Octavia or Superb? 500 or Panda? Series 1 or Range Rover? We hash it out
Here at Autocar, arguments rage pretty much daily. One of the biggest ones we have is over the best car from each manufacturer’s back catalogue.
Some of our staffers see the merits of the MG ZT-T 260…while some don’t. Some pick the obvious, some are more obtuse.
In order to settle the debate we made shortlists and conducted a vote. And these are the results. Simply the best car from each manufacturer, as picked by our staffers.
Alfa Romeo
Giulia Quadrifoglio
The office bickering began with the first manufacturer on the list, but it was inevitable: how could anyone possibly agree on a ‘best’ Alfa? 33 Stradale, 75, SZ, GTA, 156, 147, 8C… There was no chance of us even agreeing a top five, surely. But while the debate rumbled on, Alfa coincidentally announced it was keeping the Giulia Quadrifoglio on sale for another year, and we were all so happy about it that we realised it was the obvious answer.
Kris Culmer was among the loudest supporters: “They designed the most handsome car of the 2010s, spent a mad amount on its chassis and gave it a stonking V6 of Ferrari parentage. When not broken, the Quadrifoglio is amazing.” A reassuringly traditional and endlessly appealing Alfa that still stuns even in its old age – and one we now have extra time to enjoy.
Aston Martin
V8 Vantage
A good old fashioned underdog victory here, as the ‘baby’ Aston snarls ahead of full-blooded bedroom poster cars like the DB9, DB5 and Valkyrie to emerge as Gaydon’s greatest. Charlie Martin said Britain’s answer to the Porsche 911 “is what brought Aston back to the fold as a maker of proper 21st-century sports cars“, adding: “It’s powered by what is probably the angriest-sounding V8 ever built.”
Matt Prior seemed a bit surprised at his own choice – “I’d rather have a DB9” – but conceded he had fond memories of racing one in the 24 Hours of Silverstone. “Great car. Best weekend ever.”
Audi
Quattro
Michèle Mouton once acknowledged that Audi’s original four-wheel-drive sports coupé had a powerful aura: “If I have some emotion, of course it’s the noise of the Quattro. Nobody can forget the noise.” That from the woman who famously “didn’t feel at all” when preparing to tackle a WRC stage. How’s that for proof of this Group B legend’s unfaltering legacy?
Resident rally fanatic James Attwood certainly ‘didn’t feel’ there was much more to say about the warbling wonder: “Just type ‘Audi Quattro Group B’ into YouTube and you’ll see.” Jack Harrison said the Quattro is one of those rare cars that “is not only a style icon but also a mechanical milestone”. Seriously quick, too, even by modern standards.
BMW
3 Series
Has there ever been a bad one? There are variants that don’t suit specific needs, sure (you wouldn’t catch an Uber driver in an M3 Touring CS and a humble 316i wouldn’t be much cop at Cadwell Park), but through each of its seven generations, Munich’s mid-size executive car has majored on mass appeal with a broad selection of brilliant incarnations that have won it legendary status in every corner of the car world.
At least that’s what Mark Tisshaw thinks: “It feels such a reference for the wider market, even today. Such bandwidth in the range, too.” Jack Warrick called the 3 Series simply “one of the best all-rounders on sale”, with a consistent excellence that is “always unmatched”. No pressure on the imminent Mk8, then.
Citroën
DS
The most recent DS we drove was an attractive but unadventurous high-riding hatchback that you would be hard pressed to mark out as a pioneer in any respect. The first DS we ever drove, by way of contrast, was a futuristic tech-fest of a machine like no car that had gone before. It changed the face of luxury motoring forever and these days enjoys true legend status.
This hydropneumatically suspended oddball is that rare thing, according to Richard Lane: “It’s an icon of both style and technology. All the derivatives have deep appeal, too, right from the lowliest home-market runabout to a luxe-spec 23 Pallas with reams of leather.”
Ferrari
458 Italia
It’s surprising to not have the F40, Enzo, 250 GTO or LaFerrari here, but of all the cars in this feature, the 458’s victory-by-vote was among the most resounding. Why? “It’s the best mid-engined ‘junior’ Ferrari there has ever been,” according to Matt Saunders. “It’s young enough to have good ergonomics and cabin quality, a modern active diff and sensational handling but old enough to serve them as side dishes to a wonderful, high-revving atmo V8. Deified for good reasons.”
No wonder, really, that values for 458s hold so strong even now (£175k for a late minter): its shrieking V8-“gloriously unmuffled by turbochargers”, noted Charlie Martin-and uncorrupted dynamics lend it an authenticity and viscerality that have yet to be surpassed.
Fiat
500
The VW Beetle has had it licked for longevity, the Mini offered a more spirited drive and the Citroën 2CV was more technically impressive, but no ‘people’s car’ has quite so successfully transcended the boundaries of mere mass mobility as the Fiat 500 to become a fashion icon in its own right. Bought and beloved even by those who could have had something 20 times the price, this tiny Turinese is one of those rare crowd-pleasers whose admirers unquestionably outweigh its detractors.
“The fact that millennials and zoomers still crave owning an original 500, nearly 60 years after it was launched, tells you everything,” said Richard Lane. Illya Verpraet added: “It also put Italy on the road, practically built a company for decades and formed the basis for the design of Fiat’s whole 2010s model line-up.” How’s that for a dolce vita well lived?
Ford
Focus
The Focus kept the lights on at Ford of Europe for three decades and delighted millions with an unusual blend of engagement, frugality and utility.
“It proves that driver appeal can be placed at the centre of a product and it can still be a smash-hit volume seller and mass-market success,” said Mark Tisshaw. Rachel Burgess summarised: “It’s a practical, unassuming family car, and one that was thoroughly chuckable around a corner-win-win.”
Honda
NSX
“The NSX is what happens when a mass-market car firm decides to make a high-tech supercar. Come on: you don’t see Ferrari trying to make a Jazz rival, do you?” James Attwood there, qualifying his nomination for a 1990s performance hero that doesn’t quite carry the same cachet these days as its European counterparts but which was no less technically impressive.
Far from it. In fact, Matt Saunders hailed the NSX for bringing “prosaic Honda ownership qualities to the super-sports car market and changing it forever”. “But,” he added, “it’s just as wonderful for its brilliant hydraulic steering, enticing tactile shift quality and sweet-revving naturally aspirated V6. Honda should dare to dream more often.”
Jaguar
XJ
The E-Type is the most beautiful, the D-Type is a racing legend, the XJ220 was era-defining and the I-Pace was briefly one of the most advanced and striking EVs. But there could only be one victor, as Matt Prior said: “Jaguar has made many cars that have done many things, but few car makers can be defined by one model. The XJ is Jaguar.”
Illya Verpraet agreed but was rather more specific: “The original Series 1 XJ6 was so beautiful that Jaguar then struggled to make anything that didn’t look like it. It was the luxury limo that was cheaper than and out-handled and out-rode sports saloons of the day.”
Lamborghini
Gallardo
‘Deafening silence’, ‘organised chaos’, ‘open secret’ – all good examples of oxymorons. Here’s another: ‘baby Lambo’. It has been used historically to describe lower-order entrants to Sant’Agata’s ranks, but it stopped making sense in 2003, when the Gallardo arrived with a howling V10, spaceship styling, at least 500bhp and specs to set alarms ringing in Maranello.
“It’s not the best-looking, but to me it is the definitive Lamborghini,” said Will Rimell, highlighting the earliest manual cars as a particular sweet spot. Murray Scullion picked the Gallardo because it turned Lambo from “perennially skint to a supercar heavyweight” and because it was “achingly pretty and had a gated manual”. Let’s all just ignore the Audi A4 switchgear.
Lancia
Stratos
It’s just mad, isn’t it? Forget, if you can, that it has a waspish Ferrari V6 buried in that stunning rear end; disregard the technical genius concealed within its drop-dead silhouette; and park the fact that it won the WRC three times on the trot. Just look at it. There you go: that’s the main reason why the Stratos is our favourite Lancia.
“I’ll never forget the sight and sound of a Stratos tearing up the gravel at Sweet Lamb on a bitter winter’s night, doing as it was designed to do,” said Jack Harrison. For Charlie Martin, the Stratos completely “redefined what ‘homologation special’ meant” and it has a legacy that far transcends mere motorsport prowess.
Land Rover
Range Rover
“When a car becomes a brand, it has done something right,” said Mark Tisshaw, who sees the carving out of Range Rover into what is in effect a marque in its own right as a monument to the luxury 4×4’s renown and all-round excellence. Every generation, he added, has been “peerless on and off road”.
The current generation is so vastly capable and refined, in fact – “blending effortless refinement with genuine all-terrain capability”, said Sam Phillips – that it’s not just one of the best SUVs in the world but one of the best cars full stop.
Lotus
Elise
It says it all that the Elise is still viewed by so many as a definitive dynamic benchmark – the default lightweight sports car, even – three decades after its arrival. The no-frills featherweight did no less than completely upend the sports car market, and its legacy lives on through the massive influence its innovative design and engineering still has on car development today.
Matt Saunders hailed the Elise for showing that “Hethel could make a modern, technically innovative product” but, importantly, doing so “without sacrificing a jot on old-school, analogue sporting feel or on Chapman’s core values of lightness and simplicity”. It’s a true icon of British automotive excellence.
Maserati
MC12
From early Formula 1 conquerors to achingly beautiful 1960s GTs and brutal V8 super-saloons, this isn’t a brand short on bedroom poster material. But it’s the wildest Maserati of all that gets our vote: the V12-wielding, Le Mans-honed MC12, which, said Charlie Martin, “utterly ruined sports car racing through sheer domination – and looked gorgeous while doing it”.
“The greatest Maserati of all time should probably hail from the dim and distant, but how do you ignore the MC12?” asked Richard Lane. “Ferrari Enzo-derived mechanicals with a civilised cabin in stunning, GT1-inspired drag. Can you imagine if Maserati did similar today? They could charge £10 million for it.”
Mazda
MX-5
You knew it was coming. There was a smattering of nominations for the slightly esoteric RX-7, but the MX-5’s victory here was nothing short of a landslide. There’s a clever (if tired) US backronym that sums up the universal applicability of Mazda’s roadster: ‘Miata Is Always The Answer’.
Its name may be different here, but the notion holds true: it isn’t just one of the best-handling sports cars around, it’s also one of the most affordable, efficient, well packaged, refined, well built and charming. And that has been pretty much true of every iteration. “It’s not easy to get something as pure as a two-seater roadster so right. That Mazda has delivered over multiple generations is remarkable,” said James Attwood.
Kris Culmer credited the Mazda MX-5 as having “single-handedly preserved the traditional roadster-and latterly also the affordable enthusiast’s car”, adding: “It’s so much fun, and we all owe it a huge debt of gratitude.”
Mercedes-Benz
W123
German taxi drivers’ affinity for the W123 is a strong enough indication of reliability and rugged dependability, but that this granite-hewn executive express could spend years plying the autobahns and then go on to a second life tramping around North Africa for a few more decades makes the W123 well worthy of its ‘unkillable’ reputation. It’s also just endlessly cool and supremely comfortable – which is why you still see minters trundling around rather more hospitable environs, such as Kensington or Tunbridge Wells.
Of the hundreds of wildly varied legends in Merc’s back catalogue, it was the W123 that “arguably built the brand’s worldwide reputation”, according to Alex Wolstenholme. “They will last forever,” he added. Yes, but only if you stop them getting too wet.
MG
ZT-T 260
“The joy of dying brands” for Illya Verpraet “is they sometimes become delirious. Take the pipe-and-slippers, front-drive Rover 75 and re-engineer it to fit a longitudinal 4.6 V8 driving the rear wheels…” His simplistic summary of the ZT-T 260’s conception goes some way to explaining why we love it: it was just so ridiculously, wackily out of character- and a brilliantly extroverted swansong for a much-loved marque in its death throes.
Matt Saunders agreed, saying: “The 75 already had a fantastic chassis – although, for so long, any praise for it had to be qualified with terms like ‘front-wheel drive’ and ‘K-series’. But when MG hit on the idea of a rear-drive version with a Mustang V8, no such qualifications were needed. Mad, needy and a little bit wonderful.”
Mini
Mini-Minor
We don’t use the phrase ‘Concorde moment’ lightly, but if ever there was a car equivalent, the original Mini – with the sort of genius packaging, engaging drivability and inherent accessibility that manufacturers still strive to replicate several decades after it died – was probably it. Mark Tisshaw called it “a true icon”, with engineering that “still feels impossible”.
Car makers today can’t build anything like it. It weighed just 600kg, sat four (sort of) comfortably and safely (ish), sipped fuel and drove with a zip and verve that made it the darling of the grassroots motorsport scene. Matt Prior said it was basically the default choice for our favourite Mini ever, because “it was the only Mini for so long that only it could be the best”. Every new Mini since has tried, at least in part, to retain some of the original’s character.
Nissan Skyline
GT-R (R34)
A halo car for a generation of car enthusiast and far more accessible than most to fans of all ages, courtesy of its role in the Gran Turismo racing game series. Here was an unfathomably capable V6 sports car that was unlike anything that had come before it and which you could drive from the comfort of your sofa at the age of 10.
Not that it was so tameable in the real world, mind, cautioned Richard Lane: “It’s not the ‘PlayStation on wheels’ it’s made out to be but rather emblematic of Nissan when the link from race track to road was incredibly strong. That makes it a properly rewarding driver’s car.” Kris Culmer agreed that the R34 “was the peak of cool for petrolheads growing up in the early 2000s” but reckoned that you had to have one in blue with gold wheels for the full experience. He’s not fussy, though, if you’re offering a go.
Peugeot
205
One of those cars that was so toweringly excellent in range-topping form that you could easily forget the cooking versions were just as brilliant. Everyone raves about the GTi, along with the lesser-known XS and Rallye variants, but there’s a lot to be said for a humble 205 1.4 GR or even a lowly 1.1 Junior. Heck, even the non-turbocharged diesel GLD is a fine way of covering ground – so long as you’re not late for an important appointment.
Jack Warrick credited the 205 as being the model “that changed Peugeot’s fortunes and public perception” and added that its angular, oh-so-’80s silhouette has “truly stood the test of time”. Sam Phillips agreed that the 205 was “decent in all its forms”, but he couldn’t resist marking out the GTi as “one of the best driver’s cars of all time”. No small praise, that, for a 40-year-old supermini.
Porsche
911
The Boxster is the cheapest, the Cayenne the most usable, the 356 the prettiest and the 918 the most technically impressive. But the most ‘Porsche’ of all the Porsches? There could only be one. “It’s not just the best Porsche, it’s the Porsche that makes Porsche Porsche,” said James Attwood of the Porsche 911 (forgetting that his surname dictates he should choose the 917K). “And it’s so famous you don’t even need to say ‘Porsche’ for people to know what a 911 is.”
These days, there are a dizzying number of variants from which to choose, ranging from entry-level Carrera up through 4S, T, GTS, Turbo, Turbo S, S/T, GT3 and GT3 RS-and that’s to name but a few. And then certain versions can be chosen as a coupé, a cabriolet or a targa… It can all get a bit confusing if you’re not fully invested. But the short of it is that all of them are excellent and supremely well rounded in their own ways.
Renault
Clio
Everyone has had one or at least been in one – but the Renault Clio’s popular appeal and historic utilitarianism never came at the expense of its desirability. While some alternatives evolved into little more than drab, A-to-B appliances, Dieppe’s take on the supermini always maintained a certain ‘je ne sais quoi’ over the decades, and even at its most humdrum it remains a thoroughly likeable little car. Just ask Nicole.
Or ask Matt Saunders, who said it was perhaps “the first of the modern ‘designer’ superminis, proving that a dash of style and verve could go a very long way on a little car”. It’s a notion into which the designers of the extroverted latest-generation car have really leaned, for better or worse.
Skoda
Superb
Nominative determinism at its very best here. Has there been any other car so aptly badged? At the heart of the Superb’s acclaim is that it’s almost impossible to not recommend – to almost anyone. Yes, it’s perfect for motorway-plying families and itinerant execs, but you needn’t fit either category to be won over by its blend of no-nonsense ergonomics, supreme refinement and – in most forms-remarkable frugality.
Will Rimell is head over heels: “It’s the best mile-muncher there is: comfortable, economical and spacious, with heaps of buttons that do what you think they should. I’m sure there are people who say this isn’t the best all-rounder on sale. I’m also sure they are wrong.”
Toyota
GT86
Most of us have a ‘top 10 favourite cars’ in mind, shuffling things in and out day by day and rarely giving the same answer twice – but the tail-happy GT86 is one of those unfathomably rare cars that seems to have earned itself a permanent place on everyone’s leaderboard.
Illya Verpraet said: “An image of boringness is notoriously hard to shake off, but Toyota managed it with the GT86. Here was the real-world usable sports car of our dreams, with the right footprint, right amount of power and right amount of grip.” He lamented only that its improved GR86 successor was available in such limited numbers. Saunders touched on a slightly awkward truth: “It was built in a Subaru factory and was powered by a low-lying Subaru flat four, which gave it key dynamic advantages.” Nonetheless, he added: “It’s hard to think of a car that altered perceptions of its maker quite so powerfully.”
Vauxhall
Corsa
As one of the less ‘enthusiast-oriented’ marques on this list, Vauxhall doesn’t have a bulging portfolio of legendary past models to draw from when it comes to choosing a top hit. But it is perhaps the brand to which most people have been directly exposed, and there is no model more representative of its mammoth cultural impact than the Vauxhall Corsa. I learned to drive in one, and nearly all my mates had one when we were in sixth form. It has always felt a little staid next to Ford’s Fiesta, but I admire its understated handsomeness and universal appeal.
So does James Attwood: “The Corsa hasn’t always been a great car, but it always delivered on its supermini brief. It’s a mass-market crowd-pleaser in the best way.” Plus, remember when Vauxhall went a bit mad with the absolutely wild VXR Nurbürgring edition? It’s always the quiet ones… “Come on!” etc.
Volkswagen
Golf
What more can be said about the VW Golf? It’s about as close to the distilled essence of ‘car’ as you can get. “Excellent at everything yet always entirely modest,” as Kris Culmer put it. Practical in all of its forms, well built and attractive in (almost) every generation, generally affordable and sensibly packaged: half a century on from its conception, the Golf remains the reference point for how to make an everyday family car.
“When someone doesn’t know what car to choose, you tell them to buy a Golf in a form that suits them,” said Mark Tisshaw. That nails it.
Volvo
850
Was Huey Lewis right? Can it really be hip to be square? You try looking at the 850 and arguing otherwise. This “pinnacle of brilliantly boxy Volvo design”, said James Attwood, is one of the, er, hippest cars ever made. There was a wheel-cocking BTCC version, too, which “made it incredibly cool”.
It’s a forgotten seminal sports estate as well, in slightly silly R form – with 247bhp giving a 0-62mph sprint time of 6.7sec, which sounds pretty sprightly even today. Plus it was built like a tank, had a colossal boot and, as Jack ‘Safety First’ Warrick excitedly reminded us, “was the first mass-production car with side airbags”. And if that doesn’t make you want one…
