Well I've Gone And Done It !

[JohnnyM]

Just had a message from John @ NW to let me know that following my test drive of the demo car earlier today, everything is set for me to become the owner of a brand spanking new chrome orange s2 exige...

 

should be collecting on 1st March on an 05 plate......

 

perhaps i should attempt to keep it more than 6 months this time around

 

Good to finally meet Mark aka Beefcake too, your car looks the business..... nice colour scheme as well

 

Cheers

 

Johnny M

[MattyB]

Nice one! Good colour too!

[malbon]

good work johnny

[JohnnyM]

Thought i would post my thoughts on the car...

 

Test drove a silver car at Nick Whale today,weather was generally dry but damp in places. The first impression you get is of quality that is far removed from the iffyness of the S1, the doors close with a thunk not a rattle and it seemed that consideration had finally been given to the longevity of the materials used to build it. The switchgear and the controls have a weighty quality to them now, which was never evident in cars of old.

 

On starting the car I was surprised that with the standard exhaust fitted how civilised it was. I later felt that overall that toyota engine creates a split personality car, which is governed by the cam changeover at 6200rpm. Compared with the original s1 exige this could be seen as a cop out and a loss of character, For me however this is a major plus point wanting to use it every day and having the best of both worlds.

 

Below 6000, its very civilised (for a hardcore machine), you can hold a conversation with your passenger adequately at road speeds and its doesnt ride harshly at all when cruising along. The 6th gear ratio helps massively in achieving this with 80mph being sub 4000rpm. I was also surprised at the torque level even "off cam", much less stirring of the box required when compared to the somewhat peaky 160 I had before. we followed a tractor with a payload of hay up the A491 for a few minutes and the sub 3000rpm torque was adequate for us to accelerate and decelerate in the traffic without having to shift.

 

Above 6000rpm it becomes the full revving machine you expect and want it to be, a noticable change in the sound of the car, and a lunge forward as it comes on cam, the pottering almost civilised car of a moment ago is forgotten in an instant and the light on the dash is demanding you change up the cogs to press on. I was feeling somewhat reserved when stretching its legs to the change up light as it only had 388 miles on the board...... it almost felt like a crime to do something that could harm the machine!

 

Gearbox was very tight due to its newness, but even so, it was much more precise than i was used to in the 160, you could feel it go into gear through the palm of your hand rather than by the noise of the shift mechanism in the s1 elises i had prior. I also quite liked the brakes, and didn't find heel/toe downshifts as challenging as i thought i would having read the reports in the press. The level of the pedals is somewhat different, as is the pressure required to operate them but adapting your foot positions means you can still do effective downshifts. I wasn't the best at it in the few miles i did, but managed a couple of decent downshifts in the time i was in the car.

 

Handling wise, the car simply does not do body roll, on the way out John from NW took it around some sweeping bends and the islands fairly briskly and it didnt even consider breaking traction or giving in to body roll.

 

Not much else to report.....

 

Overall, impressed enough to have bought one, and looking forward to it very much.

[GCCK]

A fine choice, saar!

[halfpenny]

Good choice Johnny. Hope to see you at the March Pub Meet

[Snapper]

Welcome back to the fold and a great choice of car....

 

What options & extras did you go for.

 

Removeable steering wheel and push button start is a must in my view...

[Mark H]

Congrats, I thought you would buy it today and in the right colour

[JohnnyM]

cheers all...... it seems impossible to stay away from lotus land once you've tried it.....!!! nothing else seems to compare with driving one....

 

Mark - i think it was inevitable, i'd considered getting an orange exige since about october of last year, plan was to buy in april, but what the hell !!! maybe i should have just not done the Focus RS thing and gone straight there, it seems as though most people are happy with its performance in bad weather.... ah well..... lets see how i get on with it.

 

Snapper - touring pack, a/c, extreme (chrome orange) paint. Will see how i get on before considering anything else. Where does your start button go, i didnt see any vacant switch locations although i didnt look too hard ?

 

anyone else here got the touring pack? whats the blaupunkt stereo like. I note there are 4 speaker pods which is a start, is it any good, i didnt even consider the stereo on the test drive. Whats the radio reception like, John @ NW told me about the aerial being in the wheel arch which i hadnt thought about until today, i use the radio/cd player regularly in the traffic to work so it will be of some relevance to know if it works or not !!!

 

Cheers

 

Johnny M

[Mark H]

Welcome to S2Exiges.com... or what I should rename this site to

[Elaine]

Welcome to S2Exiges.com... or what I should rename this site to

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[Snapper]

Johnny

 

I have the touring pack and the blaupunkt stereo works well given the type of car it is.

 

The DAB Radio is good in areas where reception is strong and the nornal radio is ok as well. Its far better than my S2 111s.

 

The only down side to the blaupunkt stereo is that there is so many button I haven't worked them out..

 

I find that when I am in town or on the motorways I listern to the stereo, but when I get on some real road I listern to the engine.

 

Re: starter button see my car in the garage section. link below..

 

http://www.midlandslotus.co.uk/forum/index...CODE=12&CID=136

[JohnnyM]

Snapper - cheers for the info, like you, the stereo is purely for commuting, much rather not have it on for proper driving....

 

I note from the spec of your car that you have the touring pack and the twin oil coolers fitted, did you arrange that seperately because reading the specs suggest you cannot have the oil coolers and the touring pack ???

 

shift lights and starter button look cool

 

Will see how i fair with it in standard guise first......

 

Only question mark i have now is about how i will deal with the negligible rear visibility. the rear view mirror mounted on the screen is pretty pointless really..... only real use i can think of is to check if the engine is on fire, since on the test drive it just looked like a load of mesh!!! How do you find it in practce ?

[Elaine]

Only question mark i have now is about how i will deal with the negligible rear visibility.  the rear view mirror mounted on the screen is pretty pointless really.....  only real use i can think of is to check if the engine is on fire, since on the test drive it just looked like a load of mesh!!!   How do you find it in practce ?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You'll get used to the 'rear view' mirror, it's no different to driving a van that has no rear windows!

[halfpenny]

Hey Johnny

 

As Snapper said, the DAB stereo works well in areas with good DAB reception. But for example, I often drive to Lincoln from Derby to collect my daughter. Once you get the other side of Nottingham, you can kiss goodbye to any DAB, and very poor quality analogue reception.

 

WRT rear visability - you get used to it. You obviously use the side mirrors more fequentley but you find that the the lower part of the mesh offers some visability - let me see the police car that came screaming after me after I pulled out of a motorway service area "on cam" !!