Don't expect to be in any way disappointed with the reality of the car in the flesh. Discreet in an armed bodyguard kind of way, it's plain, featureless and smooth. It looks black, but, in fact, once it was built at the Opel plant in Germany and shipped over to Hethel to become a Lotus, the Lotus Carlton was only available in Imperial Green - near as dammit black, but somehow just a bit cooler. This was the fastest four-door saloon for years, but it's no stripped out boy-racer, it's really not one for boys at all. Aircon, leccy windows, leather - all of that gangster stuff is present and correct - but it is hauled about by a straight-six 3.6-litre engine with two turbochargers making 377bhp. God, it sounds good. And it feels simply unbelievable.