thonda

of course not, but if you never driven one for an extended period of time, how can you make a comparison?

DVDoughboy

Yes

Don't pay sticker for a Cayman S.
They can be had from 0 up to 10k off sticker.

Cabinetman

I would have to go with the Cayman S as well. I've never driven the Lotus, but I did climb into one and it is a very extreme car. If I was a track nut I would probably lust after one, but for carving up backroads I would prefer something with a little less edge.

Kevin

s2kpdx01

I didn't enjoy getting in and out of it. I'm sure it's great on track or on a sunny day, but as a DD it was terrible IMO. I don't believe driving it for an extended period of time would have made it better. I liked the way it handled that wasn't the issue.

thonda

understood, i think the exige is one of the very few cars with "soul" especially at its price range.

Some ppl can't do DD in it, but others love it, getting in and out is a bitch but you'll get use to that in a week.

vAnt

I can't picture myself driving a 2100 pound car. All I can think of is how well that chassis can take a hit.

Any SUV accidents with the Exige with most likely be fatal.

thonda

it's actually pretty safe car, i flip one and walked away from it unharmed

Penforhire

I don't value vehicles for their safety. Heck, I ride a motorcycle (about 7K miles in and around LA every year). I've seen plenty of Elises and, more recently, Exiges. They definitely scream "exotic"... or was that "kit car?" Well, one or the other hits you hard just from looking at it.

The Cayman says baby-911 to me. Not a horrible thing but not exotic to me.

I guess it comes down to how hard core you want your DD to be. Most of us are, or were, S2000 owners. That is a fairly hard core ride to start with so I'm not surprised the Lotus machines catch our interest as much as they do.

And I'm sure my wife would want to drive the Cayman from time to time. 100% guaranteed I'd have the Lotus all to myself...

vAnt

Colliding with an another vehicle is my primary concern.

vader1

Safety is all in the design. Formula cars are not that heavy and they hit the wall at 200 mph and guys walk away. The tub around the driver is built with protection in mind. No, its not the safest car on the road, but I bet it would protect the driver better than many of the common cars on the road today.

It would not surprise me to find it might hold up better in a crash than a Fit, or Cobalt, or even, dare I say an S2000 and no one makes the same argument about safety in those.

People seem to just get hung up on the 2100 pounds. If they made the body panels out of lead so it weighed the same as an S2000 would that make anyone feel any better? People have walked away from some pretty serious accidents in these things, and people die in F150s every day.

If the cockpit is puposefully built by people with race experience, is the safety deficit just perception or reality? Miatas have weighed barely more than an Exige for years and I seemed to have missed the 60 Minutes "Unsafe at any Speed" piece on those. An no, the isurance companies don't seemed to have priced Miatas out of existence.

Its small, vehicles around you will seem much bigger, once you get over that it is not much different from just about any other small roadster.