Lotus Exige 260 Cup news - What comes after Size Zero? - 2009

The problem with last year's Lotus Exige 260 Cup was that it was a bit of a porker. A lardy, blimp-like, 928kg fattie.

So, like a fashion designer starving her already waif-like models, Lotus has forced the Exige 260 Cup onto a brutal weight loss strategy, forcing it onto a subsistence diet of carbon fibre bodywork, lightweight alloy wheels and a smaller battery.

The result? A veritably size-zero kerbweight of 890kg, 38kg lighter than last year.

With Lotus's supercharged 1.8-litre four-pot putting out 256bhp, that means a power-to-weight ratio of 288bhp per tonne, and a 0-60mph time of four seconds flat. It's pretty green by supercar standards, too, returning 33.2mpg and just 199g/km of CO2.

We got an early drive in the 260 Cup a few months ago. Read what we thought here. 

The price is a bit of a kicker, mind: the Exige 260 Cup costs £45,000, though that does generously include a full tank of fuel.

Put another way, that's £51 per kilo. Which, according to our meticulous research, makes it the same price as wild-harvested wood sorrel. We have no idea whether this makes the Exige Cup 260 a bargain or not...

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