IT USED to be that there was no middle ground with Lotus cars. In the post-James Bond Esprit era, you either love Lotuses or loathe them.

If you belong to the former group, then you should probably have your head examined.

There is no way to justify spending the equivalent of an entry-level Porsche or a highly equipped BMW for a car that has barely any sound insulation, makes do with manual window-winders and does not even have a single cupholder in its spartan cabin.

But times have changed. And Lotus has made an effort to accommodate folks who are less than hardcore driving fanatics.

Its latest attempt is the Elise Supercharged - SC for short - touted as a 'supremely fast road car for the enthusiast'.

The car still looks like a supercar that shrank in the wash and it is still a challenge to get in and out of with dignity.

But there are concessions and acknowledgments to current trends.

It has unique SC wheels, which are dressed in silver, and there is a wing sitting above its rump, which looks very fashionable.

The car comes in either red or green - other colours will cost you more.

Inside, the SC has touches of luxury. It has carpets. And there is leather upholstery with elegant coloured stitching.

There is even a cupholder extending from the dashboard. It also has two airbags and features improved plastics and instrumentation.

But as a bastion of civility and surreal motoring, the SC is still some way off the mark.

You are still required to swop gears manually, the steering remains unassisted and the seats don't adjust for rake.

Although the car is supposed to have sound insulation, it still comes across aurally like a two-stroke racing motorbike.

Right on target though is its promise to be the 'fast road car'.

On paper, the SC boasts supercar-like performance. It takes 4.6 seconds to hit 100kmh - 0.3 seconds slower than the hot Exige S but 1.5 seconds faster than the Porsche Cayman S.

In practice, the SC definitely feels like a road rocket. The supercharged 1.8-litre engine is very responsive and immensely energetic, right to its 8,000rpm redline.

The controls are incredibly direct, so you know exactly what the car is doing. All the controls are rather light and easy to operate as well, so they do not wear you out.

Unlike the truly hardcore models before, the SC has traction control - which you can switch off if you feel up to it.

Then again, with the interfaces being as intimate as they are, it is hard to imagine anyone missing the vital signs that pre-empt the car breaching its lofty limits.

On the road at least, it is just not possible for the car to lose control without the driver being first switched off from the equation.

Being an Elise, the SC offers a slightly more pliant ride than the Exige. It is able to soak up bumps with way more suppleness and composure than you would expect from its go-kart-like chassis.

Even its seats feel supportive enough for long jaunts.

Unlike the supercharged Exige S, the SC does not have to carry a clumsy intercooler on top of the engine to obstruct the rear view.

The combination of a punchy engine and good visibility means that the SC is probably quicker than the Exige S in real-world traffic. With the latter, moving across lanes can sometimes be a leap of faith.

In the end, it isn't how much quicker the SC is, compared to a Porsche.

Or how silly it feels tumbling into its sparsely equipped cabin.

Like its predecessors, the Lotus is a car that always manages to leave the driver with a satisfied grin - one that you would not necessarily get from cars with a hefty price tag.

The writer is the editor of Torque, published by SPH Magazines.

LOTUS ELISE SUPERCHARGED
Price: $233,800 with COE
Engine: 1,796cc, 16-valve, inline-4 supercharged
Transmission: Six-speed manual
Power: 218bhp at 8,000rpm
Torque: 212Nm at 5,000rpm
0-100kmh: 4.6 seconds
Top speed: 240kmh
Fuel consumption: 8.5 litres/100km (city-highway)
Agent: EuroSports Auto

This article was first published in The Straits Times on Jun 7, 2008.