Lotus Exige S

How do you get closer to God? Buy a bible? Open a church? Nope. Take a spin in a Lotus Exige - that, more than anything, will teach you the true nature of mortality.

See, the Exige is a very special machine, mastering heart-stopping acceleration at the same time as controlling it with poise, and grace. This, ladies and gents, is power with responsibility.

Not only have Lotus created one of the fastest accelerating machines in the world, they've also created one of the quickest to stop. Whack the Exige's anchors on and you'll discover they've got more stopping power than Kate Moss in her underwear. Something you'll need with a top speed of 147 miles per hour. The downforce created by this car is also incredible, but necessary, given its featherlight frame.

But that's not to say the Exige is without fault. For a start, its seating position puts your eyes on a level with most cars' exhaust pipes, and you won't even discover that until you've endured the embarrassment of folding yourself inside.

If we're honest, it's difficult to imagine driving the Exige to any sort of practical event. The boot space is laughable, the body shape the antithesis of subtlety and the noise, oh, the noise! In short, it'd be a bad idea to turn up to a funeral in this.

But then that's exactly the point. What Lotus have created is a glorious excuse to become a child again. It's a jumped-up roller skate, a speed-freak's wet dream, and the ultimate set of weekend wheels.

Would we use it daily? Not a chance. But for the chance to own one, we'd give both front teeth, our hind legs, oh, and we'd relinquish that spot at our own mother's funeral too.