I might have mentioned ownership, early in my motoring career, of a couple of Fiat 500s. The original, 'chug–chug' version, one of which was a rare–for–the–UK Giardiniera estate, that is. Happy days.

So Tony Dron's piece on the latest 500 TwinAir struck a sentimental chord. Trips in my Fiats were certainly 'exciting' but not in quite the same sense; this new car from the Fiat Group features the clever MultiAir technology that extracts 85HP out of a mere 875cc, producing just 95g/km in CO2 emissions.

Multiply this technology by four and you might expect to get a super–efficient V8 of 3500cc, producing 300–400bhp.

The sort of engine that would work very well in the Lotus Evora, the 'S' version of which, with the more powerful motor, John Simister puts through its paces this week.

Tony's "driven correctly" comment in the Fiat 500 piece, and John's reference to "...driving the Lotus as a Lotus should be driven", do make the point that the manufacturers can meet their side of the bargain — the rest is down to us.

Steve Wakefield Managing Editor sw@classicdriver.com

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