2010 Lotus Exige S240, the eco-friendly affordable supercar

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Lotus, beguiling Lotus. How much more video game and, well, toy-like can your cars get? That question was answered yesterday, a resounding ‘a lot more,’ with specifications and photos of the 2010 Lotus Exige S240, the hardtop, wide-winged, roof-scooped, track-ready version of the just slightly more sedate targa-topped Lotus Elise.

The Exige, to use a very, very well-worn automotive journalist nugget, is like a track car made street legal. To say that the Exige handles like it is on rails is a disservice to both rails, which makes one think of Disneyland’s Autopia and to the genius tuning prowess of Lotus.

The Exige, we feel, is what every sports car should aspire to. With a nimble fleet-footedness on the road and a mid-mounted heart of an intercooled and supercharged 1.8-liter Lotus-tuned and Toyota-sourced four-cylinder engine that is force fed air by the sweet looking – and functional – roof scoop, the darn thing scoots along the road, the track and whatever automotive video game your Xbox or PS3 can play.

Though it may seem a small amount of power -- just 240 horsepower and 170 ft.-lbs. of torque -- for a vehicle in the featherweight class (just 2,077 pounds), the Exige S240 has a 0-60 mph time of 4.1 seconds and a 0-100 mph time is about 10 seconds with a top speed of 150 mph. Also, for those who like to move quickly and in style and still be an eco-conscious member of society -- which basically describes half the male population of the Westside -- the Exige’s fuel economy is a slight 20 mpg city and 26 mpg highway. We think even more if you can hypermile the Exige.

We can go on and on about the race-derived launch and traction controls, the chassis made from extruded and sheet aluminum and constructed with aerospace epoxy bonding techniques, we can wax lyrical about the synchromesh six-speed manual transmission, we can drool over the updated-and-refreshed-for-2010 front fascia and the Exige’s larger, low-drag rear wing, which Lotus says, ‘not only reduces drag, but also gives a more muscular stance enhancing the lightweight shrink-wrapped look of the whole car,” but we feel the specs and, better yet, pictures speak for themselves.

The Lotus is also somewhat affordable, as affordable supercars go. The 2010 Lotus Exige S240 is scheduled to launch in the United States this fall with pricing to remain consistent with the 2009 model, starting at $65,690. We suggest opting for the track package, as those new adjustable Ohlins dampers with remote reservoirs look mighty sweet, even for throwing it around Sepulveda Boulevard at night, which is as close to the track as a lot of the Exiges sold in Los Angeles will get.

-- Jon Alain Guzik

Jon Alain Guzik is editor-in-chief at DriverSide.com