Remember when Hertz announced that it was adding the Lotus Elise and the Lotus Exige to their fleet of rental cars? Well, now we know just how much it’s going to cost us to sit behind one of these bad boys for a day.
The rental car agency announced that the two Lotus models can be rented out for the princely sum of €458.54 per day in Italy and around $600 per day in the US. Unfortunately, that price doesn’t include insurance packages, which you’ll probably need if you do rent out one an Elise or an Exige.
It’s a lot more expensive than any of us previously thought, but then again, the thinking goes that if you can afford to pay that amount for a chance to blast off into the sunset with an Elise or an Exige, then it should be well worth every penny.
In addition to announcing the rental price for the two Lotuses, Hertz also announced that they are now offering a rental BMW Z4 sDrive 23i and a Fiat 500 Barbie edition. The Z4 will be available in selected dealerships in Spain with prices starting at €121 per day, while the Fiat 500 Roso will be available in The Netherlands for just €35 a day.
While a majority of automakers are bailing out of the Tokyo Motor Show, it is nice to see that there will indeed be a few new models to look at when it comes to be show time. One such vehicle will be a special edition sports car from he light weight English race car builders at Lotus. While the boffins from across the pond have already engineered every unnecessary ounce out of the Exige in the hopes of creating a hard core driving experience, this particularly dark model focuses on making the little Lotus as sinister looking as it is lethal. The special edition Tokyo Motor Show Lotus Exige is named the Scura, which is the Italian word for dark, due to its dramatic black bodywork and a GT3 inspired rear end.
Priced at around $75,000 the Exige Scura features a trio of Phantom Black stripes to break up the large panels of matte black paint, however the carbon fiber bits and suede wrapped racing buckets go a bit further towards showing off the Scura’s true purpose of being an all out competition vehicle. Only now instead of laughing at bright orange bodywork, other drivers will stay out of this Lotus’ way. Like all Exige models the Scura is powered by a supercharged four cylinder engine that delivers a maximum output of 257 HP 174 lb-ft of torque, while it can sprint from 0 to 60 MPH in only 4 seconds and reach a top speed of 152 MPH.
Stay tuned for the high res images!
Press release after the jump.
> More
.
Back in 2008 the lightweight English sports car manufacturers from Lotus released a very fast version of their fixed roof Elise roadster, the Exige Sport 240. The special edition Exige offered owners a very street able sports car while on track the 240 was capable of some incredible things. For 2010, the Exige S240 has received a slightly restyled front end, a new rear wing and the same combination of exceptional performance and usability, all starting at $65,690.
The S240’s front bumper gets a larger set of air intakes in the front bumper as well as larger vents in the hood in order to flow more air across the sports car’s cooling elements like the twin oil coolers ahead of the front wheels. This reduces the operating temperature of the high revving Toyota sourced four cylinder engine and further enhances the engine’s efficiency. This aerodynamically improved small super car is exactly what you will need to be able to run lap after lap at your local racetrack whenever you decide to take your new toy out to stretch its legs.
Under the rear decklid of the mid engine Lotus Exige S240 is an intercooled and supercharged 1.8 Liter Toyota 2ZZ-GE with the automaker’s Variable Valve Timing with Inteligence and tuned by Lotus to produce a maximum output of 240 HP at a screaming 8,000 RPM and 170 lb-ft of torque from 5,500 RPM. Tipping the scales at just over 2,000 pounds, the Exige Sport 240 is able to sprint from 0 to 60 mph in a blistering 4.1 seconds and reach the 100 MPH mark just 10 seconds after takeoff. The S240 can reach a top speed of 150 MPH and thanks to the drag reducing front end is able to get an EPA estimated 20 MPG around town and as much as 26 MPG on the highway.
Press release after the jump.
> More
The American arm of the lightweight English sports car builder, Lotus USA, has announced that they will be offering a new Supercharger Kit for both naturally aspirated Lotus Elise and Exige models. The kit includes the same supercharger and cast intake manifold as the production Elise SC and allows owners who have decided that they rely did want that extra power after all by boosting their Toyota 2ZZ-GE engine.
The kit includes a new intake manifold, high-flow fuel injectors and a re-programmed engine management system that work together to increase the engine’s power up to 218 HP from the stock 189 HP rating. It may not seem like all that much, but the 2ZZ is tuned to work as efficiently as possible as it comes from the factory. The main advantage of the kit is much more power down low in the RPM band and because the supercharger is always spinning, instantaneous throttle response.
Press release after the jump.
> More
After the recent success of the Lotus Exige 270E Tri-Fuel at the Shanghai Motor Show, Youngman Auto, the lightweight English sports car builder’s Chinese partner has submitted a request that the concept go into production, at least for the Chinese market by the end of this year. The alternatively fueled Lotus made its debut at Geneva in 2008, and what set the car apart from normal flex fuel vehicles that can run on a blend of gasoline and ethanol, the Exige 270E adds methanol into the mix. It is no surprise that the Chinese are so interested in the Tri-Fuel, because back in 2007 China became the world’s largest producer and consumer of methanol. In 2008 nearly 1 Billion gallons of the alternative fuel was blended with gasoline in the panda loving country, and mixtures of methanol/gasoline are already available at many gas stations throughout the land.
Check out the diagrams after the jump to see how Tri-Fuel works.
> More
There are a few people in the U.S. who have a Lotus Exige without a supercharger (there are probably a few more in Europe). So for those select few can get a supercharger from Sector 111 to boost the power from 190 hp to 240. Everyone else can just pick up the 257 hp 260 S straight from the factory.
The 2010MY Exige S made its world debut today at the Geneva Motor Show. The sportscar comes with a newly designed front end, a new rear wing and improved fuel economy.
The Exige S is being offered in a choice of three different packs: Touring, Sport and Performance. For the last one the power is raised to 239 hp at 8000 rpm courtesy of a Magnuson/Eaton M62 supercharger, new faster flowing injectors and higher torque clutch system and an upsized roof scoop to feed more air to the supercharger intercooler system.
The Exige S makes the 0 – 100 km/h sprint in 4.77 secs, but in the same time has a fuel economy of 33.2 mpg.
Press release after the jump.
> More
The Italian based vehicle importer, UK Garage, has just transformed the Lotus Exige. The Lotus which is now referred to as Extrema exchanges the four cylinder engine that came from the factory in favor of a larger displacement V8. The chassis was widened to fit twice as many cylinders and even wider rubber to handle the additional power. An interesting note is that the engine runs from north to south. The mechanics at UK Garage changed the set-up from a transversely mounted motor (almost all front wheel drives, NSX, Miura) to a longitudinal layout. There are several GM V8 options buyers can choose from, ranging from 420 HP LS3 all the way up to the 638 HP Supercharged LS9 found in the Corvette ZR-1.
The Lotus Extrema, in its most powerful form will be able to accelerate from 0-60 mph in only 2.9 seconds, reach 100 mph in 7 seconds and have a top speed of more than 200 mph. The Extrema weighs 970 kg with the V8 engine installed.
Further upgrades to the car include a Koni suspension package, 4-piston AP Racing brakes, a full roll cage, a video recording system and a fire suppression system. Pricing has not been confirmed at this time.
Lotus unveiled details on the 2009 Exige Cup 260. For 2009 the sports car is offered with advanced light weight components and carbon fiber body material, to reduce the overall weight by 38 kg (84 lbs) to a total mass less than 900 kg (1980 lbs).
The supercharged and intercooled engine in the Exige Cup 260 has a maximum power output of 257 hp at 8000 rpm and a torque figure of 174 lbft at 6000 rpm. This means each pony in the car only has to carry around about 7.5 pound.
Lotus reduced the weight by adding new carbon-fiber panels, including the roof panel, dash top, tailgate, front and rear spoilers, seats and the side intake ducts. Also lightweight materials are used in the flywheel, rear subframe, battery and supercharger pipes, and the rear window glass has been replaced by a lightweight composite.
The 2009 Exige Cup 260 is street legal in Europe and Asia and is on sale now.
> More
.
No, is not about extreme patriotism in here! This is just the star of the Discovery Channel’s popular series ‘How Do They Do It?’.
With its voluptuous curves and cut-away details, the Exige is one of the most distinctive and unique cars on the road, so it was a perfect choice for the ‘How Do They Do It?’ team who were looking for a challenging case study for their vehicle wrapping feature. ‘Totally Dynamic’ who specialise in the application of vinyl wraps were assigned the project and took 10 hours to transform the iconic Exige for the documentary which follows the project from brief to the finished car making its track debut.
The scheme was developed by Lotus Design to move away from the traditional static Union Jack to that of a flying flag to show the essence of movement and speed. The finished car is a real attention seeker and has amazing track presence.
> More
Pages: 
Post a comment
Picture Gallery
RSS -
Webmaster free news |