British car magazine Autocar believes the perfect sports car exists, at least on paper and in pictures. Fortunately, the magazine has created this and according to Editor-at-Large Steve Sutcliffe, it can be described as the following: An open-top two-seater with a mid-engine layout, rear-wheel-drive, weighs less than 2,204 pounds, and has a base price of around $56,000 (£35,000).

We're also digging this concept and fully agree with Sutcliffe in that "as the world of cars gets ever more complex and produces machines that are increasingly sophisticated in their design and engineering, there's still a desire for something at the other end of the scale. A sports car that's simple to understand and interact with." Although they could have chosen a better name (British Sportscar 1, or BS1) Sutcliffe goes further by saying it should offer the performance and driver appeal of cars that normally cost double. Specifically, there needs to be lots of torque, a paddle shift gearbox, and no ESP.

It should also look "low, wide, mean, and beautiful." Ideally, it would have a space frame chassis made from aluminum and steel and body panels made from glass fiber-reinforced plastic and carbon fiber. The mid-mounted engine would be a VW 3.0-liter V6 turbodiesel that produces 250hp and 350 lb-ft of torque. 0 to 62 mph would take no longer than 4.5 seconds and top speed should be 147 mph. it would return roughly 50 mpg. Overall, we like what we're reading here, but we're not wild about a diesel being the choice engine.