Lotus Exige 2014 News

New S-Class Coupe to make Australian debut at Motorclassica, along with appearances from Maserati, Jaguar, Alfa Romeo, Aston Martin and Lotus.Melbourne's Royal Exhibition Building will play host to Motorclassica this weekend, as over 500 cars and motorcycles fill the world-heritage listed building and its surrounding grounds.Celebrating classic cars and bikes, Motorclassica started as a concourse event but has since grown to become a motor show-style exhibition which has attracted attention from several iconic sports car marques.Among the classic cars at this year's event will be new models from Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar, Porsche, Maserati, Alfa Romeo, Aston Martin, Lotus, Caterham and Morgan.Each of these brands have rich histories, and Motorclassica gives manufacturers a platform to build on this heritage with their latest models.S-Class Coupe will be available with a number of powertrains, including the 430kW/900Nm AMG 5.5-litre twin-turbo V8Mercedes-Benz was the first contemporary manufacturer to debut a new model at Motorclassica last year, and will use this year's event to reveal its new S-Class Coupe to an Australian audience for the first time.The new model is Mercedes' flagship luxury coupe, replacing the CL-Class range, and will rival the Bentley Continental when it goes on sale locally in the first quarter of next year.Though Australian specifications are still unconfirmed, the S-Class Coupe will be available with a number of powertrains, including the 430kW/900Nm AMG 5.5-litre twin-turbo V8 aboard the S63 performance flagship.Maserati will celebrate 100 years in the automotive business at this year's show and is expected to be represented strongly with iconic past models. The Italian marque's new Ghibli and Quattroporte sedans will also be on display, along with the Gran Turismo and Gran Cabrio two-door models.Jaguar will showcase its F-Type R Coupe, the firm's most powerful production model ever, while fellow British brand Aston Martin will have a Vanquish and V8 Vantage on display.Lotus will also show a pair of mid-engine Exige S sports cars, one hardtop and one roadster.The show will also celebrate 50 years of the Ford Mustang with a special display featuring the most desirable and classic Pony cars, although the new 2015 model due to go on sale in Australia next year won't make the show.Motorclassica 2014 will run between October 24-26 at Melbourne's Royal Exhibition Building.

For those lucky types seeking an alternative to a Porsche or something similar, there's now a tantalising Lotus drop-top to throw into the mix. It's the fastest-ever convertible Lotus that's due to lob here in time for summer. PERFORMANCE Called the Lotus Exige S Roadster, it combines open top driving with supercar performance and the ability to clock a 0-100 kmh sprint in four seconds, a tad more with the roof off. Sitting alongside the Exige S and its race track variants, the Exige Cup and Exige Cup R, the Exige S Roadster completes the Exige line-up and enhances the track focussed collection by providing a new facet to the range. Powered by the same supercharged 3.5-litre, V6 (toyota sourced engine) as the coupe variants and weighing in at 10kg less than the Exige S at 1166kg, none of the exhilarating performance of the exciting Exige range is compromised. The driver is only “two clicks and a roll” away from cruising in open-top style thanks to the lightweight, factory-fitted soft top. BARGAIN Launched in Australia earlier this year, the Lotus Exige S hardtop is priced at a Porsche beating price of $119,990 and provides a level of performance and handling that can only be described as a bargain at this price. Achieving 0-100 kmh from a standing start in 4.0 seconds, delivering 257.5kW at 7000 , the Exige S Roadster matches the coupe's mechanical spec' but style takes an understated approach having shed its rear wing and front splitter to maximise airflow over its sleek silhouette. The Exige S Roadster is the perfect car for a “joy” ride. Exige S Roadster is now available to order and full specifications and pricing will be announced when the new model arrives in the first quarter of 2014. The Exige S Roadster  Max Power: 257.5 kW at 7000 rpm Max Torque: 400Nm 4500 rpm 0 -100 km/h: 4.0 seconds Weight: 1166 kg Engine: Mid-mounted, transverse 3.5-litre, DOHC, V6 VVTi, 24-valve equipped with Harrop HTV 1320 Supercharger. Transmission: 6-speed manual with sports ratios. Suspension: Fully independent double wishbone suspension with front and rear anti-roll bar. Bilstein high performance gas dampers and Eibach coaxial springs. Brakes: AP-Racing four-piston calipers with ventilated and cross drilled cast-iron discs. Wheels and tyres: Lightweight cast alloy wheels (17 -inch front and 18-inch rear) clad with Pirelli P-Zero Corsa tyres.

The addition -- coming as part of the Exiga’s mid-life revision – puts another possie in the middle of the second row, taking the original six-seater up a notch.The passenger in the new spot gets a proper three-point lap-sash seatbelt – the absence of which was the reason Subaru did not offer the seven-seat option when the Exiga first arrived three years ago.There are now also three sets of child-seat anchor points in the middle row. Other changes to the Liberty Exiga include a new door mirror design on all models and new 17-in alloy wheels for the Premium spec versions.The price remains at current levels, starting from $37,990 for the 123kW/229NM 2.5-litre Liberty Exiga 2.5i and from $42,490 for the Premium spec that adds features such as leather, foglights and window tinting.“Liberty Exiga will now appeal to even more families that need the option of a seventh seat, in addition to the significant cargo volume it offers for load carrying, with the seats down in a variety of combinations,” Subaru Australia managing director Nick Senior says. 

The new Lotus Exige S, launched at this week’s Frankfurt motor show and in Australia early next year, picks up the Evora’s supercharged V6 engine and shoehorns it into the refreshed Exige’s 1080kg body. But the engine - a major upgrade on the 1.8-litre base engine - is only one of the Exige’s highlights. “It’s a lot less like a toy,’’ says Lotus PR head Alastair Florance. The redesign has made it look bigger and more aggressive.’’ It opens the door to the Exige R-GT which is Lotus’ new rally entrant. “There is a need to go back to rallying,’’ Florance says. It is necessary. We’ve been so successful in every motorsport arena - Le Mans to Indy, Formula One to rallying.’’ The R-GT goes for a shake-down year in 2012 and is expected to hit the circuits in 2013. It will participate in the newly-formed FIA GT category of the FIA Rally Championship on asphalt in San Remo, Tour de Corse and Monte Carlo. It gets the same 3.5-litre V6 engine as the Exige S but Lotus has made “significant’’ changes to the gearbox and the restrictors in the engine, Florance says. Lotus also showed its Evora GTE and has been stunned by demand. “We had plans to build a road car off the back of the GT racer and so the GTE was born,’’ Florance says. We planned 25 units at about (the equivalent of) $150,000 each. Immediately, we had 114 orders from China. So we’ve raised the production.’’ Other Lotus cars on show included a new Elise CR (club racer) with a 1.6-litre engine and robotised manual gearbox with steering wheel paddles; the Elise S that picks up a supercharged engine for 165kW/250Nm and a 0-100km/h time of 4.6 seconds. But following some notes in Carsguide recently about the Evora’s perceived quality, Mr Florance says big steps had been taken to improve the car. The results will be seen in the next shipment to Australia, but essentially there were 140 changes. “They’re small, but in total make a big difference,’‘ he says. They include improved leather interior trim with extra padding in the door insets and the seats, contrasting double stitching of the leather dashboard and improved door mechanisms. Lotus also showed its fuel-cell London taxi on which it did engineering work. A few of the cars will do duty as a taxi during the 2012 London Olympic Games. There was also the Evora 414E hybrid that has two electric motors producing 310kW/800Nm fed by lithium ion batteries that are charged by a Lotus-Fagor range extender engine. Lotus has designed two Fagor-built engines - a three-cylinder as fitted to the 414E - and a new two-cylinder unit that is more compact and can be mounted in virtually any position to power a battery pack. The sole 414E is regarded as a demonstrator but Lotus says it is keen to get more built for the road.

Called Eyesight, the idiot-proof high-tech safety system is currently being tested by Subaru Australia.  It is expected to be rolled out locally next year on high-end Liberty/Outback models. The Subaru device is similar to Volvo's City Safety in its ability to recognise potential road hazards and alert the driver.  However, unlike Volvo's system, Subaru uses two cameras located near the rear view mirror rather than a laser. "The reason it's called Eyesight is because the stereo cameras replicate human eyesight," according to Subaru Australia technical services manager, Derek Ashby.  Its inventors say the cameras are better able to recognise the complex road environment, from white lines, to barriers, people and bicycles. Eyesight can avoid frontal collisions, lane drifting and low-speed impacts.  It is currently available in Liberty, Outback and Exiga models in Japan for about $1200.  Like humans, the system requires clear weather to work properly. In rain or bright direct sunlight its performance is diminished.  "It needs clear vision just as people do," Ashby says. Subaru has been testing a third-generation version here for the past nine months to program more local driving conditions into it.  They have towed a caravan with it and driven the Outback test car extensively on dirt roads. Eyesight's two digital cameras feed information into a micro-processor above the windscreen.  It locks on to any vehicle in front and when used with the adaptive cruise control, will slow, stop or accelerate the car. Like City Safety, it will also apply the brakes in stop-start traffic to prevent crashing into the back of other vehicles.  Other party tricks include lane departure warning and sway warning.  It will also stop a driver from accidentally driving into a carpark wall if they accident hit the accelerator instead of the brake, even if a forward gear is engaged. The system will also beep at inattentive drivers to let them know the vehicle in front has moved away from traffic lights or an intersection.  A pre-crash function will brake the car to a complete stop below 30km/h to avoid low-speed collisions. Subaru also says it will also work at speeds above 30km/h and up to 50km/h with minimal damage.  Eyesight has been developed in conjunction with Hitachi.

Clad in vinyl and leather, the dozen girls on the stand could not avert (too many) eyes from the sculpted bodies of the two new Lotus recruits. Today saw the World debut of the Sport 240, a tricked-up Exige S with every racing modification a production car could offer. Specced by Lotus Cars Australia but built in Lotus Sport’s Hethel plant in England, only six bespoke 240s will make the southern journey for a landed price of $149,990. Three cars are branded with orange highlights on a black body, and the inverse is also available as an orange car with black splitter, spoiler and wheels. The supercharged Exige S powerplant is tuned further to produce 179kW, or 10 per cent more than the standard car. It is also given a limited slip diff (LSD), AP racing brakes, forged OZ alloys, launch control, and some go-fast body bits befitting a track-pack production car. The Sport 240 features another first for a car in this category; an 18-stage traction control system similar to those found in Formula One machines. While the theory is borrowed from F1, the actual technology is taken straight from Lotus’s newest track car, the 2-Eleven This is an extreme car, even for Lotus. Underneath it all, the wedge-on-wheels is actually also an Exige S; but without a roof; doors; even a windscreen. What it does have is 9kW more than the Sport 240 at 188kW, but even less weight at 745kg. It shares much of the same race-bred goodies, from the LSD to the brake package to the two-tone sports seats. The figures on paper are almost as impressive; 188kW at 8000rpm, 242Nm at an equally high 7000rpm, 0-100km/h in 3.9seconds (claimed), and a top speed of just under 250km/h. The 2-Eleven is not as exclusive as the Sport 240, with 100 cars built every year for a global market. But it is more affordable at $127,500. Bring the credit card; or make your significant other take it from you before you visit the Australian International Motor Show.  

Low, loud, lightning fast, requiring a can opener to get in and out of it, and with an angry devil of an engine screaming its cams off all the way to 8200rpm. But a supercar it is not; the Exige S literally does not fit the bill. There are few cars that offer the performance of the new Exige S for under $300,000, and none have a tiny supercharged 1.8-litre Toyota engine capable of supercar speed. But for $114,990, the Exige S is only fractionally slower than a Lambo, Ferrari and Porsche Turbo on the straight – and can whip all of them through the corners. This is the fastest production car Lotus has ever built, and oddly enough, it is the most refined on both road and track. Adding a supercharger and some mod-cons has heightened what was already a visceral, intense experience. There are only a few subtle differences in appearance between the atmo Exige and Exige S; body-coloured front splitter, LED taillights, a small S badge by the A-pillar, and a little mailbox chute to suck air into the intercooler, which is roof-mounted for direct airflow to the mid-mounted engine. Unfortunately, the intercooler blocks what little view there ever was in the rear view mirror, which now looks a wall of black casing and is only good for checking your own reflection. But vanity aside, the lack of vision is a compromise that many Lotus buyers will be willing to make for the performance. There is nothing quite like the wail of a Lotus at full welly, but with the supercharger sitting directly behind the driver’s ears, it now hisses and spits like an angry Amazonian python. Gone too is the long, loud wait until the 1.8-litre Toyota Celica engine comes onto its cams and picks up power. The usual surge at 6500rpm is almost imperceptible, replaced by low-down torque and a less peaky powerband. The increase in power is modest on paper: 21.5kW over the standard car at 162.5kW, and up 34Nm to 215. But add that to a car weighing just 935kg, and you have a missile that sprints 0-100km/h in 4.3 seconds. That’s faster than a Porsche 911 Carrera. The interior shows some more marked improvements over the Exige, with a focus on touring as well as performance. It is still an epic contortion process to get in and out of the thing, but once behind the wheel there is a more resolved, sophisticated air to the cabin. Air itself is kept out with more wind proofing and cabin damping, and surfaces once left bare are covered with felts, suedes and plastics. The funky sueded dash is replaced by a coarse plastic cover, but it hides the new standard dual airbags. Seating is improved for the smaller driver – not so much for the taller punter – with a new set of ProBax seats that sit higher in the tiny cabin, but provide more support in the lumbar area for longer drives. And while longer drives may seem like a masochistic proposition a car purpose-built for a twisty track, the performance add-ons actually make for a more liveable, all-round vehicle. On a bumpy country road outside of Goulburn for the launch this week – and far away from both the Wakefield Park track and smooth Hume Highway – the Exige S showed remarkable poise. And ironically, one of the test cars wearing hardcore optional Touring, Sport and Super Sport enhancement packs, rode better than the standard car. The three option packs are the only Exige options apart from metallic paint, traction control and a LSD. The luxury Touring pack ($8,000) adds leather, electric windows, driving lights, additional insulation, a second cupholder (small lattes only please) and an upgraded stereo. The Sport pack ($6,000) consists of racing ProBax seats, a cross-bar for racing harnesses, and switchable traction control, with the whol hog Super Sports pack ($7,000) adding one-way adjustable Bilstein dampers, adjustable ride height and front anti-roll bar, and lightweight seven-spoke black alloys. Both the standard suspension and the Super Sport suspension setting was the same on the day, but dampers alone made a huge difference to ride quality on the road. And while it still revs hard all the way to 8200rpm, and sounds like a bomb blast while doing it, the S is happy to cruise in sixth up and down hills at a stately 3500rpm with enough poise to enable a full conversation without even raising the voice. The track is another story. The Elise and Exige have always been the king of corner speed, with the tuned suspension and rack offering purist handling and the low weight of the car allowing speed and agility. Supercharging just makes it all happen a lot faster. Despite the traction control, the S will respond like a dog on heat every time you sic it on the apex, but too much enthusiasm or lingering on the brakes still produces lengthy slides. Get the balance right, and the amount of speed able to be held through a corner is simply phenomenal. Cornering in the Super Sport car was slightly more predictable, less twitchy in the rear if too much speed was applied. And when the tyres let go, it is catchable, controllable, and hilariously fun. So it remains in my mind as a track car for the road – but the Exige S is a car you would drive to, from and in between days on the track. Lotus Cars Australia expect a modest increase in sales from last year’s 60 cars to about 120, aided by both the Exige S and the upcoming Europa, which will feature alongside the S at October’s Australian International Motor Show. A grand touring version of the Exige, the Europa is the car to reduce the compromise between performance and livability, aimed more toward real-world performance while the Exige S stays focused on the straight and narrow track. But for the moment, the most hardcore, fastest production car Lotus has ever built is also the one with the least compromise. This review and much more will feature in The Sunday Telegraph CARSguide section on August 27, 2006.