Aston Martin Cygnet V8 review

Not your normal city car inside, is it? Quite a lot more racy. To make the packaging work, the V8 Cygnet had to become a strict two-seater, with a pair of supportive, fixed wing-backed Recaro buckets in place of the original, if not a little odd, '3+1' Toyota iQ layout. It’s stripped out, with plenty of bare carbonfibre trim covering the dashboard and door cards.

It’s not the easiest thing to get in either, having to clamber over the roll cage, drag your other leg by the knee in and pin yourself into the seat via five-point harness. Where you realise you can’t reach the carbon door. So have to undo the belts and start all over again.

The cabin is full of old Vantage hardware, though. Slotting the hefty crystal key into the dash, the opposing dials race around the clock as the engine barks into life. The V8 then settles into a weirdly hypnotic deep gurgle as you prod the D in the dash, release the fly-off handbrake (now mounted in the transmission tunnel and taking up half the cockpit) and then realise you haven’t adjusted the rear-view mirror. So have to take the belts off again. For the third time. But trust us, the theatre and faff is worth it.