Rimac Nevera

1888bhp, 0-62mph in 1.97sec and an EV record 258mph - the stats for the Nevera are simply stupendous. But what's it like behind the wheel?

- STEVE SUTCLIFFE

YOU CAN TELL AN AWFUL LOT ABOUT the Rimac Nevera in the first 200 yards. Not how barkingly fast it is or how far it moves the game on in the rarefied world of the hypercar; those realisations come later. But instead how polished it is purely as a product. How well built it is, how sweetly matched the weighting and gearing of its steering seems, how synchronised its throttle and brake pedals feel, how easily you can climb in and out of it, how clearly you can see out of it, how beautifully damped it is and just how refined it feels purring along the road at everyday speeds.

Even after 20 seconds, you can tell that the Nevera rides perfectly for a car of this type. You can tell, too, how fundamentally well resolved it is from the way it filters away all the unwanted stuff that goes on beneath your hands and backside, creating sound but not noise as it glides across the landscape - there's a world of difference between those two things. From pretty much every move it makes in the first few moments you spend in it, the Nevera feels like the product of a manufacturer that's been honing its craft for decades, not just a few years.