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Go, speed racers, go
Lotus, Porsche flaunt their latest European power plays: street legal, if not streetwise.
DAN NEIL
April 25, 2007 -

ONE is British, the other German. The Brit is a 1-ton, mid-engine atomic pixie stripped to the bare metal floor, a car so loud and raw that when its 220-horsepower supercharged four is at — how to put this delicately? — full suck, it sounds like an Oreck vacuum cleaner has taken up residence in your helmet. The German is almost exactly a half-ton heavier, a winged, ground-skimming vampire with a 415-hp, 3.6-liter flat six stuck in its keister. The sound of this engine is breathtaking, biblical, deeply sinister, like a two-man logging team cutting down the Tree of Knowledge.


2007 Lotus Exige S

Base price: $60,815

Price, as tested: $64,855

Powertrain: Mid-mounted supercharged and inter-cooled 1.8-liter DOHC inline four cylinder with variable valve timing; six-speed manual transmission; rear wheel drive

Horsepower: 220 hp at 8,000 rpm

Torque: 165 pound-feet at 5,500 rpm

Curb weight: 2,077 pounds

0-60 mph: 4 seconds

Wheelbase: 90.5 inches

Overall length: 149.5 inches

EPA fuel economy: 23 miles per gallon city, 29 mpg highway

Final thoughts: Devil in a blue mini-dress

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2007 Porsche 911 GT3

Base price: $106,860

Price, as tested: $120,735

Powertrain: Rear-mounted, naturally aspirated, horizontally opposed DOHC six cylinder with variable induction and valve timing; six-speed manual transmission; rear-wheel drive

Horsepower: 415 at 7,600 rpm

Torque: 300 pound-feet at 5,500 rpm

Curb weight: 3,031 pounds

0-60 mph: 4 seconds

Wheelbase: 92.9 inches

Overall length: 176.9 inches

EPA fuel economy: 17 miles per gallon city, 24 mpg highway

Final thoughts: Road & Track special edition