DC Avanti

Love it or hate it, you can’t ignore the DC Avanti. The outlandish shape and extroverted styling make for a dramatic sight. The Avanti is immensely customisable and there’s a lot you can do to spice up its exterior and interior. You’ll need to tick a lot of material, colour and equipment options to bring the Avanti cabin up to spec, but even so there’s a certain lack of finesse in the execution. There are other compromises to make too. Rearward visibility is virtually non-existent and headroom is tight even for average-sized adults.
The DC Avanti’s mid-engined setup gives it a natural balance and there’s some fun to be had behind the wheel on a twisty road, even if the steering is not rich in feel. More punch (and sound) from the 2.0-litre engine would have added to the experience but performance is still fairly good in absolute terms. A 6-speed manual gearbox is standard and calls for some effort to operate. Of the other things, the Avanti rides quite well and the substantial 170mm of ground clearance means you don’t need to nurse it over large speed breakers and broken roads.