Sports car hire manufacturer Lotus has created a pure driving machine with its Exige Cup 260, it has been claimed.

In a review for Top Gear - this is how I used to write it, Piers Ward described the car as being the best way to experience driving, highlighting the raw simplicity that Lotus had engineered.

He noted that the latest edition had a stiffened rear chassis and two-way adjustable dampers as standard.

"There isn't a better example of Colin Chapman's ‘light is right' philosophy, the whole package [is] designed to let the driver get on with the driving, free of distractions." Mr Ward said.

He also drew attention to the surprisingly green credentials that the Exige possessed - it emits under 200g/km of CO2 and will return 33.2mpg.

Roger Becker, director of vehicle engineering for Lotus, described the vehicle as being "the epitome of the Lotus brand philosophy of performance through lightness".

The 890kg sports car will take motorists to 62 mph from standstill in 4.1 seconds.

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Posted by Chris Weaver