Buyers of the Lotus Evora certainly had plenty of options during its time on sale. There was everything you could think of on the special edition spectrum, from those that focused on looks – think Hethel Edition cars – to the dedicated road racers like the GTE, with almost anything else you could wish for in between. There was the Sports Racer, the GT430, Sport 410, Stratton GT, Final Edition, the Sport 410 GP Edition… and don’t forget the one-off Freddie Mercury, sold to Chris Evans as a charity fund raiser. All of them were great in their own way, of course, because the Evora was a glorious little sports car – but it did start to feel a bit OTT towards the end.

It also meant that the original model tended to get overlooked somewhat, out of production once the 400 came on stream in 2015 and without the supercharged punch that characterised all those later editions. Furthermore, as 2009 faded further into memories and the Evora soldiered on, the impact it had back at launch inevitably lessened. Especially once the Exige went to Toyota V6 power. Prior to the Evora’s introduction, there wasn’t a Lotus with more than four cylinders on sale, and hadn’t been since the Esprit’s demise. The move to a more luxurious, better-appointed sports car was huge, and it can be easy to forget that as 2009 now feels like 20 years ago and the Emira is the Lotus hogging the headlines.

At the time, it helped that the 280hp Lotus Evora was pretty magnificent. It garnered praise from everybody who had a go, particularly for its steering, ride and poise. It won Autocar’s handling day in 2009, as well as evo’s car of the year, beating out opposition like the 997 GT3, Murcielago SV, Noble M600 and Aston V12 Vantage in the process. All without a supercharger…

So the standard Evora was brilliant already, even if the majority of Evoras sold must’ve come with forced induction. This one looks tremendous, a 2010 Liquid Blue example with all three important option packs – Sport, Tech, Premium – added from new. It also benefits from an upgraded screen that now incorporates DAB and CarPlay, which will be handy given the infotainment wasn’t brilliant by the standards of the late 2000s, let alone what we expect now.

The car has covered just 44,000 miles in 13 years, and comes with a full Lotus service history as well as lots of the common maladies rectified, including a new clutch and master cylinder, relaminated windows and door regulators. That’s in addition to lots of other replacement parts that point to careful and considerate ownership. The Lotus also passes that most important test for anyone scouring used car ads: it’s got four good tyres, in this case matching Pirelli P Zeros.

Gets better, too; as one of the early Evoras, this is actually the most affordable one currently in the classifieds, priced at £28,200. Given that Evoras never seemed to go any lower than £20k (save for a Brave Pill-spec car in 2020), that seems an appealing asking price. We live in a world of Honda S2000s at £30,000 and above, so £28k for a proper Lotus icon seems about right. As a plain old 3.5 V6, moreover, and not a special of any description, this Evora might actually be one of the rarest of all…

Engine: 3,456cc, V6
Transmission: 6-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 280@6,400rpm
Torque (lb ft): 258@4,700rpm
MPG: 32
CO2: 205g/km
Recorded mileage: 44,000
First registered: 2010
Price new: £58,460
Yours for: £28,200