Vauxhall VX220

The long version

The VX220 is the strange GM-badged cousin of the Elise: aluminium tub, mid-engine layout, no comfort pretense and a badge that keeps prices just far enough below Lotus money to make driving one feel less financially precious. It was sold as a Vauxhall or Opel, never officially in America, and that obscurity helps. Owners tend to be people who deliberately sought the oddball rather than people chasing a collectible badge. It earns Forbidden Fruit and Smiles per Dollar by being exactly what modern lightweight cars keep promising to be: simple, stiff, communicative and cheap enough to risk on a wet B-road.