Meet the Lotus Exige Sport 380
More power is only the start, as Lotus puts a shining new star on top of the Exige tree.
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Your support makes all the difference.Lotus has a simple strategy for making brilliant cars. It takes the brilliant cars it already makes, it makes them more brilliant and hey presto, it makes more brilliant cars.
Hence the Exige Sport 380. This is not an Exige Sport 350 with an extra 30bhp; well, it is, but it’s a lot more besides.
It’s up to 25kg lighter, for starters, thanks to the addition of carbon a-gogo and a titanium exhaust that makes a noise so glorious they should put it up on Spotify. These things are optional, but in for a penny (well, £67,900), in for a pound.
Other options include the Track Pack, which adds adjustable Nitron shocks and Eibach anti-roll bars. As the name suggests, this is for owners who plan to use their Exige on circuits – which is exactly what most of them do.
The carbon pack adds more downforce, further enhancing the Exige’s trackday potential. Which is already better than ever, because you really do feel this model’s improved power to weight ratio.
Its suspension and steering remain nothing short of incredible, too. You never stop feeling like part of the action, as if you’re swaddled within some wonderful organic extension of your soul whose only purpose on earth is to make you happy. And when you’re not in pursuit of fun, you’re not running from the consequences – hit a pothole or a manhole cover and while you’ll feel it, it won’t make you wince.
You also won’t have to contort yourself on the way in and out of the Exige – this new model has lower sills which see to that. And, better yet, its cabin is better in both its finish and overall build – though you’ll still hear plenty of the road on a motorway cruise, which comes back to the point that while it’s no pig around town and quite the athlete on a B-road, this is still a car made for the track to the exclusion of everything else.
Once, you had to concentrate quite hard on excluding things when buying a Lotus. Like dodgy workmanship, funny noises and the feeling that something was going to come undone at any moment. But no more.
At this sort of money, you have every right to demand that these matters have been addressed. And the good news is that they have – to the extent that even with a £67,900 price tag, the Exige Sport 380 actually looks like a bit of a steal.
Lotus Exige Sport 380
Price £67,900
Engine V6, 3456cc, supercharged, petrol
Power 375bhp at 6700rpm
Torque 302lb ft at 5000rpm
Gearbox 6-spd manual
Kerb weight 1100kg; 0-60mph 3.5sec
Top speed 178mph
Economy 28.0mpg (combined)
CO2/tax band 242g/km, 37%
John Calne is a writer for AutoCar.
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