Lotus Exige S2 (2004 - To Date)
BY ANDY ENRIGHT
The Lotus Exige is what could be termed a Marmite car you either love it or hate it. Many cannot see the appeal of a plastic bodied car with a 1.8-litre engine that costs quite so much and seems to offer so little capability. These people will never have felt steering lighten up as a car dances at the limit on a race track, nor will they have ever executed a perfect heel and toe gear change to leap flat on the gas again.
If that is your thing, youll get the Lotus Exige and appreciate where the money has been spent. Heres how to find a decent used Series 2 car.
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Air conditioning is an option but its well worth choosing, the Toyota engine doing a good job of basting the Exiges occupants. Compare the prices to other sports coupes and your first thought may well be that theres not a whole lot of car for the money, a decent Porsche Cayman costing about the same as an averagely specified Exige. Its certainly well into Porsche and BMW M territory and some of the interior fit and finish elements arent what could best be described as top drawer. Nevertheless, the Exige still possesses the sort of exotic feel that escapes even the suave Porsche.
Prices start at around £21,000 for the first of the 2004 Exige S2 models. A later 2006 55-plkated car will still cling on to around £25,000 of its original £33,000 asking price and an Exige S of the same vintage remains around £37,500. Insurance for all Exiges is the full Group 20, but many owners opt for specialist limited road mileage and track policies that work out surprisingly reasonably.
Whereas the old Exige S1 was an experience that kept owners awake at night, life with the S2 is far simpler. A better engine and more stringent build quality has seen the number of snags drop dramatically. One issue that has manifested itself is the heater fan which is in a notorious water trap and which can fail to operate at all speeds. Occasionally, the cast wheels will be difficult to balance and the headlamp units can mist up.
Play in the steering around the straight ahead can signal a worn rack. Check the tyres for signs of wear. Kwik-Fit will not have replacements in stock.
(approx based on a 2000 Exige 1.8) Those spares that are interchangeable with the Elise are generally agreeably cheap, as are servicing costs. Front discs cost £90, a headlamp unit around £95 and a new windscreen is £240. A door mirror is £85.
The first Exiges used that rather rattly K-series engine but the latest generation cars use a far more sophisticated powerplant. The unit in question is essentially the same 1.8-litre VVTL-i 189bhp Toyota unit once found in that companys Celica T-Sport sports coupe which may be similar in output to that car but behaves in a quite different manner. Its almost civilised at normal revs, feeling tractable and docile where the old engine would grumble obstreperously below 3,000rpm.
Despite this, the Exige S2 is no faster in a straight line than its predecessor, the additional 80kg of weight nullifying any advantage the new engine bestows. Sixty will arrive in 4.9 seconds and 100mph flashes by in 13.2.
The magic number with this engine is 6,200, that being the rpm where the cams change profile and all hell lets loose. Given its head, the latest car will nudge 150mph. That this Toyota unit is the best engine for the job is evident within just a few hundred yards. The soundtrack from the twin rear tailpipes is so throaty that youd swear the optional sports exhaust was already fitted.
This powerplants party piece is the way it switches cams at 6,200rpm, giving a glorious surge of extra power that you cant help wishing was available further down the rev range. Still, its a treat when you get to experience it, offering a seamless stream of acceleration all the way up to the 8,200rpm red line. Its torquey too, with 181Nm (133.5 lbs/ft) of pulling power.
Go for an Exige S and things are even more fun. The slight hole in the normally aspirated cars torque curve before the cam phase is filled in beautifully in one long stream of acceleration. It gets to 60mph in 4.1 seconds and to 100mph in a fraction less than ten seconds.
Its quicker to 60mph than a Porsche 911 Turbo and within a tenth of a second of Ferraris F430, neither of these cars having a hope of replicating the Exiges 31mpg combined fuel consumption figure. Fuel economy may not seem too much of a concern to target buyers but when you have a mere 43.5-litre fuel tank, it equates to more laps between top ups.
If youre looking for a car that will destroy all comers at track days and get there and back without recourse to a crash helmet and small children laughing at you, the Lotus Exige is your weapon of choice. Fast, charismatic and huge fun, its one of the least successful Lotuses ever. Its also one of the best. In S2 guise its even agreeably reliable.
Id spend my money on the first of the Exige S models and be smug in the knowledge that you own one of the quickest cars in the real world.
