyou. Ive put my hand in my pocket to try and help out one British sportscar company, not doing it again, esp when they arent from Blackpool 
For £50k it is staggering value and its the Alfa 4C's worst nightmare.
Lotus would have my order already if they werent in deep s
t and had a prospective future. Now, their future looks a little rosier, but I will still bide my time thankyou. Ive put my hand in my pocket to try and help out one British sportscar company, not doing it again, esp when they arent from Blackpool For my £60k there is one big competitor, similar price & performance "a la americana" the new Corvette Stingray, which apart from being LHD I think is a remarkably close match to this, in ethos - high power, low weight, manual, RWD & a proper drivers car.
I would love either, Corvette probably piping it for; looks, practicality and the V8!! Although would need to see how they drive, fit and feel first.....
I would love either, Corvette probably piping it for; looks, practicality and the V8!! Although would need to see how they drive, fit and feel first.....
DJRC said:
Lotus have reinvented the ferrari 3x8GTS line. Its that simple.
For £50k it is staggering value and its the Alfa 4C's worst nightmare.
Lotus would have my order already if they werent in deep st and had a prospective future. Now, their future looks a little rosier, but I will still bide my time thankyou. Ive put my hand in my pocket to try and help out one British sportscar company, not doing it again, esp when they arent from Blackpool
I'm with you on the second point. By applying some man maths I was justifying it to myself earlier - by looking at a 3 yr financing option with a fixed future value as a way of protecting that risk - but I suspect I'm just a bit of a mentalist!! For £50k it is staggering value and its the Alfa 4C's worst nightmare.
Lotus would have my order already if they werent in deep s
t and had a prospective future. Now, their future looks a little rosier, but I will still bide my time thankyou. Ive put my hand in my pocket to try and help out one British sportscar company, not doing it again, esp when they arent from Blackpool 
I know if I drive it I will be smitten though!! (Note to self - must stay away from Lotus dealerships)...
DJRC said:
Lotus have reinvented the ferrari 3x8GTS line. Its that simple.
For £50k it is staggering value and its the Alfa 4C's worst nightmare.
Lotus would have my order already if they werent in deep st and had a prospective future. Now, their future looks a little rosier, but I will still bide my time thankyou. Ive put my hand in my pocket to try and help out one British sportscar company, not doing it again, esp when they arent from Blackpool
I agree that this car is pretty special. Mind you, it is faster than anything Ferrari make short of a 458 in the real world. And with a proper gearbox too ! For £50k it is staggering value and its the Alfa 4C's worst nightmare.
Lotus would have my order already if they werent in deep s
t and had a prospective future. Now, their future looks a little rosier, but I will still bide my time thankyou. Ive put my hand in my pocket to try and help out one British sportscar company, not doing it again, esp when they arent from Blackpool Put that way, it is very good value.
I'm pretty optimistic about the future though - DRB Hicom seem to be poor at PR and external communications about what they are doing ( not unusual in Asian companies ) but in terms of action rather than words, Lotus does seem to be getting its act together. There are new dealerships popping up, the factory is busy again and the ship does seem to be stabilising.
If I had 55K knocking around, I think i'd take a punt.
For all this talk of how "expensive" the lotus is, how many people have bought or at least specced a new Cayman / Boxster?
They don't even come with floor mats as standard. I looked at a new Cayman, but after speccing £16k extras (without trying too hard) including the good stuff like the sports seats and active exhaust, I decided it was too much.
New cars and inflation combine to make things seem expensive. If the new Golf GTi is over £30k and a decent Cayman is easily more than £65k, is a base price of £55k for a new Exige with such massive performance really that bad?
If you want similar handling with less power, there is always the Elise...
They don't even come with floor mats as standard. I looked at a new Cayman, but after speccing £16k extras (without trying too hard) including the good stuff like the sports seats and active exhaust, I decided it was too much.
New cars and inflation combine to make things seem expensive. If the new Golf GTi is over £30k and a decent Cayman is easily more than £65k, is a base price of £55k for a new Exige with such massive performance really that bad?
If you want similar handling with less power, there is always the Elise...
kambites said:
stu0056 said:
I had an Elise 111S before, it was great but I've always wanted an Exige, to be honest I probably wont track it so a slightly softer more usable on the road Exige sounds perfect for me. I think I prefer the more OTT looks of the coupe tho.....tough decisions
I dare say Lotus would fit a silly wing and splitter to one of these if you asked them nicely. Yes they will. I know this as rather to my shock, ambling down to sleepy little Deiswill train station in Switzerland this morning,a mustard yellow Exige S Roadster avec coupe aero addenda rumbled past me. I had to think a minute, close my eyes and reply the scene to wonder if I was correct in what I had seen. Yes, I decided I was.
I have no idea what one was doing out here, almost certainly not a customer car, but it wasnt a rough n ready looking prototype, so presumably it was some kind of factory job. But trust me when I tell you Deiswill really is a sleepy backwater of Switzerland! Just outside Bern on the S7 if you must know.
DJRC said:
kambites said:
stu0056 said:
I had an Elise 111S before, it was great but I've always wanted an Exige, to be honest I probably wont track it so a slightly softer more usable on the road Exige sounds perfect for me. I think I prefer the more OTT looks of the coupe tho.....tough decisions
I dare say Lotus would fit a silly wing and splitter to one of these if you asked them nicely. Yes they will. I know this as rather to my shock, ambling down to sleepy little Deiswill train station in Switzerland this morning,a mustard yellow Exige S Roadster avec coupe aero addenda rumbled past me. I had to think a minute, close my eyes and reply the scene to wonder if I was correct in what I had seen. Yes, I decided I was.
I have no idea what one was doing out here, almost certainly not a customer car, but it wasnt a rough n ready looking prototype, so presumably it was some kind of factory job. But trust me when I tell you Deiswill really is a sleepy backwater of Switzerland! Just outside Bern on the S7 if you must know.
Twincam16 said:
It's it possible to remove the roof of the Exige coupe with an Allen key? IIRC an Exige owner on here confirmed you could.
If it's the same as the older Exige, then yes you can take off the hard-top and fit a soft-top (although the soft-top does require a mounting kit). Davey S2 said:
Lovely but at £55K it's mad money for what started out as a weekend summer car.
Well its a world away from an elise S1 of 1998 but tbh how different is it to any other car? A Golf GTI is mid to high 20's, hot hateches are approaching £20k..... New cars are A LOT of money these days.Yes, the hard top of the coupe is definitely removable.
Biggest issue with the car IMO is the front half of it's 20 years old with very poor access. When you open the door (which looks OK from the outside) you find the actual aperture is only the upper half of the door opening, the lower half being a very high and wide sill. They largely solved this problem for the Evora but have regrettable reintroduced it with Exige S. Ideal for 25-year old limbo dancers but not for "older guy with £50k to spend" who Lotus needs to target.
The company's instability is no reason to avoid buying a Lotus. It's been unstable for most of the past 50 years! The Toyota mechanicals should be totally reliable and are in any event fixable at your local Toyota dealer if the worst happens. And there will always be the traditional Lotus specialists.
The badge is no reason for not buying a Lotus. Few badges have better tradition and racing heritage.
If you won't buy a Lotus - do it for honest reasons. They have problems with the design of the cars.
Biggest issue with the car IMO is the front half of it's 20 years old with very poor access. When you open the door (which looks OK from the outside) you find the actual aperture is only the upper half of the door opening, the lower half being a very high and wide sill. They largely solved this problem for the Evora but have regrettable reintroduced it with Exige S. Ideal for 25-year old limbo dancers but not for "older guy with £50k to spend" who Lotus needs to target.
The company's instability is no reason to avoid buying a Lotus. It's been unstable for most of the past 50 years! The Toyota mechanicals should be totally reliable and are in any event fixable at your local Toyota dealer if the worst happens. And there will always be the traditional Lotus specialists.
The badge is no reason for not buying a Lotus. Few badges have better tradition and racing heritage.
If you won't buy a Lotus - do it for honest reasons. They have problems with the design of the cars.
I had 24 hours with a V6 Exige which had just had its thousand mile service and told to properly enjoy it. So I did.
The thing is absolutely batsh*t mental. By the standards of my own S1 Exige, the way it covers the ground is borderline unhinged. It's significantly, significantly quicker than an Evora S. It makes passengers giggle out loud.
But even more impressive is the ride. I took out a friend with an S2 Elise and he was rightly stunned by the composure over bumps and poor road services. It means you can simply destroy any road in a way which far exceeds my limited talents.
In fact the primary issue with the V6 Exige is how on earth one might manage to retain one's licence in one. I've never driven anything else which makes it so easy to cover the ground at prison sentence speeds.
The thought of one which you can take the roof off is even better.
The thing is absolutely batsh*t mental. By the standards of my own S1 Exige, the way it covers the ground is borderline unhinged. It's significantly, significantly quicker than an Evora S. It makes passengers giggle out loud.
But even more impressive is the ride. I took out a friend with an S2 Elise and he was rightly stunned by the composure over bumps and poor road services. It means you can simply destroy any road in a way which far exceeds my limited talents.
In fact the primary issue with the V6 Exige is how on earth one might manage to retain one's licence in one. I've never driven anything else which makes it so easy to cover the ground at prison sentence speeds.
The thought of one which you can take the roof off is even better.
toppstuff said:
Ozzie Osmond said:
Yes, the hard top of the coupe is definitely removable.
Do you mean properly removable and replaceable, like a targa, or is it more like a case of bodging it? Does someone offer clips and stuff. i.e a proper job?I only got a cpl of seconds look at it, chaps so cant say one way or the other. The most likely answer is that it was a coupe with the roof removed and the softop in its place. I am unsure of how many lhd customers they have delivered though.
Its the second relatively rare...OK rocking horse st... new motor Ive seen out here in the last month. An F-Type was parked up at the restaurant in the river Aare. Must have been a journo out here on a test of one.
Its the second relatively rare...OK rocking horse s
t... new motor Ive seen out here in the last month. An F-Type was parked up at the restaurant in the river Aare. Must have been a journo out here on a test of one.Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff