A mildly tweaked Exige S to be precise. It was AWESOME. Sister-in-law's father-in-law (David) owns it and since no one in his family actually appreciates cars (they just see it as the mid life crisis car for him) he offered me a drive. Took it out for a run to the west of Canberra on some great roads (a couple have been used as tarmac rally stages in the past). It was pretty intimidating at first - having to crane your neck up to see Commodore drivers is a little different and having no rear view mirror, just the wing mirrors is a bit odd too. But it didn't take too long to start to settle in. The steering is amazing - unassisted, of course, so full of feel. Incredibly direct too - I only had to move my hands from 9 & 3 at the tightest of round abouts and the wheel itself is only about the size of my G25. And then there's the straight line speed - 180+ kw in 900kgs goes alright (around 4 seconds for the 0-100 sprint). The supercharger whine was unreal and power delivery really flat. The tacho barely has any increments before it shows 3000rpm (much like a lot of speedos don't really show much under 20 km/h) and that's where the engine likes to live. I didn't take it to redline but at 7000rpm she was still very willing and in no danger of running out of puff. Once the tyres were warmed up it just stuck. I stopped looking at the speedo and the posted corner speed recommendations and just went with feel and looked down after a while to see I was doing crazy things like 70km/h in 30km/h corners (I know you can go well above these but once they're that tight I usually slow down to at least 50!) without breaking a sweat. David just said that I was still taking it easy and it could go so much quicker. Sensible Mick wasn't too sensible for once with regards to speed limits but I've never driven a car before that felt so at ease so far above them. David has promised me another drive after he gets a new supercharger fitted which should liberate another 100bhp or so but it was really the handling that stayed with me (well, that and the manic engine noise). Can't wait.
"If we can hit that bull's-eye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate!"
There great cars indeed. You just feel so planted on the road, it is a nice tingly feeling where your mind says 'probably should slow down now if I was in "X"'.
Some play it safe on the merry-go-round, others go for the thrills of the roller-coaster.
ᕙ༼ຈل͜ຈ༽ᕗ vs ლ(ಠ益ಠ)ლ
I have a joke for you. I have a prediction that you are going to walk into a bar, my prediction was wrong and your wallet is gone.
wobblysauce wrote:There great cars indeed. You just feel so planted on the road, it is a nice tingly feeling where your mind says 'probably should slow down now if I was in "X"'.
So as far as you know they didnt tone down the road version from the prototype you tested?
wobblysauce wrote:There great cars indeed. You just feel so planted on the road, it is a nice tingly feeling where your mind says 'probably should slow down now if I was in "X"'.
So as far as you know they didnt tone down the road version from the prototype you tested?
I dont want to take any thing from the good post from EK, but I will bite for you Bauer.
I haven't driven or been a passenger of a Exige S, but I have had a few rides of other Lotus's, 340R would probably be the best one of them and have [driven or been a passenger of] a few different Elise's and 7's.
Some play it safe on the merry-go-round, others go for the thrills of the roller-coaster.
ᕙ༼ຈل͜ຈ༽ᕗ vs ლ(ಠ益ಠ)ლ
I have a joke for you. I have a prediction that you are going to walk into a bar, my prediction was wrong and your wallet is gone.
I bet it was more fun than Forking out $600 to drive a lambo around the Gold Coast suburbs for half an hour..........
I've always wanted to take a lotus for a spin, If I was cashed up I don't know if I would buy one though. But whenever you see them they just look fun. I guess they are the more masculine equivelent of a MX5....lol
Hz-Lab wrote:
I've always wanted to take a lotus for a spin, If I was cashed up I don't know if I would buy one though. But whenever you see them they just look fun.
Yeah, same here. It would be a difficult car to live with and the owner of this one actually rides a bike 99% of the time and keeps this as pretty much a toy. But by crap what a toy! I know it's a cliche with these cars, but the only thing that comes close in regards to steering feel that I've driven, seriously was a go-kart.
"If we can hit that bull's-eye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate!"
Sister-in-law's father-in-law (David) owns it and since no one in his family actually appreciates cars (they just see it as the mid life crisis car for him) he offered me a drive. Took it out for a run to the west of Canberra on some great roads (a couple have been used as tarmac rally stages in the past). It was pretty intimidating at first - having to crane your neck up to see Commodore drivers is a little different and having no rear view mirror, just the wing mirrors is a bit odd too. But it didn't take too long to start to settle in. The steering is amazing - unassisted, of course, so full of feel. Incredibly direct too - I only had to move my hands from 9 & 3 at the tightest of round abouts and the wheel itself is only about the size of my G25. And then there's the straight line speed - 180+ kw in 900kgs goes alright (around 4 seconds for the 0-100 sprint). The supercharger whine was unreal and power delivery really flat. The tacho barely has any increments before it shows 3000rpm (much like a lot of speedos don't really show much under 20 km/h) and that's where the engine likes to live. I didn't take it to redline but at 7000rpm she was still very willing and in no danger of running out of puff. Once the tyres were warmed up it just stuck. I stopped looking at the speedo and the posted corner speed recommendations and just went with feel and looked down after a while to see I was doing crazy things like 70km/h in 30km/h corners (I know you can go well above these but once they're that tight I usually slow down to at least 50!) without breaking a sweat. David just said that I was still taking it easy and it could go so much quicker. Sensible Mick wasn't too sensible for once with regards to speed limits but I've never driven a car before that felt so at ease so far above them. David has promised me another drive after he gets a new supercharger fitted which should liberate another 100bhp or so but it was really the handling that stayed with me (well, that and the manic engine noise). Can't wait. 
