Adore an Evora; LATEST LOTUS IS A LITTLE MIRACLE.

Byline: Richard Hammond

THE new Lotus Evora is really rather special, but before I launch into approximately 750 words of flowing praise one thing needs to be said.

Who on earth at Lotus really thinks that the back seat of this car could take a full-grown adult homo sapiens any further than the length of a pub car park?

As you will have no doubt observed I am not particularly tall yet there's no way I would climb into the back of Lotus's 2+2. The +2 bit is a space for putting shopping bags or transporting a pair of garden gnomes. Or for getting learner potholers used to very cramped spaces before shoving them down a hole in Yorkshire.

The answer is to buy the entry-level Evora that only has two seats and is a couple of grand cheaper anyway.

I doubt Lotus will be that cross because no one buys a car like this for carrying basketball players around. Besides, the Evora's main rival, the Porsche Cayman, doesn't have any rear seats so gnomes have to go under the hatchback or in the front boot.

Everyone will compare it to the Porsche but they are very different. The Cayman is not British and Porsche has only won one Formula One race - in 1962. Lotus won loads of world championships, though it doesn't take part any more. And if you go to a big city you will trip over Porsches - but an Evora will always be a rare sight even if Lotus does sell 2,000 a year as it plans to.

Lotuses used to break down a lot which is why people joked it stood for "Lots Of Trouble Usually Serious" but they don't any more. The Evora is powered by a 3.5-litre Toyota V6, and Toyota makes very reliable cars.

Lotus has tweaked the engine though, and its boffins in Norfolk have performed a slight miracle by cleaning it up to emit only 205g/km of CO2.

That's cleaner than a nun's bookshelf. The Evora's 162mph top speed and 0-62mph acceleration in 4.9sec might look a bit slow by today's top performance motors. But the new Lotus is about handling and feeling like Jenson Button, not about winning bragging competitions at the bar.

The Evora's steering is light and accurate and about as good as steering gets until some whitecoat dreams up a system whereby we can think a car around a corner. Best of all, the Lotus rides beautifully over bumps so you can drive it quickly on country roads without damaging your back or bouncing off into a field. Many family cars don't float along the road as lightly as the Evora. I also got the chance to drive the Evora on a track and it was rather good fun.

There's enough power to go really fast, but a bonus is you can feel what the car is doing, and if you do get a bit too Jenson it will give you a gentle warning so you can slow a bit before you end up sitting in a load of broken glassfibre.

The 276bhp V6 sounds lovely and warbly as you go past 4,000rpm. Lotus has added a sport function which gives you another 400rpm on top of the usual 6,600rpm and speeds up throttle response.

I had it selected the whole time I drove the car. The most disappointing bit is the gear change, which has a couple of cables from the lever to the gearbox.

But Lotus engineers, whose buttocks and fingertips are the most sensitive parts of any living creature, are fixing that, so by the time most people hand over their cash it'll be fine.

You may be surprised by the Evora's posh leather-covered cabin.

Lotus used to struggle with smart interiors but the Evora looks nice inside but will be even better when Lotus has practised a bit more.

And I think it will get plenty of practice because it's a car a lot of people will fall in love with.

THE RIVALS

Porsche Cayman S Fabulous handling and engine. The only thing it lacks is exclusivity.

Audi TT RS We haven't driven it yet but a TT with 335bhp can't be all bad, can it?

Mercedes-Benz SLK55 A very different sort of car but the Evora doesn't have any more straight rivals. Solid, fast and stylish.