Ferrari Mailing List: Re: Lotus Exige

[Mike Fleischer (themightytoe]

Cool story!

So I did a track event a few weekends ago and there were 4-5 
Elise/Exiges out there.  I had a pretty good look at them and was nearly 
dead set on getting one last summer myself until someone gave me a great 
deal on the Vette I have now.  Some points:

1.  Best if you are not taller than 5' 8" for either car and are not at 
all overweight.  Getting in and out requires agility.

2.  Many owners rice out these cars with exhausts and cams, turbos 
etc...  These seem nice but likely are grenades with a loose pin.

3.  Handling and driving feel is awesome, but the suspension at the 
limit tends to load up in a corner and if you go past the car's limits 
the unloading is quite sudden, this makes the Elise (probably Exige 
also) a handful at the limit (where you don't want a car to be a 
handful).   That said its limits are very very high and most people just 
won't get there unless they are a true track junkie.

4.  Build quality is not superb, they have bits of rubber glued to the 
body work to cover gaps, lots of plastic parts, the car buzzes and 
shakes a lot.  foot pedals feel loose and have some slop in them. 

5.  Its super tiny.  Like stick in the trunk of your Hummer tiny...

6.  Any damage to one will likely total it.  Front and rear clamshells, 
any frame damage and its pretty well toast.

7.  Toyota sourced motors had some cam problems several owners wanted to 
sue Lotus over these back when the Elise first showed up.  Car will 
either have the problem or not (like the E46 M3 motors I guess).

And the Exige is not much faster than an Elise, you can't remove the 
roof, and no rear window...  But it is a lot cooler looking.  I like the 
practicality of my Vette compared to the Elise.  Also the ElMise is 
really targeted as a true track weapon, but out of the box it really 
isn't quite there once you get to the point where what you really want 
to drive at the track is a real race car and not a hopped up street 
car.  I think the only car that fits that bill today well is the GT3 though.

My $0.02
Mike

LarryT wrote:
> You wrote <<the car doesn't like to be parked sideways on a steep hill >>  LOL - that's typical Lotus in the finest Chapman tradition!  The Europa I had also had some, Hmmm... unique traits.  It was definately a car that would warm the heart of a tinkerer.   
>
> A friend owned an 63 Elite a while back who had similar experiences.  But one Saturday he 
> had a problem.  He called the factory and some guy with a Brit accent answered.  David 
> asked several questions and was impressed with the guys knowledge and helpfulness.  He 
> wanted to send a note to Lotus and express his thanks for the excellent help he'd rec'd.  
> When he told the guy what he wanted to do and asked for his name he was told, "Colin 
> Chapman"  who said he appreciated the kind words.
>
> Interesting guy & heck of an engineer.
>
> LarryT
>
> Read the Constitution - It's Interesting!
> http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.overview.html
>
>   ----- Original Message ----- 
>   From: Michael James 
>   To: LarryT 
>   Cc: The FerrariList 
>   Sent: Thursday, July 23, 2009 9:37 AM
>   Subject: Re: [Ferrari] Lotus Exige
>
>
>         A local member of our club bought a year-old spyder just a couple of 
> months ago.  He had the cams 'upgraded' before he took delivery, as there's a 
> factory recall on pre-mature wear.  He paid nothing for the upgrade, but added 
> a sports exhaust and an upgraded suspension since he like to hit the track once 
> and awhile.  He loves the car, and has spent considerable seat-time in 
> everything from a 308GT/4 to a 360 CS on the racetrack, so he knows full-well 
> what a car is supposed to do - and what it shouldn't.
>
>         BTW, at our FFIC BBQ last sunday, we found-out that the car doesn't 
> like to be parked sideways on a steep hill - the gasoline can empty into the 
> secondary saddle-bag tank, and the car may not start (fuel starvation).  Get it 
> level, and all is well....humbling, but well.
>
>         M
>
>
>         --- On Thu, 7/23/09, LarryT <l02turner [at] comcast.net> wrote:
>
>
>           From: LarryT <l02turner [at] comcast.net>
>           Subject: [Ferrari] Lotus Exige
>           To: "Michael" <Cavallino_Rapante [at] yahoo.com>
>           Cc: "The FerrariList" <ferrari [at] ferrarilist.com>
>           Date: Thursday, July 23, 2009, 8:35 AM
>
>
>           Any Exige owners out there?  saw this 
> http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/2199/Lotus-Sport-Exige.html
>           and fell in love.
>
>           has Lotus improved their quality control?  my last Lotus was ... 
> well, - let's just say it was a work in progress...
>
>           thx
>           LarryT
>
>           Read the Constitution - It's Interesting!
>           http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.overview.html
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