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Track Test: 2009 Lotus Exige S car review; Bright, light
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The epiphanal moment of driving the Lotus Exige S comes at braking for a ninety-degree left turn in Pocono International Speedway’s infield “north course.” It’s a flat level corner with good visibility. In other words, no tricks.
It’s my fourth corner in this Exige, a yellow flyweight shingle of epoxy-bonded aluminum extrusions with a lightweight steel rear subframe, covered with a composite fiberglass body shaped as if the wind had chisels, and I’m already violating my personal rule of moderation on the first lap.
The Exige is quick, and just as important, the exit speed from turn three means a faster finish from a quicker start and a shorter time on the straight. It’s a Newtonian cheat on the rest of the world. Turn four arrives sooner than it rightfully should. In many cars that would be a stressful moment. It is in the Lotus Exige as well, though only momentarily.
Because what happens next is…the Exige slows down so quickly that I have ease off on the brakes so that we don’t come to a stop before even reaching the curve. We don’t exactly cruise around the corner, thanks to that early assessment of relative velocity, but the underutilization of potential is awkward.
Not as awkward as, say, running off the road but enough so that it feels the Lotus Elige has played a joke on me.
It’s the light weight, of course, only 2,077 lbs for a fully road-legal Exige S. It shows in acceleration. Lotus claims the Exige S rips to 60 mph in just 4.1 seconds and cranks the speedo past 100 mph in only 11 seconds with a top speed of 150 mph, all from a 1.8-liter Toyota 4-cylinder engine, supercharged to 218 horsepower.
Light weight benefits handling as well: The Exige can easily corner at 1.0g. Apply that vertically and the Lotus could levitate. And it explains the exit speed we just mentioned.
Of course it’s more than just a 60 year obsession with weight. With a heritage that began with a little English trials car to diminutive shingles of sports racer, to making compact English Ford sedans into roadracing giant killers on to multiple Indy 500 wins and Formula 1 championships, Lotus knows how to build a car’s suspension, to make a car handle and go around corners.
In part that’s from the vehicle’s overall light weight, but also it’s a case in which the raw specifications—unequal-length wishbones, Bilstein mono-tube gas shocks, Eibach coaxial coil springs and a front anti-roll bar—hide a wealth of experience and development.
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Out on the race track, there are some cars that make the average driver look good and the good driver looks great. The Lotus Exige S isn’t one of those. The Exige S requires talent just to keep one from making a fool of oneself, walking that fine line between fully exploiting the Lotus’ capabilities…and providing a rolling definition of “hubris”.(Note: all racers sooner of later step over the edge in racing conditions, however, “going agricultural”—coming into the pits wearing bits of nature from an off-pavement excursion in less-than-racing conditions—doesn’t count).
The Lotus Exige is not a car for everyone and Lotus doesn’t expect everyone to like it. Bo and Luke Duke have it easier getting into the General Lee than the average-sized adult will have getting into the Exige, and the fit is more snug than anything else that doesn’t lace up. Cargo capacity is the passenger seat. And this for a base price of $61,000. A “track pack,” “touring pack,” a limited slip rear differential are all available, and paint can be optioned up to $5,000.
Which should be an epiphany of its own. Not only do good things come in small packages, they often cost a lot of money, and some of them even sparkle. And some of them are really lightweight, like a Lotus Exige S.
| Layout | mid-engine, rear drive |
| Engine | 1.8-L DOHC supercharged I-4 |
| Horsepower | 218 @ 8000 rpm |
| Torque, lb-ft | 156 @ 5000 rpm |
| Tires, front | 195/50R16 |
| Tires,rear | 225/45R17 |
| Brakes, disc | 4-wheel ventilated, cross-drilled discs |
| Brakes, calipers | Lotus/AP Racing & Brembo caliper; ABS |
| EPA est mpg, city/hwy | 20/26 |
| 0-60 mph | 4.1 sec |
| Top speed, mph | 150 |
Photos: Lotus Cars USA
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