We’re not impressed easily here at Autocar.
It takes something deeply special to rise above the mediocre mainstream, so when we award top marks to a car that we review, you just know it’s worthy of your attention.Few cars on sale today make the top grade; here we chronicle why they’re so special. All you need to do is start plotting how to put one of them into your garage.
Alpina D3 Biturbo
We said: “The D3’s trump card isn’t its smooth ride and handling, or its tidal wave of mid-range performance, or even its quietly breathtaking good looks. It is instead the fact that it manages to combine all of the above with 50mpg real-world economy – and a price tag that is the right side of £50,000 in the UK. And that makes it one of the most desirable saloon and touring cars that sensible money has ever been able to buy, if not THE most desirable.”
Ariel Nomad
We said: “Plenty of our testers would pick a Nomad to play with on a circuit before they’d consider a dozen high-profile sports cars and supercars, and that’s not even the Nomad’s home turf. Get it on the road, where it’s also sensational, or loose ground, where it’s best of all, and it excels on another level.""The key to it is that it’s not just technically accomplished and not just huge amounts of fun; it’s both at the same time. No other car lets you take so much joy from so few components.”
Bentley Bentayga diesel
We said: “This car rises head and shoulders above any other in fulfilling the role of the consummate, complete, luxury SUV. And in five years, when there may be rivals from Rolls-Royce, Aston Martin, Lamborghini and others, we won’t be surprised if it still does." "But for now it tops our list ahead of its closest competitors in the shape of the Range Rover Sport SVR, Audi SQ7, Range Rover SV Autobiography and Mercedes-AMG GLS 63.”
Ferrari 488 GTB
We said: “Ferrari’s greatest achievement with the 488 GTB is not simply how fast it goes. Nor is it how it has integrated turbochargers onto its mid-mounted V8 yet retained far more character than any other manufacturer that has tried artificially aspirating its engines."
"Nor is it that it has given the 488 all the track poise and ability of the 458 Speciale that went before it. No, the feat is how all of the above have been melded into what is undoubtedly today’s greatest supercar.”
McLaren 720S
We said: “While McLaren won’t openly admit it, it’s probably faster than a 675LT and therefore, I suspect, even faster than a P1. And while it’s less furious in attitude than a 675LT or, say, a Porsche 911 GT3, it’s so much more approachable and broadly capable at the other end that it is almost beyond comprehension that the very same car can be this docile, this comfortable and yet this fast. It shouldn’t happen." "But it has. In only McLaren’s seventh year as a car manufacturer, it has built a new-generation model that answers nearly every criticism thrown at the car it succeeds. The 720S is a world class supercar, no question. It may even be the world’s best supercar.”
Ferrari LaFerrari
