Lotus Exige now on sale in Australia

AUSTRALIANS can now get their hands on the Lotus Exige S – deploying a mid-mounted 3.5-litre supercharged V6 Toyota engine for 0-100km/h in 4.0 seconds – for $119,990 plus on-road costs.

That price makes the Exige S Australia’s most affordable production car to hit triple digits in the low four-second region, the Audi TT RS Plus (4.1 seconds) costing $20,000 more.

Keeping the accelerator pedal mashed into the floor sees 160km/h come and go in just 8.5 seconds, on the way to a 274km/h top speed – making it one of the quickest road-going Lotus cars yet.

The V6 musters up 257.5kW of power at 7000rpm and 400Nm of torque at 4600rpm, in a car weighing just 1176kg – almost 100kg less than the popular Mazda3 hatchback.

For comparison, a $229,400 Porsche Carrera 2 coupe produces a similar 257kW of power and is 10Nm down on the Lotus, while being 204kg heavier.

Australian Lotus importer Ateco Automotive has pitched the Exige S $4000 below the larger Evora 2+2 coupe and $26,000 lower than the Evora S with which it shares its supercharged engine.

The Lotus Dynamic Performance Management (DPM) system offers three modes – Touring, Sport and DPM Off – which adjust engine response and chassis settings depending on road conditions and the driver’s requirements.

Sport mode enables the engine to rev higher, giving the driver more control by allowing more slip and disabling the electronic understeer recognition system, while DPM Off disables all the electronic safety aids as the name suggests.

Behind the 17-inch front wheels are 350mm cross-drilled discs, with 332mm items behind the rear 18-inch rims, all clamped by four-pot AP Racing callipers.

Power is delivered to the rear wheels via a six-speed close-ratio manual gearbox.

Lotus Australia and New Zealand brand manager Alastair Manihera described the Exige S as offering “raw supercar performance, agility, unparalleled ride and handling and mind blowing drive experience”.

He said these are “attributes that people have come to expect from Lotus but taken to a new level with the Exige S”.

“Anyone who has ever driven an Exige on the track will tell you that it’s not for the faint-hearted.

“The new Exige S skips a few rungs on the ladder to give the driver the ultimate Lotus experience.

“And, as with all Lotus Sports cars, it comes at a remarkable price which is, indeed, the only thing that separates it from other supercars. Quite simply you can’t get more Lotus than the Exige S.”