First drive in an Exige

General General Lotus Talk
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This is my first post on the forum so I would like to say hello everyone.On saturday I got the chance to drive an Exige for the first time as part of a Supercar experience at Prestwold Hall airfield.WOW, I am very envious of you Exige owners.The day included a Porsche 911, Dodge Viper, Lotus Exige, Noble M12 and Lamboghini Diablo SV. All the cars were great and very different, but the Exige was easily the most fun, especially as the instructor was up for encouraging me to drive the car very hard. I have always like the mini Le Mans styleing of the Exige and the full race seats with harnesses certainly gave it a race car feel inside. The brakes and grip were fantastic, although the Exige did feel a little underpowered (not sure if it had the 190bhp kit fitted) compared to the other cars. However given that this was a narrowish circuit on an area of an airfield it was ideal. How does the Exige feel on full circuits like Silverston?If I keep my Audi TT coupe for everyday use I can justify getting an Exige for trackdays, just got to start saving.James

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James, Dude!Don’t save - Finance it! You could be on the track with it by the weekend!Gotta love those APR’s!

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Did you drive the Noble? If so, what was it like?Christine

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The Noble was great, quite like the Exige, a bit larger with softer suspension but lots more power from the turbo which made a fantastic sound as it released the boost as you changed up. It looked great in metalic azure blue (a Lotus colour I think), but it just didn’t feel as planted on the track as the Exige or so close to being a race car. Perhaps with a more open circuit to really explot the power from the engine it would have been a different story. If the Lotus M250 had gone into production that would probably have been my next car, but as it is the Noble may be the next best thing if you want more power in a larger package than the Exige.

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Or you could supercharge an Exige for the same/better performance and better handling [image]http://www.exiges.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/wink.gif[/image]

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JamesHaving done a track day @ Snetterton a couple of weeks ago there is a little frustration on tracks with long straights - you catch almost everybody through the corners but can’t outgun some on the straights (with 190 upgrade). I am doing the Silverstone GP circuit next week and suspect I will find the same.The car arguably is more suited to tracks such as Cadwell and Donnington and Angelsey (although not done this personally) but this that is a marginal point I don’t think you can find a better car for track days and the odd trip into work and down the pub - I personally couldn’t live with it as day to day transport but along with Pesky (and others)I belong to the senior citizen ownership club [image]http://www.exiges.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/smile.gif[/image]David