V6 S/CR vs. 350 Sport !

[DK7]

Hi, which is your experience V6S / CR vs. 350 Sport Exige ? 

How much difference price wise on the used market ? 

Thanks. Bye 

[Lo2zz]

Very interesting question. I debated between the V6 and the 350 - at the time there was a £10k difference between the two. 

At the time I considered that the gearbox linkage and 50kg weight saving wasn't worth the £10k premium and I would rather save the difference on purchase and buy 

- Forged wheels

- Geo

-2bular exhaust 

- EX370 

- Quaife

With all of the above I would have a car that would be more powerful, better sounding, and with a similar power to weight with the options I wanted and around £3k left over. I can sell the majority of the options when I sell also. 

However...having driven the V6 in anger now, I think the linkage is significantly better in the 350 and it wouldn't be as easy a decision again now. 

Having seen the 380/410 at the lotus 70th I'm very tempted to upgrade to a 380 just for the looks - the man maths then gets even more nonsensical when it's nearly £25k extra for a 380.

Overall I love the v6 and as I'm adding options I'm incrementally making it better - but I wouldn't say I'm 100% certain I made the right decision yet in not going for a 350

[chumaxa]

Specially when the 50 kg is actually hiden behind stuff you can take off your V6 S, such as stereo, Ac, and so on ...

[DJW]

Full list of weight savings taken from TLF review 

• Rear louvred engine cover -3kg
• Lighter body panels -12kg
• A/C delete (no cost option) -7.5kg
• Gearshift mechanism -1.5kg
• Simplified heater system (now one pipe less but quicker to heat and more effective) -3kg
• New rear subframe -3kg
• Lightweight battery and bracket -3.5kg
• New 1 piece rear diffuser -1kg
• Optimised NVH package -2.7kg
• Lighter engine air intake duct -1kg
• Removal of sun visors and passenger footrest -1.2kg
• Removal of engine vanity cover -1kg
• 2 piece brakes -5kg
• Forged wheels -5kg

[chumaxa]

Some of it does not make sense to me, so take off the diffuser and engine panel, and they made the body panels 12kgs lighter ? Thanks for the list !

[DJW]

Read full article to put it into context https://www.thelotusforums.com/latest-news/lotus-cars-news/driven-exige-sport-350/

[alias23]

Lighter body panels does that mean thinner fibreglass? As that’s the trick some of the race teams use but means more fragile...

@DJW any more info (part code) on this?

• Simplified heater system (now one pipe less but quicker to heat and more effective) -3kg

Curious if it could be retro fitted

[DJW]

Lighter body panels was related to the fact that each car was coming out with different thickness panels.  By standardising it they found savings 

Re simplified heater system I must admit the 350 warmed up in about half the time of my V6S.  However I expect a lot of the pipe work is hidden in side sills p, so impossible to change ?