Lotus Europa

Fact: Lotus does not make a crap car. Have a squint over its model range, and you’ll notice lots of good stuff. No lemons to keep the coffers brimmed, no deceptive marketing fluff.

Well, almost. Take the Europa. It’s branded a ‘sports grand tourer’. It’s not. It’s definitely ‘sports’, but the GT part is a little ambitious. Taking it on a long journey is a bit like booking a premium-economy plane seat – nice idea, but a long way off first class.

But if we forget the GT thing, this revised SE version makes lots of sense – it’s incredibly good at the sport thing, see. It's a second quicker to 100km/h than the previous model (4.9secs), plus lowered suspension, bigger wheels and some minor styling changes. It’s the most aggressive-looking Europa yet.

You get all the agility of an Elise too (even though the chassis is slightly different), but a very different character, thanks to its turbocharged 2.0-litre engine.

It’s really, really quick – bulging with torque and surging around on a swell of turbo boost. But it’s flexible too, so you never have to fish for the right gear – the power is just instant and accessible.

So should you get one? It really depends how you like your Lotuses. If you like them well-specced and turbo’d, this is what you need.

Dan Read