Full Test: 2006 Lotus Exige

Have you ever had the dream? You know the one. You're out in public, as if everything is normal, but you're driving a naked car and everybody else is driving ordinary cars and you're hoping nobody notices; especially law enforcement? Maybe it's just me, but that's how driving the 2006 Lotus Exige feels. There's something exotic and naughty about taking the Exige out in public. It gets attention, and I'm sure the bright orange paint and flat-black wheels and wing have something to do with it.

But there's more to it than that. It doesn't feel legal, though technically it is, but just. The Exige's (and Elise's) 2.5-mph bumper impact test and internal headlight sealing exemptions expire in 2007. Don't worry: Neither will turn into a pumpkin then, but after that, you won't be able to buy either the soft-top Elise or shadier hardtop Exige in their current configurations and Lotus is mum on what's coming next. Get 'em while you still can.

What about it?
To start with, the Exige's dimensions are tidy, to say the least. As an example of its Lilliputian proportions, optionally electric windows feature just two switches, one on each door. To roll the passenger's window down from the driver seat, simply extend your right arm and push the button on the passenger's door. You can almost do the same with the non-powered rearview mirror on the outside of the passenger door. A Mini Cooper towers over the Exige, some 10 inches taller.

You might think this is an exaggeration, but it's true that an Exige driver looks up at an MX-5 Miata's license plate. Our long-term MX-5 is almost 8 inches longer and weighs 450 pounds more, but the Exige is just as wide and with a shorter wheelbase. Both of those "small" cars feel sporty, but the Exige feels, sounds and looks like a car ready to turn laps on the next available open track event — which it is.

Because of its ultra-firm suspension, every pavement seam is an event, each Botts dot feels like a trash can lid, and I'd swear I could tell you which state was depicted on the commemorative quarter I ran over yesterday. Virginia. No wait West Virginia! It's that tight and communicative. Feed it a freshly paved slab o' tarmac, however, and there are precious few experiences as well matched or as rewardingly memorable.

Divergence
Both the Elise and Exige are built around the same 150-pound extruded and bonded aluminum chassis, but the only exterior sections shared between them are the door skins and rocker panels. While the Exige's roof panel is technically removable, it requires tools and elbow grease; and Lotus doesn't recommend taking it off.

In notably un-Lotus-like fashion (wherein everything has a purpose, and anything without purpose is left off for "added lightness"), that presumed rooftop intake scoop is not functional and is, in fact, physically blocked off. Only on the European-market supercharged Exige S or "off-highway use" Lotus Sport Exige Cup does the nostril direct cool air to an intercooler in the engine bay. It still looks cool.

The $51,915 Exige is the rarer of the two street-legal Loti, as only about 300 will be brought to the U.S. this year. Our tester was optioned with Chrome Orange paint ($1,200), Touring Pack ($1,350 includes leather seats and door panels, electric windows, upgraded stereo, full carpet set plus additional sound insulation) and Lotus Traction Control ($495) for a total as-tested price of $55,955.

Track-focused, the Exige comes standard with the Elise's Sport Pack that includes Eibach coaxial coil springs, Bilstein monotube dampers, front antiroll bar, forged aluminum wheels, flypaper-sticky Yokohama Advan A048LTS tires and twin oil coolers. If that's still too tame, there is a $2,495 Track Pack which, among other things, allows a knowledgeable driver to make easy adjustments to the suspension.

Weight, there's more
The weight difference between the Exige and Elise is about 30 pounds, and our Exige test car weighed exactly 2,012 pounds. If you want your Exige to limbo under the magic 2,000-pound threshold, check the $250 air-con delete option which removes about 22 pounds of hardware. Perhaps more important than that weight savings is the extensive aero tweaking done on the Exige to help it achieve about 100 pounds of downforce at 100 mph, compared to the Elise's 13 pounds at that same speed.

That may not seem like much, but when a car weighs within a frozen turkey of 2,000 pounds, generating even that much added force is noticeable. It's not so much that it feels like a racecar with a true ground-force aero package, but the Exige has a deliberate and planted feeling, especially under braking from high speeds where the Elise feels like it's on its tippy-toes.

Our test driver (who has more Lotus experience than most) commented that he could only explain his comfort level while setting a new Inside Line slalom record at 73.4 mph with the fact that the Exige's downforce took the skittishness out of the car. Because of it, he could pay attention to the task of driving with intent, rather than anticipating a thrilling, but potentially ruinous 75-mph slide.

Steer
Naturally, you'd want the steering in a car as responsive as the Exige is to be reflex quick, and it is. What was the last car you drove without power-assisted steering? The Exige don't need no stinking, heavy and power-sucking power steering. Really it doesn't need it, even in a parking lot, and once up to speed, the task of steering disappears from the list of things to think about while driving. It just happens when you contemplate a lane change, or fancy going around a corner.

With a relatively slow overall ratio of 15.8:1 (many sports cars' ratios are in the 13:1 range), the car still changes directions with the alacrity of a hummingbird because of the dinky 90.5-inch wheelbase and small-diameter (12.7-inch) steering wheel.

Go
Much has been written about power-to-weight (or weight-to-power) ratios, and most of it is true. Lotus enjoys a long and illustrious history of building cars that don't require monster engines. When going fast is the priority, not only in a straight line, but also around corners, weight is the enemy. That's why the Exige is powered by a Toyota-sourced 1.8-liter 190-hp DOHC inline four-cylinder engine.

Do the math and you'll discover a 10.6 pounds/hp relation that's somewhere between that of a Porsche 911 and a Ford Mustang GT. The Exige is quick, but not crazy fast. The fact that the engine features variable valve timing and lift means it's a little sluggish at low rpm, but really goes berserk at about 6,500 rpm all the way to its 8,500-rpm rev limiter.

We had a little trouble getting a good, bog-free, wheel-spinning launch due to the combination of warm day and sticky tires, but a 5.0-flat 0-60 time and 13.5 seconds in the quarter-mile is nothing to ignore. In fact, it'd be in a dead heat with another recently tested sports car, the BMW M Roadster.

Stop
Another benefit of added lightness is that braking performance is enhanced. Lotus took full advantage of this reality by designing a late-acting ABS system for the Exige. In other words, the point at which the antilock part of ABS recognizes a potential skid and begins to release and grab the brake rotors is farther away than in most cars. The benefit is that there's a useful amount of braking to be had between an imminent skid and when ABS would normally actuate.

A trained driver (in a light and responsive car) can actually feel and hear this sliver of threshold braking. It's what the best race drivers use to pass another car just before entering a corner. The fact that the Exige is fitted with vented and cross-drilled Lotus/AP Racing brakes and Brembo calipers further underscores its intended mission of hot-lapping the track on the weekend. From 60 mph, the Exige needed just 107 feet to stop, but you'll find the brakes tremendously talkative and fade-free as well.

Drive
You've probably got the idea by now that the Exige is an uncompromising sports car. It isn't for everyone. In fact it's for a very few, 300 to be exact. For most people the new Porsche Cayman (non-S) would be a better choice for about the same price and similar performance.

The Exige, however, exists for those live-fast die-hard enthusiasts who don't give a crap about cupholders, sat-nav, luggage capacity, impact harshness, HVAC, NVH, ESP, XYZ, or any other nifty electro-mechanic nuisance with an obscure acronym. It's a sports car in the fundamental sense, a track car in the ultimate sense, and a daily driver only for those of you who live in a municipality where smooth, twisted roads are as common as law enforcement is absent.

If you're the type who relishes an intimate conversation with a true sports car, the 2006 Lotus Exige is an eloquent, multilingual partner enthusiastically begging for your cultured and informed company. Have a look at the consumer commentary and you'll discover to whom these cars are being delivered. If you just want a nifty-looking sporty car, look elsewhere.