The Lotus Exige Cup 430 is another fantablous-looking car with a jaw-dropping spec sheet and just enough creature comforts to be street legal somewhere. If there was ever an ode-to-stuff-fanboys-like, this is it served up on a carbon fiber platter.
The 3.5-liter supercharged V6, which Lotus delightfully describes as “savage”, puts down a claimed 430 horsepower and 325 lb-ft of torque. That’s in a car that supposedly weighs in at just over 2,300 pounds dry, call it 2,500 with gas and a scrawny pilot.
An absurd amount of downforce generated by that stadium bleacher bolted to the rear section allows the car to scream from a stop to 62 mph in 3.2 seconds and on to a top speed of 180 for the brave and borderline suicidal.
Inside, there’s exposed gear linkage, two stiff-looking racing seats and a slot for a regular-ass car key like god intended.
Lotus won’t make many of these and probably won’t send any stateside, but it retails for £99,800 in its homeland of England which equates to about $131,000 here. A bargain for the rolling embodiment of every car lover’s dreams, I reckon.
And the color of this model car, good grief. I can almost taste how fresh it looks through my computer screen. And the red accents are just enough.
We’re only going to get fewer and fewer opportunities to see cars made just for driving, so I think we’re kind of obligated to celebrate when a new one comes along. Even if it’s just an enhancement of an existing machine.
As long as Lotus keeps turning things like this out, there’s hope for the future of car fandom.