Lotus Europa S

When we first heard that Lotus was working on a GT based on the high-tech Elise/Exige platform, we imagined a rival for the Porsche Cayman S and Audi TT, but instead, Lotus stayed truer to its lightweight sportscar philosophy and came up with the Europa S, a pure driver's car, but one that is easier to live with day to day than the other models in the Lotus range.

There's no point comparing the Europa S to the Cayman, despite the modest £3,000 difference in price, as we think they will appeal to very different buyers. Where the Cayman cossets and compliments its driver's abilities, the Lotus is more about getting down and dirty with what's going on underneath. It's a good car for the keen driver that actually fancies going further afield than would be comfortable in the harder-edged Lotus Exige for example. Still, we don't see many buyers using the Europa as their only car.

Tuesday January 30