Does anyone have any idea if Lotus are going to bring out their supercharged Exige, and if so when?
I was told by a Lotus dealer not before next year and even then it might only be for the American market ???
I rang lotus motorsport today to ask about wether a supercharged exige, or perhaps a motorsport upgrade kit would be available in the near future as i plan on ordering an s2 exige this weekend, i was concerned that if they did release a supercharged version that it would devalue a new exige s2 which at �35k would annoy me some what. They told me that as far as they knew there were no plans for a new exige with a supercharger and that no plans for a supercharger kit were currently being talked about.
Christian
Quo
did you see where the guys tongue was when he spoke to you
Quite right. I think they have an idea about something. The reason I asked is that I have a friend (an insider)who told me that Lotus have a supercharged Exige in the bodyshop now which is even more aggressive than the Exige. Wider body and that. It has 280bhp .
Lotus researched the possibility of having the TurboTechnics 260bhp conversion offered with their Exiges but weren’t too sure about the cooling side of things… so we know they ARE keen to see a supercharged Exige.
Perhaps with the new lump they’ll be able to do it …
Oh come on! There’ll be a more powerful Exige in the not too distant future.
First they’ll make sure the current one is going okay, they’ve got a bit to learn about an engine other than the Rover K, then they’ll do something. Performance wise the new Exige isn’t a step forward (although it appears much better in many areas), they’ll fix that.
Ian
But how long will it take them ? Look how long it was for the ECU upgrade to fix the stutter and floor pan fix !!
By the time the supercharged one comes along i’ll be needing a zimmer frame
Phil are you suggesting Lotus fix all the problems on their current cars before making new ones?
I think they wait just long enough to feel comfortable that the new cars don’t have serious re-design issues and then get stuck into a new product. They know sales were declining and waited too long to bring something new out.
Ian
Floor pan fix ? - Really ?
LOL - Sorry floor pan bodge !!
There will be a SC Exige and before the end of the year, I would almost put money it Do you realy think LOTUS want the VXR to be the fastest car coming out of the factory. As for USA, It don’t look like they will even get the standered Exige never mind the SC Exige and here is why.
If you think how many millions of people live in the good old US of A and then subtract the actual amount that would fit into an Elise / Exige you are left with 401 So thats 400 for the Elise for the next four years Leaving only 1 with enough guts to drive an Exige And that would be me And as I am only going to live there 6 months of the year, And as it would probably take me 6 months to find a corner that would be able to chalnge an Exige I woudn’t bother
I’m not that optimistic about an SC version.
Lets think with our heads instead of our hearts…
The Exige is a very limited production car. I very much doubt that the total production will exceed 1500-2000 cars mark.
Lotus spent a HUGE amount of money developing the Exige as it is. They have sold a large amount of S2’s both in America and Europe. So, from a business point of view, what logic is there that lotus now spends some extra million pounds developing a supercharger version of the car, revising the entire car’s structure to cope with the extra cooling needed, so that they can sell the last 100-300 cars with SC (it’s gonna take a lot more time to develop cooling solutions in a car that is already as minimal as possible. Sheer lack of space for the parts), to those people that are willing to pay an extra 5k-8k pounds for the SC version, entering therefore Noble and TVR territory?
I mean, how many of you are willing to pay �45.000 for an Exige even if it reaches the 260 bhp mark (the 280 bhp seems very dificult, due to reliability problems, and even if it all goes well, how much so you think it will cost to develop a Supercharger to develop an extra 100 bhp’s? At the very least 10k!!)
Don’t get me wrong… I would very much love to have an SC Exige S2, but when i think with my brain, instead of my heart, the conclusions are not that cheering…
Regards
Jose you are forgetting one important thing, This engine all ready comes out of the factory in japan with a SC on it for some toyota models Which means the they don’t have mess about tring to find the right one for the job. I did not think SC has quite the same problems with heat as turbo charging.
I’m sorry Kirk, but that’s not correct.
Toyota has not yet developed a SC for the Exige’s Engine. Apparently TRD is working on one, but the outcome of this is still not certain (how any bhp’s or when will it be ready). Blitz however has one for it, it costs 5k to fit in the celica, without the cooling parts necessary for the Exige.
Mind that the SC itself will not cost too much money to develop. However, the cooling project will, as it needs to be designed from scratch.
Which brings me to the second point of my last post… How many of you are willing to pay 45K-50K for an Exige? That’s Noble and TVR territory…
By the way, regarding the cooling problems with the SC, they are very real, and are the source of most of the problems with Turbo Technics conversions for the S1 (Yes, despite the name they have Supercharger conversions, not turbo).
No I am sorry Jose, I must have been miss informed by my dealer who told me that toyota did have a SC on this engine in japan. And it was rumerd to be on the cards for the S2Exige. I am not realy that tecnical so I am quite happy to admit when I am wrong
kirk,
everyone can make a mistake, don’t need to apologise for it.
This is a forum, and the purpose here is to learn. Actually, depending on what your dealer told you, he could be right. IIRC, the celica has more than one engine available, and for some of those there are in fact SC’s available from TRD. Still the yota engine that equips the Exige is the newest, and they are still developing hard for it, including that SC.
Jose you are forgetting one important thing, This engine all ready comes out of the factory in japan with a SC on it for some toyota models Which means the they don’t have mess about tring to find the right one for the job. I did not think SC has quite the same problems with heat as turbo charging.
I went up to Lotus Ribble Valley yesterday and looked at the new Exige. Veyr nice. Questioned him about a possibility of a supercharged version. His reply was very positive saying they were just having problems with cooling but were obviously testing them!