Lotus Exige Sport 240

By Damion Smy

Motor Shows

15 October 2007 05:48

Another day, another Lotus?

They don’t quite come around that often but this is another iteration of the Exige, but it is a model exclusive to Australia. The supercharged Toyota engine receives another 20bhp over the Exige S to take it up to the headline 240. The Sport 240 is available only in Sapphire Black or the bold Blaze Orange displayed. Torque has been upped to 170lb ft (from 159lb ft), while the six-speed gearbox runs an uprated clutch with a strengthened pressure plate, traction control and a limited-slip torque-sensing diff (a first for Lotus on the Australian market).

The Sport 240 features Lotus Sport adjustable traction control, developed from the UK GT3 motorsport programme, as well as launch control to help it sprint to 62mph in 4.16 seconds, only a few tenths slower than the quickest production Lotus of all time – the 2-Eleven, which clocks 62mph in just 3.9. Braking has been improved, with braided lines and Pagid pads helping squeeze four-pot AP Racing 308mm front rotors and single piston 288mm units at the rear. ‘The majority of our customers track their cars’, explains Lotus Cars Australia (LCA) MD John Stretton. ‘We have a group of customers here in Australia that are engineering savvy’, he adds. ‘We’ve developed the 240 as a result of the sales knowledge and customer requests over the past 12 months'. Still engineered entirely in the UK, the fact that Lotus HQ has supported an exclusive Australian model for the first time speaks volumes for LCA. Stretton said: ‘It’s acknowledgement from the factory of the market we have here’. The Lotus Exige Sport 240 retails from AU$149,990 (£66,118). Ouch.

By Damion Smy