100 Greatest Drivers' Cars

[CHAP]

....is it just me or are there not a helluva lot of Porsches on this list??

and i'm officially worried now given that the Z is yet to show up and there are only 20% more cars to go... needless to say i'd be chuffed to bits if it makes the top 10 ,but i'll be gutted if it missed the bus entirely ...this late in the list means a bit of an all or nothing scenario

Ha ha u r making it such a interesting Drama keep it up bro! I'm happy for the sud but wonder they should have had a Ti model with a 1.5 Box under the hood

[Gummybr]

....is it just me or are there not a helluva lot of Porsches on this list??

and i'm officially worried now given that the Z is yet to show up and there are only 20% more cars to go... needless to say i'd be chuffed to bits if it makes the top 10 ,but i'll be gutted if it missed the bus entirely ...this late in the list means a bit of an all or nothing scenario

Well aren't they all drivers cars..... until of course when they were beaten by a Cheep Jap who just blew them into pieces (and that started all the arguments about who is the best).. Hmm... so the GTR sure does beat some of the highly acclaimed Porsches... I'm disappointed to find the Arial Atom there at no 40 though.

[Devinda_Z]

Well aren't they all drivers cars..... until of course when they were beaten by a Cheep Jap who just blew them into pieces (and that started all the arguments about who is the best).. Hmm... so the GTR sure does beat some of the highly acclaimed Porsches... I'm disappointed to find the Arial Atom there at no 40 though.

make that two Japs cuz the NSX has trumped both the McLaren F1 AND the Veyron according to this list

but i like it given that non exclusive comparatively inexpensive everyday-ish cars are ranking high

[Devinda_Z]

Ha ha u r making it such a interesting Drama keep it up bro! I'm happy for the sud but wonder they should have had a Ti model with a 1.5 Box under the hood

wouldn't you habe liked that Well i'm sure Mr.Bastians would have been proud had he seen the spec n pic they have here

[MasterDon]

HAHAHAHAHAHA

TAKE THAT YOU HONDA BASHERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the integra is the dominant jap untill now(besides gtr ofcourse) .....and i remember EVO themselves picking it as THE greatest front wheel driven car EVER!...september 2006 issue...

once again as nelson muntz would say.....HA! HA!

Edited October 23, 2009 by MasterDon

[ash]

20 more to go... hurry up Dev...

[virensti]

51 SUBARU IMPREZA STI

Because you can use nearly all of the STI’s more than generous performance most of the time without scaring yourself silly, the effectiveness quotient is off the scale. There’s an immediacy and urgency that draws you in. Blistering mid-range pace, shedloads of all-drive grip, even a decent helping of on-the-limit adjustability. Even more so if it’s a hardcore Scooby like a Spec C.

Layout: Front-engine, 4wd Engine: Flat-6, 2457cc, turbo Power: 276bhp Top speed: 158mph 0-60: 5.3sec Years: 2005-07

Source : http://www.evo.co.uk/features/features/239...be071e40617aa96

This is a crazy list. Although I say this angelic STi 9 should be in number 1 (in my list it is lol) I'm pretty sure even the non JDM 2.5 STi has only 4 cylinders and not 6 Printing mistake? or not that accurate a list perhaps? Can't wait to find out the number 1 car!

Edited October 23, 2009 by virensti

[GTAm]

Crazy is not the word! What on earth are those TVRs doing this high???? And how come a shopping Renault that got a V6 where the rear seat should be is ranked higher than the NSX R????

[Supra_Natural]

Crazy is not the word! What on earth are those TVRs doing this high???? And how come a shopping Renault that got a V6 where the rear seat should be is ranked higher than the NSX R????

Because it's a BRITISH magazine perhaps? Brit car journos were never the most unbiased people around lol... remember those late 80's articles about the Jag XJ40? "Best car in the world!!", "Britain conquers the germans!!", "Jaguar's new world beater!!" etc etc

Im as stymied as you about the renault though.... I remember several (again british) mags being quite nice about it when it came out, but better than the NSX-R? no way in hell!

[Devinda_Z]

& the list continues... and the Z is not on it yet... i get the feeling it hasn't made the cut

20 FERRARI 550 MARANELLO

Before the sublime 599 GTB Fiorano there was the 550 Maranello (later the more powerful 575) and they’re miraculous, too: so accessible, so friendly and so practical you can’t help but want one badly – especially the 550. It’s a bona fide full-fat V12 Ferrari with a superbly positive gearchange and an almost absurdly driftable chassis. All pleasure, no pain.

Layout: Front-engine, rear-drive Engine: V12, 5474cc Power: 485bhp Top speed: 199mph 0-60: 4.3sec Years: 1997-2002

19 LOTUS ELISE

The Elise possesses an immediacy and connectedness you simply don’t experience with other sports cars. Drive one and very few other cars will seem remotely as direct. The steering, in particular, is sublimely pure and precise. And you don’t need to drive it fast for it to feel special. That comes from the immediacy of the controls and the sensational ride, almost racer- firm yet supple. S1 is a modern classic.

Layout: Mid-engine, rear-drive Engine: In-line 4-cyl, 1796cc Power: 118bhp Top speed: 126mph 0-60: 6.1sec Years: 1996-00

18 FERRARI 360 CHALLENGE STRADALE

It might be, in essence, a 360 with a loud exhaust, stripped- out cabin and stickier tyres, but the mods unleash the beast within. Driving the CS flat-out is an adrenalin rush like little else. The extra noise, bite, response, grip and braking power – those ceramic stoppers are immense – make an already addictive driving experience completely intoxicating. Blinding chassis, too. At speed, the steering becomes fluid and razor sharp.

Layout: Mid-engine, rear-drive Engine: V8, 3586cc Power: 420bhp Top speed: 186mph 0-60: 4.1sec Years: 2003-04

17 FERRARI 599 GTB FIORANO

Immediately reassuring for a car with over 600bhp driving through the rear wheels are the sense of balance and seemingly limitless reserves of poise. This, along with weighty, communicative steering that commands genuinely fast, accurate turn-in and terrific front-end bite, makes the 599 feel more agile than seems possible for a car that weighs 1690kg. And the big Ferrari gets better the faster you go. The pace preserved through fast but tricky bends is stunning, braking power no less impressive. Best of all, switch the Manettino to its ‘all off’ setting and the 599 HGTE can be held in a long, languid power-slide.

Layout: Front-engine, rear-drive Engine: V12, 5999cc Power: 611bhp Top speed: 205mph 0-60: 3.5sec Years: 2006-

16 AUDI R8

Perhaps the R8’s greatest asset is its dynamic cohesion: the exquisite helm feel, huge grip, brilliantly judged damping and the almost vicious top-end energy of its gem-like V8 or even greater broadband slam of the V10. The bottom line is the R8 can corner at a quite ridiculous lick, all the time feeding back information about the road surface to the rim of the wheel. Its transient responses are little short of phenomenal. It scythes through challenging ess-bends with frankly amazing speed and precision. Oh yes, and it does big skids, too.

Layout: Mid-engine, 4wd Engine: V8, 4163cc Power: 414bhp Top speed: 187mph 0-60: 4.1sec Years: 2007-

15 FERRARI 430 SCUDERIA

Phenomenal: 503bhp and 347lb ft spat at the tarmac in rapid-fire chunks of nape-tingling fury just 60 milliseconds apart. The exhaust note at flat chat is loud and penetrating enough to blow chunks off nearby buildings and curdle milk. This isn’t an engine, it’s a noise weapon: extraordinary, unforgettable, dangerous. The steering is exceptionally direct and precise. There’s a little deadness at low speed, but once it sheds that it becomes decently meaty and scalpel sharp. Although the Scuderia’s handling is at least partly prescribed by chassis electronics, the dynamic proposition it presents is pure and honest, stripped of frills and peripheral distractions.

Layout: Mid-engine, rear-drive Engine: V8, 4308cc Power: 503bhp Top speed: 198mph 0-60: 3.5sec Years: 2007-

14 FORD GT

A Mustang-based supercharged 5.4-litre V8 doesn’t sound too promising, but 550bhp and 500lb ft of torque works very nicely, thank you, chewing up long straights, belting out a bellowing, all-American soundtrack. Thumping acceleration, massive retardation and torso-contorting cornering-g flows for mile after mile in the GT. It just eats up the road. Yet the chassis feels so composed and with you. There aren’t many supercars that feel so devastatingly rapid and yet so unerringly friendly.

Layout: Mid-engine, rear-drive Engine: V8, 5409cc, s/c Power: 550bhp Top speed: 205mph 0-60: 3.7sec Years: 2004-06

13 SUBARU IMPREZA RB5 PPP

Pick of the early Scoobies and a dab hand at putting the frighteners on more exotic machinery, the almost magically talented RB5 is a deeply well sorted car. Partly it’s the way it flatters the driver’s skill, partly the way it engenders so much confidence and partly its faintly outrageous pace. Not the fastest Impreza ever in a straight line but certainly the one that feels most in tune with a twisty road.

Layout: Front-engine, 4wd Engine: Flat-4, 1994cc, turbo Power: 237bhp Top speed: 143mph 0-60: 5.0sec Years: 1999

12 FERRARI F40

Arguably the most thrilling, the most challenging and the most rewarding of all Ferrari road cars, shorn of pretty much everything that doesn’t add to its speed or dynamic acuity. Its explosive energy makes it both challenging and exhilarating in equal measure, and because a relatively small turbo engine is so much lighter than a big V12 the car’s weight distribution – and therefore handling balance – is so much better for that. It’s also light overall for the kind of car it is, and has unassisted steering which is fantastically informative. A true great.

Layout: Mid-engine, rear-drive Engine: V8, 2936cc, turbo Power: 478bhp Top speed: 201mph 0-60: 3.7sec Years: 1987-92

11 PORSCHE 997 GT3 RS

All hunkered-down traction, nuggety bump management and lightning responses, the S1 997 GT3 RS (the very best of all the recent 911s) attacks roads that would cripple the conviction of lesser cars, digging hard into bends, nose bobbing subtly as stiff suspension and stubby profile tyres overwhelm the tail-biased masses to pile on speed through sheer tenacity and talent. But then Porsche knows the middle ground between road car and racer perhaps better than any other car maker. It’s hard to think of another road car that nails the sweet spot between raw-edged trackday tool and everyday usability with the precision of the 997 GT3. Just the right number of comfort layers have been peeled away to reveal the harder, sharper 911 beneath. And it would have made the top ten, were it not for an earlier generation of GT3 that we like even more…

Layout: Rear-engine, rear-drive Engine: Flat-6, 3600cc Power: 409bhp Top speed: 193mph 0-60: 4.2sec Years: 2007-09

Source : http://www.evo.co.uk/features/features/239...be071e40617aa96

[evilmak]

& the list continues... and the Z is not on it yet... i get the feeling it hasn't made the cut

Would be interesting to see what made to the Top 10

Edited October 30, 2009 by evilmak

[gunat]

evilmak already pre-empting the list...and is quite gleeful to do so!

Happy to see the RB5 (a thinly veiled STi5) make the top 20, while pipping a few Ferraris as well!

Although quite a few question marks... like the BMW e30 M3...thats just criminal to put it so far down the list. Bar none, it started the first inklings of go-fast handling Q-cars for the masses.

[dhp]

I don't agree with their E30 M position either. Its no Zonda F but it deserves better...

Edited October 30, 2009 by dhp

[Devinda_Z]

Would be interesting to see what made to the Top 10

Top 10 Greatest Drivers' Cars

So this is it, the final ten. But what order do they finish in, and which is the greatest drivers' car of all? We took them to you favourite Welsh roads to find out

Text: Henry Catchpole / Photos: Chris Rutter October 2009

Decisions have to be made and scores awarded. Never in all of the group tests and eCotys over the years have I seen so much agonising. Usually there might be a split, but individuals will know in their own minds which is the winner for them. This time everyone seems to have two or three cars that they want to see sharing the top step.

But it isn’t the Evo VI Tommi Makinen Edition, which ends up four-wheel drifting its way to tenth place in the top 100. ‘It’s brilliant when you’re on it, but just a bit ordinary when you’re pootling around,’ says Barker. Simister was very impressed by its ‘steering, handling and remarkably absorbent ride’ and admits that the Makinen is ‘a truly lovely Evo’, even though he ‘doesn’t really get the whole Evo cult thing’. Metcalfe sums it up with: ‘A very desirable bit of kit if you like this sort of thing, but I think greater driver rewards are to be found elsewhere.’

Ninth is the Mazda MX-5. Everyone admired the balance and accessibility of the Mazda. ‘Light, delicate, agile, adjustable, comfortable. A car that sets itself realistic targets and hits every one plumb in the middle,’ says Vivian. But as Metcalfe comments, ‘There isn’t enough fire in its belly,’ so you enjoy it rather than get excited about it.

Screaming into equal seventh place at 9000rpm is – and this might be a shock – the Ferrari F50. ‘Old school’ was a phrase used by most and ‘wide’ was another word that cropped up a lot. ‘It is very hard, noisy and mechanical, but unerringly honest and communicative,’ says Vivian, before declaring it ‘a proper, hairy-balled supercar’. Which goes some way to explaining why Hayman loved it and has it third on his list (written on the back of a packet of Lambert & Butler).

By the way, if any of the comments as we run down the final ten seem harsh or nitpicking, that’s because they are. They have to be. This is the top ten – all these cars are brilliant and wonderful to drive. Don’t be upset that your F50 has only come seventh – we’re not denigrating, merely differentiating. Now, on to the truly rubbish Clio Trophy. Only joking.

It’s equal on points with the Ferrari, but if there was a prize for enthusiasm then the Clio would win hands down. It isn’t the most pure or sophisticated car here but it is ridiculous fun. The suspension seems to have oodles of pitch and roll and what Hales describes as ‘a lot going on in the transients’ (like when changing direction), but the only time it really loses out is when people start talking about another Renault…

Time-warping into sixth place is the Elan. ‘It is a fluent joy and its small size makes it very handy on tight roads,’ says the equally diminutive Simister. ‘The mechanical grip it can create from such minuscule tyres is little short of miraculous and the liberties you can take are little short of astonishing,’ says Metcalfe. That the original showed Mazda’s modern incarnation a clean pair of heals might seem incredible, but the genius of Colin Chapman should never be underestimated.

The Mégane R26.R is the fifth greatest drivers’ car. ‘A beautifully sorted front-wheel-drive car,’ enthuses Hales. ‘The slightly larger dimensions [than the Clio] make all the difference to the way the chassis reacts and the way it puts down the power.’ Barker goes further still: ‘Magic from the moment the wheels turn to when they come to rest again. Exceptional damping and everything else matches – grip, steering feel and weight… everything.’

Edited October 30, 2009 by Devinda_Z

[Devinda_Z]

Continued....

Which takes us into the final four. You really could make a case for any one of these cars winning, but the scores show that in fourth place it’s the Caterham Seven. Barker, Hayman and I all had it top of our lists for its purity and the fact that you can’t get any closer to actually being connected to a car when driving. But Hales best sums up its brilliance and also why it doesn’t win: ‘There’s no denying the wonderful steering, which is sharp and more direct than the thought which commands it, or the way the front points without scaring you, or the way the tail then announces the onset of a slide while inviting you to keep your foot in. However, not everybody wants to be deafened and shaken, then probably soaked as well.’

Many would have tipped the GT3 to win, but Stuttgart will have to settle for third this time. I have to confess that I love the 996 GT3 so much that I’ve spent long evenings thinking about spending what I was saving for a house deposit on a swoopy spoilered wonder instead. But as Barker says, ‘Although it is a drivers’ car for life – everyday practical, and with a depth of quality and reward that you would never tire of – it felt a bit “muffled” after the lightweights.’

[Devinda_Z]

Continued

If being the greatest drivers’ car meant having the world’s best steering then the Lotus 340R (or any mk1 Elise/Exige) would be standing on the top step. ‘The 340R is like an Elise turned up to 11,’ says unlikely Spinal Tap fan Metcalfe. ‘The chassis composure when really pushed is beyond brilliant; it’s close to unbelievable’. John Simister has the 340R at the top of his list ‘for its speed, purity, transparency and compactness. It provides a huge visceral buzz yet doesn’t assault you with the wrong sort of “noise”.’ ‘Sublime,’ says Barker.

Edited October 30, 2009 by Devinda_Z

[Devinda_Z]

Continued...

And so, with a drum roll provided by art director Paul Lang via the medium of his hands and the plastic rear windows of the Mégane, it is an honour to announce the winner as… the Pagani Zonda F. Here’s how the praise stacks up. ‘A car that can comfortably live up to all the hype,’ says Metcalfe. ‘A supercar you really can drive as if it was an Elise, yet which gives you the full-scale Panavision, HD, Technicolor supercar experience. A car to melt the heart of the coldest, most stubborn supercar critic…’ says Barker, before handing over to that very critic in the form of Simister, who admits that ‘it appears to weigh nothing, it’s both visceral and forgiving and you feel in total control’. ‘Overwhelming, shattering, utterly addictive,’ concludes Vivian.

When you see a Zonda it is easy to treat it as art, something to be looked at and occasionally driven between backdrops, but next time try to look past all the carbonfibre confection because underneath is a truly, wonderfully fabulous drivers’ car. The greatest, in fact.

Source : http://www.evo.co.uk/features/features/240...ivers_cars.html

[Devinda_Z]

[virensti]

Is that the Zonda which beat the Veyron round topgear test track in season 12? still awesome finale.. if not a bit different.

[MasterDon]

ahhh i thought a porsche would take the crown...but i'm very glad the zonda got it...a worthy winner!

equally happy to see the evo and mx5 in there...

but the f50...i thought it was a bit of a nothing car by ferrari(based on car magazines and tv shows i've read and seen)...stuck nowhere between the f40 and the f60(enzo)...the car journos always tend to rate it lower than the f40..so this is indeed a surprise,i honestly thought the f50 had no chance after seeing the f40 higher up in the order.

[GTAm]

ahhh i thought a porsche would take the crown...but i'm very glad the zonda got it...a worthy winner!

equally happy to see the evo and mx5 in there...

but the f50...i thought it was a bit of a nothing car by ferrari(based on car magazines and tv shows i've read and seen)...stuck nowhere between the f40 and the f60(enzo)...the car journos always tend to rate it lower than the f40..so this is indeed a surprise,i honestly thought the f50 had no chance after seeing the f40 higher up in the order.

The F50 is the closest to a F1 car for the road when compared with the F40 (more hype coz it was the last car that Enzo personally oversaw) and the Enzo (It's got his name!).

[Devinda_Z]

The F50 is the closest to a F1 car for the road when compared with the F40 (more hype coz it was the last car that Enzo personally oversaw) and the Enzo (It's got his name!).

i dunno if its just me , but i find the F50 in that colour far more attractive than in red as is seen more of in the mainstream