Lotus Exige vs BMW M2
What's the difference?

Lotus Exige

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2017 price

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BMW M2

$95,990 - $118,888

2024 price

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Aston Martin Vanquish

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Mercedes-Benz C-Class

Mercedes-Benz C43

Mercedes-Benz C63

Mercedes-Benz CLA-Class

Mercedes-Benz CLS-Class

Mercedes-Benz E-Class

Mercedes-Benz E53

Mercedes-Benz S-Class

Summary

2017 Lotus Exige

2024 BMW M2

By Stephen Corby

By Andrew Chesterton

Safety Rating

Engine Type

Supercharged V6, 3.5L

Turbo 6, 3.0L

Fuel Type

Premium Unleaded Petrol

Fuel Efficiency

10.1L/100km (combined)

9.7L/100km (combined)

Seating

Likes

Unassisted, unadulterated steering (at speed)
Beautiful balance and stiff chassis
Gearbox

Potent powertrain
Intoxicating exhaust
Fun, fun, fun

Dislikes

Sheer impracticality
Heavy steering (at low speeds)
Getting in and out of it

Firm ride in the city
Backseat a challenge
Price is only going up

2017 Lotus Exige Summary

Driving naked is ill-advised, and possibly illegal, but taking a spin in the Lotus Exige 350 Sport is as close as you'd ever want to get. It's not so much that you feel you've left your clothes at home, but that the car has shed its accoutrements, and indeed its very flesh, leaving you with a kind of skeletal vehicle; just bare bones and muscle.

What this punishingly hard and fiercely focused machine does to your bones and flesh is best described as extreme chiropractry - in particular the stress of ingress and egress - but fortunately it makes up for the moans, bangs and bruises by fizzing your adrenal glands in a big way.

The question is whether the fun is worth the suffering, and the $138,782.85 price tag.

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2024 BMW M2 Summary

I think auto journalists are supposed to see vehicles a bit like parents see their children. You know, view them all as equals. No favourites. That kind of thing.

But I'm going to let you in on a tiny little secret, just between us. I liked this potent M2 before I even sat in it. And I like it just a little bit more than I love other bite-sized performance cars.

In fact, I like it more than I like bigger, more powerful, and more expensive models in the BMW M family.

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Deep dive comparison

2017 Lotus Exige 2024 BMW M2

Verdict

To say the Lotus Exige 350 Sport exists at the very pointy end of motoring is a sharp understatement. It is, in essence, a track car that you’re somehow allowed to drive on the road, which means it's hugely compromised in various ways as a vehicle for day-to-day use, yet it's not really fair to criticise it for those failings, because commuting was never its intended purpose.

While it would obviously shine in its natural environment of a race circuit, the fact is you could also enjoy it enormously between track days if you pointed it at a suitably smooth and winding bit of country blacktop.

The performance, handling, steering and stopping are all fantastic, in the right conditions, and you can see how someone might justify it to themselves as a far cheaper version of a ($327,100) Porsche 911 GT3. The difference being that a Porsche doesn't make you fold yourself up like a pocket knife every time you get in.

The Lotus, then, is a car for the extreme enthusiast, only. And possibly for nudists, too.

Verdict

Proving good things still come in small packages, the pint-sized M2 remains my pick of the BMW M range. It's not the perfect daily drive, but I reckon the fun outweighs the foibles.

Lotus Exige vs BMW M2 What's the difference?

Summary

Deep dive comparison

Verdict

Verdict

Lotus Exige vs BMW M2
What's the difference?