Top 5 most desirable 2-seaters
Author: Haje Jan Kamps
Published: 23 December 2005
It´s winter, we´re cold, and in a constant state of pre-Christmas bedazzlement. But that doesn´t stop us from dreaming about hot cars. This week, MotorTorque has rounded up the 5 most desirable 2-seaters on sale in the UK today. The catch? They had to come with a £30,000 list price - or lower. OK, so 2-seaters are hardly the most useful cars in the world. The luggage capacity is rubbish, and you can obviously only take two people with you. Besides, they are consistently grossly over-priced for what they are. So why do we bother doing a feature on them? Well, primarily, they are some of the finest examples of what nutty car manufacturers can do. Out of our list, two of the cars can barely be described as cars. Sure, they are road legal, but when it comes down to it, they are an engine and wheels, and as little as possible extra. The three others are sports cars in their own right, with their own quirks and advantages. But most importantly, 2-seaters are just plain fun.
5 - Ariel Atom (£20K - £24K)
• Compare free no-obligation quotes If you´ve never heard of the Atom, we don´t blame you - it´s a very strange beast indeed. It has taken the ´what does a car really need´ approach, and it seems as if the designer decided ´not a lot´. So you don´t get doors. You don´t get a roof. You don´t get a lot of body panels, either. In fact, the only thing you get is a 2 litre Honda engine, tuned either to 160 or 220 horsepower, and the bare minimum of bits and pieces needed to hold the engine to the chassis, and the chassis to the wheels. Nothing more. Nothing less.
The result is a strange-looking 2-seater sports car with a higher power-to-weight ratio than any Ferrari, Porsche or Aston Martin out there. With a total weight of 456 kg (that´s the same weight as about 6 people, or about half that of a Ford Ka), this little baby really flies. If you drive through a puddle, your pants go wet. If you drive during winter, you´ll freeze to death. If you make a mistake whilst driving it, you are out of luck, because there is no technology here that is going to save you. But if any of this bothers you, you would have missed the point of the Ariel Atom completely.4 - Lotus Elise (£23K - £28K)
• Compare free no-obligation quotes £30K buys you not-a-lot of Mercedes. And you don´t get a lot of BMW either. But in the Lotus camp, if you have 30 big ones, you can choose from the top shelf. The Lotus series starts at £23,000 with the basic model Elise and continues up to the Exige, which is a special racing edition of the Elise, at £32,000.
Within our budget, however, the Lotus Elise 111R is the cream of the crop, however. It uses the same 189 bhp Toyota engine as the Exige, and will gladly whip you from 0-60 in just shy of 5 seconds. Much like the Atom, the Elise is a sports car stripped bare, but unlike the bare-tubes monstrosity, the Lotus actually adds some creature comforts to the mix. You get leather seats and a CD player, for example, and you can even order it with electric windows and air conditioning. In the US version of the Elise, you even get an airbag. Lotus have been known for creating some of the best-handling cars on the road, and the Elise is one of the best examples of this ever. Light weight, great acceleration and comfortable enough to use as a daily driver, the Lotus is one of those sports cars that prompts true driving pleasure.3 - Honda S2000 (£26K - £28K)
• Compare free no-obligation quotes The S2000 is a small miracle of automotive engineering. Out of an advanced 2.0 litre engine, it produces a brutal 236 bhp. And it does this without using forced induction, such as a super- or turbocharger. If that doesn´t mean much to you, just trust us on this one: It´s a very impressive feat.
It is fast, fun, and incredibly reliable, too. In fact, in Top Gear´s running car owners´ census, the Honda S2000 has won the highest degree of owners´ satisfaction the past two years. In other words: its owners are the happiest of all car owners in the UK. That´s got to count for something, right? The Honda S2000 is a soft-top, so in summer, it can be driven as a convertible - just like the Ariel (where you don´t have a choice) and the Elise (where opening and closing the roof is bloody clumsy). It is the first car in this list which has a full range of creature comforts, however - think of the S2000 less as a sports car, and more as a car that happens to have only two seats, a big engine, an openable roof, and a presence unlike most cars in this price range.2 - Chrysler Crossfire (£25K - £35K)
• Compare free no-obligation quotes The Crossfire was launched in 2003, and caused quite a stir for a handful of different reasons. For one thing, it is a gaudy monster with an European-sized V6 engine. Under our £30K budget you can buy it with the 3.2 litre 215 bhp engine. If you continue up the range, you can get it with the SRT variation, which packs a healthy 330 supercharged horses.
Whether you like the bold looks of the Crossfire is a matter of taste, but either way, you are guaranteed to get noticed - the same goes for a few others of the current Chrysler range, including the evil-looking Chrysler 300C and the newly updated Chrysler PT Cruiser. It seems as if our list is going from the rampant to the comfortable. From the Ariel Atom and the Lotus Elise, which both are stripped-out sports cars, via the Honda S2000 which is a sports roadster, to the Chrysler Crossfire which is an executive roadster with heaps and heaps of comfort and style. The seats are obviously not built to keep the driver in the seat during hard driving - it´s comfort all the way. Crossfire has its downfalls as well, of course. Technically, it is essentially the same as the previous-model Mercedes Benz SLK: Not very impressive. What is impressive, however, is the incredibly cool rear spoiler which automatically pops up once you drive faster than 60 MPH. Not cool enough for you? Well, there is a switch, too, which you can use to extend it. Bling or useful feature? Up to you to decide, but we quite liked it.1 - Caterham Super 7 (£15K - £37K)
• Compare free no-obligation quotes The Caterham Super Seven is the cheapest and most expensive vehicle in our listing. The starting model comes with a simple 1.4 litre engine, gets you from 0-60 in six and a half seconds, and stops at about 110 mph - respectable enough. From there on, you can rapidly improve performance and handling, until you end up with the top-end model which uses a Cosworth racing engine which develops 260 horsepower, and is a fully-fledged racing machine. At about the same price you´ll find the 1.8 R500 model, which has one of the highest power-to-weight ratios in production cars today: Weighing only 460 kg yet packing 230 bhp results in 500 horses per tonne and a blistering 3.5 seconds to reach 60 mph from standstill.
You guessed it, the Caterham is another of those stripped-down cars, but it is one with years and years of racing history. The current model of the Super 7 was launched about 4 years ago, and whilst there aren´t that many owners out there, it does have a very tight-knit fan base, and their single-manufacturer racing is a sight to behold indeed. You can actually buy the Super 7 as a kit car: With this option, the complete car is supplied in component form with the chassis fully fitted with wiring loom, brake lines, fuel lines, bodywork, windscreen, fuel tank, pedals and instruments. All other parts are supplied and sorted ready for assembly, which means that you can actually build your own car from its parts. Not only does this add a whole dimension to ownership, it also illustrates how easy it is to do work on - and upgrade - the Caterhams yourself. Of course, ultimately it was the testosterone in us that chose the Caterham. The thought of getting one of these beauties delivered to the door and casually calling over our shoulders that "See you later, honey, I´m just going to the garage to build myself a car" is unbeatable. Even a Lamborghini Murcielago isn´t that alpha male.
See Also:
Click here for more Buying your car stories
Click here for more Convertible and roadster stories
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