2008 Lotus Exige

There's twenty new horsepower in there. The front brakes are bigger, too - AP Racing four-piston calipers - and you get a heavy-duty clutch without even asking. Two hundred and forty ponies churn those rear wheels into a frenzy, compared with the Exige S's 220 hp. (That's where they get the name, see: Exige S 240.)

Sure, you'll pay four grand on top of an ordinary Exige S for the privilege, but at an abominable 4.1 seconds to 60 mph, that car couldn't outrun a dead walrus.

Lotus did exactly that to the Exige, pushing 7.3 psi of supercharged air into the four. The resulting 220-hp Exige S makes 80 percent of its peak torque from just over 2000 rpm. It will still rev to 8500 rpm, and it retains enough of its intoxicating midrange power surge to make you want to keep the revs up. The 0-to-60-mph time drops by nearly a second to a manufacturer-claimed 4.1 seconds, but the power never overwhelms the chassis. It just makes a very focused sports car even better.