Rare Lotus Exige S1 has only 81 km on the odometer

AutoRAI of 2001

This beautiful Lotus Exige S1 was sold to its first owner by Van der Kooi Sportscars at the 2001 AutoRAI. The car – with chassis no. – also has 2001 as its year of construction. It was delivered new and the car has always been owned by one owner. One small note though: the car comes with no registration documents.

FIA GT homologation

The Lotus Exige was unveiled at the Lotus Motorsport Elise race series at Brands Hatch on April 9, 2000. Designed as a street-legal racing car, it is the coupe version of the Elise Motorsport, a limited-edition model developed specifically for FIA GT homologation in the new millennium.

Lotus Exige S1

Sharing its base with the Elise’s familiar aluminum bonded chassis, the Lotus Exige S1 is distinguished by a distinctive front spoiler and a prominent carbon fiber rear spoiler inspired by the Esprit 350 Sport. The Exige has clear influences from the radical Elise 340R, with similar components such as lightweight seats and wheels. A special detail is the large polycarbonate rear window, which provides a view of the engine and its complex mechanicals.

Powertrain

Under the hood is a 1.8-liter K-series four-cylinder engine, which sends power to the rear wheels via a five-speed manual transmission with short gears. Top speed is 219 mph. Only 604 examples of the Exige S1 were produced, of which only 188 had the steering wheel on the left side.

Red alcantara

This particular Exige, finished in black metallic, is one of those rare 188 left-hand drive examples. It features a red alcantara interior in almost new condition. It is equipped with several options from the factory, such as air conditioning, red alcantara sport seats with harness belts, a radio preinstallation, spotlights, a carbon airbox and original Lotus alloy wheels (16-inch front and 17-inch rear).

Solid price

Although this Exige has been excellently preserved, it has not been driven for the past 23 years and needs a technical overhaul before it can hit the road again. A copy of the original receipt comes with the car, including a list of options and a single key. Cheap the car is not. The asking price for this Lotus Exige is 99,900 euros, excluding VAT. With VAT, that comes to 120,879 euros.