The £50k Lotus that trumps Ferrari

With the new Evora 2+2, Lotus has "served an ace", says Chris Chilton on the Car magazine blog. And no, this is not just a "blithely patriotic, let's-support-another-Brit-underdog exercise" Lotus really has "struck a rare seam of creativity".

It's as comfortable as any of its rivals, drives brilliantly with precise steering, and is "rapid and different enough to make a very serious alternative to a Porsche Cayman or 911".

If the car has one secret weapon, it's efficiency, says Steve Cropley in Autocar. It has a superb 276bhp, 3.5-litre, Toyota-sourced V6 engine. That takes the car to a top speed of 160mph and to 60mph in less than five seconds. Yet it still delivers 30mph real-world fuel-consumption and low CO2 numbers (250g/km). And the entry price is just £49,875.

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If your priority is driving fulfilment, then you should buy one. Whether you're swapping lap times with friends at Castle Combe or driving to Rome for a holiday, the Evora's "great in all modes".

The trouble with handbuilt cars like the Lotus is that they can't compete with modern production methods, says Jeremy Clarkson in The Sunday Times. So he was expecting it to "smell of glue, give me cramp and fall to pieces".

But "I was in for a bit of a shock". To make up for the car's inevitable faults, it was going to have to be either "very good or very cheap... And here's the thing. It's both." The two seats in the back can actually be used, and even if you're 6ft 7in you'll fit in the front. It's even got a useable boot. "It's amazing."

It's "not a car you buy because it's a Lotus and you have always fancied one. It's a car you buy because you want a comfortable, practical, mid-engined supercar and no one else makes such a thing. Not Ferrari. Not Lamborghini. Not anyone", says Clarkson.