The Lotus Cars Community banner
  • Hi there! Why not register as a user to enjoy all of the benefits of the site? You may register here. When you register, please pick a username that is non-commercial. If you use a name that appears on any search engine commercially, you must pick another name, whether it applies to you or not. Commercial usernames are for supporting vendor use only. If you want to become a supporting vendor and grow your business, please follow this link. Thanks!

Convince me not to buy an Exige

16K views 56 replies 39 participants last post by  forkmeupscotty 
#1 ·
I've had my eyes on an Elise or Exige for a very long time now (years) and just can't take it anymore, I have to have one! However, the last thing I want is to buy one and find the car isn't what I think it is, I want to go into this with my eyes open. Specificially, I have my eye on a '06 Exige with the Track Pack, Star Shield and Traction Control. Basically, this car: http://www.lotusnewportbeach.com/details.html?VID=1-20l1145382140.

Why an Exige over an Elise? Well, I'm buying a sports car. The last thing I want is to be wondering if the next model would have been a better sports car. Also, after I add the options I want to an elise (sport, track, starshield, TC, hard top), I'm only $6k away from the Exige I want. I have a rule, if you have to spend 10% more to get what you really want, you should do it.

Since everyone who buys a new Lotus wants zero miles on the clock, including me, dealers are hesitant to let me test drive a car except for the car I will buy, and with check in hand. So I can't really be sure what of what I've bought until the deed is done.

So, here is what I think I'm getting, on the bad side:

  1. It's going to be loud. Perhaps not defining, but it would be difficult to carry on a normal conversation at freeway speeds
  2. It's going to have a stiff-ish ride. Somewhere around what a WRX STi or Mitsubishi Evo has
  3. Rear visibility will be poor
  4. The AC might be somewhat underpowered
  5. Entering and exiting the car will be a somewhat undignified process (I'm about 6'1")
  6. It might leak water in heavy rain or when washing it
  7. I will forever lust after the supercharged version
  8. A can expect the tires to last at least 5k miles if I drive hard, but not on the track.
  9. Dumb people will want to race at the stoplight

On the good side:

  1. It will corner, stop and go beautifully.
  2. There will be little in the car that isn't directly related to cornering, stopping and going.
  3. Being a toyota engine, it will be generally reliable. I'm not expecting it to be as reliable as an actual toyota, but more reliable than many exotics. Basically, I don't want know my service guy so well as to be invited to a barbecue.

If there is anything I haven't covered in either category above, please let me know. Finally, I have some questions:

  1. Regarding the traction control switch, is this an actual switch in so much that you can turn it off whenever you want and it will stay off between removing the key, and you can turn it off at any speed? I've had cars that enable TC every time you start the car, and won't let you turn it off above 45mph, which is highly annoying.
  2. I'm thinking of getting an '06 in the next few weeks, should I be waiting for the '07s? Is it true that the '07 will be a bit heavier?
  3. Does anyone have any recommendations on places to get the car serviced in the SF Bay area, ideally in or around Palo Alto?
  4. What is this "Exige Sport" and how does it differ from a non-sport Exige (see above link, they list the car as Exige Sport)
  5. How safe is this car? I mentioned to my Wife that Lotus got an exemption of the US bumper regulations, now she is afraid I'm going to kill myself. Is this car any less safe than other small cars, such as a Honda Civic, Fit, Yarus, etc.
  6. Anyone wanna give me a ride? I'll buy ya lunch...

Whew! thats a long post. Thanks in advance for insight.
 
See less See more
#27 ·
skottoman said:
A street legal race car. If you've ever done a racing school in an open wheel formula car, it's kinda like that...

Skottoman
It drives exactly like a street legal race car (don't own one yet, but I'm working on it)
 
#30 ·
Awesome man! Coolness.... You will not regret it.
Drove the Exige to work today... oh what fun.
Cheers!
Skottoman
 
#31 ·
rouvier said:
Damn, I'm not going to get any sleep tonight!
:sad:
Forget about getting sleep for a while. You will lay awake a night thinking about what it would be like to turbo (Forcedfed) or supercharge (Tripoint) the damn thing. You will also become very familiar with Sector 111's website. You will also logon to Elisetalk many times a day just to see if anyone has come up with any cool mods that you can obsess over.
 
#32 ·
dmoney said:
You will lay awake a night...
Check, got about 3 hours sleep last night

dmoney said:
You will also become very familiar with Sector 111's website.
Check, have already looked over every section and even placed my first over, before I even have the car!

dmoney said:
You will also logon to Elisetalk many times a day
Check, with the exception that I've been here basically all day
 
#35 ·
rouvier said:
I don't see any reason to not drive it every day that I don't have to carry any more than my laptop to work and back.
rotfl
You will once the AC packs up with ice and does nothing!
:(
 
#36 ·
codymac said:
You will once the AC packs up with ice and does nothing!
Hasn't happened yet, although it hasn't been exactly hot since saturday, so I haven't had to use it all that much.

pilot said:
You will not regret the Exige. Go everywhere in it. The store, the bar, the track. Hell, I even got the owners of a go cart track to let me drive it on the track.
From saturday until today, I hadn't driven anything else. Today I had to carry some stuff, so I took the Saab.

However, there is a stretch of highway that has seams every 20 feet which are brutal in the exige. (for people around SFbay, I'm talking about southbound 101 between palo alto and hwy 85) I hope they repave this soon, it's murder on me and the car.
 
#37 ·
rouvier said:
However, there is a stretch of highway that has seams every 20 feet which are brutal in the exige. (for people around SFbay, I'm talking about southbound 101 between palo alto and hwy 85) I hope they repave this soon, it's murder on me and the car.
Try the third lane from the left - though it may be slower I feel that the comfort is worth it. The carpool lane isnt too bad either.
 
#38 ·
Darkness said:
The age might have something to do with it, I'm 26, but on the other side of the coin, a friend of mind who is low 50's, wasn't allowed to *sit* in an elise at boardwalk auto center. Granted, he wasn't serious about buying one, just wanted to see what I was so excited about.

This isn't that uncommon around here. Another friend drove his new Evo only after he had handed them a check, but not put the final signatures on the line. I think it all depends on how many of the cars the dealer has. The Exige is a rare car, and when the dealer only has one or two, they can't let everyone who walks in drive them.

Anyway, yes, before I actually buy the car, I'm going to drive it. I don't drive = I don't buy.

Insist on a ride. I was able to test drive an Elise before buying mine. Let them know that you are a serious enthusiast and follower of the marque, and that you are deciding between the Elise, the Exige, and the Exige S, and I suspect that they will let you drive the Elise. :nanner2:
 
#40 ·
Too late, I picked up a CO Exige with Starshield (of course), Touring and LTD Slip.

As for the 10% rule, the elise that I would want would have the Sport Package and Hardtop. This car is $47,870 (MSRP). An exige is basically the same as the above elise, with a different body, and runs $51,915, or $4,050 (8.5%) more.

Looking back on this, I'm 100% sure the downforce of an exige hasn't done me any good, and probably never will. I'm just not a good enough driver for it to matter. It would have been logical to save myself some money and gain rear visibility by getting an elise. But I'm not logical and I don't regret getting the Exige one little bit. :shrug:

Pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/darkness1/sets/72157594290477639/
 
#42 ·
I moved the other day. Spent 100 miles driving the moving truck. No rear-view mirror (only side mirrors) and zero (as in "none") direct rearward visibility. This didn't pose much difficulty.

I still would prefer to have rear visibility, but it is not crucial. It think it may even be safer for my driving as it would force me to properly use the side-mirrors - which I tend to neglect and tend to use improperly - and side mirrors are the ones protecting from the main danger of lane changes and not the rear-view mirrors.

I have an elise not an exige, so I don't know, but I would expect that, in addition to all that I just said, the exige still has some rear visibility. Noticing that there is some kind of blob in the rear is still a bit of information.
 
#43 ·
masheen said:
I have an elise not an exige, so I don't know, but I would expect that, in addition to all that I just said, the exige still has some rear visibility. Noticing that there is some kind of blob in the rear is still a bit of information.
There's enough.



Sorry about the flash -- but you can see the car behind me easily enough in the rear view.


 
#46 ·
I love this thread, or rather, I hate it. I had my heart SET on an 05' AR Elise...base model even, power windows, I don't need no' stinkin power windows.......and then I saw a used CO Exige....and I've been screwed ever since.

For me, once I saw that car, all the other cars on the lot looked really tame. I literally could not keep my head turned to look at the Elise....

What I read on here that made me REALLY realize how much I liked the Exige was someones comment that if you bought an Exige and an Elise puilled up next to you, you wouldn't be envious. But that if you bought an Elise and an Exige pulled up you MIGHT get envious......so buy the Exige and be done with it ;-D

Update...?...are you still rocking in it every day...rain or shine, mud or snow?
 
#47 ·
LARRY22331 said:
Get the one that turns you on the most. This is a once in a lifetime decision...
Totally agree here. No one can answer this except for yourself. I could have gotten the Exige but the Elise was the one that did it for me. 4 months of ownership and no regrets.

No one has said yet that you cannot remove the front grill of the Exige without cutting the grill out? The Elise just snaps off and back on again, 20 seconds to do it. I say this because sometimes debris and other things (squirrels, etc) might get into the grill and it is an advantage in my book to be able to take the front grill off easily.

It's a hard choice, good luck in whatever you choose, fortunately for me my first choice resulted in a less expensive car.
 
#48 ·
I agree - I would not want an Exige - to each their own....

Getting in and out gets to be a lot easier if you don't put one leg in first. Getting in - sit on the sill first with both feet on the ground then scoot butt back til you fall in the seat and swing both your feet in together afterwards. Getting out is reverse - swing both feet out over the sill together, push off the seat from behind you with one hand until your butt is back up on the sill and you are sitting as on a bench. Stand up on both feet which are now resting on the ground - no off balance, no grabbing the windshield support and no twisted back muscles. Both feet or your butt are planted all the time.

Have fun in the Exige! :)
 
#49 ·
Just saw this thread, I am in the same position of deciding myself. Love the color choice on your car, very cool. How are you liking it? Was rear visibility ever an issue?

I went through your Flickr gallery too, so awesome. Hope she is doing well. Can I ask what car you drove previously? I am coming from a Boxster.
 
#51 ·
I was on the fence even thought I truly love the Exige styling. My fear was that I would damage the splitter too easily....

Well an Exige became available locally with virtually no miles and I bought it. I'm in love with my car and miss it so much when I travel and can't drive it. Only rubbed the splitter twice and I knew I was close so I was going slow. It is the coolest daily driver ever hands down.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top