Buying Guide
Lotus Exige S1
If you were asked to think of a manufacturer of focused, lightweight sports cars, chances are you’d instantly think of Lotus – and few cars are more focused than the original Elise-based Exige that arrived in 2000. After a succession of cars that were more like GTs than outright sports cars, Lotus launched the Elise, which led to the even more hardcore Exige. The company had got its mojo back.
At a stroke Lotus threw away the goal posts with a car that was road legal but more at home on a track than on the road. As a result, you need to think through the realities of buying. If you’re buying the car for road use, you need to make sure that you can live with it. You also need to ensure that anything you buy hasn’t led a hard life providing track day thrills. While the Exige really shines on a circuit, some owners have more enthusiasm than talent, so regular hard use will take its toll. As a result, there’s a chance that anything you buy will need some TLC as some steering, suspension and brake parts need to be treated as consumables.
If an Exige is the right car for you, the biggest problem you’re going to have is finding one to buy. A production tally of less than 600 means there aren’t many to go around and these aren’t cars that change hands very often as owners tend to hold onto them. As usual, your best bet is to join one of the clubs and get to know some owners. Introduced in 2000, towards the end of Elise production, the Exige was effectively a fixed-head Elise with a 177bhp version of the Elise 340R engine, but there was an option to upgrade to 190bhp if you felt that the 0-60mph time of 4.7 seconds was a bit on the slow side. The Exige also features a close-ratio gearbox and much more downforce thanks to a huge rear wing. Another significant difference over the Elise is the steering, which is more direct thanks to a different steering rack, giving just 2.3 turns between locks. The jury is still out on whether a standard 177bhp Exige is better to drive than a 190bhp version. The extra power was achieved by fitting a decat kit (it’s a proper factory modification); some reckon that the standard car is more tractable, while others feel that the higher-power edition features a freer-revving engine.
‘Some owners have more enthusiasm than talent on a circuit’