Frimley111R

Ah ok, apologies.

Very low priced 410 : https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202405029298370?fromSavedAds=true&advertising-location=at_cars&sort=relevance&postcode=gu153tf

Thanks, interesting thread

FFM?

No, it was near their service dept and heading out towards Pirbright. Good roads tbh. Yes, I guess I was. I knew the engine was heavier but the whole car felt quite heavy/solid, not like I expected at all. Yes, going to try 250 (although not really a fan of all those wings etc) and 410 (man maths needed!)

I think it didn't help that it felt a bit tired and had the sloppy gearchange and non working AC. I thought '£44k for this?' I am sure that didn't help my impressions but i remember first driving a 111R and thinking 'Wow'. Maybe i just needed more time to get used to it. Also interesting to see how much lighter a 410 is. Quite amazing given how little there is to an Exige anyway.

I popped over to B&C and met Antonia who let me loose in the white V6 S Exige they have. For reference I had a 111R for 7 years and an Evora S for 2 but that was quite a few years ago and I wanted to see if the Exige grabbed me before I started looking too hard. Good points Looks Engine/Performance Badge Bad points The gear linkage is really bad, it's like a stick in a bucket. I knew they weren't great but this one was very loose although most gearchanges were smooth. It felt a lot heavier than my Elise, a lot. On bumpy backroads it needed a lot of speed to iron out the bumps and as I was just one a test drive at normal speeds it really got bounced about, although probably the same as any similarly sprung car I guess. Steering was heav-isy, no doubt not helped by tyres wider than an Elise, but it was ok. It felt its age a bit, but that was only to be expected. I came away a bit unsure of it tbh and may try the Elise CUP 250 to see how that feels, or even an Emira. I shouldn't have expected it I guess but my old Elise was light, agile and fast. The Exige just felt fast and heavy to me.

I'm looking at a wide range of colours and fancy a brighter colour as the car is fairly 'out there' anyway in terms of styling. But, I had a Megane R26 in Silver which was a fun thing to thrash about in but then had one in liquid yellow and I feltif it was a bit too shouty and in your face when I was driving it around. The silver car seemed to slip up the radar better... For those of you with brightly coloured Exiges, do you feel the same?

Thanks, TBH it's not really the power that's the issue. The S is rapid enough. You'll be bankrupt following him and his mods! 😁

Have any of you 'upgraded' from an older model to a newer one? If so, was it worth it and what changes/improvements were there? I'd man-mathed my way to a 410 but am wondering if a normal S would be fine and save me £25k. Head says S but heart says 410. Off to drive an S on Tuesday and then will try a 410. I was set on the 410 but looking at someone's S on Facebook made me think it looks fabulous enough and is still rapid.

The carbon bits on the front of a lot Exiges look lovely but how do they cope with stone chips and how do you repair them?

This one? Lotus Exige S Roadster Premium - Hofmanns

Looks a good £8-9k over the cost of the same non LF1 car though?

I'd love to get back into a Lotus and have £20k as a deposit. I'd like an Exige V6 but at £50k they are probably a bit far out of my budget but Elise's at under £40k could be doable. Problem is that all the adverts show a finance button that just makes me fill in a form to get a PCP quote. I just want a guide to see how nice I have to be to SWMBO if I want to get serious.😄 Can anyone give me some guide figures or even what you pay? I've had an Elise 111R for 7 years and an Evora S for 2 in the past so either want an S3 Elise (S/C) or an Exige V6... I'm also anticipating that despite the high used prices of all cars at the moment, Lotus' will stay high due to no more new models.

Yep, I lost £1k over 2yrs on mine. Having a car like that for such a low cost is like having your cake and eating it. just need to try a 240i convertible to see if its as quiet and comft as our 120d when you're on a long slog back home after a busy day

Yep, I'm aware they are different but currently we have a Z4 35i (convertible) and a 120d M-Sport (daily run around)plus a Megane R26 hoon/track car, so my car options are this: Ditch Z4 and 120d and buy 240i convertible plus buy Evora Keep 120d, ditch Z4, buy AMV8 or F-Type as they are also both lovely but have convertible roofs (and we can't not have a convertible) I do like the Evora, having owned one before of course but then I've never owned an Aston or a Jaguar. I know they are quite different but the Evora will be our 'special occasion' car and I'm not sure I'd spend a lot of time really giving that some stick on the road/track. First world problems....😁

Still window shopping for now and have looked at the AMV8 and the F-Type which are around £40-45k. Both have their merits but it does occur to me that the Evora has very low levels of depreciation whereas the F-Type and AMV8 could cost me considerably more in depreciation. That's quite a factor to consider.

Makes sense although there's a lot of typical Autocar guesswork in that article.

I'd agree. More space behind the front seats is of more value to me than 2 tiny seats. The red SR buyer is on here (thread recently posted by him). I'm not remotely jealous....!🙄

Indeed. TBH after 9 years I needed something different and Lotus didn't (still don't) have anything they didn't have as far back as 2009. The Megane RS265 was nice but big and heavy and the Megane R26 is a brilliant little hot hatchback that costs pennies and is as rapid across country as anything but it'd be nice to have something nicer to drive about in too and so it'll be a red SR in a few weeks/couple of months. I looked at lots of different cars but none were a Lotus. Looking forward to it, just got to get the house move done and I'll be there....

I'm hoping to follow you shortly with the exact same car. I had an Evora S IPS for 2 years and an Elise for 7 before that. Despite being away from the brand for a few years nothing makes me want a car more than Lotus. Watch this space...

Even with the excuses I'd have expected the Exige to be winning that race however in other races of this type the gear changes with a paddle shift are shown to make a huge difference over manual and so this is probably just representative of that

Quite a shock. Management fall out I imagine if he has gone so quickly. Shame as he seemed to be good head for the business.

EDIT Just to add, I am sure this one is spot on but when a shit tuner causes you two engine blow ups it takes a long time to trust a modded engine, no matter how good.

Bit slow i did see that but its out of budget. Plus after blowing up my supercharged Elise twice I'm a bit wary of modified engines.