Lotus Exige News

Members of the P1 performance club get the pick of some of the world's hottest and most expensive supercars, including brands such as Ferrari, Aston Martin and Lamborghini. P1 Australia director Peter Dempsey says the club has 12 cars and plans to add one new car for every extra five members."With our collection they can take any car out that suits them," he says. The cars are divided into five categories, the top one featuring the most expensive cars, such as a Ferrari F430 Spider and soon a Scaglietti, an Aston Martin DB9 Volante and Vanquish and a Lamborghini Murcielago.Other cars in the mix include a Bentley Continental GT, a Ferrari F430, Aston Martin V8 Vantage and various Porsches. The lower categories might not be quite as impressive, but they'll still turn heads. A BMW M5 and Z4 M Coupe, a Range Rover Sport and a Lotus Exige S2, add to the list.Dempsey says a Hummer H2 will be next to arrive, dressed with a leather package. He is also expecting the arrival of the Audi R8. But getting to drive your dream cars doesn't come cheap."There's a joining fee of $5000 and then there are three different levels of membership, $27,000, $32,000 or $36,500," Dempsey says.Top-end members have a possible 70 driving days a year, with the cheaper membership offering 50 days a year.The company originated in England six years ago, and was co-founded by former Formula One world champion Damon Hill.After two months of operation, the Sydney branch has 50 members. "In Sydney, we cap it at 150 members," Dempsey says. "That's a reflection of the sizeof commercial property that is available to store the cars."The founding British club has 74 cars, including a Ford GT and an Aerial Atom. But Dempsey says they haven't been able to bring these models, as the Atom isn't road legal in Australia and customs won't allow the GT in as it is a left-hand drive. "(But) we're the only ones doing it with the supercars, brand new cars," he says.And it seems that it's not just the usual suspects, the wealthy bankers, lawyers and financiers, who are getting on board.Dempsey says members come from all walks of life and include a greengrocer and a professional golfer. Doctors, dentists, solicitors and barristers are also taking up the chance to get behind the wheel of some amazing cars.The youngest member is a 22-year-old refrigeration engineer from western Sydney.The club takes care of all insurance, maintenance and storage fees and Dempsey says one of the main benefits is that members don't have to worry about huge depreciation on the vehicles."With high taxation, people understand that they're better off putting half a million dollars in an investment and getting to play the field (with) the cars," he says.And while the majority of those taking up the membership are male, Dempsey says women are also driving them as a memberships include two names as drivers."Often guys show the interest and then bring their wives on board as the second name driver," he says.The cars can be taken out for as little as a day, or it can run into months -- depending on members' wants and needs.Dempsey says the weather often forecasts what vehicles will be popular, with the convertibles a hit on the sunny weekends.A second British branch of the club opened in 2004 in Manchester.The Australian section will expand in March, when a Melbourne club is opened, with Formula One driver Mark Weber in attendance again. And Dempsey says that P1 International is also looking towards expanding into Dubai and Hong Kong.

New Cars at Australian 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.