In September of 1996, the Elise was born, & four years later, its hard-top sibling – the Exige – came on the scene. Over the last decade, we have seen a raft of super-special-limited-edition variants follow in its lightweight wake, but the ultimate version is this: the 2009 Lotus Exige S 260. Packing more power & "more lightness" than the 240 Sport we sampled last year, there is no doubt it is a telepathic terror on track, but we wanted to know if it was up to the depravity of Los angeles roads, so we set our chiropractor on speed dial & headed out...
Over its 61-year history, Lotus Cars has spent a considerable amount of time clawing its way back from the brink of insolvency. The company's most recent bout with financial disrepair came in the early Nineties after the front-wheel-drive Elan proved a commercial failure (surprise!) & the Esprit toiled away in the shadows of newer, more powerful supercars. As hope for the historic marque's triumphant return began to fade, a group of Lotus engineers pooled their collective will to create an all-new, back-to-basics model that would revive Colin Chapman's company & give hardened enthusiasts the purist's driving device we craved.
The definition of kinetic energy is e = 1/2 * m * v2. You can rearranged that equation to v = square root ((2 * e) / m). Automotive translation? You can make a vehicle quicker by either increasing accessible energy (more power!) or by cutting its mass (more lightness!). With this latest Exige, Lotus engineers have clearly said: "Screw it. Let's do both." & with that, they've taken the 240 S – already two of the lightest street cars on the market – & shaved 60 pounds by replacing the engine cover, rear wing, front splitter, roof & side ducts with carbon fiber pieces, & they've fitted a set of lightweight sports seats & plonked a minimalist battery in the "trunk."
Lotus manages to accomplish such a low mass (while meeting modern regulatory standards) by using a novel architecture built from a collection of aluminum extrusions riveted & glued together. The issue of ingress & egress stems from this: the chassis was originally designed for a convertible. The side beams are sizable to support most of the structure, meaning they are both tall & wide. In an Elise sans roof, no gigantic deal. You just step over the sill & plop your backside in to the stool. With the roof bolted in place, the experience is closer to sliding through the window of a race automobile or, more appropriately, down the barrel of a cannon.
With the weight reduction out of the way, the engine tweakers in Hethel extracted a further 17 horsepower out of the supercharged, 1.8-liter Toyota-sourced four-cylinder engine to bring total output up to 257 horsepower & torque to a reasonably stout 174 pound-feet. While that is nothing to write home about in the two-ton luxobarges that populate the Great Lakes State, fit it to something that weighs just over 2,000 pounds while meeting the Fed's safety standards – all while returning 20 mpg in the city & 26 mpg on the highway – & you have got two of the most potent performance creations accessible to man. Assuming you can fit inside.
Once you have wiggled your way inside (helpful hint: place your right foot in the well, sit on the sill, grab the wheel & tug yourself through), you are ensconced in a carbon fiber shell with a minimal amount of padding. The driver's stool moves fore & aft (the passenger stool is fixed) & both thrones benefit from cut-outs to accommodate a five-point racing harness & HANS device. As the seats are solid pieces of carbon fiber, there is no lateral give, so you'll need to start shopping for diet books on Amazon... yesterday.
The Exige's diminutive size & cramped cabin causes your legs to cant towards the center of the automobile where the trifecta of proper pedals reside, & while the steering wheel is fixed, the upright seats permit the wheel & shifter to fall readily to hand. Although early Elises were bereft of carpeting, exposing the matte aluminum to reaffirm your hardcore surroundings, the Exige receives carbon fiber caps on the door sills & dashboard, while the steering wheel, door panels & center console are coated in Alcantara. Cubbies? All you have got is an aluminum tray to the right of the radio & (hopefully) a helpful passenger.
Starting up the Exige involves pressing the unlock button on the key, inserting it in to the column, twisting it to the "On" position & – within 30 seconds – pressing the engine "Start" button on the left side of the dash. If you miss the 30 second window, you simply press the button on the fob & the four-pot behind your head spins to life.
Historically, Toyota's high output, variable valve timing-equipped 1.8-liter four is high strung & lacks usable grunt near the bottom of the tach. Fortunately, the supercharger Lotus has fitted to the Exige addresses both issues, removing the torque deficit & vastly improving daily drivablity. Combined with the Exige's low mass, the engine makes trolling along in stop-and-start traffic a remarkably effortless process. The trade-off? With the intercooler mounted atop the engine & fed by the roof-mounted scoop, the rear window has been replaced by a solid bulkhead, leaving the outside mirrors as the only means of conveying what's going on behind you. Combined with the oh-so-low roof & seating position, road monsters like the Honda Fit tower over the Exige. Those afflicted with Napoleon complexes need not apply.
Naturally, maneuvering around a garage or parking lot takes some effort as the Exige – like its predecessors – doesn't come equipped with power assisted steering. However, once you are on the go, the effort falls away & the helm is pure mechanical perfection. Once you escape the confines of urban life, any worries about size, steering or visibility simply melt in to the distance.
Climbing up the Exige's graduated tachometer towards 9,000 RPM, you'll notice there is no marked redline. Instead, a series of two red LEDs illuminate on the dash when it is time to shift. When the engine is cold, the indicators come on between 5,000 & 6,000 RPM. Once the coolant & oil are up to temperature, you can throttle down, spin the 2ZZ past 4,000 RPM – where the VVTi kicks in – all the way to its 8,500 RPM redline & enjoy the mechanical duet of the engine & supercharger ricocheting around the undampened cabin.
With the engine rocketing towards redline, the Exige's gearbox is ready to deliver four perfectly spaced ratios to keep the supercharged four in its meaty sweet spot. The aluminum shift lever benefits from short throws, although the linkage on our (likely abused) press automobile could have been slightly more precise. The narrow footwell – a minor annoyance earlier – became an asset, with closely spaced pedals that made heel-and-toe action a breeze.
Off the line, the Exige has you covered with a variable launch control feature. Unlike most systems that give you two option to create the perfect standing start, Lotus allows drivers to set the engine's launch control speed anywhere between 2,000 & 8,000 RPM by a knob on the left of the steering wheel. Once it is set, simply floor the long pedal & the technique holds the engine at the pre-set speed. Drop the clutch & you have got a perfect launch time after time. After fiddling with the settings, we found the magic mark (4,500 RPM), allowing the Exige to burst off the line with the perfect amount of wheel spin. No bogging, no slithering, just thrust – even on less-than-perfect surfaces.
It is no wonder automakers around the world tap Lotus Engineering to sort out their suspensions – the Exige is the perfect case study. Simply put, the roads in southeast Los angeles suck. They are loaded with bumps, cracks & heaves. But even though the Exige is clearly not tuned for comfort, the suspension does a remarkable job of dealing with Michigan's worst.
But as lovely as the engine, launch control & auditory assault are, they are far from the best part.
Unlike most stiffly sprung sports cars, the Exige doesn't bounce around. The copious quantities of mechanical grip convey every nuance of the tarmac in to the cabin, but none of this is as jarring as you'd expect. Flying down a curvy road at a clip far beyond what most cars are capable of, your backside just inches from the road, the Exige is supremely confidence inspiring. Even hitting a frost heave mid-corner left our small Lotus unperturbed.
Unfortunately, it is not always sunshine & sweeping tarmac. But even at those times, the Exige impressed. Cruising down the freeway in a downpour, the window defogger did an admirable job of maintaining forward visibility – & even with the slick Yokohama Advan A048s fitted at all four corners, the Exige never slipped or slithered. While it is far from a daily schlepper – a four cubic foot bin behind the engine bay & whatever space you can manage in the passenger stool is what passes for cargo space – as a play thing, the S 260 approaches four-wheeled perfection.
Another benefit of the Exige's small engine & featherweight design is decent fuel economy. The EPA rates the Exige S260 at 20/26 mpg city & highway & we averaged 19 mpg on one fill ups of the 10.6 gallon tank. The Exige & its carbon fiber doesn't come cheap though. The S 260 adds $9,000 to the starting price of the S240 & the out-the-door tab affixed to our example came to $77,115. That is more than $30,000 less than a Tesla Roadster, which shares its lineage with the Lotus Elise. Given that most drivers of either this or the Tesla are likely to put on far fewer miles than on an average automobile, we'd opt for the 2-3 minute fill ups of the Lotus if it were our own money – assuming, of work, that we wedge ourselves inside.
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