Photo: Mcchip-DKR and Komo-tec
Many say Lotus is a company on its last legs, that it has failed to build the concepts shown at the 2010 Paris Motor Show. It's true that the current lineup is about as modern as a tape recorder, but sometimes you need a bit of analog in your life.
The chassis Lotus builds are so good, they have been used by pretty much everybody with a car making dream. The Americans at Hennessey based the Venom on one and transformed it into one of the fastest cars in the world, for example. Opel used the Elise as the base for the Speedster (Vauxhall VX220), while Tesla made their first EV, the Roadster.
Unfortunately, we're not going to talk about a 7-liter LSX V8 with twin turbochargers. The engine swap is of a more… European nature, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. The original Exige mill has been yanked out and replaced with the 2.0 TSI/TFSI from Volkswagen Group. The inline-4 turbo fits well within the small engine bay and still has its DSG gearbox attached.
Mcchip-DKR, who welcomed the green chimera on their dynamometer, said the engine came out of a Golf 5 GTI Edition 35, which is technically wrong (Mk5 was an Edition 30 model). But that doesn't really matter when the output has been increased from around 230 HP to 404 HP. Torque is also up to a substantial 465 Nm, thanks to the use of a bigger K04 turbocharger and new software.
That's going to translate into incredible performance since regular Exige models with around 180 horsepower can get to 100 km/h in under 5 seconds. Yes, lightness does make everything better.
Unfortunately, we're not going to talk about a 7-liter LSX V8 with twin turbochargers. The engine swap is of a more… European nature, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. The original Exige mill has been yanked out and replaced with the 2.0 TSI/TFSI from Volkswagen Group. The inline-4 turbo fits well within the small engine bay and still has its DSG gearbox attached.
Mcchip-DKR, who welcomed the green chimera on their dynamometer, said the engine came out of a Golf 5 GTI Edition 35, which is technically wrong (Mk5 was an Edition 30 model). But that doesn't really matter when the output has been increased from around 230 HP to 404 HP. Torque is also up to a substantial 465 Nm, thanks to the use of a bigger K04 turbocharger and new software.
That's going to translate into incredible performance since regular Exige models with around 180 horsepower can get to 100 km/h in under 5 seconds. Yes, lightness does make everything better.
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