steveoexige

I'd love to get my 380 as super shiny as yours...stunning! Any recommendations on products or firms to use to apply something like a ceramic coat, etc?

Ordered

They look great. Price dependent, I am very interested in a pair of these.

Mine has a removable carbon OMP...super lightweight and spot on diameter sizewise but I would prefer it if it was slightly thicker. As the Alcantara is fairly worn I'll probably get Royals to recover it in another layer to fatten it up.

I might be slightly biased (ahem) but I'd get a 380 and then spend less than the difference you'll save on the 410 on a TVS1900 upgrade (or Komotec). I test drove a 350 Sport, a standard 380 Sport and a 410 Sport. Yes the 410 was quicker but my 380 with the TVS1900 is quicker still plus it was a whole £12k cheaper than the cheapest 410........thats a lot of very high quality suspension and track days. A lot of the 380 I saw on the classifieds at the time had the full extras spec too, like mine most had the full carbon roof, splitter, engine cover, wing, interior sills, forged wheels, etc. I'm also a sucker for the double canards at the front on the 380. At the end of the day any of the v6 models make a great base to upgrade from....its really how new do you want to go and what look do you prefer.

Yes I get the engine check light come on after a long'ish drive. I have an OBD port scanner that I just use to read and reset the check light. When I finally go for the full fat Masterblack ECU setup they can code their ECU so it shouldn't show the code at all.

You are right, doh, my "one handed lift" was indeed aided by hydraulic rams. I hadn't appreciated the 380 & 430 cup just have a stay bar to hold the lid up.

Thanks for the compliment Nano but it is just way too loud for me. My wife can hear me coming home from work 3 miles before i actually appear (no joke). In answer to what I have: I have a 2bular decat manifold and the rest is 380 OEM Sport. Jim is going to weld in his silenced de-cat pipe and we'll see how much of a difference that makes.

And another clip of me driving away from a friend's house....you can hear the racket it makes towards the end. Honestly, I only rev'd it to 4k and it was setting off car alarms ! VID-20190914-WA0031_01_01.mp4

Just a short clip, driving the car up the dual carriageway slip road in 3rd gear......but you get the idea Exige Noise.mp4

Quick update: Driving Impressions now I've had the car a month or so: seriously rapid and so, so planted in the bends, I'm loving it. I didnt realise how much I missed the steering feel of an Exige. I know I'm preaching to the converted but genuinely....wow - its telepathic. One small oddity that keeps catching me out - my experiences of a car created with track work in mind have always been of very high rev'ing, very low torque engines that mean you get left behind by a diesel fiesta if caught napping in the wrong gear.......not in this car. I'm sure its the same with or without the TVS1900 - the V6 is a torque monster that runs out of puff very early and totally at odds with this type of car. Not a deal breaker but I cant help thinking that it would be even better had Lotus fettled with the drivetrain to increase the rev limit worthy of a track car. My 6.3 AMG engine had a higher rev limit! In other news: I ordered a downpipe with a silencer from Jim to go in place of where there would normally be a 2bular sports cat. This way I keep my switchable OEM backbox whilst toning down the unbelievable shriek it makes at the moment. I ride v loud superbikes too and honestly, nothing can come close to this car in terms of ear splitting racket. I will try and get a clip uploaded before the 2bular silencer is fitted just so you know I'm not being a lightweight, Car went into B&C for some warranty work; 2 tyre pressure monitor sensors and a gearbox oil cooler O ring (it was leaking). It ended up needing a brand new gearbox oil cooler pump which explains why the transmission became difficult to select 3rd and 4th after a bit of spirited driving. Whilst waiting to pick it up I had a wander around the showroom and looked at a 430 cup. Whilst it is beautiful and very aggressive/race car like I don't think it warrants the huge pricetag over a decent, older model V6 Exige with £10k thrown at for tuning. Throw another £10k at some suspension, forged wheels and carbon body panels and you have a quicker, much cheaper 430. Incidentally I had a quick look at the engine of the 430 and couldn't believe how heavy the carbon engine lid was compared to the carbon lid on my 380 Sport....I can literally open and close my 380 lid with 2 fingers and yet the 430 Cup needed both hands. One quick technical question for those in the know: does the 311 Chargecooler setup have the radiator in a side scoop/vent rather than at the front (as in the 410/430 Exige) ? I'll explain why I want to know once someone provides an answer!

Hi Imran, just a quick line to say I went online and purchased one of your intake kits from this new batch. As I already have the SSC intake fitted I'm not expecting a power increase, I'm doing it as I really dont trust the HKS filter on my SSC intake. Do you have any idea when my kit will be shipped ?

Hi all, Just a quick post to see if there is anyone on the forum thats had the Masterblack ECU fitted and is happy to show their before and after dyno plots, etc. Ideally showing AFR's too. I know of at least one forum member thats used RRR and is happy but I would really like to see some detail before I take the plunge. More than one source has confirmed the Masterblack ECU is great for full on race or even part time track cars that spend most of their life with the throttle at 100% but I'm told that for day to day driving (mines a daily) the cold running and part throttle isn't OEM smooth. I don't see any other ECU solution this side of £1250 and as there are now lots of S3 Exiges out of warranty I think the Masterblack could be great solution to more power and better running (especially when the OEM maps runs so unbelievably rich).

Thanks for the reply Mark. Your car sounds great....but honestly, it isn't half as loud as mine (!) I can see your 2bular setup has a resonator (pic above) whereas mine doesn't hence my bleeding eardrums. Hearing yours I know exactly what to go for now

Yes, running really strong now thank god. I won't lie, I did start to get that sinking feeling but it was worth it in the end. I've had lots of silly fast cars over the years and this is definitely the quickest of the lot.