Lotus Exige with BMW M5 V10 Engine Swap – Video

Lotus might be struggling these days, but its chassis engineering genius still shines from all corners of the world. We’re not talking about contraptions such as the Tesla Roadster here, but rather about what the Hennessey Venom GT would look like if it were built with German bits and pieces.

This has to be the best way to describe the Lotus Exige in the video below. We’ll cut right to the chase and tell you this car features a BMW S85 V10 engine. The build seems to be a DIY job handled by the Swedish owner of the machine.

The project started back in 2012, with a massive build thread being found on these Niue forums. The British sportscar has received so many technical changes that it’s hard to establish an order for mentioning them.

 

 

Further down the power line, we find a Porsche Boxster S six-speed manual gearbox, while stopping power also comes from Porsche hardware.

Then again, the greatest challenge here was to prepare the chassis for adopting the F1 tribute engine. The wheelbase was extended, while plenty of suspension work was done.

 

 

While watching the first video below would convince you the 5-liter V10 couldn’t be wrapped by the Elise’s body, regardless of the mods, that’s far from the truth.

In fact, as you’ll be able to see in the photo gallery below, the current form of the car makes it a bit of a sleeper. You’ll have to look at the details to notice there’s something different about this Lotus.

From the elongation job to the massive exhaust pipes sticking out the upper rear fascia, there are plenty of clues. But you might not have time to notice them if the driver decides to use all 507 hp of the V10.

This guy has quite some S85 swap experience, as his previous car was an E30 3-Series using BMW’s V10 heart. We’ve also added a clip about this car below.

Come to think of it, the V10 seems to suit the Exige better than its original M5/M6 hosts. Lotuses have always asked their drivers to work for extracting the performance, and it’s enough to mention the torque delivery of this atmospheric engine to understand.