In the great battle between Jaguar, Porsche and Lotus, which will win?

If money is no object, there is a great variety of high-performance cars available to the discerning enthusiast. But while the numbers of Aston Martins and Ferraris sold in Britain may be very small, there is a healthy market for the sub-£20,000 sports car. Here Porsche is the market-leader with the 944 (£18,234), but it has to face stern opposition from the Jaguar XJS 3.6 (£19,495) and Lotus Esprit (£17,630).

Unlike its two rivals, the Jaguar has a higher standard of equipment as standard, with leather-faced seats, air conditioning and central locking, even though the latter operates only the two doors and not the boot. Thus, by the time you have paid to raise the level of equipment of the Porsche and Lotus to that of the Jaguar, the latter proves to be the least expensive car.

Alas, where the big cat fails to score so highly is with its looks. Long, sleek and elegant it may be, but it lacks the grace of line of its feline namesake. Awkwardly shaped headlights, a cumbersome rear roof pillar and a curiously modelled rear end give the Jaguar low marks in the beauty-contest stakes. The same design has been around now for the best part of 10 years, and over-familiarity means it no longer receives a second glance.

The same can scarcely be said of the Lotus Esprit. It, too, first appeared 10 years ago, but its striking Giugiaro-styled body is an attention-grabber, attracting small boys as readily as wasps to strawberry jam. The Porsche also has a great deal more presence than the Jaguar, with its wide, flared arches and deep front spoiler giving it the appearance of a car that really means business. It is an astonishingly successful adaptation of the rather more ordinary-looking 924. But if it is admiring or envious looks you are after, the Lotus is the clear winner.

Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but the real attraction of these three cars is not what they look like, but how they go. With a 3.6-litre six-cylinder, twin-cam engine, fuel-injected and developing 225bhp, the Jaguar is by far the most powerful. The Lotus has to make do with 160bhp from its mid-mounted, 2.2-litre, four-cylinder unit, while the Porsche's 2.5-litre, four-cylinder engine gives a very similar 163bhp. The heavyweight Jaguar needs all those extra horses to give it comparable acceleration and top speed to the Lotus and Porsche. All three will reach just short of 140mph if shown a clear stretch of Autobahn, while the Lotus wins the 0–60mph sprint with a time of 6.7sec, closely followed by the Jaguar (7.2sec), then the Porsche (7.5sec).

Where the difference lies in how they make use of their power. With its mid-engined, racing-car-style layout, and huge rear wheels and tyres, the Lotus is able to put all its power onto the road with supreme ease. Those massive tyres bite hard into the tarmac on even the most brutal standing start, while at speed in the wet it is almost impossible to lose traction. The 16-valve engine is supremely responsive, and as smooth at 2,000rpm as it is at 6,500rpm.

As a driver's car, the Lotus is without peer. You can forgive it its outdated switchgear and instruments that reflect, and the fuel-warning light that distractingly flashes when only half-full: show it a winding country road and it will respond in the way only a race-bred sports car can. Beautifully weighted (unassisted) steering lets you place the car with total precision, the poise and balance of the chassis shrugs off with disdain the severest of bends, and you can play tunes with the engine through the short-throw gearbox. Under the right conditions, there can be few more satisfying cars to drive than an Esprit, and certainly none under £20,000.

Not that the Esprit is perfect. It is 73in wide, making it much too broad for narrow lanes. From the driver's seat you can see nothing of the bonnet, and such a low seating position means a certain loss of confidence when approaching the brow of a hill. The pedals are too close together, and it is easy to hit the brake instead of the clutch, but there is at least a brace to rest your clutch foot on. Ventilation is abysmal, which can make motorway driving on a warm day a chore, and remind you that the extra £835 for air conditioning is money well spent. But despite all this, it remains a magnificent machine.

Climb straight from the Lotus into the Porsche and you are instantly aware why this German machine has been so successful. It is much easier to get in and out of, while simple Teutonic attention to detail means that you need only a single key for everything — the Lotus has one for the door, ignition and petrol cap(s), while the Jaguar has no fewer than four keys. The Porsche's clutch is perfectly weighted, there is a foot rest for the left foot, and the gearbox moves smoothly and easily.

Furthermore, the redesigned interior of the latest 944 has an impressive new dashboard that owes more than a little in its design to the 928, and extremely comfortable seats. It exudes a feeling of precision and quality. Once on the move, the 944 has the handling and cornering ability that gives instant confidence in its ability. That big four-cylinder engine has plenty of low-down pulling power and is every bit as responsive as that of the Lotus, if not quite as smooth. It is only when you follow the Lotus along a winding Welsh mountain road that you discover that it has not quite the English car's ability to cope with the bends, and it will slide, albeit in a predictable and undramatic way.

However, the Porsche is an easy car to drive, less demanding than the Lotus and so ultimately less rewarding, but far more practical in everyday use. The back seats may be scorned by anyone more than eight years old, but they are there in case of emergencies, while there is far more carrying space in the 944 than in the Esprit.

In such overtly sporting company, it is easy to dismiss the Jaguar as a two-seater saloon car. It is a very long car for such a small passenger compartment, and its back seats are as impractical as those in the Porsche. The interior is traditionally English, if of another era, with polished elm veneer dash and door cappings, dated switchgear and too much reflective chrome, but it is all beautifully put together. Unlike the automatic-only XJS HE, the gearbox is a five-speed manual with a somewhat clumsy change. Nor is the engine as refined as one would expect — and to get the best from it you have to make free use of the gearbox.

Compared with the perfectly weighted power steering of the Porsche, that of the Jaguar is too light and lacks feel; the suspension gives a much better ride than the other two cars, but it is at the expense of handling. Despite its sporting aspirations, the XJS is not so much a driver's machine, more a car to travel in and arrive as relaxed and fresh as when you set off. The air conditioning is admirable, ensuring a perfect climate whatever the weather, while the vehicle's quietness and overall level of refinement are of the highest order. It would be difficult to find a better car for long-distance, high-speed motorway cruising.

Economy is not the Jaguar's strongest point, and although 22mpg may be much better than that of the V12, it cannot compete with the Lotus, which returned more than 26mpg during the test, or the very frugal Porsche, which gave nearly 28mpg.

Thus there is no clear winner here, for all three cars have their own attractions. If your driving includes a great deal of motorway work, then the Jaguar is far and away the best choice. If you want a car that your wife can happily take shopping, or you can use daily for a hard cross-country commuting route, then the Porsche is the winner. But for an uncompromising sporting car, the Lotus is in a class of its own. It may have more faults than the other two cars put together — but it remains a classic car at a not unreasonable price.