Ok this news is officially nearly 2 weeks old now but Lotus cars are dear to my heart owning my own Lotus Elise so I have to post this better late than never. For months and months now in the UK and US, pretty much the rest of the world around our large island of Australia, the Lotus Exige S has been available in 240bhp form labelled the ‘Performance Pack’ now it comes to our shores.
No apparent visual clue’s when the Perf. pack is fitted.
The only ever criticism of the Lotus Exige in motoring press around the world has been that it is the most capable sports car ever made in modern times but it just needs a bit more Power! With my own car the Lotus Elise R, just those extra few horse’s would drop the car from the very fast 5 seconds 0-100kph league to the 4 seconds pants staining supercar league.
This is exactly in a nutshell what the factory fitted optional ‘Performance Pack’ for the Lotus Exige S really does all for a fistful of $11,000 of your Australian $’s. So what do you exactly get for this most expensive of all the options on the current Lotus ‘Upgrade pack’ menu?
240bhp & 940Kg’s equals a whole lot’er speed!
Firstly and most importantly you get an engine power upgrade from 218bhp to 240bhp and torque rises from 215Nm to 230Nm of torque, not much it sounds, but in a car weighing just over 900Kg’s that’s a very noticeable extra punch I can tell you from my Lotus driving experience.
Other parts of the pack are not so noticeable initially but will be from the sum of their parts no doubt, like the larger 308mm front discs with AP Racing four piston callipers, the Full length wider mouthed roof scoop to allow more air to reach the mid-engined mounted intercooler, up rated clutch to handle the extra power and torque and lastly the Lotus Variable Slip Traction control System as found on the Lotus 2 Eleven. I have played with this Lotus Variable Slip control on the 2 Eleven twice before and it really is intuitive and easy to master after a few laps of play.
Interior pure Lotus, function over style.
What is the main selling point of this new option for the Exige S and warrants talking about is that really this the first time officially a 240bhp Lotus has been available to buy in Australia, well excluding the super limited edition Lotus Sport 240 where only 6 will be built for and sold in Australia. This means you are getting your very own version of the rare Lotus Exige Cup 240/Lotus Sport 240 for the price of a normal Lotus Exige S plus a little bit extra.
Basically now us Australians have been granted it, you’d be mad to order a new Lotus Exige S without ticking that option box staring up at you labelled ‘Performance pack’, it’s even more of a performance bargain.
Source: Lotus AU