EXIGE
Over the last few days, key magazines around the world have been driving an early prototype of the Lotus Exige on the Test Track at Hethel. These “first-drives” follow on from our global announcement to the world on 08 September 2003 about the Exige.
Autocar Magazine will be the first magazine to publish their impressions of their drive of the prototype Exige and this issue will go on sale on Tuesday 23 September 2003.
Also in this issue, will be an interview with Victor Kiam
and Simon Wood and a situation report at Lotus including the latest on Lotus Engineering’s developments.
Over the next few weeks, Exige prototype drives will be seen in the following media:
Did anyone else pick up in the Autocar article that they initially referred to the Toyota engine as a 2.0 litre,and then later as a 1.8?Am I right in saying that it is a 1.8?
Also,for any other mk 1 Exige owners who are desperate to find some nice aftermarket wheels that will fit their car,it looks like Lotus are sticking to the original 16" front/17" rear combo. that we have at the moment I accept this might change as we are a little way off production,but I was hoping that they would go to 17"/18" on the new one so we could hopefully put them on the series 1 car. Bugger
Why would you want bigger wheels? Do you need bigger brake disks? The standard wheels rub on the wheelarch liners as it is. Bigger wheels would exacerbate the problem, or you’d have to raise the ride height. They’d probably weigh more too.
Have you noticed Autocar still include a V6 Elise in their forthcoming cars list. Plonkers
Just because you increase the wheel diameter,it doesn’t mean that the overall wheel+tyre height is greater.If you up-size correctly,there is no reason to think that clearence will be a problem.As to why I would want to upgrade,Well,in my opinion,larger diameter wheels look far better than standard.This view seems to be echoed by most designers who create prototype drawings for manufacturers wishing to make their cars as ‘trick’ looking as possible.Take a look at the orange s2 Exige drawings for example
But doesn’t the S1 Elise have a totally different PCD to the S2 Elise?
In which case, the S2 Exige wheels wont fit an S1 Exige.
And while bigger wheels would look nicer (not that it doesn’t look good enough as it is ) you have to bear in mind that unless you get lower profile tyres to retain the overall correct RR, it’ll have an adverse affect on acceleration.
Not to mention unsprung weight, Tramlining… To name a few
Did anyone else pick up in the Autocar article that they initially referred to the Toyota engine as a 2.0 litre,and then later as a 1.8?Am I right in saying that it is a 1.8? Bugger
SI
I’m pretty sure that its a 1.9 something fishy…
Did anyone else pick up in the Autocar article that they initially referred to the Toyota engine as a 2.0 litre,and then later as a 1.8?Am I right in saying that it is a 1.8? Bugger
It’s a 1.8 .
For those of you saying it’s not enough…what about 1 of the new V8 bike engines? 14,000 rpm 2l 300bhp…surely a conversion could be done…
Just read an Exige review in ‘AutoCar’? while shopping in Safeways.
They seemed to like the car (how could they not … it’s a Lotus, and it’s British … well sort of) but were very aware how long the original Exiges took to get off the forecourts, and of what you can get from other marques for the kind of money that an S2 Exige is going to cost.
On a completely personal non-technical note - ‘God, our cars look SO much better than the S2!’
Yep, I bought Autocar and read the article in depth. He seemed to like it…I however am not so sure. It seems to be missing the point a bit styling wise and doesn’t look like a devlopment from a racing car (electric windows ). I for one would have to be convinced a bit more really…Good to see Lotus on the up tho.