The Batmobile is an excellent combat vehicle thanks to its armour plating and standard-fit machine guns. It's good looking too, and delivers excellent performance. However, if we were being picky, we'd point towards the car's poor ride comfort, unsupportive seats and restricted rear three-quarter vision, and, for our money, the Vauxhall Insignia offers a more complete all-round package.
Slotting yourself in behind the wheel of the Batmobile is no easy task. The Batmobile's designers have eschewed rear seats entirely, and the driver lies down in a (very) tight cockpit between the front wheels.
The makers of the Batmobile claim that the idiosyncratic driving position protects the driver from injury and makes high speed manoeuvres easier to perform; however, we can't help feeling that the driver's seat lacks lumbar support, and it would have been nice to see a cup holder.
Under the bonnet, the Batmobile gets a 5.0-litre Vauxhall engine which develops 500bhp, rocketing the car from 0-62mph in 5.6 seconds and on to a top speed of 160mph.
At speed, the Batmobile is quiet and refined; however, those huge tyres do create a lot of road noise, compromising long-distance comfort.
You're certainly not going to lose the Batmobile in a multi-storey car park and, although it lacks the visual appeal of, say, a Citroen C5, you'd have to admit that the Batmobile cuts an elegant profile.
The Batmobile comes with a good deal of equipment as standard. Not only do you get twin machine guns (a feature missing from the last model, and the Renault Laguna), but you also get a vector-controlled jet engine which gives the car an extra boost of power and allows it to perform rampless jumps.
On top of this, the Batmobile also comes with an explosive mine deployer, which will undoubtedly help resale values when you come to sell. However, the car's real party piece is the so-called 'Batpod', a motorbike which detaches from the front of the car, allowing the crusader -- sorry, driver -- greater agility in traffic. This, we feel, is a feature that will be welcomed by commuters.
However, despite the Batmobile's generous spec, there are a few glaring omissions. It's disappointing that the Batmobile's makers have not seen fit to provide sat-nav or rear parking sensors, and Bluetooth connectivity is an expensive option at £399.
The Batmobile is not going to work as a family car thanks to the lack of passenger and boot space, and due to the car's size and lack of windows, navigating supermarket car parks will be a real chore.
On the plus side, safety should not be an issue, as the Batmobile surrounds its occupant with several inches of armour plating. In fact, Euro NCAP's safety engineers were so impressed with the structural integrity of the Batmobile that they awarded it the full five stars for occupant safety.
As the Batmobile is a one-off, it's difficult to comment on how reliable it's likely to be; however, the machine guns are covered by a three-year anti-corrosion warranty, which should put your fears at rest.
As there is no list price available for the Batmobile, it's almost impossible to comment on value for money. However, when you consider the amount of equipment included as standard, the Batmobile stacks up very well against its main rivals, the Skoda Yeti and the Nissan Juke.
The Batmobile's V8 engine is very thirsty -- we managed just 0.3mpg on a long run -- making frequent and expensive trips to the pump inevitable. On the plus side, however, the Batmobile's makers have ensured us that a diesel model is due next year.
So, if you're on the lookout for an armour-plated combat vehicle and find the Hummer H1 a little too brash, it looks like the Batmobile could be a good choice.
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