Lotus Exige Hatchback 2004 - Present

When Lotus parked the Esprit in the late 90s they had a clear objective in mind, to make smaller, enjoyable cars.  One of the premium British car marques through the 70s and 80s they has started to dwindle somewhat.  No longer making F1 cars, or supplying James Bond with underwater vehicles, they were more likely to be seen in a Vauxhall collaboration than anywhere else.  The transformation that has taken place is a real credit to the adaptability of Lotus.  A back to basics approach has seen them go back to what they traditionally have done best, make fast cars, cars to be driven for the act and pleasure of driving.

Starting with the basics the Exige is stripped down and built with the purpose of driving in mind.  So there is little in the way of luxury to be found in the cockpit, even to the point that getting into the cockpit is a challenge.  Based on the Elise there are two seats with a little room behind them for storage of what you can fit in the boot (which is tiny).  There are two sports seats and an MP3-compatible Blaupunkt stereo system, which isn’t quite enough to drown out the sound of the engine, but is good nonetheless. 

Once in the drivers seat your every attention is really focussed on driving, once you pull away this focus is made more keen by the sheer performance available, especially from the supercharged engine which will get to 60 mph in under five seconds,  4.1 to be precise.  It tops out at 148 mph and Lotus claim it can get from standing to 100 mph in 9.98 seconds.   There are two engines on offer; the standard model uses the same 1.8-litre VVTi engine found in some Toyota Celicas. Standard models have 190bhp (like the Celica), but the supercharged Exige S takes power up to 220bhp.  Both models offer great fuel economy of low thirties mpg and while the S model is the fire breather the standard model is no slouch, reaching 60 mph in five seconds and toping out just shy of 150 mph. 

The VVTi engine is a good unit and powers the Celica to 60 mph in a respectable 7.2 seconds with a top end of 140 mph, but as you can see a bit of work on weight loss makes the car a lot more lively and responsive to the engines bidding.  Maybe it’s an area more manufacturers can look into as a means of getting more performance from the same engines, after all who needs aircon when you can wind the window down?

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