Fast Sports Cars

The most exciting sports cars are very low, very noisy and don't have a lot of creature comforts. The Caterham Sevens are the best examples. The car is almost the same as the Lotus Seven, one of Colin Chapman's most famous designs. The basic model still has the same front suspension as the Lotus Seven and it works well. At the rear, most Caterham Sevens have de Dion axles, but the top-of-the-range model has double wishbones.

The original Lotus Seven had about 40 bhp, but the basic Caterham now has 150 bhp, and is a great sports car to drive. You can hear every beat of the engine and every whine of the gears. Also, you can see the front wheels, and see the tire squirm when you start to corner fast. These cars are not too much fun in the rain, though, unless you use the soft-top, which is fairly basic.

Even then, water can get thrown off the front tires onto the rear fender, and then squirted straight at you! On a long journey, you can end up with your feet in half an inch of water if the sealing is not perfect. One reason it might not be perfect, is that you or some other enthusiast assembled the car, not the factory. Is this the sort of sports car you want, or would you like to find out about all the top sports cars.

Among mass-produced cars, the Mazda Miata or MX-5 is a great little car. If you are buying one, I recommend the model that went out of production a couple of years ago. It is not as fast as the latest one, but it has somewhat more progressive handling - and you can buy one at a reasonable price, although they do keep their price.

Further up the market, the Porsche Boxster is a superb sports car, and the Nissan 350Z is pretty fast too - and handles well. BMW makes one sports car, the Z4, and there is a faster version - the Z4 M. Among mid-priced front engined sports cars, the Nissan 350Z takes some beating, but in this class the Boxster, or the more expensive Porsche Cayman is my favorite.

If you are looking for more power but can't afford a supercar, then you could consider buying a kit car like an AC Shelby Cobra replica. Very light with a big V-8, this is a really powerful sports car. Another option, but rather expensive, is a replica of a Ford GT40, still a great looking car, and a good performer.

When you choose a sports car you need to think how you will drive it, and the sort of power you want. Do you want the engine to have plenty of grunt low down? Or do you like to rev the engine wildly, listening to that near-racing engine sound as you accelerate?

If you like mid-range grunt, you will probably like the Nissan 350Z, but if you like a high-revving engine, then the Hondsa S2000 is for you. The Audi TT - unfortunately front-wheel drive, and even the quattro versions tend to behave more like front-drive than four-wheel drive - you get something in between, depending which engine you choose.

Any true sports car is great fun to drive and gets you back in touch with the road.