Objectively, the Lotus Exige is a very silly car. It looks like someone took an Elise - itself a silly car - and attacked it with carbon fiber. It's so tiny and impractical that even I, a short 24 year old, had a difficult time climbing in and out of it.

Of course, after driving the Exige, just about every other car on the road seems silly, especially other "performance" vehicles. Most of the fast cars we drive these days come loaded with complicated - and expensive - technology, all in a vain effort to approximate the experience this car provides with virtually no electronics to speak of. No variable power steering - no power assist at all, actually - no dual-clutch transmission, no active dampers. It's just a light, fast car with a powerful engine....Continued