Lotus Exige S (S2) | Spotted

[jonathanbill]

BigTed234 said:

What a bunch of fairies! I daily drove an S2 Elise for 7 years and put 70,000 on it.

Lightweight!

My S1 Elise was my only car for over 10 years and I loved it as a daily. It was especially fun on snowy days and the only real complaints I had were demisting when it had been in the office car park on a cold day and dipped beam headlights which were, and are, rubbish.

The only thing that stopped me using it as a daily was acquiring a family and needing to be able to transport wife, son and dog all at the same time.

It's up to ~170K now (admittedly on its fourth engine which is a K20A and has been in for more than half its life these days) and it's just been treated to a set of Rotas (which reminds me - must get the Victories sold!). It still gets used although, I have to admit, generally only when it's sunny - best school run car ever!

[Black S2K]

Europa1 said:

herebebeasties said:

I would say this given I own one, but unless you're going to track it and therefore want the intercooler and the downforce in the Exige, I think an Elise SC is the better option for most people. It's even lighter (with the same power), it's cheaper, and it's more practical; you can actually see out of the back, and the nose is fractionally higher. That makes all the difference with driveways, car parks, etc. with nasty approach angles.

That said, the Exige is just cooler, isn't it? Especially in Chrome Orange with black spoiler, splitter & wheels. (It's the only car/colour combo that I think looks good with black wheels.)

I drove an early S2 Elise daily, before I bought my SC. Later ones with carpets, etc. are more habitable on motorways, and if you get on with the seats really long distances are surprisingly fine provided you don't get a droning sports exhaust - I did 1000km in a day once in my early K-series S2 (back to London from Bordeaux in one hit).

You get used to getting in and out, although infrequent/older passengers might not appreciate it. If you have a soft top on them, they're so low that if you're reasonably tall you can just wind down the window and step over the door to get in, in really tight parking spaces.

I managed to get out of this one, for example:

Strewth. Even if I could have squeezed into the car, I'd have felt compelled to wait for the driver of the Range Rover to return to ask what, in their tiny, tiny mind, they were thinking when they parked like that.

I wonder how stereotypes come into existence..?

[likesachange]

They are superb cars, I have a highly modified one that I'm not sure even the more hardcore in this thread would daily.

Even has a full £1000 roll cage in it although I admit i have never fitted the front section as I'm not sure id get in!
That along with all (the very limited sound deadening) removed a whiney quaife diff and upgraded gearset you need to take your earplugs.. But as soon as you get to your familiar B road - What a CAR!!!

Did i mention its for sale...

[Turn7]

Lovely....