that’d be pretty special!
Drove the V6 Exige just before Christmas.
It’s a proper weapon. I drove it back to back with my Elise and it made for a really interesting comparison. Clearly you can feel the extra weight but it doesn’t feel heavier in the usual sense of feeling bulky or slower to respond, just very planted, composed and stable. It feels reassuringly solid and meaty. It’s still the last word in agility and accuracy. It does feel more ‘grown up’ than the 4pot Exige in that it has a bit more GT ability. Long distances would be no sweat. Apart from the exotic new soundtrack lots more road and wind noise is filtered out. It’s a proper, beautifully-honed road car, much more than just a ‘race car for the road’ even though it still looks like one.
Obviously the cabin is very little changed from a late Elise. I guess that’s good or bad depending on your point of view, personally it’s a good thing. The elise feels tailor made for me. But there are various improvements across the board. Suedetex suits the car very well in my opinion.
I was expecting the ride to be exemplary but even by Lotus’s standards this is something special. I only drove gently but it was enough to feel the sheer polish of the set up. It feel honed to within an inch of its life. The car reacts with such purity and clarity, there’s such exquisite harmony between the steering and the suspension that I will never buy Car magazine again! The morons criticised the Exige for having too much feedback! Having driven it today I know how much utter gash this is. In every way it’s more refined than the previous Exige, you really have to ignore some of the stuff you read in the press. And besides, driving pleasure IS communication and feedback from your car!
This car just has an abundance of sweet spots. And, crucially, its lovely to drive slowly too. So many modern sports cars don’t feel alive until pushed really hard, often beyond the legal limit. This has such lovely steering and just feels so natural changing direction that it can enthrall at all speeds, even in crappy weather like the day I drove it.
The last Exige had an insatiable appetite for corners. This one has it for the straights too. You have a big ass wave of torque to surf at your beck and call. Again, just taking it gently but I know this engine well from the Evora S and that is a seriously quick car. Fully lit, this will stay with a Gallardo, I have no doubt about that. Probably a bit quicker below 120, and a bit slower after that would be my guess. But it’s major league. And the noise? Better than I was expecting actually, and better than the Evora S. Never noisy, some here will want louder pipes, but the quality of the noise is pretty special. I’d leave mine bog standard. Just enough of everything, creamy smooth V6 snarl, high-pitched supercharger whine, all blending together for a cultured expression of big power.
I don’t think of it as a mini exotic. I think it’s a proper exotic. This is the perfect size for UK roads, all the other exotics are too big.
Thanks again to Jamie and Bell & Colvill.
Great write-up!
You are in the wrong business mate!
Top gear needs some new young blood!!! 
Yep, great write up. Are you sure you weren’t driving a MY12 Evora S 
Time to try one, I think.
Great read.
The car’s secret weapon is its size. Those wanting a status symbol will look elsewhere,diddy cars don’t cut it with the kings road posers. But as a driving tool it’s a real asset to have a fast car that’s capable on a wide variety of UK roads. You won’t have to wait for sweeping, smooth A-roads to enjoy the Exige, its still compact enough to hang on to an S2 Exige down a challenging b-road too.
Is there another car on sale that combines such compact dimensions and big league performance? Cayman R maybe?
Still love the Cup260 though, always will. Banshee 8500 shriek is missing with the new car, you can only just hear the 'charger whine, but it makes up for that with a richer, more complex, multi-layered sound.
do like the Cayman R - especially if you popped some GT3 suspention conponents in there and got it ‘just so’
That’s great Muu but what’s it got to do with the Exige V6?
The fact that you have compared it to a Cayman R and Muu is simply commenting on that.
I like Catyman R’s too and I think we all know which one is built better and would be a better every day proposition.
I would probably still choose an Exige though.
LoL,
My other half has a Cayman and has just been looking over my shoulder while Im reading this thread.
Only half reading it and thinking im dissing her car she has just asked what a Muu is??
I love you dear!!
[quote=TarmacTerrorist] she has just asked what a Muu is??
[/quote]
Tell her it’s a law!
Only a nerd may get this…guilty as charged 
[quote=SeanB]The fact that you have compared it to a Cayman R and Muu is simply commenting on that.
[/quote]
this. exactly this.
Good to see
[quote=moomin]
Good to see [/quote]
Just like buses, none & then…
Lol
Demo cars off to the dealers , good to see cars and not managers being driven out the factory gate .
[quote=Benja][quote=TarmacTerrorist] she has just asked what a Muu is??
[/quote]
Tell her it’s a law!
Only a nerd may get this…guilty as charged [/quote]
yeah lay down the law, might cause some friction in the relationship though
[quote=Muu]
yeah lay down the law, might cause some friction in the relationship though [/quote]
Tsk I thought you of all people might have picked up the nerdtastic reference (see the definition of Muu Law below, yes what a saddo )
[font:Courier New]The �-law algorithm (sometimes written “mu-law”, or misspelled “u-law”) is a companding algorithm, primarily used in the digital telecommunication systems of North America and Japan. Companding algorithms reduce the dynamic range of an audio signal. In analog systems, this can increase the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) achieved during transmission, and in the digital domain, it can reduce the quantization error (hence increasing signal to quantization noise ratio). These SNR increases can be traded instead for reduced bandwidth for equivalent S[/font]NR.
I was on the Coulomb’s Law of friction route