RE: Cayman GTS v Exige Sport 410 v Audi TT RS

[2Btoo]

SidewaysSi said:

Bit of a waste having the Audi as we all know they are a bit crap.

Scoobysaurus said:

No surprises in the Audi comments in this company but I did particularly enjoy the new TT SUV comparison

JMF894 said:

But putting that aside for a moment the Audi has no place here full stop. They are nothing but overweight, blunt road jewellery.

SidewaysSi said:

Not purely weight. The Audi is just crap to drive.

SFO said:

TT is bland and digital

Scoobysaurus said:

Yep, that's about the long and short of it, pseudo sports car shown up when put against real sports cars but then we all knew that didn't we

Gosh. I knew that the Mk1 and Mk2 TT's were utter tripe but thought that the Mk3 was meant to be almost OK. (I've driven a Mk2 and really doubted that anything could be much worse.)

Clearly not.

[Black S2K]

Entertaining read.

Next week, how about a re-run with bog-standard, poverty-spec versions to silence the moaners?

I bet the Cayman would come last if it didn't have the gloss black window frame & door handle options.

[SidewaysSi]

Helicopter123 said:

Interesting read, £103k (!) car beats a £76k car and a £61k car.

Why not throw in a 488 as well, or perhaps a Golf GTi just to widen it a bit further!

Read the comments above.

And imagine the hatred when the Lotus kills the Fez and Golf as well. PH probably thought it wasn't worth it.

Is the Exige the best sub £100k all round driver's car on sale today? I can't think of anything better. Interstesting to see that the Lotus is usable and comfortable to be used everyday - goes against what many would have assumed.

Edited by SidewaysSi on Sunday 27th May 18:41

[em177]

SidewaysSi said:

Is the Exige the best sub £100k all round driver's car on sale today? I can't think of anything better.

Any Caterham.

[SidewaysSi]

em177 said:

SidewaysSi said:

Is the Exige the best sub £100k all round driver's car on sale today? I can't think of anything better.

Any Caterham.

By 'all round' I meant use able and practical. A Caterham is rubbish for most of the year and for most journeys.

[em177]

SidewaysSi said:

em177 said:

SidewaysSi said:

Is the Exige the best sub £100k all round driver's car on sale today? I can't think of anything better.

Any Caterham.

By 'all round' I meant use able and practical. A Caterham is rubbish for most of the year and for most journeys.

Fair enough. Thought you just mean the all round driving experience. Which surely is the point? Nobody is buying an Exige for a daily driver?

If ‘all round’ includes daily use I’d have the Lotus third behind the Porsche & Audi? And if it’s not for daily use why not have a 620R and pocket the change for trackdays, road trips and the rest?

[Shiv_P]

2Btoo said:

Gosh. I knew that the Mk1 and Mk2 TT's were utter tripe but thought that the Mk3 was meant to be almost OK. (I've driven a Mk2 and really doubted that anything could be much worse.)

Clearly not.

You can be sure that most of them haven't driven one.

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/audi/tt-rs/ri...

Seems to be reviewed reasonably well here


http://www.evo.co.uk/audi/tt-rs/page/0/3

and here

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/audi/tt/rs

etc etc... classic VAG bashing PH cannot understand that once in a while audi can build a reasonably good handling car. I'm not saying that they are the last word in driving dynamics because they obviously aren't but the TTRS is clearly not "st" either. Jumping to conclusions with no research

[SidewaysSi]

em177 said:

SidewaysSi said:

em177 said:

SidewaysSi said:

Is the Exige the best sub £100k all round driver's car on sale today? I can't think of anything better.

Any Caterham.

By 'all round' I meant use able and practical. A Caterham is rubbish for most of the year and for most journeys.

Fair enough. Thought you just mean the all round driving experience. Which surely is the point? Nobody is buying an Exige for a daily driver?

If ‘all round’ includes daily use I’d have the Lotus third behind the Porsche & Audi? And if it’s not for daily use why not have a 620R and pocket the change for trackdays, road trips and the rest?

I think Lotus is one of the few cars which are practical enough to be a sole 'do it all's car. Immersive, trackable, dynamically brilliant etc. But useable to take shopping, to work etc and comfortable enough to do a long journey.

Yes it is no Mercedes for comfort, but I think they are at a level most PHers could compromise for. Of course if you need back seats they are not so good. But neither is a Porsche.

A 620R, like most Sevens is a pain in the arse for a lot of the time/year.

[SidewaysSi]

Shiv_P said:

2Btoo said:

Gosh. I knew that the Mk1 and Mk2 TT's were utter tripe but thought that the Mk3 was meant to be almost OK. (I've driven a Mk2 and really doubted that anything could be much worse.)

Clearly not.

You can be sure that most of them haven't driven one.

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/audi/tt-rs/ri...

Seems to be reviewed reasonably well here


http://www.evo.co.uk/audi/tt-rs/page/0/3

and here

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/audi/tt/rs

etc etc... classic VAG bashing PH cannot understand that once in a while audi can build a reasonably good handling car. I'm not saying that they are the last word in driving dynamics because they obviously aren't but the TTRS is clearly not "st" either. Jumping to conclusions with no research

The TT is OK. A 4 star car. But the other two are so far above the Audi dynamically it was not fair to include the old dear. In comparison, as a driver's car, it is a bit crap if coming from a Cayman or Exige. No surprise really.

[2Btoo]

Shiv_P said:

I'm not saying that they are the last word in driving dynamics because they obviously aren't but the TTRS is clearly not "st" either. Jumping to conclusions with no research

Bit harsh there. Looks like this article has been written after a lot of hands-on research - i.e. driving the three cars back to back on a wide variety of roads. Given that such direct comparison has been made I'd probably trust the conclusion to a reasonable degree.

I'm just surprised that the Audi can fall so far behind the (supposed) rivals. I almost had a hope that the Mk3 was semi-alright. Clearly it ain't.

Ho humm. Bravo Lotus for producing such a cracker and well done to Stuttgart for their usual levels of excellence.

Carping about new price aside (which is slightly irrelevant as cars always have more second-hand owners than new ones, so price based on residual value would be a much more useful metric), what would have been a better comparison for the Cayman and the Lotus? The new hard-top MX5? BMW Z4? Mercedes of some kind (I can never follow their model designations)?

[Kccv23highliftcam]

carbon hardtop for £3,000, carbon binnacle top for £1,000, carbon sill covers for £1,200, carbon rear diffuser finish for £1,200, carbon barge boards for £2,800. Titanium exhaust for £5,500, air conditioning for £1,250, stereo for £400, sound insulation for £500, cruise control for £110, full carpet for £350 and interior colour pack for £500...)

apart from the air con, titan ex and cruise, what a list of nonsense...

[EGTE]

Would have preferred seeing the Evora 400 in the competition, to be honest.

It's far more practical/comfortable than the Exige and a bit cheaper; more "mainstream".

[Tuna]

em177 said:

Fair enough. Thought you just mean the all round driving experience. Which surely is the point? Nobody is buying an Exige for a daily driver?

Why not? Nice reliable engine, good size for slotting your way through traffic and parking up, unfussed on just about any road and a blast of joy when you want it. I've had an Elise as a daily driver and it's not uncommon around here to have a Lotus or two parked up in the local railway station's car park.

Unless you're a builders' mate, I can't see any reason not to have one as a daily driver.

[Keith ctr]

SidewaysSi said:

Interstesting to see that the Lotus is usable and comfortable to be used everyday - goes against what many would have assumed.

That ^^^

The latest versions of elise and exige ride very well on the roads, firm but not crashy and bashy like many think. Their set ups are very road compliant.

I'm perfectly happy using my elise as a daily, even speed humps are a breeze due to lack of weight on the front end so you don't get that horrible dive as you come off them as with a front engined car.

[Bob-2146]

av185 said:

Yep very true.

Anyone who thinks a 4 pot turbo can be anywhere near a flat 6 na and cannot understand which is the superior engine is emotionally detached.

Their loss.

Keyboard warriors alive and well I see. Same old st.

[av185]

SidewaysSi said:

em177 said:

SidewaysSi said:

Is the Exige the best sub £100k all round driver's car on sale today? I can't think of anything better.

Any Caterham.

By 'all round' I meant use able and practical. A Caterham is rubbish for most of the year and for most journeys.

GT4 or 981 Spyder.

[Audemars]

Yes the Lotus is expensive but at least it looks that price compared to the other two. What I find more shocking is the £60k price tag for an Audi TT SUV.

[anonymous-user]

Audemars said:

Yes the Lotus is expensive but at least it looks that price compared to the other two. What I find more shocking is the £60k price tag for an Audi TT SUV.

Unfortunately, if you added a McLaren 540C into this widely priced comparison it would be "game over" very quickly.

Which would you prefer, Sir, a £103k Lotus or a £126k McLaren?? [That's a price differential of £23k compared with £43k between the Audi and Lotus.....]

[djmotorsport]

em177 said:

Fair enough. Thought you just mean the all round driving experience. Which surely is the point? Nobody is buying an Exige for a daily driver?

In two weeks time i'll hit 5 years of having an Exige as my daily driver - so not quite nobody :-)

[Audemars]

Yes a McLaren would destroy the Exige but in this article I am embarrassed for the Lotus to even be considered in the same league as an Audi TT.

The standard £60k sport 350 would destroy the Audi TT in terms of looks, prestige, handling, exclusivity, handling, driving and did I mention handling.

Edited by Audemars on Sunday 27th May 21:40