There are many things to write about a TVR Sagaris, it is an enigma of a motorcar. The motoring press pretty much decided from the unveiling that the Sagaris was a brute of a vehicle, a little muscled up hooligan, just itching to find…well anything frankly…and kick it to death. The idea that a Sagaris possessed the word "subtle" in its armoury was a non-starter! Back in November however, EVO got hold of a Sagaris and ran it against the new Marcos GT2 and rather interestingly came out with the conclusion that possibly of the two, the Sagaris was the better GT. That however, was only over 3 days and the earlier reports were generated again from motoring journalists who only had limited exposure to the car. So then, Anarchist or GT?

Neither; actually the car is a mistake. Whichever way you look at it, the Sagaris is a wonderful, fantastic, complete mistake and possibly a failure. TVR tells us it is a hardcore, loony track day masterpiece. It isn't. A Sagaris would not see which way a well driven 7 or Radical went. EVO tried to tell us it is a Grand Tourer at heart. It isn't. Trust me, I've done 8,000 miles in this one since August and about 3,000 of them have been touring.

The price? £55k for a hooligan TVR? You ask 9 out of 10 people if they could ever accept a TVR costing north of £50k the answer would be a resounding no! Is this, the hottest motor TVR have ever sold to the general public, so much faster than their previous products? No, check the in-gear times for a Sagaris against a Griffith 500, the Griffith wins according to the figures. The reported great leap forward in TVR build quality and the new 3 yr warranty, surely, they aren't mistakes? Er…possibly; you'll have to keep reading to find out!

The car then, is allegedly over-priced, slower than previous models, not what was sold to us originally (fake slats anybody?) and not EVO's GT; a failure then. Everybody has pre-conceived notions about the Sagaris, almost entirely generated from what they have read about it or from a quick test drive. I want to shred those pre-conceived ideas, because to really understand this car, you need to have spent thousands of miles in one.

There is a road I like to take any vehicle for a test drive down. The two fastest cars down that route have been a Porsche 965 Turbo S Lightweight (a very, very limited edition special) and a Sagaris. The difference in pace was minimal, but the salient difference was that the Sagaris didn't frighten the hell out of me! With the 965 you just hang on, snatch gears and hope like buggery for two things: 1) you don't stray off the tarmac and 2) you can change gear quick enough not to blow the engine. The Sagaris actually gives you some control over your trajectory.

Track cars do not have air con, full leather interiors, alloy controls, carpet lined luggage bays, CD/DVD and Sat Nav systems. They do not take enough luggage for a couple to tour Cornwall for a long weekend, Northumberland and Scotland for a week or drive down to southern France for ten days. They certainly do not have enough luggage capacity to bring back extra wine from France, more clothes from back home or even on one occasion bringing back a 5ft Xmas Tree! Track cars do not encourage you to pull over in a service area or repose area in France, stop the car, turn the engine off and just put your head against the roll bar and grab a quick 60minutes shut eye in comfort. Track cars do not have storage bins, cooled glovebox and other places you can store drinks, apples, oranges, chocolates, keys and wallets.

So, a GT then? Why have I said that it is a failure at being a GT and a mistake to label it as such? Very simple really…no GT ever went like this. Pick any half decent GT in history and think about how it went about its business. Effortless performance, a slight aloofness, comfortable transportation of at least two people across distances. A GT should border on understatement. When was the last time you saw an Aston Martin or E-type that looked like it was actually trying? A Sagaris looks like it is trying standing still. The front is pure dragon's neck, the slats her scales. The rear view is all hips, tyres, diffuser and side exhausts. Three inches of damn near vertical Perspex Gurney Flap isn't exactly subtle either! Understated, aloof, effortless it is not. I've mentioned that we tour in the car and we pack a considerable amount of luggage in, surely a tick in the GT box then? Not quite, although I said comfortable before, the foot well space on the passenger side is never very comfortable and designed strictly for the sub 6ft market. For the driver it's more or less fine, I'm 6ft and would prefer another inch of seat travel, but I get comfortable enough.

But GT cars also do not hit 60mph below 4 seconds, they do not crack the ton in under 8 and they do not have aerodynamics that only start to come alive after 70mph. But then again, the timing figures mean relatively little as you can order your Sagaris with the Close Ratio box or the "standard" box. Even then you have a variety of final drives: Does Sir want the 3.46, 3.73 or a 3.91? Owners are not interested in frying their clutches after 6000 miles so we try to be relatively gentle away from a standing start. But you can count on the fingers of one hand production cars that have the ability to do what a Sagaris does in 2nd and 3rd gears. The pace is phenomenal and if you really want to go any discernibly faster then you need a Veyron or F1. Third gear's real trick is flexibility. It will pull from 10mph to the far side of 100mph and that makes for huge and accessible real world performance. Overtaking at medium to higher speeds allow you to either use the reach and flexibility of 5th gear or drop a cog and use 4th gear. For fun in the twists and turns of a true B road blast all you ever need is 3rd gear. One single gear to access the full range of an absolute road missile! I will be honest, you can use 2nd, but such is the monumental acceleration, concentration required to keep your wits about you and changing up at the same time, that on a twisting, interesting road, it is rarely worth it because once you have done so it is usually time to be on the anchors again. Much better to stay in 3rd, use the torque of the 4ltr straight six, keep both hands on the wheel and full attention on the road.

No GT car ever handled like this either. Actually, for that matter, no TVR ever handled like this before either! The combination of the front splitters, the rear diffuser and the Perspex Gurney Flap work wonders. As Autocar's Steve Sutcliffe once said, "welcome to the wonderful world of downforce" and I fully agree with him. The speeds at which you can throw a Sagaris into corners are astounding and you don't worry. Ah yes, I can already see Griffith and Tuscan Mk1 owners' eyebrows arching upwards in disbelief! I've run a 4.3 Griffith in my time and I know all about the worry that lurks in the back of the mind of Griffith owners; the knowledge about what happens if you approach a corner at speeds a touch too indiscrete and the very real fear of not knowing if you are good enough to collect it up and get round! Such fears however, have no place inside a Sagaris. However, what must be pointed out though are the effects of the aerodynamic devices. Use their advantage in cornering and all is well, lose their advantage (by getting the car sideways) and the accidents will be a lot bigger than before!

Coming soon: so if it isn't a track day special or a GT, what is it?