Which manufacturer has made the most GREAT cars?

[heebeegeetee]

Following on from the question on tonight's TG, (and i've looked to see if this has been posted already but if it has i can't bloody find it )

So which manufacturer has made the most truly great cars? They reckoned that Aston Martin hadn't made any - they mentioned the DB5 but reckoned it was 'cos of the James Bond connotations but the car was pretty rubbish really, though i don't think the DB4 or DB2/4 were too shoddy at all, albeit expensive...

And they mentioned some Ferraris that they reckoned were not great, and I too think there have been many Ferraris that have flattered to deceive...

So who is it? I'm going to say Porsche, Lotus and Ford off the top of my head.

Of course the big debate is what constitutes a great car? Well, i'm not eloquent enough to wax lyrical on defining that, but for me I would say that I consider the early sporting Escorts as truly great cars of their time...

BMW springs to mind too.

Edited by heebeegeetee on Sunday 22 November 23:55

[carl_w]

Lamborghini?

[Flanders.]

Audi, however they are starting to slip.

Ford.

Lotus

Maserati

BMW.

[thunderbelmont]

Hispano Suiza.

Everything they made was great.

And since they don't make cars now, they can't blot their copybook!

Most, current, car manufacturers have made lemons over the years, even those who predominantly make "Great" cars.

[marcosgt]

Bugatti.

Come on, name one model that isn't awesome in some way?

M.

[RobDickinson]

I'd like to comment from a position of knowledge and experience, so if anyone out there has every great car ever made and will let me drive them a bit....

[KingJeff 4th]

Ford make the c-max, therefore it can never be ford

My vote would be Alfa.

[GFWilliams]

lotus?

excluding newer elan...

[Beirut Taxi]

It's between Lotus and Porsche in my opinion.

[Skylinecrazy]

Flanders. said:

Audi, however they are starting to slip



BMW.

Are you joking? I know this is mostly German fanboy car lovers site, but there's no way in hell BMW and Audi are up there.

Aston Martin

Alfa Romeo

Lamborghini have to be up there, too. (have they ever made a poor car?)

Bugatti have to be up there as well..

[snotrag]

The answers to this thread will go

ford
other
ford
other
ford
other...


It has to be ford. Remember ford is not just mondeos and cortinas. It is worldwide. Every type of car you can imagine. Cars for every man.

American kids grew up in the 60's wanting a mustang. I grew up in the 90's wanting a cossie.

And think about just how revolutionary there cars have been, the sierra and focus for instance.

[Skylinecrazy]

Beirut Taxi said:

Porsche

The prolonged 911?

What else?

[snotrag]

Eta - in the context of this question - and remembering what clarkson and co have said on similar subjects to this-

'great' cars doesn't just mean fast expensive supercars. There's a lot more to gReatness than that.

[carl_w]

marcosgt said:

Bugatti.

Come on, name one model that isn't awesome in some way?

M.

I think the question is the largest number of 'great' models, rather than percentage of models that are great, or production volume of 'great' cars.

Otherwise McLaren would be in with a shout.

[thunderbelmont]

marcosgt said:

Bugatti.

Come on, name one model that isn't awesome in some way?

M.

Tipo 59.

While it was an interesting Grand Prix car, it was also a deathtrap. The fuel tank would rupture a the slightest whiff of a knock, spewing fuel under the driver's backside and onto the hot exhaust and thus frying the pilot.

Modern technology has a cure (in the guise of a FIA bag-tank)

It wasn't a truly successful car in it's day either.

[theboyfold]

Knowing Clarksons love for Alfas I think they will be in with a strong running!

[Skylinecrazy]

thunderbelmont said:

marcosgt said:

Bugatti.

Come on, name one model that isn't awesome in some way?

M.

Tipo 59.

ETA- Scratch that, the website page I was reading is incorrect.

Edited by Skylinecrazy on Monday 23 November 00:16

Edited by Skylinecrazy on Monday 23 November 00:17

[Iain328]

I am a bit biased but I think Ferrari will be hard to beat when you go back over what they've built over the years.....250TR, 250GTO, 250 GT California, 246 Dino, Daytona, 512 Boxer, 308, 288 GTO, F40, F50, even the Enzo - and that's before you get to some of the race cars.....

All great cars & many "design icons"

Edited by Iain328 on Monday 23 November 00:18

[g3org3y]

Skylinecrazy said:

Flanders. said:

Audi, however they are starting to slip



BMW.

Are you joking? I know this is mostly German fanboy car lovers site, but there's no way in hell BMW and Audi are up there.

I don't know...great cars...

'02 Series (inc turbo)
3.0 (CSL)
'The M3' (E30 more specifically)
'The M5' (E39 more specifically)
Z3 M Coupe

None too shabby tbh. You could argue BMW has made the definitive 'great' sports saloon for the last 30 years.

[Forbes82]

GFWilliams said:

lotus?

excluding newer elan...

Love it or hate it they managed to make a fwd car work in ways noone had done before, and there still isn't much to touch it since. It's not as balls to the wall as a elise/7 etc, but its still a fantastic drive on a country road, and its so pushable in the wet that it can surprise alot of people.


Thats all off topic though, i'd agree with you about lotus. 7, Elan, esprit, 11, Elise, Exige, Evora, 340r, 2-11, lotus cortina, lotus sunbeam, lotus carlton. This is just going with the models that most would agree are great cars, and ignoring a few fringe models that you could argue for. I don't think any other manufacturer can match lotus for great drivers cars, they could do with hurrying up the new esprit though to have a high powered supercar to match alot of the other manufacturers mentioned here.

If you include race cars aswell Lotus innovation is unmatched, if you drew up a list of the greatest ever f1 cars lotus would feature on that list a fair few times. Other than them i'd plump for ferrari or maserati, in fact im pretty surprised there hasn't been much mention of ferrari here!

Edited by Forbes82 on Monday 23 November 00:22