If I should, while in the passionate throes of reading one of your articles, randomly utter the name "Davey"... please just smile and pretend you like it.
Until someone swaps an LS series motor into one of these.. they're off my list. and considering i could only afford a used one anyway.. well.. used wrecked one..
Really.. are they so horrible you can't swap a SBC into it?
When I was seven, I thought the Pontiac TransAm with the hood-bulge labeled to indicate the "6.6 Litre" engine beneath was the height of automotive awesomeness. Especially with the nose-coney front end they put on the '79s. That was exactly what I wanted when I grew up. With the snowflake wheels, for sure.
When I was 7 what I wanted was the Luner Rover. When I was 12 I wanted a Fiat X1/9. When I was 17 I wanted a Mustang, and I bought one.
Unrealized dreams never suffer from being varnished by the cold, harsh light of reality. Around the same time I got the 'Stang, I lusted after a cute girl in Art class. I imagined what it would be like to go with her, the comfort of knowing she was my girl, the excitement of a new romance. When I actually worked up the courage, and started dating her I found her to be cold, neurotic and a bitch. After that I could never go back to the imagined world of our relationship, where nothing bad ever happened.
NIce review Wes. The Exige is a stand-out car, really unique in today's market. I think you captured the driving experience with great accuracy and elan (no pun intended). I think I'll just fantasize about owning one, and omit the parts about creaking knees when getting in and out, as well as the outrageous insurance bills that accompany such a hoontastic ride.
When I was seven what I really really wanted was a bicycle with a banana seat and a sissy bar. I wanted a flag to attach to the sissy bar. I pondered and finally decided against streamers for the handlebars, but it was a near thing.
It was gold metalflake, and so was the seat. The flag on its fiberglass pole flipped and snapped smartly in my wake as we tore like the wind up and down the parking lots and along the biking trails. This was the discovery of a wide world, far beyond where my short little legs could go, as enthralling as the landscape could be with a wide-open straightaway and a brisk tailwind, as thrilling with the vertiginous drops and swoops of the hills and turns.
I eventually did indeed want a car a lot like the Exige. I'm entirely too large and unfortunately too old to feel the insistent push of the wind on my back as my little bike and I explored distant lands before rushing home in time for supper. But with such a stout little heart, such a ready spirit, perhaps when tipping into the engine's power I might hear that old wind, not so very far off.
@Feds: I guess the read-between-lines part of my comment was that I could live with a single-purpose vehicle at $45k (Elise), but at this price I'd be too swayed to find something more diverse. In other words, I don't see the Exige being worth the premium over the Elise. Just an armchair assessment.
There is a Lotus dealer in a town I drive through on my morning commute to the kids' snazzy private school. They have this kooky-ass green Exige 240 that moves between the outside lot and the glassed in showroom.
I said to my wife today while we passed the dealership that I think my fellow Se7eners would forgive me if I bought that car. But I second you that it is a pretty penny for a car that wouldn't necessarily run away from a base Elise.
@Jo Schmo: Ladies and gentlemen let's give it up for Karl Marx! Good luck with that hippie commune project, Karl! Don't let Stalin sneak out of his turn doing the dishes.
This car sits between a Caterham 7 and a Noble M400 on the "Thrashy Master Plan to Get Disgustingly Wealthy and Never Own a Car With More Than Two Seats."
@Thrashy is tired of this off-season thing: Because Thrashy, you are an Anglophile. You just don't know it yet. It starts innocently with their cars.....and then.....BAM!......you only want to listen to the Kinks' Village Green Preservation Society, watch Dr Who and Hull City matches on the "telly" and drink hot tea every afternoon at precisely 3pm. Soon you'll start calling your friends "blokes", women "birds", and flashlights "torches". Eventually, you'll only want to hang out with Rusty and Layabout.
@LionZoo: I would say I'm a total anglophile. I really like the new Dr. Who (Thanks Netflix), I like to keep things on "sched-ule," I thought "Death at a Funeral" was one of the funniest movies I have ever seen, and I'd give a thousand pounds to meet the cast of Monty Python.
I can't remember what I lusted after when I was seven, but when I was eight, I wanted a Neon, and when I was a little younger, I wanted a Ford Aerostar. There's probably something very wrong with me.
Also, taking people on dates in an Exige sounds like a very good way to weed out anyone too high maintenance.
@pauljones: If we're talking the APV, there's no fronting on the dustbuster. None (seriously, at one point, I had two Hot Wheels APVs and a Majorette Trans Sport - I have no idea how that happened).
@pauljones: Lincoln Mark VIII here. Recently, I found out about the one with the disappearing door(s), which propelled that specific vehicle back on my list.
Could be an interesting QOTD: What POS car did you like when you were too young to know anything?
Oh yes sir, we are talking the APV. I also followed NASCAR at the the time, and thought that Ernie Earnsdt's yellow Chevrolet Lumina stock car was the greatest thing in the history of ever.
Lincoln Mark VIII's are awesome. A little big on the Chinatown crack dealer image, but nevertheless cool, especially with how easily their engines could be tuned and upgraded.
01/07/09
If I should, while in the passionate throes of reading one of your articles, randomly utter the name "Davey"... please just smile and pretend you like it.
01/06/09
Really.. are they so horrible you can't swap a SBC into it?
01/06/09
01/06/09
when i was 7 i wanted a stingray or a camaro.
01/06/09
01/06/09
01/06/09
Unrealized dreams never suffer from being varnished by the cold, harsh light of reality. Around the same time I got the 'Stang, I lusted after a cute girl in Art class. I imagined what it would be like to go with her, the comfort of knowing she was my girl, the excitement of a new romance. When I actually worked up the courage, and started dating her I found her to be cold, neurotic and a bitch. After that I could never go back to the imagined world of our relationship, where nothing bad ever happened.
NIce review Wes. The Exige is a stand-out car, really unique in today's market. I think you captured the driving experience with great accuracy and elan (no pun intended). I think I'll just fantasize about owning one, and omit the parts about creaking knees when getting in and out, as well as the outrageous insurance bills that accompany such a hoontastic ride.
Thanks man.
01/06/09
01/06/09
01/06/09
It was gold metalflake, and so was the seat. The flag on its fiberglass pole flipped and snapped smartly in my wake as we tore like the wind up and down the parking lots and along the biking trails. This was the discovery of a wide world, far beyond where my short little legs could go, as enthralling as the landscape could be with a wide-open straightaway and a brisk tailwind, as thrilling with the vertiginous drops and swoops of the hills and turns.
I eventually did indeed want a car a lot like the Exige. I'm entirely too large and unfortunately too old to feel the insistent push of the wind on my back as my little bike and I explored distant lands before rushing home in time for supper. But with such a stout little heart, such a ready spirit, perhaps when tipping into the engine's power I might hear that old wind, not so very far off.
01/06/09
01/06/09
01/06/09
01/06/09
My inner seven-year-old still thinks so, in fact- it's only my forebrain which believes them to be overexposed.
01/06/09
Nothing against it, but like my fellow commenters, there are quite a few more robust jacks-of-all-trades at the $70k price point.
01/06/09
Exactly the point. This is a spindly Jack-of-1-trade.
As in:
"Hey, nice car, what can it do?"
"Go Fast."
01/06/09
01/06/09
There is a Lotus dealer in a town I drive through on my morning commute to the kids' snazzy private school. They have this kooky-ass green Exige 240 that moves between the outside lot and the glassed in showroom.
I said to my wife today while we passed the dealership that I think my fellow Se7eners would forgive me if I bought that car. But I second you that it is a pretty penny for a car that wouldn't necessarily run away from a base Elise.
01/06/09
"Work is not man's punishment. It is his reward and his strength and his pleasure."
- George Sand
01/06/09
01/06/09
Philosophy aside, I agree with you.
01/06/09
01/06/09
01/06/09
01/06/09
01/06/09
Spoken from the despair of an Arsenal fan.
01/06/09
01/06/09
Also, taking people on dates in an Exige sounds like a very good way to weed out anyone too high maintenance.
01/06/09
It's okay. I wanted a Chevrolet Lumina when I was that age.
01/06/09
01/06/09
Pervert.
01/06/09
Could be an interesting QOTD: What POS car did you like when you were too young to know anything?
01/06/09
if you want to weed out the high maintenance girls, your first 4 months of dating will be done in this:
01/06/09
01/06/09
Something about the mini-spoiler, spiffy grille and very early-90s aqua-blue color made me think it was cooler than my dad's 5.0 GT convertible.
Also really liked the Isuzu Amigo...which isn't a total POS.
01/06/09
Oh yes sir, we are talking the APV. I also followed NASCAR at the the time, and thought that Ernie Earnsdt's yellow Chevrolet Lumina stock car was the greatest thing in the history of ever.
01/06/09
Lincoln Mark VIII's are awesome. A little big on the Chinatown crack dealer image, but nevertheless cool, especially with how easily their engines could be tuned and upgraded.
01/06/09
01/06/09