In recent times the Lotus Exige has suffered from having the same Toyota 1.8 VVTL-I engine which also powers the Lotus Elise 111R, itself slowly becoming more familiar on Irish roads.
Originally sourced for its 'clean' emission characteristics which have enabled Lotus to once again sell in the all-important American market, the Toyota-powered Elise has transformed Lotus fortunes in the last two years. But, in doing so the Exige - always a more 'extreme' driver's car than the Elise - has seen its performance margin eroded and its appeal lessened.
So now Lotus has come up with the Exige variant which it is confident will restore the status quo. To do so it's chosen to fit a Rootes-type supercharger to boost performance using the same Toyota engine that has proved so successful for Lotus. The result is a small lightweight sportscar weighing just 935 kg powered by a 218 bhp high revving supercharged engine which is quite possibly the fastest ever 'real-world' production car.
The Exige S achieves a zero to 100 km/h time of just 4.3 seconds and a maximum speed of 238 km/h.
But is this just a stripped down racer? Far from it. In recent years while eschewing unnecessary weight Lotus has begun to make their product considerably more comfortable and its in this department that the Exige is perhaps most impressive.
On track the Exige S did everything you would expect. Much more impressive is its behaviour on road.In normal conditions the supercharged engine offers unparalleled performance.
New to this model is Lotus Traction Control. This works through the engine management system to reduce power when needed to maintain traction and acts much more quickly than most brake based systems.
New ProBax seats are fitted to the Exige (and Elise) models and these significantly improve driver comfort while Touring and Super Touring packs offer a range of items, including air-conditioning, designed to improve driver comfort.As in the Elise it's the ride which is perhaps the most impressive part of the whole package giving a firm but pliant ride which makes the car very usable over a wide range of road conditions.
As a total package, it's hard to imagine any sports-orientated car offering such an impressive collection of desirable features. The selling price of the Exige S on the Irish market has yet to be determined but as a guide, in Britain, it carries a £4,000 (about €6,000) premium over the standard Exige model.
Lotus believes the Exige S - which is a fully productionised model - represents the ultimate 'extreme' production Lotus.
In creating it, Lotus has surely allowed the Exige to become the car it was always capable of becoming. Colin Chapman would have been proud.