Keo's Lotus 410 20th Anniversary Exige

[keo]

Hi everyone I have just received my new Exige. I thought i would do a thread on here as readers cars is one of my favourite sections. I had a Cayman GT4 last year nice car but it just wasnt for me. So i sold it and decided i would go for a second hand Exige 410. Things got out of hand again like in the previous GT4 topic haha.

A nice couple came and looked at my GT4 on the Tuesday and arrived in a rather nice yellow Cayman



They agreed to buy and left a deposit. I later moved the car in the garage and it threw up a warning light. I was gutted and a bit stressed as you can imagine. One phone call to Porsche Wolverhampton explaining i had sold the car but a warning light had come up on the dash. It was booked in for 8am the next day. It turned out to be a gearbox mount and it was all fixed under warranty and i got the car back Thursday. Absolutely brilliant service by Porsche. I explained the situation to the seller and it was all good. He said he would collect Friday.

In the mean time i saw Silverstone Lotus had uploaded an Exige 410 but no pics, it sounded a good deal. I spoke to someone there and they emailed me some pics. Was a stunning blue colour. However not wanting to jump the gun before my car had sold i thought i would wait untill i had funds.

GT4 was collected Friday all good. On the Monday i went to Oakmere Lotus it is my local Lotus dealer. I test drove an orange 350 as i was interested in the silver 410 they had in the showroom. However the colour wasnt right for me and the pressure sale being put on me after i had explained they were the first ones i had looked at and i wanted to go look at a blue one at Silverstone and an orange one at Birmingham really put me off the deal. (I had a bit of a sour experience with oakmere Friday, definitely confirmed i am glad to have not bought from them shame really as they would of got future business from me servicing etc and i still have the Caterham itch to scratch but i digress)

When i got home i phoned Silverstone to ask if i could come and view the car tomorrow unfortunately it had sold. Will teach me mess about when buying cars..

Tuesday morning I spotted my car for sale at JCT600 Bradford. I forgot all about the 20th Anniversary but i like the seats how they are colour coded and i have always wanted an orange Lotus. As ever things got out of hand i thought i would sell the GT4 and save some money and get a cheaper car. Well i ended up buying a brand new one..... something i never thought i would do!

I had to wait a few weeks for delivery. I decided to have it fully PPF'd and ceramic coated by Signiture group. This is a local firm to me and a few friends have been and highly recommend. Thus an even longer wait but i thought it would be worth it in the future to keep it nice. Signiture sent me the below photographs. I really cant fault them brilliant service nothing is to much trouble a great group of lads.







Slight hicup but i received the car Friday. I have covered 300 miles init this weekend and absolutely loved it so glad to be back in a lotus. I couldnt sleep Friday night so i went out for a 5am blast. Something i never did in the GT4 but many times in previous cars so that says it all imo.

I have only been taking it steady as i need to run the engine in and Lotus recommend not going over 4k for the first 600 miles. Ideally i would like to get it ran in this year so i can fully enjoy it next year but we will see what happens and what the weather is like! The plan is to never sell this car and i am very happy with it.

I will try and keep this updated and i would like to say a massive thanks to Paul and Ecain on here who have been a massive help throughout the buying process. Especialy Paul i must do his head in hahah

Just realised I did a thread when I agreed to buy the car but I couldn’t get the pics to work. I have tried to delete it but can’t sorry!

Edited by keo on Sunday 17th October 13:40

[DamnKraut]

Each Lotus on the road not only brings immense joy to its owner but also to pretty much anyone even remotely interested in cars who encounters said Lotus (and its owner) on the road.

In less flowery words: you, Sir, are making this (automotive) world a better place

Congrats on the new toy, enjoy every moment of ownership. If I had a 410 in my garage I would probably spend most nights in a sleeping bag there just to be close to it

[Paul_M3]

Stunning car mate, and so glad that you’re happy with. I’d have felt guilty if you regretted it, seeing as I didn’t exactly try to talk you out of getting one!

And don’t worry, you definitely haven’t been doing my head in.

[DanielSan]

You've definitely made the right choice with this one. It could be half as quick as the GT4 and it wouldn't matter, the Exige just looks way more spectacular. Now get it rain in because I want a go

[keo]

DamnKraut said:

Each Lotus on the road not only brings immense joy to its owner but also to pretty much anyone even remotely interested in cars who encounters said Lotus (and its owner) on the road.

In less flowery words: you, Sir, are making this (automotive) world a better place

Congrats on the new toy, enjoy every moment of ownership. If I had a 410 in my garage I would probably spend most nights in a sleeping bag there just to be close to it

Thanks Oliver that is very kind. My mate has a trailer doing bbq food/ burgers I went down to him yesterday. A young lad was looking at my car with his dad I went over and told him to sit init. He was over the moon. Someone let me sit in there Ferrari 360 when I was a kid and it has always stayed with me. So will always make the effort with people.

Thanks Paul, no I couldn’t of wished for any more!

Course Dan when the weather is good we will go for a spin.

I don’t know if anyone knows but when I bought the car I was told it was 1/100 and 1/25 in orange I think this maybe a lie though. Can’t find any information about it being limited production.

[DamnKraut]

Hey James,

150 does make sense, ie 6 x 25 in the colours yellow, orange, red, blue, black and grey (replace those with exact colour descriptions obviously )

See here:
https://www.drive.com.au/news/lotus-exige-20th-ann...
And here:
https://kumschick.ch/ueber-uns/modellarchiv/lotus/...

The latter link only being in German language though...

[rustyuk]

That looks fantastic, congratulations on the purchase.

[Rocket.]

Car looks fantastic, last of it's kind I think. Look forward to the updates.

[keo]

Firstly thank you for the compliments and sorry for the late reply.

Not much to update really. Still got it and still love it! I haven’t used it in the bad weather but took it for it’s running in service a few weeks ago. I only got it out this weekend as the weather has been rubbish. Now the first service has been done I can use full revs. I think it sounds good when it banged the first time but my mrs st herself and thought something had fallen off the car... well I suppose it is a Lotus! Haha

I probably did over 300 miles this weekend just kept going out init. I know people always think what they have is the best. But for me I couldn’t think of anything I would rather have. The driving position, how the steering chatters away to you even just going slowly. The brakes make the car feels like it digs into the tarmac. Catching a glimpse of the big silly orange wing on the back in the mirrior it just makes me laugh. To me this is what a second/ fun car should be about.



Drive out Sunday morning with my cousin. He is about 6”6 and was funny watching him get in and out I don’t know how he did it!



Stopped for tea Sunday in Buxton aftershocks drive all around the Peak District

[keo]

Another weekend spent out in the car. Saturday I went Demon Tweeks in Wrexham. Nice run out stopped for a pub lunch and an ice cream place on the way home so the mrs was happy. (She still doesn’t like the bangs!)

Sunday I had a run out around the Peak District with the Midland Lotus owners club. Some really nice cars out but if you haven’t guessed I think I am a bit of a lotus fan...

[keo]

Met up with Paul last night (he has a great thread on here). His car is stunning I like his carbon mirrors and his smaller plate looks better than mine. Was a nice run out and a good night.

[Paul_M3]

Was great to meet you in person mate. (And thanks for the beers!)

Sorry if I’m making you think about spending more money.

[keo]

Had a nice drive around the Peak District today, I followed two stunning Lotus Elans. That was good fun. I also saw a Morgan at Chatsworth farm shop I had a quick look around it. Absolutely stunning




I have been thinking should I sell my car. I hardly use it as life gets in the way. But I really enjoyed it today and as a package for me I don’t know what I could replace it with. Also with the world going electric I think we should enjoy cars like this while we still can.

Edited by keo on Friday 17th June 00:53

[Glenn63]

That looks stunning! S3 exige is right up there for me if I ever have the funds I think they look fantastic, always eye catching when see one on the roads.

[keo]

Thanks Glenn!

Couldn’t sleep (shift work isn’t good for anyone!) so I have been out for a few hours. Hardly anything on the road, I love driving late at night. I wanted to sleep but I think the price of vpower has given me nightmares

Pic just because I think it looks cool under the lights.

[keo]

I went a car meet at a pub in Stafford last night. Met a few nice people Mike with the Tuscan hi if you are on here! Some really nice cars there. Was fun watching people trying to get in and out of my car as well!

It was an enjoyable drive out. I keep saying it but I love this car! No idea what I would replace it with even at multiples of the price!

[Quags]

Absolutely love this car, my dream next step! Quite a jump up from my S3 Sprint though.

[RevsPerMinute]

keo said:

Had a nice drive around the Peak District today, I followed two stunning Lotus Elans. That was good fun. I also saw a Morgan at Chatsworth farm shop I had a quick look around it. Absolutely stunning




I have been thinking should I sell my car. I hardly use it as life gets in the way. But I really enjoyed it today and as a package for me I don’t know what I could replace it with. Also with the world going electric I think we should enjoy cars like this while we still can.

Edited by keo on Friday 17th June 00:53

Peaks were full of Lotus last weekend as it was the annual 'Lotus in the peaks' event. I went along on Sunday which culminated in over 300 on the grass at Chatsworth.

[keo]

Quags said:

Absolutely love this car, my dream next step! Quite a jump up from my S3 Sprint though.

Thanks Quags! If you can do it I would definitely recommend it. However I haven’t driven an S3 or Sprint. I know Lotus isn’t really about the engine but the v6 does make it great fun! But any Lotus is special imo.

Only real downsides of the Exige compared to Elise is I know I can take the roof off but it’s a lot easier on an Elise and like how the Exige looks with it on.
Elise is cheaper to run but I can still get over 30mpg on a steady run. But I do like to hear the noise it makes,..

[R33FAL]

would love to hear your thoughts on how this compares to your previous GT4? What didn't you like about the GT4 that this ticks the box of?