another Exige review

2815 Views 21 Replies 9 Participants Last post by meat, Oct 5, 2003

Dan

Discussion Starter · Oct 1, 2003

Found on Auto Motor und Sport, translated from German c/o AltaVista:
http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/urltrurl?lp=de_en&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.auto-motor-sport.de%2Fd%2F45814

1 - 20 of 22 Posts

ex-M3

· #2 · Oct 1, 2003

Love the computer driven German translation. The one interesting thing I note is the reference to a "tire pressure control system". Is this a new government requirement to alert drivers to low tire pressure based on the Ford experiences.

I highly doubt Lotus drivers need to be told to keep their tires pressure properly adjusted.

Randy Chase

· #3 · Oct 2, 2003

From the EVO mag-

From Exiges.com-

The words against the opening picture -
"Exige S2 looks less 'motorsport', more 'Elise with a hardtop'."

- EVO point out it is a prototype, with the appropriate shabbiness

- The wheel base is currently 3cm longer than production

- Clamshells are different, covering wheels more, fussy vents next to rear lights gone, etc

- ABS is std

- Brakes are servoed

- Lotus say the 2 secs improvement in lap time comes from tyres (48s, worth 1 sec) and suspension (due to knowledge gained from VX) [no mention of power or brakes, so does perhaps indicate that a full 190 S1 with Pagids would match it]

- They talk a lot about the engine and how they hate it in Toyotas, but seem to hate it less in this (in fact they don't really give an opinion, just info on its character)

- Sounds as if the 190 Toyota was much cheaper to develop than the VHPD K-series

- Toyota use to own part of Lotus and it was a partnership in that they developed the engine, rather than just blonking it in [did you know that Lotus Engineering has developed the engines for 10% of the new cars sold in Europe - me neither]

- EVO calc 860kgs for the weight

- They also say power oversteer is easily and enjoyable achieved [Perhaps helped by the extra 3cm?]

- They're aiming to build 1000 [Bold! Only shifting 600ish last time and not providing a real reason to upgrade]

- Downforce appears the same as S1 @ 80kgs/100mph

- Matthew Becker (Lotus' principle Dynamics Engineer) can really drive! Although with 5000hrs and 250,000 laps at Hethel do should know the circuit by now!

- In the news section Lotus state Proton have given them the money to refresh models every 18 months with a new car every 3 years, including a new Espirit [so lets hope they do some a bit more radical than this S2 with it then!]

Anyone with access to EVO mag?

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pdemaio

· #4 · Oct 2, 2003

If zero on 100 km/h in less than five seconds is accurate, then 0-60 should be significantly faster assuming no significant weight change (minimally a 1/10 of a second). Good news for elise owners in the US.

jrgibb

· #5 · Oct 3, 2003 (Edited)

Evo - S2 Exige

Guys,

See here for a PDF of the Evo article, pleased to oblige

It's not the greatest scan but you should be able to read it all.

Enjoy !

Evo S2 Exige article

(Randy, i'll only leave this up for a few days so please feel free to move it to one of your servers)

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Randy Chase

· #6 · Oct 3, 2003

Oooh... I love that top pic on the second page! A JPEG would be great. The pictures here are very good. More detail.

I grabbed the PDF and will put it on the server. Thanks! It is just shy of 800k.

Thomasio

· #7 · Oct 3, 2003

ABS had better not be standard on the U.S. Elise.

Don't even get me started!

Thomas

MotorCade

· #8 · Oct 3, 2003

Very relieved at some things I read in this article. Namely:

1. Engine isn't hard to keep in powerband like the Celica is.
2. Midrange torque is sufficient to move the car 'right now' if you want it to.
3. It sounds like the ABS is not going to limit feedback from the brakes.

I'm guessing this is pretty indicative of what we're getting, they almost said as much in the article... almost.

Meat, your choice of tires seems validated by the folks at Lotus. A048s... Gonna have to try those.

Cade

MotorCade

· #9 · Oct 3, 2003

I hear you, Thomas... I've been worried too. It sounds like it won't be a bad system, but maybe they'll at least make it easy to disable. I suppose you can always pull it out, too.

We'll have to see how it feels.

Cade

Thomasio

· #10 · Oct 3, 2003

Yes, I'm sure we can disable them... but it is still another "thing" between your foot and the brake rotor.

The brakes were my favorite part of the car! I'm spoiled for life because of the S2 that I drove...

Thomas

Randy Chase

· #11 · Oct 3, 2003

I truly do not think anyone will think the ABS will detract from the braking or feeling of the brakes. Unless you lock up your tires.

pdemaio

· #12 · Oct 3, 2003

For a wide variety of reasons, I'll take ABS brakes. #1 probably being resale value. Almost no one wants a car without ABS. I do see value in being able to disable it though.

meat

· #13 · Oct 3, 2003

Motorcade

The A048 is a great tire - much better for track use than the A039 (stock on the Exige). The sidewall is stiffer and the level of grip is much higher. The wear very well too - it has an indicated wear rating of 60.

I'm still disappointed in the new Exige. FYI

shinoo

· #14 · Oct 3, 2003

Meat,

You must be dissapointed in the styling? The performance specs are still be established/published.

Personally I think it looks great. Of course we have yet to see any really nice pictures of a production S2 Exige. The S2 design is much more integrated than the S1 Exige to my eye....though I would have welcomed something a hair more aggressive looking.

Dan

Discussion Starter · #15 · Oct 3, 2003

Randy Chase said:
Oooh... I love that top pic on the second page! A JPEG would be great. The pictures here are very good. More detail.

I grabbed the PDF and will put it on the server. Thanks! It is just shy of 800k.

I agree. It would look great as wallpaper for my dual monitor setup.

That file isn't a true PDF. It's a PDF embedded with JPEGs, which are exportable in Adobe Reader v6. The problem is that the JPEG is only 800 pixels wide.

Dan

Discussion Starter · #16 · Oct 3, 2003

Thomasio said:
Yes, I'm sure we can disable them... but it is still another "thing" between your foot and the brake rotor.

The brakes were my favorite part of the car! I'm spoiled for life because of the S2 that I drove...

Thomas

From the article:
"The brakes are wonderfully feelsome and progressive, and up to the point where the ABS triggers you'd never guess it was there, which is exactly as it should be in a sports car. The Exige will haul down hard enough to have you straining against the belts before you activate the ABS, and when it does intervene the modulation feels very rapid."

Matthew Becker, Dynamics Engineer:
"We consider that Porsche ABS sets the standard for feel and response, so we tried to match it. Essentially, what you do is delay its intervention, allow some slip [lock], so that the driver controls the car right up to the point where anti-lock is absolutely necessary. We spent a lot of time looking at the threshold and tuned the system at the 'Ring -- in one lap you've got every sort of corner imaginable."
"[Becker] doesn't feel that adding a servo and anti-lock is a betrayal of Lotus's minimalist, purist approach. The Exige is a very quick car and, he says, 'the responsiveness of the brakes and their reassuring performance will simply give the driver more confidence to use its performance'."

This might just be hype, but maybe judgement should be reserved until after a test drive.

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meat

· #17 · Oct 3, 2003

The Exige was built as the roadgoing version of the Motorsport Elise. I'd like the Exige name to continue on in this fashion and not just be an Elise coupe.

mapes - have you seen an Exige in person? It's one of the best looking cars I have seen, IMHO (and not just cuz I own one).

Thomasio

· #18 · Oct 3, 2003

>This might just be hype, but maybe judgement should be reserved until after a test drive.

True, no point condemning it before it arrives. (I'm just doubtful that you can add an inline servo w/o decreasing the brake feel. But, maybe Lotus figured out a way. I'll reserve judgment until I drive one w/ ABS.)

The other thing that I haven't seen mentioned is that the Exige now weights 1,980 lbs (if memory serves). Thats pretty porky, what happened? The Toyota engine only added 35 kg (if memory serves). Is the Elise generally lighter than the Exige?

Thomas

meat

· #19 · Oct 4, 2003

My Exige weighs almost 200lbs more than my friends Elise 190S.

FYI

Thomasio

· #20 · Oct 4, 2003

Hey Meat,

Can you feel a difference in handling with the 200lb difference?

Thanks,

Thomas

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