THE Lotus Exige is perfect as a fun car for the weekend or for a track-day enthusiast but it's a hard car to live with every day.

The amazing performance is enough to give a huge adrenalin rush and dynamically everything else about the car matches that immense urge.

Like the Elise on which it's based, few cars come close to giving the same performance for your pound.

Even the base model has 190bhp from its Toyota-sourced 1.8 engine which revs to over 8,000 and reels in the horizon like a fish on a line.

The S adds a supercharger giving 220bhp from the same 1.8 and the range topping 260 has that amount of power allied to ultra light weight giving 0-60 in a supercar-bashing 4.1 seconds.

Road holding and handling are sublime and unbelievably quick and the ride is also reasonably comfortable.

There's no power steering so parking can be tough and the noise level with the engine behind your ear is hard to live with.

There is just enough room for two inside, entry and exit are difficult, home comforts are few and far between and there is very little storage space or boot.

They hold their value very well so be suspicious of any car that's being sold for less than market value and its best to avoid cars that have been modified.