Long term: Honda S2000

I love the aggressive look and stance of the S2000, there are not many two-seater convertibles men can drive without looking like ‘confirmed batchelors’ in and this is one of them.

The leather interior is a tight fit, with just enough room for my six-foot frame (although my left knee just touches the dash), and on our test car almost everything was blue leather, seats, dash, centre console, door cards...which is a bit over the top and would benefit from being a bit more subtle and stylish.

The stereo and climate controls, although handily at your fingertips, are squeezed in front of the driver either side of the digital dash which adds to the cramped cockpit feel.

The S2000’s handling is spot on, firm and positive with precise steering and excellent brakes, the engine redlines at a very high 9,000rpm and although if feels like it will pull that all day long, you need to thrash the engine to almost this limit to make use of all that power, which feels quite unnatural and is a bit impractical for road use, it would have been much better as a 2.0-litre turbo to bring the power down the rev range to a much more useable level.

Fact file

Price: £26,800
Engine 2.0-litre petrol; 137bhp@8,300, 153lb-ft@7,500rpm
Performance 0-62mph: 6.2sec; top speed: 150mph
Transmission six-speed manual
Cap RV (3-years/30,000 miles): £12,875/48%
Efficiency : 28.2mpg (combined); 237g/km CO2
Rivals Audi TT, Porsche Boxter