Lotus Exige, the perfect parts bin raid?
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- Опубликовано: 23 авг 2024
- Since uploading my first Lotus Exige video, a few people pointed out that my indicator stalks had been modified. It turns out the Exige comes with Vauxhall stalks as standard, it got my wondering, what else has Lotus borrowed from the parts bin to put the Exige together?
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It would be nice to see it being driven in a video, ideally out of London - perhaps down to the south coast?
I’ve finally got a camera which will allow me to do this without the footage being overly shaky - so driving vids will be coming soon!
Great video!
Mini supercar or not, S2 Exige is a modern classic for sure.
Thank you! I totally agree, it’s surely a modern classic. Particularly now that production of the Elise & Exige has stopped, numbers will only reduce.
The brake light switch at the top of the brake pedal arm is GM (VX Astra). The same switch is used on the Elise, Europa S & SE and Evora. I suspect it's also used on the VX220/Open Speedster. The aircon compressor will be a Denso unit from a Toyota most probably.
My Evora has indicator and windscreen wiper stalks from a Ford Focus Mk1, door mirror adjuster from the Mondeo and door mirrors from the Jaguar X Type.
Having said that Lotus has used items from various OEM parts bins since day 1. I know that the early Esprit and the wedge shaped Elite & Eclat had indicator/wiper stalks from Triumph along with trunnions from the Herald/Vitesse/Spitfire/GT6. The Esprit S1 had rear lights from the Fiat X1/9, the S2 & S3 had Rover SD1 rear light clusters and at one point the Esprit X180 had rear lights from the Toyota AE86. I recall that the Elise S1 had dashboard switches taken from a Peugeot.
The two Lotus items that went into other cars were the 900 series engine (Jensen- Healey & Talbot Sunbeam) and the front indicator lenses from the X180 Esprit/M100 Elan (McLaren F1).
I'm not bothered by the Astra stalks and Metro door mirrors on my Elise S3 (just as long as they work!).
I agree, as long as they work they’re no big deal. This is an unfair question, but if you could only keep one out of the Evora and Elise S3 which would it be and why?
Nice video and presentation. Please keep it up. I rather like the simple, non-stylized look of the mirrors. I don’t even look at the stick indicator stalks. I like the way has prioritized putting money into the important things that effect performance and longevity, in order to keep the price reasonable. It’s good engineering practice, I think.
Thanks for the support! I tend to agree, I’m far happier that Lotus used their time and expertise where it would make the most impact.
Pretty sure the Elise/exige picked the parts up on its journey. GM motors and Rover owned lotus at different points of lotus history. Vauxhall got to make the vx220 whilst owned by gm motors too.
I actually like the standard indicator arms, Part of the history.
Thankyou for taking the time to make video 😁👍
Overall, it certainly benefitted from access to different parts. I am surprised the indicator stalks didn’t change at some stage though! 😂
I don't think Rover ever owned Lotus. The company was floated on the stock market in the late 1960's I believe. Toyota invested in the company around the time the Excel was produced (early 1980's). The person who ran British Car Auctions (BCA), along with a consortium he set up with investors including BCA and JCB owned Lotus in the early '80s after the death of Colin Chapman. GM then bought the company. The next owner was Romano Artioli, the then owner of Bugatti, followed by Proton. Proton was then taken over by DRB Hicom who then sold up to Geely and Etika Automotive. Geely has a majority shareholding (51%). I believe there was talk of MG Rover investing around the time Elise S1 was being developed, but the deal fell through. The legacy was the K series engine in the Elise.
Really appreciate you sharing that comprehensive summary, thanks! I didn’t know about the Romano stint. Let’s hope Geely offers the finances and stability Lotus deserves.
Geely have definitely pumped a lot of money into Lotus already. The future of Lotus is secure I think, what with the Evija halo car and the Emira, which appears to be very much a success based on deposits taken. The Type 132 electric SUV is presently being teased by Lotus, with a reveal later this year and the next Lotus EV has started to be teased as well.
The concern amongst some owners of the "heritage" cars and at least one independent Lotus specialist is with the ongoing factory support of the cars that came before Emira. I hope that once Emira production has settled in, Lotus will have a look again at having a "Heritage Lotus" support network (it had been mooted at one point over the last two years but has not come to fruition yet) .
The Emira does look like it could be a real success, hopefully it doesn’t go the route of the A110 where it got all the right hype but didn’t quite cut through, probably the Cayman price point.
Interesting point re the factory support / heritage network. I use a non-franchise Lotus specialist (ex-Lotus guy) to maintain mine, so I’m less concerned about the knowledge, but if parts start to become scarce then maintenance will become £££.
Aston martin used mazda mx5 interior door handles on the DB7...cracked me up when i saw that as a mx5 owner hehe.
A compliment to the mx-5! Can’t imagine the Aston owners are too happy…
Toyota - 2ZZGE...👍
I think most people are aware of the fact Lotus car’s that are parts bin warriors. I think it would be useful if we could have part numbers allowing us to source them from other dealers which may help save costs. Cheers Jim P.S your indicator and wiper are still GM parts just with the stocks cut off.
Great point! Like you say, visibility of those parts numbers would make replacement parts more accessible and cheaper.
Originally lotus were not a manufacturer of cars, more an assembler in a way. They designed the chassis but they were built by Progress Chassis, the bodies were designed by an airplane aerodynamics engineer and were aluminium built by Williams and Prichard and the engines from Coventry/MG and yet the cars ended up being race winning cheap sports cars capable of taking on porsche and the like back in the 50s (before lotus started building cars from glass fibre). Essentially Chapman realized he couldnt compete in the engine department with the likes of ferrari and so used his structural engineering knowledge to make huge strides in chassis and suspension design which was far cheaper and far more effective because there was at that time so much room for improvement in those areas.
To be fair the Vauxhall Astra suspension of this time was tuned by lotus so it would make sense to share the same suspension
Whatever they did, it worked well!
Rear view mirrors stem from the Citroën CX. They are / werd also on Aston Martins, McLaren F1, TVR's etc...
Thanks for confirming, a popular choice then! I read somewhere they were on a Hummer too, which would be wild. Couldn’t confirm though.
Yes is the same vents as the alfa romeo 147/156
Thanks for confirming! I used to own a 147 actually, I loved it but I had quite a lot of trouble with it.
@@BritishRacingGreens me too, specially with the selespeed
Electric window switches I think are cavalier MK3, so GM again
I read somewhere that the window switches were borrowed too, but I couldn’t see where from, thanks!
i have an s240 and has no rear view mirror at all, just have a reverse camera installed that comes on when you engage reverse. Guess previous owner took it off, good move, I'm thinking of getting a digital rear view mirror, but hard to get small ones
just watched your 3 lotus videos so far, learnt a few things, so thanks for putting them together
Thanks for watching! Plan on making more lotus vids in the coming weeks.
I did look into reversing cameras before I bought the car because I was worried about damaging the delicate clam, I am a little jealous you have one but I’m used to not having one now so will just live with it. Those digital mirrors would be the perfect solution 👌🏻
Makes me laugh when people mention Toyota Engine. Yes the company that makes F1 Engines.
Any reference I make is with a sense of relief and admiration, they defo know what they’re doing!
@@BritishRacingGreens Yes that too. I have a 111R and touch wood, pretty much no issues. Oil lines split, but Lotus fixed and paid for everything. Engine seems solid so far.