A LOTUS EXIGE AND A GR YARIS ENGINE ARE A MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN
When Lotus launched the Exige Series 2, it abandoned its middling Rover engine for a pair of four-cylinder engines from Toyota. Then the sports car company showed how flexible its design was by dropping in the V6 engine from a Camry. If you can use those Toyota engines, can the Exige handle any Toyota engine? One man took the best engine Toyota sells right now and found out. The GRExige is a Series 2 Exige with a GR Yaris G16E-GTS three-cylinder engine underneath (the same engine in the GR Corolla), tweaked to make 500 horsepower in an ultralight car modified to be a racetrack missile. You can check out the detailed YouTube video at the bottom of this article.
2025 Toyota GR Corolla
Handmade Bodywork For GT3 Replica Exige
The owner's concept was to build a GT3-spec Exige, starting with a car that had been written off. He couldn't get real GT3 bodywork, so he started to build his own. Once the car had that GT3 look, a big rear wing, and a new front splitter, Ross Hobsons decided that 200 horsepower from the stock 1.8-liter engine wasn't enough.
He thought about the usual suspects like a Honda K-Series engine and some other options, but didn't like them. The factory Toyota 2ZZ was too difficult to tune. Then providence arrived in the form of an oil change in his GR Yaris ahead of a track day.
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It wasn't easy; the car needed a load of specialist work, including scans of the engine to make everything the car needed for the engine, chassis, and sequential gearbox to work together. Along the way, a new GR Yaris 1.6-liter three-cylinder was sourced from DJR Performance in Wales.
The engine was decked and forged pistons were installed. The fuel system has been upgraded, and it has a bigger turbo than it came with from Toyota. Hobsons says the combination is good for 700 horsepower, a figure the insane 1.6-liter has already shown is possible, but that it had been turned down to more like 500 hp to keep things safe. In this case, safe means reliable.
Lotus Waves Goodbye To Elise And Exige With Hardcore Final Editions
The legendary sports cars will get the send-off they deserve.
A mix of Series 1 and Series 2 parts gives the car lower weight and better airflow for engine cooling. Some very thin carbon parts are scattered throughout, including a lighter roof, stripped carbon fiber doors, and even the clamshells themselves to help make an already featherweight car even lighter. Colin Chapman would approve.
Walkthrough Shows Just How Janky Lotus Could Be
Remote reservoir Öhlins shocks control the body and handle the downforce from the big aero parts front and rear. The video shows just how rudimentary the Lotus factory build was. With the interior bits and shields removed, rough cuts, welds, and unfinished parts are on display in a way that is almost embarrassing to see.
1,000-HP Toyota GR Yaris Ready To Break Records
And you thought the Yaris was just a mild-mannered hatch.
Walking through the car, though, shows a very interesting level of attention to detail. Plus plenty of ways to help lighten a car without replacing parts where you won't get much of a benefit.
It isn't quite ready, but it's getting there. It needs some wiring, and probably paint. Then the GRexige will be ready to terrorize tracks around the UK. It should stay away from South Africa, though - there's a 765-hp Ferrari-swapped Exige down there.
