An Automatic Lotus Exige S
It had to happen at some point, and the news has finally come in: an automatic gearbox will be offered as an option on the Lotus Exige S in every country where that car is sold (so not here).
The Exige S is an ultimate track day toy that can also double as a road-legal car. Powered by the 3.5 litre V6 normally found in the Evora S (it originally came from Toyota), the Exige S makes good use of its 345 horsepower: 0-100 km/h is taken care of in 3.7 seconds and it can beat a lot of other cars' lap times without breaking a sweat. However, if you are looking to suck all the fun out of the equation, you can now opt for a six-speed automatic transmission.
The decision to offer such a transmission makes sense from a marketing point of view, since it will allow Lotus to offer their car to a larger audience. However, it will be interesting to see just how many of these cars they sell, since the automatic costs the equivalent of $3600 in Canadian dollars.
As a reminder, this Lotus is not offered here anymore, since it does not meet safety regulations. If you absolutely want a car that comes from Colin Chapman’s brand, you have to go for the Evora S, and even then you have to hurry up: they won’t offer a 2015 model, and the only remaining cars are 2014 models.