Dan picks the moment at which some of our favourite cars reached their natural peak - do you agree though?
Looking at some of the classic lineages of cars that occupy the PH mindset it's fun to speculate on the moment at which everything came together and the pinnacle was reached. With some it was years back, others more recently. Others still have yet to peak.
Second-gen Clio RS the high water mark?
Although
on the day I picked the third-gen Clio 197/200 as my favourite of the four generations I think I'll contradict myself by saying the 172/182 is actually the high water mark in that car's evolution. The Alien Green 200 I drove at Brands is a hell of a thing. And a hot hatch that focused will likely never be built again. But it's a sophisticated machine with exotic engineering that sets it apart from the true ethos of the proper hot hatch. As I said in the story, it's a standalone car.
The previous one - and fond memories of my old 172 Cup are weighing on my mind here - I think is the perfect combination of traditional hot hatch values and modern performance. The 197/200 is a serious car; the 172/182 is a supermini with a sod-off engine, just enough chassis tweaks to keep it on the road and not much else. It's honest, simple and massive fun but still looks and feels modern. And you can get one for Shed money, thrash it and not worry about investment potential. Proper.
911's high point, at least in Carrera form?
Running with the theme over the last few days I've been pondering other long-running fast car dynasties and trying to identify the moment things all came together perfectly. Inevitably my thoughts turned to Porsche 911s... We'll set aside the old ones for now and look to recent memory. For Carreras I reckon 993 is the one. It looks and feels like a classic and has enough of the quirks to be defiantly a traditional 911. But feels modern enough to cut it in the here and now. Spot on. For the hotter ones I'd go a generation newer though - the 996 GT3s and RSes are, I think, the sweet spot of size, usable performance, excitement and poise. Searing engines, grown up handling that rewards the gifted while taming the more psychopathic tendencies ... yup, one of them would do me fine, ta.
The Golf GTI? Tricky one! The original might well have been the best but I'd argue the Mk5 was the moment the looks, the heritage, the performance and technology all came together to create a truly great car.
The moment it all came together for the GTI?
Ferraris. For V12s the 250 family really nailed the brief, didn't it? But bringing things more up to date I think the 599 is the one with the style and performance that really captures the spirit of the modern V12 Ferrari. The F12? It's just gone a bit mental really. For the V8 Berlinettas I'll ignore the obvious charms of the F355 and go instead with the 458 Italia I think. With this car Ferrari has absolutely nailed how to make technology complementary to the driving experience, convince everyone they are a god behind the wheel without feeling patronised and managed the triple exhaust visual reference to the F40 without coming across as cheesy. The fact it's probably the last normally aspirated car of its type probably inspires this call too.
I'm on a roll now but I don't want to spoil everyone's fun. So I'll leave some hanging - BMW M3? Nissan Skyline/GT-R? Mitsubishi Evo? Impreza? AMG C-Classes? Over to you...
Dan
Clever article.