Does the Lotus Exige have a Toyota engine?
Yes, the Lotus Exige sports car does use a Toyota engine. The Exige is powered by a Toyota-sourced 1.8-liter inline-four engine that has been modified and tuned by Lotus engineers to deliver impressive performance.
The Lotus Exige and its Toyota Engine
The Lotus Exige is a lightweight, high-performance sports car known for its exceptional handling and agility. While Lotus is a British automaker, the company has often turned to other manufacturers for key components, including the engine that powers the Exige.
The Exige uses a Toyota-sourced 1.8-liter inline-four engine that has been extensively reworked by Lotus engineers. This engine, which is also found in the Toyota Corolla and other Toyota models, has been tuned to produce significantly more power and torque in the Exige.
- Engine Displacement: 1.8 liters
- Engine Type: Inline-four cylinder
- Power Output: Up to 345 horsepower (depending on model)
- Torque: Up to 295 lb-ft (depending on model)
The Lotus-tuned Toyota engine provides the Exige with impressive performance, allowing the lightweight sports car to accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in as little as 3.5 seconds, depending on the specific model.
Why Lotus Chose a Toyota Engine
Lotus has a long history of using engines sourced from other manufacturers in its sports cars. There are a few key reasons why the company chose to use a Toyota engine in the Exige:
- Cost Savings: Sourcing an engine from a high-volume manufacturer like Toyota allows Lotus to save on development and production costs, which is important for a small automaker.
- Reliability: The Toyota engine is known for its reliability and durability, which aligns with Lotus' focus on creating high-performance vehicles that are also usable on a daily basis.
- Tuning Potential: The Toyota engine's inherent design and characteristics make it well-suited for the kind of extensive modifications and tuning that Lotus engineers perform to extract maximum performance.
By using a Toyota engine as the foundation and then extensively modifying and tuning it, Lotus is able to deliver the high-performance driving experience that the Exige is known for, while also benefiting from the cost savings and reliability of a proven Toyota powertrain.
Does Lotus use Toyota parts?
A common perspective shared amongst enthusiasts about modern Lotus vehicles is that while the British-built parts may break often, the Toyota-supplied parts are reliable. This video documenting the problems of a 2013 Evora shows that sometimes even the Toyota parts can cause issues.
What Japanese car is banned in the US?
Japanese Kei cars
A cute, cheap death trap? Japanese Kei cars banned by yet another US state. Limited in size and power, Kei cars are like fishes out of water on US roads. Kei cars are the antithesis of the big American SUV.
Which Lotus has a Honda engine?
Lotus Type 99T
| NAME | Lotus Type 99T |
|---|---|
| ENGINE | Honda RA166-E V6 turbo |
| POWER OUTPUT | 800 bhp |
| TRANSMISSION | Lotus/Hewland six-speed |
| WEIGHT | 538 kg |
Which Lotus has a Toyota engine?
The Evora is equipped with a mid-mounted, transverse, Toyota-sourced 3.5-litre 24-valve 2GR-FE V6 engine. The Evora S uses the same engine but with a supercharger. Both versions are available with either a six-speed manual or six-speed automatic transmission with "Intelligent Precision Shift," manufactured by Aisin.
Why is the Lotus Exige illegal in the US?
There is no way to make a 2011+ Elise or Exige street legal in the US. The re-engineering required was not economical for Lotus, and the Elise was the best seller in one of their largest markets. The V6 Exige has never been federalized, so it would have to be crash tested, etc.
Did Toyota own Lotus?
1986 – General Motors and Toyota buy a combined majority share in Group Lotus as co-owners. Toyota sells out to General Motors four months later. 1993 – General Motors sells Lotus to A.C.B.N Holdings S.A. of Luxembourg. 1996- Proton, a Malaysian car company, buys a majority share in the company.
Does Toyota still own Lotus?
Any driver who owns Lotus cars can tell you what an incredible driving experience these precision-engineered sports cars provide. But who makes Lotus cars? Currently, Lotus is owned by Geely, a Chinese multinational company, and Etika Automotive.
Who makes Lotus engines?
The Lotus Emira, a recent addition to the Lotus lineup, continues the tradition of utilizing Toyota engines. While the base model Emira features a 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine from Mercedes-AMG, the more powerful Lotus Emira V6 is equipped with a 3.5-liter supercharged V6 engine from Toyota.
Does the Lotus Emira use a Toyota engine?
The new Emira went on sale in March 2022 and came with a 3.5 litre supercharged V6 sourced by Toyota.
Who supplies Lotus engines?
Esprit Engineering are suppliers of genuine Lotus Engines and Engine Parts and we organise and stock parts that we have had fabricated to replace obsolete Lotus parts.
