I really like your deep review of the Exige . Great job, especially for those who are seriously interested in buying one. ( Just like me ). Not overdone like the most journalism.... Just. go on . Best wishes for you and your green hell of a car .
Thanks so much for the insight into ownership of something I could only aspire to. Given unlimited funds, this would be my ultimate purchase; much more interesting (and accessible) than most (possibly all), supercars IMO. Sadly unlikely to happen, but it's great to live vicariously and enjoy yours instead. This car for me captures the essence of what it is I love about cars - the driving. No bells or whistles, just a great engine and chassis that I would love to learn to exploit over time. It's also nice to see it being put through its paces by someone that knows what they're doing. Great detail by the way, I've enjoyed all your V6 Cup vids - please keep doing them and I'll be heartbroken the day you sell it! P.S. - used to have a very battered 1991 Elan SE. Loved that car but the old adage was true; it was Lots Of Trouble and it was always Serious - funny you mentioned the wiper nut, it was 13mm on the Elan and needless to say it came loose in the snow. I didn't have a 13mm spanner with me and it took 3hours to get one... Oh and it caught fire a couple of times too. It's great to see how much better they have become in 21 years!
Thanks Dave, I much appreciate the encouragment and the support for my channel. You have absolutely understood the V6 Cup and what it represents. The purity is unmatched this side of a Caterham 7 but the Exige is just that bit more usable. But so, so pure as a driving experience. You can spend a huge amount more money and only gain in terms of luxury. In terms of sheer fun and feedback most 'supercars' are actually a step down. I think actually it might be a 12mm spanner for the windscreen nut, I need to doublecheck that. Sorry to hear your Elan was trouble, they were very fast real world cars when working correctly. My brother had one and it was a serious b-road weapon.
Oh it was certainly never dull! Despite the issues, I was convinced it was all part of the joy and loved (mostly) every second. After the episode in the snow I always carried a 13mm spanner. Nothing on my current car uses 13mm but it remains in my kit bag! It was certainly fast too - the handling for a front wheel drive car was sublime. This was before I 'graduated' into RWD of course. Yes I never really got the luxury thing - all that crazy money to somehow defeat the object of what we love to do, requiring yet more money to compensate for the extra weight/power... For an enthusiastic amateur such as myself, one could spend a decade or more learning, honing and perfecting technique in a car so (un)equipped as the Cup - and come out of it faster in most circumstances than those simply with bigger pockets. Anyway, thanks again for the reply and I'm looking forward to the next 12 months - cheers!
Wow what a car. I've a new found love fro Lotus and a craving for one. Great to see that people use them properly aswell and don't just buy them to park them up hoping to protect their value. The colour on this is epic too. Great video.
Hey Pitt me again :D on my s2 I had a painted hardtop but also the windowsurround I painted in the bodycolor, looks real good and makes the car look way more modern and sleek but get if you wanna keep it stock for resale purposes.
Have had two lotuss now, these things are stone magnets, but it is low so what can you do. Got a S2 exige and it to has been so reliable, 5 years ownership and still loving it!
great video thank you. Funny how some people struggle with a Toyota made engine. The Japanese are known for excellent engineering and commitment to tolerances. Their metallurgy is best in the world. Why would anyone beg for another engine manufacturer or another engine. It might be interesting to find out if any bench work is performed to the camry engine?
It was stunningly reliable during my ownership and genuinely never used a drop of oil between services. It's very important that Lotus address a reputation for poor reliability. There's no better way to do that than fit a Toyota powertrain. There's no pleasing some people though!
I agree in fact I’m strongly considering an Elise 250 cup at the minute and the Toyota engine is a big factor of why am considering going back to Lotus. The Exige and Evora also sounds better than just about any other car in their range that I can think of.
Thanx for all your efforts. I am heading back to the U.K. next year. Looking forward to enjoying Devonshire roads in one of these or its siblings. Since she made an appearance here, I wonder what your better half's opinion of the car is?
Keep swapping between an exige v6 and a elise sport 220 for my next daily. Elise will be cheaper on parts and easier to navigate speed bumps, but these exige are something special. Any thoughts please?
Brad_0 If you’re not power and straight line performance obsessed (most are!) the Elise is even more pure, delicate and communicative. Exige has slightly better refinement (smoother engine, more torque, taller gearing) for longer trips and the V6 sounds a lot better giving you more of a compact exotic car experience. Performance is very exciting but a 220 Elise is more than fast enough for road driving. No easy answer I’m afraid both are wonderful, inspiring drivers cars. Elise might have the edge as a daily, smaller, better rear visibility, easy to get in and out with the roof off.
Since the car is low, do you have problem when driving over speedbump or going down basement? Besides, since the chassis is so stiff and rigid, do you think hitting a pothole will damage the suspension? Nice color as always but I think Lotus have replace the motorsport green to racing green.
Ground clearance is surprisingly good. My Esprit is worse because the front overhang is much longer. I got lost recently and drove down a really bad farm road with loads of speed bumps. It was very slow and boring but the car didn't ground once. A regular V6 is at least 5mm higher so this is not a big issue. No I don't think the suspension will be easily damaged. There is no downside to a rigid chassis. Yes Lotus have changed to Racing Green which has more blue in it, less yellow. You can see both colours on my Evora Sport 410 review. Also at the top of my channel page! Cheers.
...do you have an opinion on the Exige Roadster feature? I like open top driving but from what I could read top speed is either limited or, if you go for the Coupe conversion, you loose aerodynamics?!?
Exige Roadster is the nicest Exige of all for road use, in my opinion. Hardly any about though, very hard to find. Aero wasn't massive on the 'coupe' anyway so the loss isn't great esp for road use. Speed is limited to stop the soft top blowing off but I never exceeded 150mph in my Exige in 5 years so wouldn't have been a problem for me.
You can take the roof of a normal exige, just a few bolts. You then only need to do two holes for the rubber grommets for the roof braces. Then a soft top roof will fit straight on.
The issue with the low lighted AC button has been fixed with the new one. 😉 I suggest to put a protection foil on the front clam of mine. What do you think, are there more stone chips on a Lotus than on other cars? Or did you get them at the racetracks mostly?
Enjoyed that, as I've done all your videos. But year one remains one of my favourite TH-cam videos ever. Looking forward to the Castle Combe comparo (read the article on TLF). A question - how much do you adjust the dampers between road and track?
Thanks Craig. It would be great to know what you liked so much about Year 1 when you get the chance. I thought Year 2 was a better watch personally but maybe there's something I'm missing! Actually I don't bother to touch the dampers any more I just leave them in the factory settings. They work well on the track and are fine on the road. Given the choice between fiddling time and driving time on a track day, I tend to go with the latter! As any experienced track driver will tell you there's more time in the driver than anything else. At Castle Combe driver coaching was a great short cut to gaining circuit knowledge, worth 2 secs a lap on its own. I'd never find that much out of adjusting the dampers.
Hard to say. There was something about #1 which made the viewer feel what it must be like to own and drive a Lotus motorsports car. I also didn't like the speeded up in car footage in #2. I much preferred the track footage from your POV in #1.
The roof can come out of any S2 or S3 Exige but you need to fit a fixing kit if you want the convenience of a canvas soft top. Lotus don't want Exige owners to remove the roof as it affects the car's aerodynamics. The Exige V6 Roadster was speed limited to 145mph for this reason. I never took the roof off my Exige V6 Cup but many owners do.
Great video again. So it has been pretty reliable. Maybe the Lotus cars differ a lot because of being handmade. Or maybe it is the modern drivers that are used to easy cars. Maybe both?
I think Toyota brought the reliability! The Exige is a simple car so less to go wrong, the V6 Cup even more simple - no alarm, no immobilzer, no stereo, no power steering. Cheers Onur!
I sold it a couple of years ago but the 2nd owner it has now put it up for sale. I replaced it with an Evora GT430 in the same colour, plenty of videos of that on here.
Plane For All To See The original V6 Cup cars came without air bags, alarm, immobiliser, central locking. Proper motorsport cars. As in, you really could race them.
DrPittenstein Thanks for reply I didn't know that. I used to own a S2 Elise sports tourer and had to send the alarm immob certificate to the insurance company. I didn't think any insurance company would insure you without at least an immob. By the way great video.
myevokebab Exige Cup is more track focused, Sport is more road focused. Cup cars are more extreme, usually lighter, louder and make more downforce. You also get adjustable suspension. Differences aren’t great though and it’s easy to get a Sport set up and modified to Cup spec. Most think all Exiges are extreme, compared to something like a BMW M4 you might not notice much difference.
Beautiful car, only thing i dislike is the engine made by toyota, i'll prefer a 100% lotus handmade engine, however meanwhile you don't plan to race the car in the 24h of lemans, it'll work ok.
Toyota engine has its appeal too. 2ZZGE four pot is a great engine for the Elise and 410 version of this engine is terrific, smooth and loves to rev. I'm hoping Lotus put that in the Exige soon.
Apart from image there is really no reason NOT to use a crate engine for manufacturers such as Lotus. Why spend money on building a risky engine whereas you can use a bullitproof engine instead wher you can still do the mapping etc. of? Lambo uses VW engines, Pagani uses Mercedes and Koenigsegg Yamaha; I don’t see the problem. Rather have a Toyota engine than pay €20k more for a Lotus engine...
I m looking to get a v6 cup really soon to replace my Clio Trophy as a trackday car and continue training... thx for you precious informations. subscribed of course! feel free to follow me if you want.
DrPittenstein first question: I ve eard lot of people saying that the gearbox and clutch are quote fragile... knowing my driving style is quite aggressive I was wandering if the lotus will menage it easely or it will be a problem spending more time in the garage that on the track. other question is about braking: any complain about intense track use? thx a lot for your precious feedback.
No worries. People like to talk a good game and slag off the stock factory cars but I think they are very capable out of the box. Especially a Cup car which has 2 piece brakes as standard. I've not heard of anyone braking their gearbox yet but the Lotus Driving Academy car I drove did feel like it had had a very hard life and the gearbox was sloppy and knackered. My car has done 16000 miles and has been tracked pretty hard but the gearbox feels as good as new. I guess if you want to break anything badly enough eventually you will but driven with some mechanical sympathy the cars much better suited to serious track use than many of the alternatives. The benefits of lightweight. Worth using Castrol SRF hydraulic fluids and getting them changed once a year. Changing the gear oil regularly will also help if you're really pushing hard.
I really like your deep review of the Exige . Great job, especially for those who are seriously interested in buying one. ( Just like me ). Not overdone like the most journalism.... Just. go on . Best wishes for you and your green hell of a car .
Yes probably a bit too detailed for many but I started with Year One so will keep it going for those that are interested.
Thanks so much for the insight into ownership of something I could only aspire to. Given unlimited funds, this would be my ultimate purchase; much more interesting (and accessible) than most (possibly all), supercars IMO. Sadly unlikely to happen, but it's great to live vicariously and enjoy yours instead. This car for me captures the essence of what it is I love about cars -
the driving. No bells or whistles, just a great engine and chassis that I would love to learn to exploit over time. It's also nice to see it being put through its paces by someone that knows what they're doing. Great detail by the way, I've enjoyed all your V6 Cup vids - please keep doing them and I'll be heartbroken the day you sell it!
P.S. - used to have a very battered 1991 Elan SE. Loved that car but the old adage was true; it was Lots Of Trouble and it was always Serious - funny you mentioned the wiper nut, it was 13mm on the Elan and needless to say it came loose in the snow. I didn't have a 13mm spanner with me and it took 3hours to get one... Oh and it caught fire a couple of times too. It's great to see how much better they have become in 21 years!
Thanks Dave, I much appreciate the encouragment and the support for my channel. You have absolutely understood the V6 Cup and what it represents. The purity is unmatched this side of a Caterham 7 but the Exige is just that bit more usable. But so, so pure as a driving experience. You can spend a huge amount more money and only gain in terms of luxury. In terms of sheer fun and feedback most 'supercars' are actually a step down. I think actually it might be a 12mm spanner for the windscreen nut, I need to doublecheck that. Sorry to hear your Elan was trouble, they were very fast real world cars when working correctly. My brother had one and it was a serious b-road weapon.
Oh it was certainly never dull! Despite the issues, I was convinced it was all part of the joy and loved (mostly) every second. After the episode in the snow I always carried a 13mm spanner. Nothing on my current car uses 13mm but it remains in my kit bag! It was certainly fast too - the handling for a front wheel drive car was sublime. This was before I 'graduated' into RWD of course.
Yes I never really got the luxury thing - all that crazy money to somehow defeat the object of what we love to do, requiring yet more money to compensate for the extra weight/power... For an enthusiastic amateur such as myself, one could spend a decade or more learning, honing and perfecting technique in a car so (un)equipped as the Cup - and come out of it faster in most circumstances than those simply with bigger pockets.
Anyway, thanks again for the reply and I'm looking forward to the next 12 months - cheers!
Wow what a car. I've a new found love fro Lotus and a craving for one. Great to see that people use them properly aswell and don't just buy them to park them up hoping to protect their value. The colour on this is epic too. Great video.
Many thanks Dylan, much appreciated. Hell of a car that I must say. Off the dial for driver involvement and engagement.
Nice work as always - really interesting coverage. Can't wait for the 410 and 3 eleven footage 🏁👍🏼
Nice vids.... enjoyed them all. I cant wait for the day I get my Lotus :D
good to see you're still enjoying it, loved the one I tried!!
Hey Pitt me again :D on my s2 I had a painted hardtop but also the windowsurround I painted in the bodycolor, looks real good and makes the car look way more modern and sleek but get if you wanna keep it stock for resale purposes.
Have had two lotuss now, these things are stone magnets, but it is low so what can you do. Got a S2 exige and it to has been so reliable, 5 years ownership and still loving it!
Lovely car. My only complaint is the Lotus Cup cars remain out of my financial reach.
(That's not a dig a Lotus pricing, just my limited means.)
I know the feeling! 50:50 finance makes it a lot easier for many but I don't think Cup models usually qualify for that.
Dont look up the price of the Evora gt430 then.... one day that baby will be mine
Dream Car!
Truly helpful video, really appreciate it.
good video, very helpful, currently on the lookout for a v6 or cup
great video thank you.
Funny how some people struggle with a Toyota made engine. The Japanese are known for excellent engineering and commitment to tolerances. Their metallurgy is best in the world. Why would anyone beg for another engine manufacturer or another engine. It might be interesting to find out if any bench work is performed to the camry engine?
It was stunningly reliable during my ownership and genuinely never used a drop of oil between services. It's very important that Lotus address a reputation for poor reliability. There's no better way to do that than fit a Toyota powertrain. There's no pleasing some people though!
I agree in fact I’m strongly considering an Elise 250 cup at the minute and the Toyota engine is a big factor of why am considering going back to Lotus. The Exige and Evora also sounds better than just about any other car in their range that I can think of.
Thank you for the video, very helpful. What a great car!
best color ever
Thanx for all your efforts. I am heading back to the U.K. next year. Looking forward to enjoying Devonshire roads in one of these or its siblings.
Since she made an appearance here, I wonder what your better half's opinion of the car is?
So cool
Great video thanks 👍
Glad you enjoyed it!
Keep swapping between an exige v6 and a elise sport 220 for my next daily. Elise will be cheaper on parts and easier to navigate speed bumps, but these exige are something special. Any thoughts please?
Brad_0 If you’re not power and straight line performance obsessed (most are!) the Elise is even more pure, delicate and communicative. Exige has slightly better refinement (smoother engine, more torque, taller gearing) for longer trips and the V6 sounds a lot better giving you more of a compact exotic car experience. Performance is very exciting but a 220 Elise is more than fast enough for road driving. No easy answer I’m afraid both are wonderful, inspiring drivers cars. Elise might have the edge as a daily, smaller, better rear visibility, easy to get in and out with the roof off.
What are the measurements of your front number plate if you dont mind me asking ?
Since the car is low, do you have problem when driving over speedbump or going down basement?
Besides, since the chassis is so stiff and rigid, do you think hitting a pothole will damage the suspension?
Nice color as always but I think Lotus have replace the motorsport green to racing green.
Ground clearance is surprisingly good. My Esprit is worse because the front overhang is much longer. I got lost recently and drove down a really bad farm road with loads of speed bumps. It was very slow and boring but the car didn't ground once. A regular V6 is at least 5mm higher so this is not a big issue. No I don't think the suspension will be easily damaged. There is no downside to a rigid chassis. Yes Lotus have changed to Racing Green which has more blue in it, less yellow. You can see both colours on my Evora Sport 410 review. Also at the top of my channel page! Cheers.
...do you have an opinion on the Exige Roadster feature?
I like open top driving but from what I could read top speed is either limited or, if you go for the Coupe conversion, you loose aerodynamics?!?
Exige Roadster is the nicest Exige of all for road use, in my opinion. Hardly any about though, very hard to find. Aero wasn't massive on the 'coupe' anyway so the loss isn't great esp for road use. Speed is limited to stop the soft top blowing off but I never exceeded 150mph in my Exige in 5 years so wouldn't have been a problem for me.
You can take the roof of a normal exige, just a few bolts. You then only need to do two holes for the rubber grommets for the roof braces. Then a soft top roof will fit straight on.
The issue with the low lighted AC button has been fixed with the new one. 😉
I suggest to put a protection foil on the front clam of mine.
What do you think, are there more stone chips on a Lotus than on other cars?
Or did you get them at the racetracks mostly?
being so low they do get more stone chips than most other cars, well worth protecting, I'm glad I put ppf on mine.
If you get those little chips repaired you should be able to ceramic coat the car and prevent further damage.
Have you still got this car?
Enjoyed that, as I've done all your videos. But year one remains one of my favourite TH-cam videos ever. Looking forward to the Castle Combe comparo (read the article on TLF). A question - how much do you adjust the dampers between road and track?
Thanks Craig. It would be great to know what you liked so much about Year 1 when you get the chance. I thought Year 2 was a better watch personally but maybe there's something I'm missing! Actually I don't bother to touch the dampers any more I just leave them in the factory settings. They work well on the track and are fine on the road. Given the choice between fiddling time and driving time on a track day, I tend to go with the latter! As any experienced track driver will tell you there's more time in the driver than anything else. At Castle Combe driver coaching was a great short cut to gaining circuit knowledge, worth 2 secs a lap on its own. I'd never find that much out of adjusting the dampers.
Hard to say. There was something about #1 which made the viewer feel what it must be like to own and drive a Lotus motorsports car.
I also didn't like the speeded up in car footage in #2. I much preferred the track footage from your POV in #1.
Craig Yirush thanks for the feedback Craig. Much appreciated. 👍
My favourite road Shaftesbury to three cross 👍.
Had some good drives there over the years but I drive much slower on the road these days!
Did you have any lifting or dirt under the ppf within a year or it still looks great?
PPF worked well for me. I used Xpel Ultimate. No lifting, yellowing or dirt in the 5 years I owned the car.
@@DrPittenstein thank you I was having issues with mine
Question does the roof come out on all s3's or is it just the convertible cars
The roof can come out of any S2 or S3 Exige but you need to fit a fixing kit if you want the convenience of a canvas soft top. Lotus don't want Exige owners to remove the roof as it affects the car's aerodynamics. The Exige V6 Roadster was speed limited to 145mph for this reason. I never took the roof off my Exige V6 Cup but many owners do.
Great video again.
So it has been pretty reliable. Maybe the Lotus cars differ a lot because of being handmade. Or maybe it is the modern drivers that are used to easy cars. Maybe both?
I think Toyota brought the reliability! The Exige is a simple car so less to go wrong, the V6 Cup even more simple - no alarm, no immobilzer, no stereo, no power steering. Cheers Onur!
Lovely
Speedo only goes to 180? What the top speed?
174mph
What is the color called?
Motorsport Green. I liked it so much I chose it again for my Evora GT430.
Just saw that this is for sale - out of interest what are you changing it for?
I sold it a couple of years ago but the 2nd owner it has now put it up for sale. I replaced it with an Evora GT430 in the same colour, plenty of videos of that on here.
Isn't the steering wheel a mod? I thought they all had airbags as standard? If so did you have to get the dealer to deactivate the airbag light?
Plane For All To See The original V6 Cup cars came without air bags, alarm, immobiliser, central locking. Proper motorsport cars. As in, you really could race them.
DrPittenstein Thanks for reply I didn't know that. I used to own a S2 Elise sports tourer and had to send the alarm immob certificate to the insurance company. I didn't think any insurance company would insure you without at least an immob. By the way great video.
do you know how the cup and sport versions of the exiges compare?
myevokebab Exige Cup is more track focused, Sport is more road focused. Cup cars are more extreme, usually lighter, louder and make more downforce. You also get adjustable suspension. Differences aren’t great though and it’s easy to get a Sport set up and modified to Cup spec. Most think all Exiges are extreme, compared to something like a BMW M4 you might not notice much difference.
This looks like the new forest?
Some of it was filmed there.
Use a heat gun on the chips, that will tell you if they're in the paint or not
Thanks.
7:45 and then up to 45 mph ;)
Beautiful car, only thing i dislike is the engine made by toyota, i'll prefer a 100% lotus handmade engine, however meanwhile you don't plan to race the car in the 24h of lemans, it'll work ok.
Toyota engine has its appeal too. 2ZZGE four pot is a great engine for the Elise and 410 version of this engine is terrific, smooth and loves to rev. I'm hoping Lotus put that in the Exige soon.
Apart from image there is really no reason NOT to use a crate engine for manufacturers such as Lotus. Why spend money on building a risky engine whereas you can use a bullitproof engine instead wher you can still do the mapping etc. of? Lambo uses VW engines, Pagani uses Mercedes and Koenigsegg Yamaha; I don’t see the problem. Rather have a Toyota engine than pay €20k more for a Lotus engine...
My left ear disliked this video
I m looking to get a v6 cup really soon to replace my Clio Trophy as a trackday car and continue training... thx for you precious informations. subscribed of course! feel free to follow me if you want.
Thanks Paddy, welcome on board. I'll take a look at your channel. Keep in touch with any questions you might have.
DrPittenstein first question: I ve eard lot of people saying that the gearbox and clutch are quote fragile... knowing my driving style is quite aggressive I was wandering if the lotus will menage it easely or it will be a problem spending more time in the garage that on the track. other question is about braking: any complain about intense track use? thx a lot for your precious feedback.
heard sorry
No worries. People like to talk a good game and slag off the stock factory cars but I think they are very capable out of the box. Especially a Cup car which has 2 piece brakes as standard. I've not heard of anyone braking their gearbox yet but the Lotus Driving Academy car I drove did feel like it had had a very hard life and the gearbox was sloppy and knackered. My car has done 16000 miles and has been tracked pretty hard but the gearbox feels as good as new. I guess if you want to break anything badly enough eventually you will but driven with some mechanical sympathy the cars much better suited to serious track use than many of the alternatives. The benefits of lightweight. Worth using Castrol SRF hydraulic fluids and getting them changed once a year. Changing the gear oil regularly will also help if you're really pushing hard.
DrPittenstein I agree with you 100%
You should have ppf Ed the front of the car
It did have PPF on the front, it was the first car I had PPF put on
@@DrPittenstein ok it obviously doesn't fully protect but saying that if you hadn't put it on it probably been much worse
Fancy saying your wife looks better in fast forward.