First I would like to say Hi to you all. I have and am an avid reader of the website for sometime and I am slowly planning my first Exige. I have only been into classic Lotus until now (mainly Mk 14). I have been thinking over a S1 VHPD car versus a S2 cup (240). I am not sure what sort of money a Cup would be, but to get a good S1 and bring it to a good standard for fast road and occasional track day would be in the region of say �22k with perhaps more if you put provision for engine wear etc.
The cup would perhaps be more reliable and kind of ready to go.
Would a Cup hold its money like an S1? Which would be more useable/fun? I appreciate they are not apples and pears but more like oranges and limes, and kind of difficult for me who has driven neither to assess with great accuracy. May be drive in each would make the choice obvious!
I would appreciate any thoughts you guys may have.
Regards to all and keep up the enthusiasm and banter.
Go drive both, it does not matter what anyone else tells you we are all different and what fits one may not fit us all. I have lost a load on my S but its a better fit for me than an S1 plus you only loose money when you sell it
What would it’s main useage be? Everyday/sunny days/trackdays?
If it’s an everyday car used to go to trackdays occansionally I think an S2 is more comfortable. It’s got aircon that works which comes in handy on trips abroad, quieter, comfier seats and easier to drive around town.
However the S1 is the original, more raw, lighter so better handling, limited numbers so not much depreciation, ace engine sound, etc. If it’s a second car or you don’t commute very far i’d get an S1 otherwise S2.
Go drive both, it does not matter what anyone else tells you we are all different and what fits one may not fit us all. I have lost a load on my S but its a better fit for me than an S1 plus you only loose money when you sell it
Oh bollox…we agree on something!
Go drive both, it does not matter what anyone else tells you we are all different and what fits one may not fit us all. I have lost a load on my S but its a better fit for me than an S1 plus you only loose money when you sell it
Oh bollox…we agree on something!
lighter so better handling
Handling again is all down to preference, lighter so more nimble yes, better… thats all down to taste imho.
Boothy
God now I’m going to agree with people as well…
Drive both it’s the only way, when I had my S1 Elise sport190 I test drove the S1 Exige and hated it, when I drove one again versus the S2 I loved it (after having a Golf R32 for 3 years) but my needs were for an only car and it was just too raw, the S2 S ticked all the boxes apart from it was going to depriciate like a brick for a couple of years. It’s all down to your needs and your heart for the one you love more.
The way I see it these days
S1 less depriciation higher maintainence
S2 higher depriciation lower maintainence
Either way they are great cars and one people are very passionate about
This was dilemma when I bought my S2, at my age (!) and ability (!!)… (and available expertise) I wanted an Exige ‘high’ (ha, bloody ha) on reliability, the S2 fitted the bill better than the S1.
However after 14 months of S2 ownership the S2 appears to be ‘reliable’.
//touching wood and rubbing rabbits foot//.
Well I’m not going to sit on the fence as much as some of my fellow owners!
Would a Cup hold its money like an S1?
Nop
Which would be more useable/fun?
I’d say an S2 fits that best (perhaps a surprise there from me ). The S1 is a purer experience, more like a race car, more of an event, on track it makes you feel like you’ve achieved/tamed something. S2 is probably closer to ‘fun’, easier to hoon about with and definately more useable day-to-day.
Ian
I bought an S2 in preference to an S1 as it was to be my only car, used daily for commuting, shopping etc it had to have a few creature comforts which I hoped would also keep the gf happy as she hated what she perceived as the rawness of the three previous VXs I’d owned. A year ago I bought a Golf GT TDI to use as the daily shed to keep the mileage down on the Exige. Now the Exige sits doing nothing most of the time apart from an ocassional blast around the roads and a few trackdays each year. I’m the only one to use it so it now doesn’t have to please anyone else and I’m missing that rawness from my previous cars. Ideally for what I use the car for now I should really have an S1.
Anyone wanna swop
As above, depends on what you use it for and what kind of car you are looking at. I have driven both and owned an S2 240cup. When you drive them you will find the cup car much easier ie civilised, if both are standard! Its not as noisy and its marginally easier to get into and the A/C works. I really kick myself as I really wanted an s1 years ago and passed on the opertunuty and ended up with a BMW MZ3 coupe as I wanted a car I could use every day…also my wife was not overly keen on the s1 after the sales man took her for a spin, well I think he did his hardest to try and spin it! I have ever since really wanted an exige and when I recently looked at buying one I could not find a good S1 one when I was buying and so ended up with the s2. It gave me as close to the feel of the s1 I could find from all the new varients (the N/A and S I found to feel quite slow) but had reliability, traction control and A/C which really did make it feel easy to drive.
What I would say, is there were 2 reasons for me not buying the s1, firstly I only wanted one car and did quite a few miles on my commute and secondly, it did not feel very fast. Yes, it was fast around corners but it was not great for overtaking. Now, it was only a 177 or so bhp S1…now I really want to get an s1 with a honda engine!
As for price, the s1’s seem to now hover about 20k, when I was looking last year they were about 18k, so may have even gone up in price!. My 240cup I bought in july for 26k and sold it 6 months later for the same price, so again depreciation was not a problem. I would still have it now if I was not short of money to finish building my house.
Just go and drive em and buy the one which gives you the biggest smile.
Is SEXIGE and ESPRIT AKA George in Auckland playing games with us all. Is it the same guy. Is it Hong Kong Phooey or the mild mannered janitor? Or am i just going mad down under?
Jez no you are not going mad down there /…in fact there are a lot of us who know you are in the best place!!!and want to join you…
S1 or S2…depends if you are a hairdresser or not
It’s not me… I’d never consider an S2, cup or otherwise
TBH, the S1 has the classic status, rawness and the better residuals, but I reckon the extra upkeep the VHPD will likely need would offset that.
An S2 Exige (any variant) is a fantastic handling car by any yardstick, even if it’s not quite got the S1’s potential (due to weight).
Sorry for the confusion, I am not from the lower hemisphere unless Surrey is now part of it!
Thanks for all your thoughts.
It seems that to drive them is everything, beyond that is down to your physical build, (I am 6’ so it may be an issue for me) along with the mileage/use. For my part the S1 has the looks over all. However it seems that if a carbon clad 260 cup were ever affordable it would probably be the right car for me and my needs/wants. I’ll just keep putting the pennies in a jar until I can afford one or a bargain comes my way (here’s hoping!).
Kind regards to all.
It seems that to drive them is everything, beyond that is down to your physical build, (I am 6’ so it may be an issue for me) along with the mileage/use.
I’m 6 foot & can get very comfortable in the cabin. You’ll find the S2 marginally easier to get in/out, but both offer enough room once in for 6 footers.
If you plan a fair bit of road use the S2 is a more civilised car (I’ve owned both types).
Sorry for the confusion, I am not from the lower hemisphere unless Surrey is now part of it!
Fear not… the confusion just arose because this is my car (notice the plate )
[image]http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d129/esprit350/Autocar%20Photoshoot/LotusExige1.jpg[/image]
![http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d129/esprit350/Autocar%20Photoshoot/LotusExige1.jpg[/image]](http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d129/esprit350/Autocar%20Photoshoot/LotusExige1.jpg%5B/image%5D){kind=link}
Great pic, as I said the S1 is by far the best looking Exige imo.
Didn’t mean to copy your cars id. I was quite surprised when I enrolled that no one else was using it. If you would prefer me to change my tag to avoid any confusion I would be fine with that, just let me know.
Great pic, as I said the S1 is by far the best looking Exige imo.
Didn’t mean to copy your cars id. I was quite surprised when I enrolled that no one else was using it. If you would prefer me to change my tag to avoid any confusion I would be fine with that, just let me know.
Haha no, I don’t mind at all And there shouldn’t be any confusion… I think most people in here know me by now
Great pic, as I said the S1 is by far the best looking Exige imo.
Bit gorky looking that front end, HIT WITH THE UGLY STICK MAYBE