New Exige Sport 350

[LotusPilot]

Hmmm, surely, based upon previous arguments, you'll die if you put a splitter on the Roadster...

The phase "snake oil" comes to mind :-)

[DAV1D]

On 2 March 2016 at 16:31, Neal H said:

But if you take the roof off the Roadster the air flow will be so disrupted that the rear wing won't work. The front diffuser on the other hand will continue to do its job so I think this rather debunks that argument! If Lotus really believed this they wouldn't risk adding them to a Roadster, unless of course the areo kit comes with the disclaimer that if you now take the roof off you will die

Good point

[The Pits]

There may well be a group of people out there who like a more subtle Exige but the number is very small. Unfortunately the Roadster did not prove to be as popular as it perhaps deserved to be. Coupes outsold them strongly. Therefore, it makes sense to try something different, at least at the Geneva show. It certainly works for me. Surely the carbon parts will be available for the S350 coupe, I wonder if the front access panel will be put on that too. I think they should just to help differentiate the S350s from the Club Racers and the rest.

[Rancid]

Jonny, what's your view regards having the front splitter and not the rear wing on the 'old' roadster?

 

 

I'm one who originally liked the subtleties of the roadster sans aero, but now think a roadster with all the addenda is a great idea.

Unfortunately, adding both the front and rear spoilers to my car is cost prohibitive, so the new version makes sense. (Although I can't afford the new one either...!)

[Arun_D]

16 minutes ago, The Pits said:

There may well be a group of people out there who like a more subtle Exige but the number is very small. Unfortunately the Roadster did not prove to be as popular as it perhaps deserved to be. Coupes outsold them strongly. Therefore, it makes sense to try something different, at least at the Geneva show. It certainly works for me. Surely the carbon parts will be available for the S350 coupe, I wonder if the front access panel will be put on that too. I think they should just to help differentiate the S350s from the Club Racers and the rest.

Indeed I think the new front access panel a la Cup 360 would be a good differentiator between the 'gen 1' V6 models and the 'gen 1.5' cars. Shame it wasn't on the Sport 350 Coupe from the off.

[Neal H]

1 hour ago, Rancid said:

Jonny, what's your view regards having the front splitter and not the rear wing on the 'old' roadster?

 

 

I'm one who originally liked the subtleties of the roadster sans aero, but now think a roadster with all the addenda is a great idea.

Unfortunately, adding both the front and rear spoilers to my car is cost prohibitive, so the new version makes sense. (Although I can't afford the new one either...!)

If I was going to add a splitter to mine, I'd opt for the Coupe GRP one rather than the carbon 350 one as it will almost inevitably pick up some damage at some point. I priced the bits up on DeRoure and it came to just over £500 including VAT plus some labour for fitting.

[Rancid]

I've also looked at the Deroure one, but I bet it's on back order from the factory..!

Surprised no one makes a pattern part by now.

[The Pits]

its each to his own when it comes to aero kits, I'm a big fan of the existing Roadster, it's still the one I'd chose if I wanted an Exige mainly for road use. Imagine the Alps, roof off, all that extra scenery and mountain air in the nostrils!

I quite like the 'sleeper' element of the wingless Exige too but I wasn't expecting much from the S350 Roadster but when I saw the Geneva footage I was pretty wowed by it. I think if I was buying now I'd take the Roadster over the Coupe and go full carbon for good measure! Not sure I'd bother retro fitting wings to a current Roadster though, I think I'd just enjoy it as it is.

[Xisthos]

I echo the preference not to have the front access panel painted as well, just like in the 360 cup. It doesn't look very nice in body color, and I find it even more strange that they painted it as it's supposedly now made in carbon fiber too, and they're showing off the new parts made with it.

[DAV1D]

On 5 March 2016 at 02:27, Xisthos said:

I echo the preference not to have the front access panel painted as well, just like in the 360 cup. It doesn't look very nice in body color, and I find it even more strange that they painted it as it's supposedly now made in carbon fiber too, and they're showing off the new parts made with it.

Nothing in the press release mentions anything about this being carbon from memory. It's composite like the rest of body I believe. It should be carbon though and would much better. The yellow paint does not suit it IMHO

[Xisthos]

1 hour ago, DAV1D said:

Nothing in the press release mentions anything about this being carbon from memory. It's composite like the rest of body I believe. It should be carbon though and would much better. The yellow paint does not suit it IMHO

Read it off this website, they might have gotten it incorrectly though. But yeah it would only make sense! 

http://www.topspeed.com/cars/lotus/2017-lotus-exige-sport-350-roadster-ar172658.html

[The Pits]

Is no-one else being reminded of this with the new Roadster front access panel?

 

[Arun_D]

 

I actually think this....

[Xisthos]

I've been asking my dealer to get me a price quote on the 350 Roadster + fixed roof or if they can put the carbon bits on the 350 Coupe. He's been calling Lotus HQ and at the moment they can't give him and info on any pricing whatsoever. Seems a little unusually slow to me , they seemed to have the details for the Evora 400, 410 and 250 Cup right away. 

[Xisthos]

Bit strange, my dealer was told that the front access panel of the new Roadster/360 cup won't be available to the Coupe. Oh well, can always get it later on in the future I guess. 

 

[StephVG]

17 hours ago, Xisthos said:

Bit strange, my dealer was told that the front access panel of the new Roadster/360 cup won't be available to the Coupe. Oh well, can always get it later on in the future I guess. 

 

I'm not surprised. The Exige 350 Coupé photos show the standard front access panel, not the Cup version...

[Xisthos]

Yeah I was just hoping they'd make it available to set the generation of the 350s/360 cup apart. 

[geartox]

does someone know the exact reference of the AP racing kit installed on the sport 350 ?

[quantum2000]

7 minutes ago, geartox said:

does someone know the exact reference of the AP racing kit installed on the sport 350 ?

Do you mean the Lotus part number or AP racing part number. I have the Lotus part numbers if that helps?

Brake Caliper, front, red LH 'AP Racing'A138J4059F Includes pads1
Brake Caliper, front, red RH 'AP Racing'A138J4060F Includes pads1
Brake Caliper, front, yellow LH 'AP Racing'A138J4063F Includes pads1
Brake Caliper, front, yellow RH 'AP Racing'A138J4064F Includes pads1
Brake Caliper, front, black LH 'AP Racing'A138J4071F Includes pads1
Brake Caliper, front, black RH 'AP Racing'A138J4072F Includes pads1
Brake Caliper, front, silver LH 'AP Racing'A138J4067F Includes pads1 Roadster
Brake Caliper, front, silver RH 'AP Racing'A138J4068F Includes pads1 Roadster

Brake Caliper, rear, red LH 'AP Racing'A138J4061F Includes pads1
Brake Caliper, rear, red RH 'AP Racing'A138J4062F Includes pads1
Brake Caliper, rear, yellow LH 'AP Racing'A138J4065F Includes pads1
Brake Caliper, rear, yellow RH 'AP Racing'A138J4066F Includes pads1
Brake Caliper, rear, black LH 'AP Racing'A138J4073F Includes pads1
Brake Caliper, rear, black RH 'AP Racing'A138J4074F Includes pads1
Brake Caliper, rear, silver LH 'AP Racing'A138J4069F Includes pads1
Brake Caliper, rear, silver RH 'AP Racing'A138J4070F

[geartox]

thank you. I was looking for the AP Racing reference in order to find compatible pads.

Edited April 13, 2016 by geartox

[Seriouslylotus]

On ‎08‎/‎12‎/‎2015 at 14:01, LF1 said:

 

 Wonder if they will do an Exige Sport 350 Cup?

Simple answer is yes!! Well almost. The last few 360 CUP cars are being built on the 350 platform rather than the older Exige s platform. Just ordered a 360 and was told by motorsport and the dealer that this is the case

[simon mac]

On 3/1/2016 at 09:19, Neal H said:

I think thats more to do with keeping the soft top in place. Any lawsuit is more likely to come from the driver behind when they get a Lotus soft top wrapped around their windscreen at 150mph

Sorry late to the conversation, but I'm convinced this is the case.

 

I tried mine on the Autobahn and if anything the speed limiter is still set too high when using the soft top. I could see daylight between the frame and the roof at those speeds, and was forced to slow down.

Weirdly the car feels much safer with the roof off and is perfectly stable all the way up to 150 indicated.

 

On 2/29/2016 at 19:16, The Pits said:

I'm struggling to see the advantages of the Coupe version now. I guess as long as the orders roll in it doesn't really matter to Lotus which one people go for. But I think I'd be going for the Roadster.

I can see this from the track / performance perspective. The previous Coupe was certainly more focused.

From a road car perspective, the new Roadster is in some ways less attractive (to me). I preferred the glass from a visibility perspective, the splitter is nice to look at, but ground clearance is more problematic. I haven't driven one to confirm, but my understanding is they have brought the suspension into line across the range. 

I can see why Lotus are doing this though, more customers choosing the Coupe, and the elephant in the room is that in all honesty if you want a 2 seater fast convertible for road use, then a certain other manufacturer is more compelling for most people.  So Lotus are wise to choose their battles. 

Of course the car that would best suit my needs is an Evora Roadster, so maybe I will have to wait. (Maybe another reason Lotus are making the Roadster more hardcore, as it leaves a better gap for that car when it arrives?)

 

I visited the factory yesterday. Majority of Exiges were still Coupes on the line, and looking at the pre-delivery staging area, Evora 400 (lots of) > Exige Coupe > Elise > Exige Roadster in terms of numbers (of course this is anecdotal based on one visit, and could be due to batching).

P.S. The 400's coming out the factory sounded lovely, I want that exhaust on my Exige

[LotusPilot]

5 hours ago, simon mac said:

 

I tried mine on the Autobahn and if anything the speed limiter is still set too high when using the soft top. I could see daylight between the frame and the roof at those speeds, and was forced to slow down.

Weirdly the car feels much safer with the roof off and is perfectly stable all the way up to 150 indicated.

 

Simon

You need to increase the tension in your front stay-cable.  Counter intuitively, to achieve adequate tension in the front cable, you may need to slacken the rear cable.

When fitting the soft top, you need to pay attention to alignment of the leading edge such that it will just butt-against the windscreen frame.  When the tension is correct, you should not be able to lift the leading edge.  The rear cable should only be "just" tight enough to to smooth out the roof fabric.  

Positioning and cable tension are critical to prevent leading edge lift.  Done right, it'll stay put at high speed.

 

Lotus did have a batch of poorly made soft-tops for the Exige.  The initial fit on my car was exceptionally bad from the factory (not simply a fitting/adjustment problem); a number of other showroom examples at the time were as bad, if not worse.  The front edge of the fabric overlapped the windscreen frame by some margin - whilst the rear edge didn't even reach the rollover hoop cover - leaving a gap into the rear gutter  The warranty replacement was much better, but required some patience with cable tensioning to get it right.

The Elise roof fittment is far less critical.  Unlike the Exige with the one-piece rear clam, that incorporates the rollover hoop cover, the Elise uses a seperate rollover hoop cover-panel.  This reduces the longitudinal distance between the top of the windscreen frame and the leading edge of the rollover hoop cover - such that the trailing edge of the soft-top roof fabric overlays the hoop cover by 5-10mm along its entire length.  With the Exige, given the greater distance, the roof only just meets the hoop cover.

This lift problem could be easily solved with the addition of two tiny aero "tabs" fitted on the top of the windscreen frame - so as to provide a small disruption to the laminar airflow across the leading edge of the fabric roof.  This wouldn't be enough to cause any disturbance to body aerodynamics or airflow across the roof of the car, but would solve this problem.  This technique is used in the aircraft industry - and has been employed by other car manufacturers.  For Lotus, it could simply be incorporated in a modified rubber windscreen surround.

 

 

 

Edited April 30, 2016 by LotusPilot

[simon mac]

@LotusPilot Thanks for the tips

I wouldn't say mine was bad, I did have the fitting tweaked on my 1000 mile service, and is fine at normal speeds.   I might give it a tweak next time it's on to check the current fitment again.  I like the idea of the aero tabs, makes a lot of sense!

As for roof off.  At 140+ mph it is LOUD and not particularly pleasant. Fun to do once, but not something you look forward to repeating.

With such critically of the setup of a user removable part, and potential hearing loss claims with it stowed, I still think it's wise to limit the top end. 

 

 

[NANO]

On ‎11‎.‎12‎.‎2015 at 11:33, The Pits said:

I personally prefer the Sport 350 engine cover, keeping the mesh makes it look lighter. The 360 Cups plastic mouldings look heavier to me.

I will be asking for just the louvred tailgate for my car. Claimed weight saving is only 3kg but it feels a lot lighter than that when opening and shutting it.

Sorry, ... I take this "old" message (so to speak ) ...

@The Pits:
could you inform ? did you by chance plugged in your car ?

@ for everyone:
someone did this change ? you have to replace all or only part of the glass ?

Thanks and cheers