This latest edition of the sports vehicle, which is sadly no longer available in the USA, trims away 112 lbs. from the previous Exige S, bringing the car’s already low weight down to 2,480 lbs.
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There have been some changes to the standard six-speed manual gearbox, however. The vehicle can sprint from 0-60mph in about 3.7 seconds.
The Lotus Exige Sport 350 embodies Lotus founder Colin Chapman’s oft-quoted maxim “simplify, and add lightness”.
When fitted with the optional automatic gearbox, the new Exige Sport 350 is slightly quicker for 0-62 miles per hour (0-100km/h), clocking a time of 3.8 seconds against 3.9 seconds for the manual gearbox, due to electronically optimised gearshifts. This also lowers the Exige Sport’s center of gravity compared to the S model and improves airflow over the engine for cooling. If all of these are specced, the Exige Sport 350 comes in at just 1115kg. The new Exige Sport 350 replaces the Exige S, and has been updated to be lighter and faster than before. It makes better use of sound insulation and comes with lighter HVAC pipework along with a louvered tailgate panel.
The familiar Lotus Dynamic Performance Management (DPM) system provides three discrete modes – “Drive”, “Sport” and “Race” – with the latter offering increased levels of traction slip threshold, allowing wider drift angles before intervening. Also, the headlight and rear fog light switches have been mounted near the engine start button.
As with the Lotus Elise Sport, the Exige Sport also has a heritage theme trim with lightweight sport seats and door panels clad in red or yellow tartan.
The most recent iteration is the Exige 350 Sport: essentially a faster and more track-focused version of the Elise, the new vehicle gets a few unique pieces.
Other options include lightweight forged alloy wheels (saving 11 pounds), cross drilled and vented two-piece brake discs (saving 11 pounds), black or yellow four-piston calipers, air conditioning, infotainment system, and a carpet and sound insulation pack. The Exige Sport 350 lapped the track in 1:29.8 seconds – 2.5 seconds faster than the Exige S.
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Lotus has no plans to sell the Exige Sport 350 in North America, but the sports auto will hit other global markets in February. For those who prefer an open-top experience, never fear; a roadster variant lands March of next year.
