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Lotus Exige Gallery
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| SAFETY AND SECURITY RATING: |
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Neither Exige nor Elise have been assessed by independent crash testers EuroNCAP but we suspect they'd get a pretty good score. Light vehicles tend to fare well in single-vehicle crashes, because there is less force involved in the impact. (When crashing into a bigger, heavier car, compatibility comes into play, which is where heavy vehicles do better.)
Beneath the Exige's body, there are deformable composite crash structures at the front and rear, and suspension components are also designed to fail before the car's bonded aluminium chassis sustains any damage. Which is just as well, because damaging that could prove expensive.
ABS anti-lock brakes are standard on the Exige, and all Toyota-engined Elises. And it's a very good system, too. Because all these models have the same outside tyre diameter, the ABS can be set up with a very close tolerance, unlike on a car with optional wheel sizes, where it'd have to cut in a bit sooner to allow for different wheel rotation. According to Lotus, in the dry the tyres will squeal before the system cuts-in, which makes it good for the track, too. The company knows that some purist owners will try to disable the system, but they won't stop any quicker if they do, even on a high-grip dry track.
By virtue of having a hard-top, the Exige is more secure than an Elise, and also gets central locking as standard. We'd still recommend an alarm and perhaps a vehicle tracking system, too.
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