Lotus Exige Turns 20: Special Edition Time
The Lotus Exige is turning twenty and you’ll never guess what Lotus is doing to celebrate. Go on. Have a gu- oh, yes, it’s a special edition. Well done.
As I may have mentioned a little while back, the Lotus Exige is brilliant. It made tackling the daunting Mount Panorama much less worrying than I was expecting and it was fast. And so much fun.
Lotus is no stranger to special editions and I don’t think I’ve seen one I haven’t liked.
How much is a Lotus Exige 20th Anniversary and what do I get?
$169,990 + ORC
See the many colours that Lotus says is a retro-inspired palette. Chrome Orange, Laser Blue and Calypso Red are standard and you can spec Saffron Yellow, Motorsport Black or Arctic Silver (footage not found).
On top of the colour choices, you get a bunch of bits meant to remind you of the original from, well, the year 2000. Remember then? Fun times. No Twitter or Facebook, turbos still weren’t very good and Mitsubishis still were. Sort of.
The roof, side air intakes and rear wing are all in body colour with a black stone chip protector ahead of the rear wheels.
On the front wings you’ll find a 20th Anniversary black silhouette depicting the original S1 Exige and there’s another one on the rear bumper.
The colour choices follow you inside and as you can see from the images, you get carbon fibre seats. The interior also scores a premium sound system with DAB radio, full carpeted footwells (what!?!), sound insulation (I mean to say!) and premium paint. Oh, and cruise control if you’re totally soft.
Obviously I jest, it’s still quite bare.
Lotus says before options you’re getting $11,545 of extra gear. You can also spec a lithium-ion battery, carbon fibre sills and a titanium exhaust to counter the extra sound deadening.
If you’re not familiar, the special is based on the Exige 410, which means it’s got a supercharged 3.5-litre V6 from Toyota, mounted behind the driver’s back driving the rear wheels.
When can I have one?
Lotus Australia will bring in a selection of Exige 20th Anniversary cars from the global allocation of 150 units. So if you want one, you should have a chat with your local Lotus dealer so you won’t end up with the wrong colour.
Peter Anderson is the Editor and founder of the theredline.com.au. He’s been writing about cars for years and finds it difficult to talk about anything else.
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