Fancy the hardcore 345 hp/400 Nm bantamweight Lotus Exige S but not hardcore enough to row the manual gearbox yourself? Well, the British sports car maker has just the answer with a new self-shifting variant – the Lotus Exige S Automatic.
The new model basically swaps the six-speed do-it-yourself transmission hanging off the 3.5 litre supercharged Toyota-sourced V6 with a six-speed torque converter automatic, similar to the Intelligent Precision Shift (IPS) ‘box on the Evora. Steering wheel paddle shifters come as standard, and selecting Sport or Race mode delivers “optimised gear selection and response” to go with the changes on the rest of the car.
A limp-wristed gearbox for such a focused track car, you say? The Exige S Automatic is still undergoing final testing, but it’s already as fast as its manual-equipped counterpart around the company’s Hethel test track, and is actually 0.1 seconds quicker from 0-100 km/h at 3.9 seconds.
“By introducing a paddle-shift, we have expanded the Exige product range to make it more accessible to customers worldwide,” said Group Lotus CEO Jean-Marc Gales. “Now, customers who are more accustomed to two pedals and automatic transmissions can enjoy the unbelievable performance and handling of the Exige S without compromise.”
The automatic gearbox will be available in all countries currently selling the regular Exige S, with sales starting in January as a £2,000 (RM10,500) cost option in the UK. Over here, the manual Exige S retails at RM405,777 for the coupé and RM410,777 for the Roadster, and you can expect to pay a hefty premium over these prices for one less pedal.
Lotus Exige S
Lotus Exige S Roadster
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Enthusiast 3 pedals fan will bash in 3….2…..1…
bash u first…and then bash the driver of automatic lotus…seriously why you buy so track focused drivers car if u don wanna shift gear yourself…poser betul
my goodness, with that price i would take porsche, gtr, ferrari without even thinking twice. and that interior make me wanna jump from top edge of klcc.
Lotus cars are more of a track focused car than a everyday pergi kerja or shopping punya kereta.
Overpriced go-kart.
ferrari? really?? duuhh…
Go on proton….put the transmission into the the Iriz
Proton should stop making cars for the working-class. They should start producing cars to rival the M3 and C63. Just take the engine from this car and put it into a Waja shell and you have yourself a rocket….trololol
…………..price itself out of the market. Clever!!!
I will drive this bloody thing into corners and leave all those so-called archaic shift-it-yourself enthusiasts into dust. This automatic shitbox no longer sends telegram to change gears and having two pedals lets u focused into chicanes and reacts faster than to mess with heel-toe and miss-shifts.