Writers previous and current decide their favourites, adopted by some maths. This is how they voted
Most likely a left-field alternative in first, the i8. However I can’t consider a automobile that was extra prescient or now wears its years with extra grace. It nailed the temporary forward of the sport, then grazed success with out ever discovering a correct groove. It’s essentially the most underrated automobile of a era.
Jason Barlow
1 Ferrari F355
2 Fiat Multipla
3 BMW i8
An essential Ferrari, a return to kind after the coolly acquired 348. Enzo Ferrari was at all times an engine man and he would’ve liked the F355’s 3.5-litre V8, with its intelligent 40 valve cylinder head and propensity for prime revs. However the Pininfarina makeover was intelligent, too. It is a compact, nearly absurdly stunning automobile, and extra fascinating than ever.
Matt Grasp
1 Lotus Elise S1
2 Toyota Aygo
3 Audi R8
I select the Elise as a result of, not not like the Aygo I very practically selected as an alternative, it pushed towards the tide of accelerating complexity, weight and expense at a pivotal second. Piss poor engine, imperfect styling and a robust scent of glue, it additionally failed to show that tide, however a lot enjoyable was had within the attempting.
Paul Horrell
1 Lotus Elise S1
2 Ford Focus
3 BMW i8
The Elise S1 was terribly partaking, exact, responsive and supple to drive. That got here from the lightness and stiffness of its distinctive aluminium construction, breathed on by Lotus’ magic in set-up. So it was fast, economical and inexpensive too. Most remarkably, when it died 1 / 4 century later, all these qualities shone all of the brighter. A lot missed.
Jack Rix
1 Ferrari F355
2 BMW i8
3 Porsche Taycan
OK, arms up, I’ve by no means pushed a 355, but it surely was my dream automobile once I was a spotty 15-year-old and it nonetheless turns my knees to jelly as we speak. Others listed below are extra technically completed or braver in components, however just one have I lusted after for the perfect a part of 25 years since Clarkson punted it up an Italian hillside and branded it “the best automobile on the planet, ever”.
Ollie Kew
1 Bugatti Veyron
2 Ford Fiesta ST
3 Audi R8
My podium has the automobiles which uprooted goalposts and prejudices. The R8 single-handedly made Audis fascinating to us millennials. The Fiesta ST was £17k sizzling hatch perfection simply as RenaultSport went off the boil. And the Veyron stays one among automotive engineering’s most inconceivable, jaw-dropping, decade defining achievements.
Ollie Marriage
1 BMW i8
2 Lotus Elise S1
3 Audi R8
Paltry, lately, these 15 miles of electrical vary. However a brand new frontier again in 2014, and the i8 was a brand new tackle what a sports activities automobile could possibly be. Carbon tubbed, with 4 seats and very good dynamics, I think BMW offered these revolutionary masterpieces at a loss. Time can be form to it.
Charlie Turner
1 Bugatti Veyron
2 BMW i8
3 Ford Fiesta ST
When it lastly arrived, after years of rumours and hypothesis, the Veyron redefined our understanding of each parameter of automotive efficiency. The seismic shift the Veyron delivered prompted ripples by each layer of the automotive meals chain and meant everybody needed to increase their sport, delivering intelligent options and extra pace, paving the way in which for many years of engineering excellence.
Invoice Thomas
1 Bugatti Veyron
2 Toyota GT86
3 Vary Rover
If others with the Multipla, Focus and Elise are males of the individuals, then I’ll be a person of the facility. The Veyron packed sufficient drive to jolt the automotive world off its axis. This inspiring, uber loss-making chunk of madness ought to have received the 2015 Automobile of the 12 months outright… it deserves to win the Automobile of the Three Many years, too.
Sam Philip
1 Ford Fiesta ST
2 Bugatti Veyron
3 Ferrari 458
Positive, the Veyron rewrote the principles of quick, set the template for petrol powered hyperspeed for the subsequent 20 years. Positive, the 458 was the summit of nat-asp supercars. However what’ll I miss most when the world’s tooling about in EVs? The dinky, fizzy sizzling hatches. The Fiesta ST was, and stays, peak actual world pleasure.
Rowan Horncastle
1 LR Defender
2 Ferrari 458
3 Fiat Multipla
Think about the strain on the poor sods at JLR tasked with modernising the enduring Defender. It should have been insufferable. However strain creates diamonds. And the brand new Defender is an insanely succesful and fascinating automobile.
Vijay Pattni
1 BMW i8
2 Ford Focus RS
3 Ferrari 458
Superior development, beautiful silhouette, future-facing tech, very good dynamics… the i8 was every little thing that encapsulated an organization breaking new floor. 9 years on, and you’ll have one for as little as £35k.
Dan Learn
1 LR Defender
2 Ferrari F355
3 Ford Fiesta ST
Land Rover loyalists would possibly mourn the outdated one, however not less than its spirit lives on. On the wheel you might be each Bear Grylls and Sir Ranulph Fiennes – a snake sucking, stubby fingered survivalist en path to the ends of the earth. It doesn’t matter that you simply’ll solely drive to Waitrose.
Chris Harris
1 BMW 5 Sequence
When the music stops and reciprocating engines utilizing a liquid gas are not produced, those that keep in mind that period will look to call essentially the most important inner combustion engined automobiles. And they’ll all discuss Mannequin Ts and 250 GTOs and McLaren F1s. However they need to actually discuss in regards to the E39 5-Sequence BMW, essentially the most full automobile I’ve ever pushed.
2 Ford Focus RS
Generally when the agony of alternative turns into too painful we should always resort to asking primary rhetorical questions. To wit: what’s the greatest sizzling hatch of all time? There are such a lot of to select from I can by no means resolve, but when I ask myself which automobile of that kind I’d wish to personal endlessly I’d instantly reply: ‘a MkI Focus RS’. As a result of it’s essentially the most particular.
3 Ferrari 458
The 458 is the automobile that modified Ferrari. In its styling, packaging, efficiency and dealing with, it gave Ferrari distance to its closest rivals that they’ve by no means managed to essentially shut. Generally they arrive shut dynamically, in actual fact often McLaren has crushed them. However as general packages they will’t compete. 13 years after it was launched, the 458 remains to be among the best sports activities automobiles ever constructed.
THE SCORES ARE IN
Three factors for putting first, two for second and a single level for third. We dusted off the TG scientific calculator and the rankings are as follows:
1 BMW i8 (15)
2 BUGATTI VEYRON (11)
3 LOTUS ELISE S1 (10)
4 = 2013 FIESTA ST (8)
4 = FERRARI 355 (8)
6 LAND ROVER DEFENDER (6)
7 FERRARI 458 (5)
8 FORD FOCUS RS MkI (4)
9 = FIAT MULTIPLA (3)
9 = AUDI R8(3)
9 = E39 BMW 5 SERIES (3)
12 = TOYOTA GT86 (2)
12 = FORD FOCUS MkI (2)
12 = TOYOTA AYGO (2)
15 = RANGE ROVER (1)
15 = PORSCHE TAYCAN (1)
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