What lights our (carbon neutral) fire about this car is the apparent contradiction. It’s 13 feet of bristling skin over bone caged energy, as adept at making children momentarily drop any pretensions of cool and wave manically as it is at devouring race circuits. Light weight and consequently very fleet of foot the Exige is famous for out-handling and braking far more powerful supercars on road or track at a fraction of the cost, and the best bit of all this one goes harder by quaffing a eco-friendlier fuel.
 
The new 265E version is powered by the same-old supercharged Toyota engine as the familiar Exige S, but this time runs on bio-ethanol meaning around 70% less carbon dioxide emissions and 44bhp more go. Sounds virtuous? Well as 0-60mph arrives in 3.88 seconds and the top speed is a hugely illegal 158mph your virtue may be in jeopardy. Your honour.
 
What we love about the Lotus is the ability to meander down to the Tramp and Bottle for a leisurely half of Crusty Half Hat shandy or remorselessly real off committed laps at a track day. Pull on some nomex and enter a race or hill climb and you'll neither look out of place or appear at the bottom of the timesheet against 'proper' race cars, yet it's just as happy doing the weekly shop or leaving the opposite sex breathless with desire as you burble past the wine bar. The view from the supportive drivers seat framed by wrap around screen and bulging wheel arches turns motorways in to Mulsane Straights, and on country roads the view reminds you more of the opening scene in the Italian Job. You know, the bit with the Lamborghini just before it comes to a sticky end with a Mafiosi bulldozer, but I digress.
 
You'll understand all this if you have petrol running in your veins, and because your reading this you'll be excited to see you can get a pure hit of automotive heroin from something that has amongst the lowest emissions of any car on sale today. Looks like the boffins at lotus, as ever guided by the invisible hand of late founder and engineering genius Colin Chapman have worked out how to have your cake and eat it.
 
The catch? Whilst it’s production ready there are currently too few E85 bio-ethanol supplying fuel stations around the UK at least so most of the time Brits will be using regular unleaded. The environment needs quick fix vehicles like this to deliver significant and instant cuts in CO2 output but it’ll only happen with some governmental assistance in the form of fuel duty reductions to make potential converts sit up and take notice and spur fuel stations in to wider supply. Are you listening Whitehall?

http://www.grouplotus.com/car/