The £35k Lotus Exiges: Spotted

£35,000 now buys you examples of S1, S2 and S3 Exige - what's it to be?

Nearly 20 years since the first car, the Exige can surely be considered a success for Lotus. By melding together the compact dimensions of the Elise (for two generations, at least) with a motorsport edge - but at a more affordable price than the more senior Lotuses - the Exige has found a lot of fans amongst media and buyers. That all three generations have looked great, gone fantastically well and humbled cars much more expensive have only furthered their reputation.

Now, in 2018, the stars of appreciation and depreciation have aligned so that all three generations of Exige - K-Series S1, supercharged Toyota-engined S2 and V6-powered S3 - are available for £35k. That's far from the end of the story, of course; there are more expensive versions of the newest and oldest, plus more affordable Series 2 cars, but it seemed like a reasonably interesting basis for a classifieds comparison. One Lotus to talk about is good; two is great, and three is even better still...

Many will be all too aware now that the S1 Exige is a rather valuable beast. Its status as the rarest and - to most eyes - the prettiest of the Exiges will have helped, but it's also worth bearing in mind that this is also the lightest, rawest, most demanding one made. As the world inevitably moves away from cars just this intense, so the S1's lot will rise amongst the dedicated few. Therefore £35k is pretty much your entry point for a K Series Exige, the PH classifieds also throwing up other examples on POA and beyond £70k... Still, the advantage of an Exige like this Laser Blue one - sympathetically upgraded, 34,000 miles, used in sprints and track days with "some minor damage" - is at least the next owner could carry on using it as intended. Given our effusive Carpool article from a little while back, that sounds an experience not to be missed - yet one that will be harder to justify as values rise.

At the moment the S2 looks like the pick of the bunch, offering a worthwhile step up in performance with the supercharged car while also being the most affordable Exige out there - this car is £18k. However, for the sake of this story, the chosen S2 is this stunning Isotope Green 240. With just 13,000 miles and a host of useful options picked from new - forged wheels, big brake upgrade, air-con - it looks extremely desirable even by the exalted standards of S2 Exiges. The MOT runs until May, it has four new tyres and six stamps from a specialist in the service book - nice. Very nice.

Alright, full disclosure: the S3 Exige currently available for £35k isn't our favourite, being a Roadster. However, the odd coupe does emerge at this point, and they are dropping slowly but surely. And let's not be too despondent - an Exige Roadster is still an exceptional car to drive, half a tonne lighter than an F-Type and more powerful than the contemporary Boxster. There's always something about a yellow Lotus, too - be that a Norfolk Mustard S1 Elise, an Esprit GT3 or this Exige - that makes it look very special indeed. With one owner from new, a full Lotus history and a tad over 30,000 miles, the Exige S Roadster looks fine value when mechanically quite similar cars can be more than £100k new.

So that's that: three different varieties of Lotus Exige, three very different powertrains, three fantastic cars and one very similar price. Can the style and involvement of an S1 be worth it over the extra performance from later cars? Is the S3 too big and too fast to be a 'true' Exige? Is the S2 the best of both worlds? The floor is yours...

SPECIFICATION - LOTUS EXIGE S1 VHPD

Engine: 1,796cc 4-cyl
Transmission: 5-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 195@7,800rpm
Torque (lb ft): 146@5,000rpm
MPG: NA
CO2: NA
Recorded mileage: 34,000
First registered: 2000
Price new: £32,995
Yours for: £34,950

See the original advert here.

SPECIFICATION - LOTUS EXIGE S2 240

Engine: 1,796cc 4-cyl, supercharged
Transmission: 6-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 243@8,000rpm
Torque (lb ft): 170@5,500rpm
MPG: NA
CO2: NA
Recorded mileage: 13,000
First registered: 2009
Price new: £37,750 (base)
Yours for: £35,999

See the original advert here.

SPECIFICATION - LOTUS EXIGE S3 ROADSTER

Engine: 3,456cc V6, supercharged
Transmission: 6-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 350@7,000rpm
Torque (lb ft): 295@4,500rpm
MPG: 28
CO2: 236g/km
Recorded mileage: 32,000
First registered: 2014
Price new: £53,850
Yours for: £35,945

See the original advert here.

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Onehp

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