Best for: simplicity
For more than 70 years, the Caterham Seven in all its forms (Lotus and Caterham) has been setting a defining standard for pure driver thrills.
If you don’t care about refinement, disregard modern crash-safety tests and wonder instead what kind of sports car will entertain you most widely and vividly wherever you happen to be, this diminutive British sports car is hard to beat.
The most affordable way into a new Seven is the Caterham Seven 170, which starts at £28,990 if you’re willing to wield the spanners and build it yourself.
With its 84bhp turbocharged 660cc Suzuki engine, the Caterham looks a little weedy on paper, but a kerb weight of as little as 440kg means 0-60mph can be done and dusted in less than 7.0sec, the gargling three-pot engine encouraging you all the way.
Above the Seven 170, Caterham now offers the retro-themed Super Seven 600 and Super Seven 2000. Extended front cycle wings and plenty of body chrome trim give these cars classic Seven looks, but they can still be bought and built in kit form, the latter offering 180bhp of Ford Duratec power.
Move up again and you’re into proper performance Caterham territory, where proper motorsport-ready models can be found with as much as 310bhp, sequential gearboxes, full roll cages, track-ready slick tyres and fully adjustable suspension systems.
Here, even the madcap Caterham Seven 620R could be yours, fully factory-built and ready to go, for a lot less than the price of a Porsche 718 Cayman GT4.
Cheaper Sevens get a live rear axle and lack the ride sophistication of the pricier De Dion-equipped cars, but with their skinny tyres and wrist-flick steering, they can still dance this way and that through corners, entertaining like only lightweight cars could.
The most innocent and exhilarating fun on four wheels? Quite possibly.