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2006 Lotus Exige Body style(s): 2-door coupe
Notes
With its new Exige, Lotus moved as close to a street-able track car as
anyone would want to go. Closer, probably. Derived from the Elise roadster,
introduced to America a year earlier to wide acclaim, the Exige was a far
more uncompromising racer. A closed coupe, it shunned nearly all creature
comforts in the name of light weight. No power mirrors or seats, no climate
control systems, no sat-nav or cruise control, and no rear defogger. Even
power windows, sound insulation, and carpeting were banished to the optional
Touring Pack. The truly masochist could even delete the air conditioning unit
to save 33 pounds, a trifle excessive given that the Exige only weighed 2015
pounds to begin with (most magazine testers reported even lighter figures).
Essentially, the Elise came with an engine, a CD player, a security system
with immobilizer, and an incoveniently-located 12-volt outlet. The cabin, and
most especially the footwell, was rather narrow, and the trunk (found behind the
engine) was minimalist, as well. Powered by the 1.8-liter engine late of the
Toyota Celica, the Exige could produce 190 horsepower, giving it a commendable
power-to-weight ratio of 188.6 horsepower per ton. With typical examples
weighing in at about $55,000 all told, the Exige was an intriguing
alternative to sports cars like the evergreen Chevrolet Corvette or BMW's
Z4-based M Coupe. The car was compared even more frequently with the Porsche
Cayman S, which arrived in America at the same time, and like the Exige, was derived
from a mid-engined roadster and priced well below sports cars like the
Jaguar XK, Maserati Coupe, and Porsche's own 911. The comparison provides
insight into the buyers of such vehicles, and so the details
are worth noting. The Cayman S (the only model initially available) offered an
extra 100 horsepower over the Exige from its flat-six engine, and provided
creature comforts like cupholders and power leather seats to boot, but its
price started at about $59k, and went rapidly north from there. With its hatchback,
the Cayman S (and the others) were far more practical as everyday sports cars
than the Exige, but it could not match the Exige's turning and traction
abilities, and the admittedly peaky Toyota motor could stay with the
German interloper to 60 miles per hour, after which the Porsche took the lead
and held it to its much higher top speed. As a real-world car, then, the
Exige lived up to its French-derived name (exige means "demanding" in French),
and was an altogether compromised vehicle. However, most people who could afford
such a vehicle could afford a sedan as well, and as a second car, the
Exige was superb, especially with its optional adjustable suspension. Although
initially denying any plans to do so, Lotus did bring the supercharged, 221-horsepower
Exige S model to America for the Exige's sophomore year, 2007. Lotus had trouble
getting even the basic Exige to U.S. shores, since both its non-sealed-beam headlights and
its lack of 2.5 mph bumpers required short-term waivers from federal law.
design
DIMENSIONS
Technical
Standard Equipment
Notable Options
Performance
Other vehicles
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