What's the news?
Just a month ago, we brought you news of two feisty Lotus Elise models which revived a nameplate last seen within the marque on the 1999 Esprit: 'Sport'. Well, now the Exige is getting the treatment, with the old 'S' model biting the dust in the process. This is the Exige Sport 350 and it sounds rather brilliant.
Exterior
As standard, the 'Lightweight Laboratory' of Lotus has trimmed 51kg off the kerb weight of the old Exige S, the Sport 350 boasting a lithe number of 1,125kg. This has been achieved with the use of a louvred tailgate panel, a lighter battery, lightweight engine mounts, a lightweight centre console, lighter HVAC pipework and the 'optimised use' of sound insulation. That's a lot of added lightness.
That tailgate performs more functions than simply reducing weight, though. It lowers the Exige's centre of gravity and also helps improve engine bay cooling, rather like the same system on the 1980 Esprit Turbo. Overall, the car has aerodynamic kit that generates 42kg of downforce at 160km/h, while visually the front splitter, rear wing, front access panel, roof panel, wing mirrors and rear transom are finished in matte black. For no cost, they can be painted in the body colour of the car.
Optional extras for the Exige Sport 350 include lightweight forged alloy wheels (reducing kerb weight by a further 5kg), and cross drilled and vented two-piece brake discs (shaving another 5kg off the package) with the choice of having the callipers in black or yellow... so if you pick both the wheels and brakes, the Lotus weighs as little as 1,115kg.
Interior
Lightweight sports seats and door panels can be clad in either red or yellow tartan, as a nod back to the 1976 Esprit S1's cabin, although leather and Alcantara trims are options. Lotus says it has improved the haptics of the interior switches, as well as sorting out the ergonomic layout too, while air-conditioning, an in-car entertainment system, full carpeting and a sound insulation pack are all optional extras here; bear in mind, of course, that they also all add weight back into the mix.
Mechanicals
The familiar supercharged 3.5-litre V6 petrol with 350hp at 7,000rpm and 400Nm at 4,500rpm is retained, which can be mated to either a six-speed manual or a six-speed, paddleshift-equipped automatic. Opt for the latter and its shorter gearing reduces the 350's top speed from 274km/h on the manual to 261km/h, but the pay-off is slightly quicker standing-start acceleration, the auto clocking a 3.8-second 0-100km/h sprint while the manual registers 3.9 seconds - that tenth of a difference mainly thanks to 240-millisecond upshifts on the auto.
The automatic also turns in better eco-stats, with combined economy quoted at 30.1mpg (9.4 litres/100km) and CO2 emissions of 219g/km, data which compares favourably with the manual's equivalents of 28mpg (10.1 litres/100km) and 235g/km. However, the automatic car is 5kg heavier than the manual and there's another reason to stick with the standard gearbox - Lotus has left all the cast aluminium linkages and components exposed in the transmission tunnel; mmm, clickety-clack...
Elsewhere, firmer dampers and revised geometry promise sharper handling (if such a thing is possible on a Lotus Exige), while four-pot brake callipers top the lot off. All of this re-engineering ensures the Sport 350 laps Lotus' Hethel test track 2.5 seconds quicker than the preceding Exige S, the new car recording a time of 1:28.9 - making it the first production Lotus to go round in less than 1 minute 30 seconds.
Anything else?
Jean-Marc Gales, CEO of Lotus, said: "The Lotus Exige is already regarded as one of the world's best sports cars, and a benchmark for performance and handling both on road and on track. With the Exige Sport 350, we took an already phenomenally quick car and made it even faster, more dynamic and more pure, perfectly demonstrating our Lotus design philosophy of 'lighter and faster'."
The Lotus Exige Sport 350 goes on sale in Europe in February 2016, with a Roadster version following in March. Visit www.lotuscars.com/lotus-exige-range to find out more and register an interest in the car.