Lotus Underwhelms: 2006 Lotus Exige by Secant Vehicles

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE LOTUS EXIGE:
http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Drives/FullTests/articleId=128546

The last time we saw an American entrepreneur stuffing a powerful American-built engine into an unsuspecting British sports car, it was the 1960s and it was Carroll Shelby. The meek AC Ace roadster was, shall we say, invigorated by his fitment of the Ford V8 into its lightweight body shell.

Fast-forward nearly a half-century. Secant Vehicles, a small start-up headquartered in San Francisco, has developed a GM Ecotec engine conversion for every Lotus Elise (or Exige) built since the waspish midengine sports car's 2005 introduction.

The players are different, but the three-step formula for the Lotus Exige by Secant is the same as Shelby's:

Step 1 — Find a small car.
Step 2 — Add power.
Step 3 — Kick ass.

So has history been repeated? We drove Secant's development car, a 2006 Lotus Exige equipped with the optional Track Pack suspension, to find out.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• 2006
• Lotus
• Exige
• by
• Secant
• Vehicles
• Edmunds
• Inside
• Line
• car
• auto
• motor
• race
• racing

[JackTheLaird]

Lotus did not make it like that. Some bell-end by the name of Secunt dicked with it, fuck it up, and there you have it!

[notingXworks]

Y didn't they just put a 3sgte in it ......

[shadfallfan]

@Janusha Wait really? GM parts in a Lotus? But didn't Lotus design the Ecotec wait they did so I guess the Lotus is finally complete with 100% British engineering with this conversion.

[Spargo]

20k for the swap?! Holy shit what a waste of money, if I had 20k to put into an exige engine i could do a lot better than 280hp. Sure the stock transmission gets wary at 250ft-lbs (which is still enough to break 300hp and has been done) but you can swap to the e153 for under 5500, thats a huge savings and a swap to a notoriously stout gearbox from Toyota. There are supercharged 2zzs putting out over 300 easily, and turbo 2zzs like Monkey Wrench Racing's putting out over 500 why put a GM box in?

[Janusha]

All these silly tweaks makes me wonder why the hell they wanted to bother with perfection. Many Lotus owners wish it had more HP once they get used to its insane handling but the Lotus is a low price, low weight sportscar. Not a supercar. Once you start adding shit to it, it becomes too expensive for what it is.

[MinnisCandy]

Hello! Lotus design this motor for GM to use in this chasis and put an Opel badge on it. Then for the Elise it was cheaper to put the Yamaha (Toyota) motor than manufacturer their own motor. Those tire sizes aren't too wide the wheels are just too tall.

[Sealy1986]

This car looks Great in my garage but the Tires are unrealistic huge. @_@

[RubenXpower]

cool !

[lesterclaypool1]

i think any concidering a lotus would be a fool not to look at the Ultima GTR

[FullFrontalCrudity]

pretty freakin' lame to pay that much for a car, and then find that your tires rub on the fenders.... what a joke!

[Janusha]

THEY PUT GM PARTS IN IT ????? And expected it to be an improvement ? Madness.

Americans always "tune" european sportscars. Factories spend years of professional testing to get it just right and some tuneshop comes along thinking they can do better. Granted the Elise / Exige can do with a bit more power but usually its better left alone. The concept of the Elise as a performance vehicle doesnt work in USA. its lightweight 1,8 litre engine. It wasnt made for burnouts or straight lines.