Lotus Exige 265E comes into the sunlight

Posted Aug 24th 2006 2:48PM by Sebastian Blanco
Filed under: Ethanol, Lotus

Biofuels are pretty sexy (in the marketplace, at least). Sports cars also have a reputation of sexiness. Put the two together and what do you have? The Lotus Exige 265E. The "E" stands for ethanol.

The lightweight Lotus Exige 265E is, according to Lotus, "the most powerful road version of the Lotus Exige ever" and has approximately 265 horsepower. The car is powered by a modified 2ZZ VVTL-i supercharged and intercooled high revving 4-cylinder engine that is found in the standard Lotus Exige S. The results? 0-60 mph in 3.88 seconds, 0-100 mph in 9.2 seconds and a top speed of 158 mph. All this on E85. The engine modifications include additional fuel injectors on the inlet manifold and at the supercharger inlet.

Geraint Castleton-White, Head of Powertrain for Lotus Engineering said that the the Lotus Exige 265E technical demonstration vehicle is good for driving and for making a point. "We wanted to prove the point that green sportscars can also be very high performing sportscars. The fact that we have produced a research version of the Exige that is more powerful than the standard road car is a testament to the benefits of going green," he said.

[Source: Lotus]

Tags: 2zz, exige, exige 265e, Exige265e, geraint castleton-white, GeraintCastleton-white, powertrain lotus engineering, PowertrainLotusEngineering, vvtl

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Reader Comments

(Page 1)

1. "Lexus" Exige? Huh?

Posted at 3:37PM on Aug 24th 2006 by TicalWRX

2. If your goal really is a "green" sports car, then running on biodiesel (like the VW Ecoracer) or electricity (like the Tesla Roadster) would appear to make a lot more sense. But this isn't about making sense, this is about the dollars. The E85-powered Exige is a promotional stunt for Lotus Engineering. It's saying to auto makers, "Here now, we know how to work with ethanol too. Remember us next time you need help with a flex-fuel project!" Since ethanol is heavily subsidized in the USA, Lotus Engineering are making a grab for their share of the cake.

Posted at 4:42PM on Aug 24th 2006 by Tony Belding

3. Hmm, isn't it the LOTUS exige not the lexus :)

Posted at 5:23PM on Aug 24th 2006 by Shoaib

4. You nailed it, Tony. Here is a car for people with more money than sense, so I guess that in a way, it is logical that it would burn Politically Correct, but inefficient, ethanol. Excuse me, that's E85, not even pure ethanol...

I agree that the Tesla is much "greener". So far, I like the Aptera -- provided it actually becomes real. The combination of a small diesel with electric motor does a great job of optimizing the performance characteristics of both.

But mostly, I just want a small, fuel efficient pickup truck. If it takes 15 seconds to get to 60mph, that's ok with me.

Posted at 5:45PM on Aug 24th 2006 by Howard Lee Harkness

5. The Tesla Roadster is a Lotus Elise with a new body designed by Lotus Engineering, a few modifications, and an electric drive-train provided by Tesla. The Tesla Roadster will be built in the same Lotus factory that made this Exige 265E.

I have a normal Elise and get 27 MPG on average -- that's including flogging it. It's pretty easy to get over 30 MPG in it when you want.

Posted at 11:10PM on Aug 24th 2006 by Mike

6. Shoaib -- FYI, that "2ZZ" engine that Lotus is tinkering with is 1.8 liters of Toyota.

http://www.sandsmuseum.com/cars/elise/thecar/engine/toyota.html

Posted at 1:39PM on Aug 27th 2006 by Tony C

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