Just seen a report on the Caterham 160 in Auto Express. Available as a kit or fully built. How can it get away with all those sharp edges as a pre-built car? In the pictures its clear the exhaust wouldnt pass and the bonnet catches are definately non IVA friendly. Do you have to change things if you buy it as a kit then?

Caterham use rubber covers for their bonnet latches

There are a few reasons, but the main one is that cars you see in the media are usually prototypes and have either not yet been through IVA/TA or have been modified since.

Type approval is generally much stricter than IVA, but there are some areas where compliance can be proved using expensive dynamic and/or destructive tests, and so the simplistic inspections at IVA sometimes have to err on the side of caution.

That said, exterior projections is practically identical under TA compared to IVA, although there are a few additional requirements for TA.

It will get away with it as it is type approved, so they can make minor tweeks and no one will care.
Buy a kit and no doubt they will supply parts that are IVAable.