Stick, Twist, spend?

[Lo2zz 26]

8:00 on a sunday and my brain rather predictably starts to wonder about cars, and and what I'm going to do about the Exige. 

So the dilemma - stick with the Exige, twist and swap for something else, or spend on the Exige. 

Don't get me wrong I love the Exige - It is fantastic, nothing for the money has the blend of drama, big engine feel, lightweight, direct handling, and general excitement. 

I can't help but feel that it's not quite perfect for the way I'm using it. It's solely been used on the road where it's almost too good - I.E has massive grip, is wide, and you never truly feel what a good chassis balance it has as its limits are so high. I'm sure on track this would be different - some of the video's of GF on track show that the chassis is adjustable, but obviously you need far higher commitment and run off to exploit it. A Cayman IMO is more enjoyable on the road because you can get to the limits and it feels more adjustable. 

I've been debating whether I would be better getting something like a Caterham - where i could exploit it more on the road and 'feel' the chassis balance at a lower speed

So the options

Stick - Keep the Exige and use it on track more (buy a new exhaust that will be ok on track)

Twist - Swap for something that would suit my predominantly on road use

Spend - Buy an LSD, carbon goodies, and hopefully have a more exploitable car for the road (still debate whether it would actually make it more enjoyable on the road)

As always thoughts welcome!

 

[BatMobile 451]

V6S exhaust will be fine on track unless you have bought a 2bular.

id say first go on track and see if you like it. If you do explore your skill level and get tuition, then upgrade the car to your taste.

if you don’t enjoy track days then only you can decide if the exige is to be kept or replaced.

maybe a few test drives to compare would be best at that point, you may feel an evora is the better option.

[Lo2zz 26]

Yeah I have the 2bular road so no chance on track;)

I do love track days and do them regular in my track car. I always wanted to use the Exige for road only - just not getting the thrills and handling balance I expected (mainly because it's limits are too high)

If I'm honest I don't have that much confidence in the car. Its possibly the Porsche effect of weight over the rear, plus incredibly clarity of steering that I feel like the car has understeer. Possibly a track session would push through this and I'd know that there was grip there - even though it feels like there is understeer,

The fact that it doesn't oversteer at sane speeds also adds to my feeling that I'm not massively enamored with the handling on the road.

[DrTroy 6]

I've been thinking the same for a while, either plow money into mods and keep it or jump into a different car. AMG GT s looks tempting.

I can't warm to the idea upgrading to a 380, think I'd be looking at 25-30k to trade up from a V6S, is it worth it?

[BatMobile 451]

They understeer from factory, get a geo done and it transforms the car.

after mine was done by jez at back on track it transformed the car. Cup 2s and forged wheels also make a huge difference

[Mark030358 518]

And drop a 460 into it

[nw942 10]

1 hour ago, Lo2zz said:

Yeah I have the 2bular road so no chance on track;)

I do love track days and do them regular in my track car. I always wanted to use the Exige for road only - just not getting the thrills and handling balance I expected (mainly because it's limits are too high)

If I'm honest I don't have that much confidence in the car. Its possibly the Porsche effect of weight over the rear, plus incredibly clarity of steering that I feel like the car has understeer. Possibly a track session would push through this and I'd know that there was grip there - even though it feels like there is understeer,

The fact that it doesn't oversteer at sane speeds also adds to my feeling that I'm not massively enamored with the handling on the road.

I had a Cayman before my Exige and certainly had more confidence to carry speed into a corner in the Cayman. Clearly the different weight distribution and wider front tyres help the Cayman in this regard and seemed to enable a better 'flow'. I also imagine that the PS2 had a lower performance differential between hot summer and cold winter days.

I have Corsas on the car and today it felt like it had quite a lot of front end grip, which gave me a lot of confidence on corner entry. You could really feel the front dig in on some corners. But  it was a pretty warm day here in Wales. Six months ago on the same road was alot different. Clearly on track you will be generating a lot of heat and the grip levels increase accordingly.

As I posted on another thread, main thing that improved the balance for me was lowering the tyre pressures to 30 front and rear (cold). Seems to be less understeer if you pick up the throttle a bit too keenly mid-corner, and front seemed to give me a touch more confidence and compliance.

HTH

 

[Neal H 726 1 Vehicles]

Reason I switched to an Elise 250 Cup was that I found the V6 Exige too fast to exploit on the road. I only do two or three track days per year, so on road is more important to me than on track.

[Bruss 480 1 Vehicles]

Evora for the road feel and sense of occasion. You will drive consistently faster than with a Cayman, you will be more comfortable than in a Seven. You can also play with suspension and other tunable bits to get the feel the way you want.

 

[alias23 1,430]

Get a GT4

[Solstice 71]

27 minutes ago, alias23 said:

Get a GT4

In 2021!

[alias23 1,430]

45 minutes ago, Solstice said:

In 2021!

I’m talking about the ‘old’ one not the new one.. given what’s been said in terms of what he likes in a car and how he wants to use a car maybe the GT4 is a better solution hence the recommendation.

[Solstice 71]

9 hours ago, alias23 said:

I’m talking about the ‘old’ one not the new one.. given what’s been said in terms of what he likes in a car and how he wants to use a car maybe the GT4 is a better solution hence the recommendation.

Aha, I’d just watched the Carfection video on the new one, they said the 2019 allocation had been sold but there should be cars available in 2020 or 21 (I’ve just bought a 410 Exige, but if I’d realised the new GT4 was going to be generally available I might have changed my plans!)

[Lo2zz 26]

11 hours ago, alias23 said:

I’m talking about the ‘old’ one not the new one.. given what’s been said in terms of what he likes in a car and how he wants to use a car maybe the GT4 is a better solution hence the recommendation.

Thanks for all the comments everyone. The GT4 is a decent shout and it was something I considered when I bought the Exige. It's also significantly more expensive. 

I think it's between modifying and using the Exige on track more, or getting a Caterham - arguably the Caterham does both. 

Thing is I love the Exige and want it to 'work' for me - and If I can get that through modifying / using on track more I think I want to explore that. 

Is anyone interested in swapping exhausts? A Road 2bular with the valve for a more track orientated 2bular?

[BatMobile 451]

start with a decent geo and some cup2 tyres and go from there.

its relatively cheap to do and for me it made a huge difference as the car came alive.

[Lo2zz 26]

3 hours ago, BatMobile said:

start with a decent geo and some cup2 tyres and go from there.

its relatively cheap to do and for me it made a huge difference as the car came alive.

I had the Geo done and it did make a difference - will get some new tyres all round. I made the mistake of not replacing the tyres on my old elise and realised they were 10 years old!

In your post above you mentioned the forged wheels - did you have them changed at the same time as the geo or separately - interested the difference you feel they made to the car. How did it help ? Reducing understeer?

Many thanks

[BatMobile 451]

4 minutes ago, Lo2zz said:

I had the Geo done and it did make a difference - will get some new tyres all round. I made the mistake of not replacing the tyres on my old elise and realised they were 10 years old!

In your post above you mentioned the forged wheels - did you have them changed at the same time as the geo or separately - interested the difference you feel they made to the car. How did it help ? Reducing understeer?

Many thanks

I bought bc forged wheels and had them put on when the geo was done. Jez at back on track took the shivs out and gave me one degree of camber on the front. The whole lot combined was a big difference, lighter feel, more planted and turn in was much better. at Goodwood tomorrow for its first track day since it was done so will report back.

[Ali tuck 65]

7 hours ago, BatMobile said:

I bought bc forged wheels and had them put on when the geo was done. Jez at back on track took the shivs out and gave me one degree of camber on the front. The whole lot combined was a big difference, lighter feel, more planted and turn in was much better. at Goodwood tomorrow for its first track day since it was done so will report back.

Think you’re at the B&C day at Goodwood ....Thursday !

[BatMobile 451]

38 minutes ago, Ali tuck said:

Think you’re at the B&C day at Goodwood ....Thursday !

Yes Thursday! Been one of those weeks.