IN THIS FEATURE From Russia with love Two of a feather Cabin pressure 911-baiters Looks to die for Extreme machines

Set against this backdrop, the cartoon-like TVRs look surreal. The noise announces their arrival - a loud, deep bass, mechanical rumble - before heads turn and stare. It feels odd that the Tuscan, which is still one of the most dramatic cars on the road, goes almost unnoticed next to the pouting Sagaris. TVR's technicians have worked hard of late to improve their cars' low-speed manners, and they've succeeded. Both cars can pootle along happily at 20mph although, surprisingly, the Sagaris feels more cosseting than the slightly fidgety Tuscan.

From the town, we track east and out onto the Pennine hills to the sort of roads for which these cars were designed. TVR engineers all its cars with an extremely long-travel throttle, which helps the driver modulate the car's performance. This is critically important, particularly in the wet, when shocking oversteer is never more than a careless toe twitch away.

Summoning full power in the Sagaris, which will reach 60mph from rest in 3.7sec and 100mph in 8.1sec, demands concentration and care. This is a car that you have to drive properly - feed the power gently out of corners, brake in a straight line, balance the car on entry - but it is not a point-and-squirt machine. The steering, at 2.0 turns from lock-to-lock, is deliciously quick and communicative, the gearbox is rifle-bolt rapid and the set-up, while firm, doesn't feel like it's about to throw you off the road. The Sagaris doesn't have the fluency of a 911 and it hits its bumpstops with disturbing force over big undulations, but it never frightens. This is the best sorted TVR ever.