Good to hear.

[tut]

So spending a weekend in a car such as McLaren 12C is still regarded as a treat and a responsibility. I emailed the Autocar bosses, asking to borrow the McLaren long-termer. I was gently reminded that replacing a kerbed wheel would cost £1500 per corner, given a pre-flight briefing and handed the carbon-fibre encased remote.

But two days driving the 12C made me think: does anybody, especially a thoughtful and enthusiastic driver, actually need a full-on supercar? Don’t get me wrong, the 12C was an amazing experience. The full-bore acceleration (slip roads come in terribly useful for that) was astonishing.

Anyway, as I rolled back into London on Sunday evening, I thought hard about what the average driving is missing out by being unable to afford a traditional supercar. Thinking of rather more affordable cars, in terms of sheer road surface feedback, nothing could ever beat the experience I had collecting one of the first production Lotus Elise models from Hethel in 1996. I still hadn’t got over shock by the time I dropped the car off in Hemel Hempstead.

tut

[j2 lot]

Less is more