Should you buy one?

On paper the Lotus Evora isn’t a particularly easy sell, because this is a car that deals in sensation rather than luxury trims available or the size and number of touchscreens in the cabin.

If you’re in the market for a coupe that delivers as pure a driving experience as possible, we don’t think you’ll want to drive anything else after trying this one.

First of all there’s the noise it makes, which is like nothing else on sale today thanks to what sounds like significantly less baffling between the engine and the outside world than all its key rivals. It’s also got a proper sports car engine – a massive V6 – even if its originally comes from a Toyota family car.

Then there’s the linear acceleration, free from boosty turbocharged mid-range shove and intoxicating to rev out to the limit, before you’re called upon to select another gear from the brilliant, mechanical-feeling manual ‘box.

Finally it steers like you’d expect a sports car to steer – hydraulic power assistance might not give you a completely uncorrupted connection to the tarmac in the same way that an unassisted rack does, but it’s miles ahead of rivals’ electric set ups.

Yes it can be tricky to get in and out if you’re tall, the boot is small (and unlike some mid-engined cars it only gets one) and the rear seats large enough only for very small children, but the Evora’s driving experience and sense of occasion every time you climb aboard more than makes up for it.

Further reading

>> Best sports cars
>> Lotus Exige review
>> Star ratings explained