While trying to thin out my bedside reading pile during the lockdown, I came across a copy of Supercar Greatest Hits bought a couple of years ago. It features one of our long-standing members, Simon E, well, at least, his car . . .
I must add that it was seeing Simon’s car at Donington one day and also being entranced by Ted’s superb light blue example that convinced me to buy one. I have never regretted it.
The S1 is a simply stunning shape. Superb looking thing
I was actually on the hunt for a Noble before I got my first Lotus. Had a year working in the US so spent my evenings scraping classifieds and readers blogs etc.
Some how the value of the m12 seemed to nigh on double before I got chance to get home and start shopping properly, so started looking at alternatives. In hindsight I think it worked out pretty well as I gather running an m12 as a track car can be quite an expensive affair…!
Still have a huge soft spot for them though.
Glad it sparked an interest fellas. A former Lotus mate of mine switched to the Noble side a few years ago.
His car was pretty amazing and yet. . . there was a still a “kit car” look about it if you will forgive my “snobby” outlook.
PS: It looks like we three are the main contributors to exiges these days., with a few notable exceptions. Where is everyone?
I think S3 Exige owners migrate toward TLF and seloc, similar story with S2 owners also being prolific on seloc and of course all the regional club websites. WhatsApp takes away a lot of the daily banter, and FB groups seem really popular too now.
Exiges.com has lost out sadly to all the above.
IDG - Ian Goodall runs the FB group.
I think if you plotted a graph of posts/topics per year from the last 20 years it would show a steep decline, probably more so over the last 9 - 10 years.
The other forums would probably show the opposite trend. I have no idea how this can be addressed? A couple of years ago before you took over I did wonder if Exiges.com should’ve merged with TLF (if they would even entertain the idea)?
I admit, I don’t post often on here. When I do, I try to keep my posts relevant to the subject. Generally this seems to be the case on exiges, where other forums tend to have far more ‘chatter’ and thread creep.
Is it better to have a lower count but remain a repository for relevant information or to have a higher count where accuracy gets mired in fake news and technically poor opinion?
All of which, I realise, has nothing to do with the original topic (thus making me guilty, in part, of thread creep…) so I’ll get it back by adding that I too was considering a Noble before my Exige, but both the latter’s feel and more ‘together’ design won the day!
Whilst the Noble is undoubtedly a very competent car, I agree it can look a bit ‘kit’ from some angles.
That gave me a morning chuckle over the irony of it 
Yes the ‘forum health’ topic probably warrants its own thread? That’ll give Andy something to do.
For what it’s worth I never knew exiges.com existed when I had my Elise, I guess that’s just part of the SEO issue - if I searched for “Lotus Elise” forum, why would exiges.com crop up? Well maybe it should, as there’s so much technical overflow between the Elise and Exige I’m almost certain there are useful resources and threads on this forum for Elise owners too - so that might give the member count a small boost even if the topic material is aimed at predominantly Exige based cars.
For me personally Exiges is a nice recipe for a forum - there is some good technical knowledge within the active posters, even though the active posting pool is very small. I’m fairly confident that I can get answers to most of my stupid questions by posting on here, which is a really good start. Dig deeper and there’s some really useful historic information too - the thread about Air Intake Temps back in the day was a gold mine when I started frigging around with that.
Exiges.com misses the ‘general chat’ type of atmosphere that the likes of SELOC carries, probably for the best - but inevitably that harms the raw statistics of the forum.
FB groups have harmed forums across the board, I bloody hate them too. I admit occasionally you can find information in them which is useful, and you can get your daily quota of “Lotus based chit-chat” from them but generally the FB Group format is awful for retaining any type of important information, the number of times I’ve been idly scrolling through posts past all of the family member nonsense to suddenly skip past a vaguely interesting looking Lotus post, so I scroll back up again and it’s gone - never to be found again! Forums are a bit old hat now, but I still strongly believe they’re the best format for the type of content that I’m interested in. Some forums have tried to cash-in on the FB momentum but I’m really not sure whether Exiges.com has much to gain from that, other than perhaps using the existing/established FB groups to promote the forum.
Back on topic, yes this was a bit realisation to me when I really started comparing Noble options with contemporary Lotus ones. The M12 has got kit-car written all over it, and a lot of the interior styling particularly has not aged well at all. In contrast to that I feel the S1 Lotus interior has aged magnificently, it’s got that ‘motorsports’ feel to it which I’m actually now starting to prefer over the later attempts at making Ex/Elise interiors feel a bit more modern and comfortable.
two things I must add to this thread, the first about the Noble
When I was buying my S2 it was in direct competition with a Noble, went and test drove both, the Noble second, omg was it fast? Yes, did it handle well? Yes.
So there I am asking the sales guy at Mole Valley a few last question before I put down the deposit, I’m itching to sign. I asked him the base running costs per year, his reply without being embarrassed was £5-6k per year, more if you track it a lot. I made my excuses left and went and bought the Exige!
I suppose the second element is about Exiges, it is by far and away the best forum, has the nicest people, is self moderated and finally is the single best place for real information on all the Exige variants. I hate the FB groups as it becomes quickly impossible to find stuff, Seloc is full of haters to anyone who doesn’t fit, but it does have some good threads if you ignore the crap. DrH’s Stratos build thread is a great example. I stay here because I want to and at least I still own the Elise. Do I wish I’d not sold the Exige, yes, have I tried to buy another, yes, just has not worked out yet. I’d sure miss this place if it disappeared 
To redress my earlier post , I do prefer the S1 over a Noble. I much prefer them asthetically!
Quite…my personal ‘foot-mouth’ interface was rather crammed when the realisation dawned! However I felt it best to leave unedited as a shining example to all 
I’m glad my post sparked some interest, both on and off “topic”. I am now considering putting the Exige back on the road. I can’t see why I can’t pop out for some shopping in it. The exhaust fumes will kill off all known viruses both inside and out of the car…
This and then some - right old subject close to my heart. Sorry Thommo for cutting in on the thread, Fonzey’s being all sensible so I thought I’d back him up. I think a bit of forum hopping won’t do me or some others any harm - might have a rummage on Norlog, haven’t been on there in a while. Forum revival anyone?
What we need to do is charge a members fee , how that for a good idea? That should drive the remaining few people away…
Ade its a beef of mine with other ‘clubs’, I was actually trying to be sarcastic!!
I know Dave, I saw the sarcasm 
Just wish I could again find an Exige that works for me at a price I can just leave in the garage to get little use, I went and looked at Stretchbolt’s car, but for the price it just wasn’t the car for me which was shame as it is a good colour. Maybe if the prices get depressed with some having to sell (not that I wish it on anyone on here) I might get the chance to be in an S1 or maybe the right S2 like a Cup 260
Hey! There is a queue for cheap s1! Its got a 2m corona distancing thing in it as well.
I love my s2 , but a s1. Next level.