For all the qualities that make the Westfield Sport Turbo a worthy rival to the Ariel Atom->ke564, there are an equal number of head-scratching details about the car that would make you want to stay away from it with a ten-foot pole.

Fifth Gear’s Jason Plato found this out first hand when he was handed the little sports car for a test drive around a racetrack. A touch between classic looks and modern technology, the Westfield Sports Turbo is a perfect example of a vehicle that’s more appealing from a distance than it is up close, sort of like a hot girl you see from the coffee shop across the street, but as you get closer and closer, the hotness fades into relative mediocrity. That’s what the Westfield Sport Turbo is in a nutshell.

Care to learn more about it? Head over after the jump for more details as well as Jason Plato's review of the Westfield Sport Turbo.

Exterior and Interior

Probably the best thing about the Westfield Super Turbo is its aesthetic look. Taking its cue from past Westfield models, the Super Turbo retains most of its predecessor's old-school mug and combines it with some optional exterior features, including chrome or carbon effect headlamps, polished windscreen & wipers, a chrome roll over bar, a choice of either black or silver 15" Team Dynamic Pro Race 1.2 lightweight wheels, and 10 different body colors.

Despite its simple yet classy look, the quality seems to be, for lack of a better term, sub-par with what we were expecting. For one, in the name of making the car as light as it can possibly be, thereby making it insanely fast as well, the folks at Westfield decided to bare down on the high-quality materials used on the car compromising its design philosophy with questionable build quality. The added optional features consisting of a carbon effect or polished aluminum dash center, leather seats, a map pocket, and a choice of five trim colors only hides the fact that upon closer inspection, the materials used are ones that you wouldn't describe as high-grade. Sure, the car's interior is dressed in leather, but it doesn't look like it's got class written on it. Likewise, the steering wheel, center console, and even the hand brake look a little too flimsy to the point that you kind of worry that you’ll break it when you use it too hard.

Performance

The car is powered by a 1.6-liter Ecoboost turbocharged engine that produces 225 horsepower, so it certainly doesn’t lack power. Even better is the pretty efficient 30mpg fuel consumption number it generates. At first glance, it’s a pretty nice ride, isn’t it? Yeah, if only they took the time to use better materials on it.

Pricing

The Westfield Sport Turbo costs 25,000 pounds – or a little under $40,000 based on current exchange rates. With what we saw from Plato's review, we don't think the car justifies that kind of price tag, which, if you think about it, is the same price as a mid-level four-dour sedan. As far as we're concerned, we're going to pass on the Westfield.

COMPETITION

As we've mentioned, the car that really poses as the most direct competitor to the Westfield Sport Turbo is the Ariel Atom. No, not the V8 500 variant of the Atom, but the entry level variant that has a a Honda K series four-cylinder engine that produces 245 HP.