I am currenty very close to buying a 2006 Exige S (with sport and touring).
I noticed quite a few paint bubbles on the inside of the boot lid but was told this was pretty normal?
On a quick search online it looks like the later models had 2 plastic seals attached to the inside of the boot lid (im guessing to direct water away from the boot itself?)
Would these be easy to get hold of direct from Lotus?
Also could anyone tell me if there had been any other “re-works” on the later models?
i’ve no idea whether my car has these - it’s an early 07 reg so presumably a 06 build. i get no water ingress to the boot. i’ll have a look and report back.
My 06 Exige has no seals - in fact from the drivers seat you can see sky through the gap round the edge of the engine hatch. The whole thing only contacts the rest of the car through the hinges and the bump stops. No issues with water or anything else getting in. Probably eliminated to save weight
I think they went from 2 gas struts to 1 as the 2 on the outside was distorting the engine cover as they were to strong so pushed the sides of the cover up leaving big gaps.
Have the same on mine no problem, did have a little water ingress buy after ajusting the locking mechanism and the rubber supports for the tailgate ( a common thing) its all fine
wow, cheers for all the replys guys, much appreiciated.
Sorry for the delay in replying myself but have been pretty busy sorting insurance etc. I had a vx220 turbo for 7 years, moderately tuned and was written off last month hence why I am now looking for my replacement.
Are there many issues that people come accross? Should look out for?
How water tight is the cabin? On the one I looked at the black seals around the edges of the hardtop did not seem to join at each corner?
mine -was- very watertight until someone chasing a phantom rattle, decided to take the top off, and it started leaking in very heavy rain. i took it off myself and reseated it, it still leaked. i got the rubber replaced, and now it leaks slightly.
my solution is to just keep driving it with the a/c on and i have a roll of kitchen towel always in the car to dry out the inch or so of headlining that can get wet in heavy rain during winter. in summer it is bone dry.
sounds a bit odd, i’m sure. my daily for three years before the exige was a from-new s60 t5 with all mod cons including 13 speaker pro logic uprated stereo. i was pretty bored after a short time.
in just over three years (70,000 km) and about 25 track days with the exige, i treated it to a full respray, ventureshield, two sets of dampers (ohlins followed by nitron), bushes, big disks, forge intercooler, forge rad, the chris neil 260 upgrade, 2bular 8x24, a set of team dynamics rims for track, superceded by a set of forged alloys, refurb of the original wheels, and i forget what else.
i have no intention of selling it, i can’t imagine what i would trade it for unless 360 CS or GT3RS prices and running costs come crashing down in the morning.
you get to overlook a bit of leakage here and there.
