Yahoo Autos 2007 Extreme Sports Car Comparo
From the March 2007 issue of Car and Driver.
It's a sad paradox that, as performance for the dollar increases, the places you can exploit this newfound potential become increasingly regulated and overrun with other motorists. Vehicle populations have burgeoned in the past decade, and metropolitan areas worldwide have become synonymous with gridlock. (Contrary to popular belief, only 40 percent of Germany's 6000-mile-long autobahn system is unrestricted.)
What's a speed freak to do? Well, if you follow a trend that is clearly on the rise, you pay to drive on racetracks. Many of the high-performance marques out there have owners' clubs, and most of those organize track days of their own. One thing's for sure. With the cars we corralled for this comparison, high-speed testing conducted exclusively on public roads would not have been the smart move.
Exploiting all of a Chevrolet Corvette Z06's 505 horsepower on anything but a safe test facility is asking for trouble. This ultra-fast version of the American-sports-car icon has serious performance credentials, a terrific price-to-speed ratio with a base price of 70 large, and quite an impressive motorsports heritage.
But, then, so does Porsche's '07 911 GT3, which is named for a class in FIA and American Le Mans sports-car racing and, indeed, is the homologation model required for entry into those races. It has the best-sounding engine this side of an F430, but like the Ferrari, it'll cost you. The GT3 starts at $106,795 and then goes skyward — ours had the ceramic brake package and rang in at $120,670.
That's more than double the $57,915 entry price of the 2007 Lotus Exige S. This supercharged version of the best Lotus sports car ever produced wasn't initially expected to be available stateside, but wisely, Lotus changed its mind (the S is now the only Exige in the lineup). A belt-driven supercharger on the familiar Toyota-sourced four-banger gives the Exige 220 horsepower, which is getting closer to the rightful amount of power that the excellent chassis deserves.
We assembled these three cars in Southern California and included a day lapping Buttonwillow Raceway Park, west of Bakersfield. Buttonwillow has several possible configurations. We ran "Configuration Number 13," which is 2.7 miles long and far more challenging than the flat terrain suggests. Of course, we had to drive the cars on the street, too, to see how they would conduct themselves in the hands of users. As street-legal vehicles, the models featured here would very likely be called on to act as daily transportation. After all, you can't go to the track every day, can you?
In addition, we brought along three cars that were even more outside the mainstream. These three outsiders—an Ariel Atom 2, a Noble M400, and a Superformance Brock coupe—are not production cars and as such do not meet the same safety or emissions standards as the other three. Registering them for public roads varies, depending on which state you live in, and you'll have to do some assembly yourself or hire someone. We tested these cars alongside the production cars, but we didn't include them in the voting. Since they're not saddled with the weight of airbags and other EPA legalities, it simply would not be fair. We did, however, list the performance data for all the cars in the accompanying charts, and we've covered the three component cars in sidebars.
Third Place: Lotus Exige S
It's interesting to observe that long after the death in 1982 of Lotus Cars founder Colin Chapman and the transfer of ownership in 1996 to its current Malaysian operators, the Lotus Exige S still conforms to Chapman's principles: low weight and compact dimensions coupled to adequate power for a winning combination of speed and handling prowess.
In S form, the Exige's Toyota-sourced 1.8-liter inline-four engine is supercharged by a Roots-type blower to jack up horsepower to 220 at 8000 rpm, a handy increase over the naturally aspirated model's 190. More significant is the increase in available midrange response. The base car was fairly flaccid at lower revs, and the S is easier to drive at less than screaming engine speeds.
HIGHS: Go-kart-like reflexes, organic control feedback, authentic race-car experience.
LOWS: Cacophonous engine sounds, restrictive ingress, primitive creature comforts.
With performance results that speak of 0 to 60 mph in 4.1 seconds and the standing quarter-mile in 12.8 seconds at 107 mph, the Exige S is fast in anyone's book, but it lacked muscle in this group. Its real forte, however, is its almost peerless chassis dynamics on the track. Tech director Larry Webster described the car's steering as "the way steering is meant to be." Other logbook entries said that although refinement was in short supply the feedback knob was set at 11. One delirious editor wrote that the Lotus slips on like a race suit, plugs directly into your nerve endings, and then acts on the slightest spark of input.
And it's all true. Although the Exige is difficult to get into for taller drivers, who have to put a right foot in, then turn to the left and fold in half to mail themselves into the car butt first, the contortion is worth it. Once inside, the space isn't bad, and the control relationships are right for all the faux-racing footwork you want to perform. The unassisted steering lightens instantly as the car begins to move and then transmits contact-patch information as nonstop Morse code through the rim.
Initial turn-in is light, but the wheel loads up as cornering forces build, and it takes a fair bit of muscle to point the car once it's at maximum lateral acceleration. The other controls are equally direct. Throttle response is quick and loud, with engine noises that vary from downright rude combinations of chainsaw fury and baffle-plate buzz to sheer cacophonous tumult. Even at cruising speed, the racket from the back is only somewhat subdued, and it's never a good sound.
But because of the Exige's passionate, responsive nature, you soon forgive the car for that, just as you overlook the slightly imprecise nature of the shifter. The car's generous roll motions in fast turns were a little surprising at first but are only to be expected in view of the Exige's low weight and correspondingly low spring and anti-roll-bar rates. Those things contribute to ride comfort, which isn't at all bad, given the radical manner in which this thing will attack a racetrack.
The addition of a supercharger to the Exige has completely blanked out all rearward vision immediately behind the driver, since the air-to-air intercooler (fed by a very sporting roof scoop) inhabits the space behind the Exige's rear window. But the visibility provided by the two side mirrors is pretty good, and you soon get used to a center mirror that now mainly blocks some of the view ahead.
THE VERDICT: About as much fun as money can buy.
Practicality isn't the Lotus's strong suit, but if the track is where you get your fun, then the Exige S is just your cup of Malaysian tea.
2007 Lotus Exige S
220-hp inline-4, 6-speed manual, 2060 lb
Base/as-tested price: $57,915/$64,750
C/D TEST RESULTS
60 mph: 4.1 sec
100 mph: 11.1 sec
1/4 mile: 12.8 @ 107 mph
Braking, 70–0 mph: 154 ft
Roadholding, 300-ft-dia skidpad: 1.00 g
C/D observed fuel economy: 17 mpg
Second Place: Porsche 911 GT3
If you can listen to the GT3 wailing down the straight at 8400 rpm and not have a shiver of delight run down your spine, then get back to work — you're wasting your time here. That distinctive sound speaks clearly to the initiated. It says, "I am a race car." That's not too surprising. What is somewhat startling is that the car itself — when you're driving it — says, "I can also be an ultra-high-performance luxury sports car."
