The best cars made since 2015

Our first ever test was done for the Austin Seven, then the best-selling car in the UK. Since then we’ve tested thousands of cars, and we give each one an overall score out of five. We very rarely give cars full marks – usually just one or two a year at most.

In this story we’ve gathered together all the cars that we have given the full five stars to in the past 10 years – just 21 cars made it. Join us, then, for a look at the best cars of the past decade – we include the date of publication for the test too:

In alphabetical order

In our test of this car, we concluded that every significant component part of the A110’s driving experience – from the rasping turbocharged torque of its engine to the hilariously immersive poise and panache of its handling – was intoxicating. Moreover, it was ready to deliver its own fresh brand of fun pretty much whenever, wherever and however you might want. It brought to life journeys and roads that rivals wouldn’t; and yet its handling for which your affection can only grow as you explored it more closely.

You won’t find too many mechanical ingredients or areas you could call genuinely exceptional.

But put them all together and we couldn’t help but conclude that the A110 was and is a much, much greater car – and achievement - than the sum of its parts would suggest. Rarely does a car come along so devoted to driver involvement, and so singularly effective at it, even among sports cars.

The A110 is quick, agile, effusive and ultimately enormous, accessible fun. Their desirability and rareness seems to help them retain their value – you won’t get a used one today for less than £32,000.

Having played the renegade on the ultra-lightweight sports car scene for so long, the Ariel Atom became a key part of the establishment it once sought to disrupt. Such progression doesn’t happen by chance; and this car is so typical of how cleverly its maker has developed it over the years to retain what makes it so special.

In a visual sense, the Atom remains an appealing car to anyone who likes the idea of being able to see their car working. It’s also so deliciously simple that it makes modern ideas of perceived quality and more meaningful built-in quality one and the same consideration.

A turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine has boosted the car’s usability as well as its roll-on performance with little entailed compromise, while Ariel’s other chassis and suspension tweaks have proven well worth making. The Atom retains so absorbing a dynamic character that it can be enormous fun on both road and track, when so many of its close rivals simply can’t do both.

They are very rare, but occasionally come up for sale for around £60,000.

It might not have four-zone climate control, adaptive LED headlights or a suite of level three autonomy functions, but the Ariel Nomad was worthy of a five-star verdict nonetheless. You see, a five-star rating doesn’t necessarily indicate a perfect car. No vehicle that cheerfully slings mud in its occupants faces, as the Nomad does, could ever be described as perfect.

Instead, what a five-star score signifies is a car that is so roundly accomplished at the task it was designed for that we could find no good reason to mark it down. It’s called fitness for purpose. The Nomad is built to be a joy machine, pure and simple. Those chunky off-road tyres and the long travel suspension hint at muddy fields and rocky forest tracks - no mistake, the Nomad is in its element on the rough stuff - but Ariel’s second model is actually every bit as fun to drive on the road, or even a race track.

As we wrote in our road test, ‘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’. It’s still such a sought after car that you’ll have to search high and low to find a used example for sale today, but they do occasionally appear from around £50,000.

This car is a big, powerful, elegant, front-engined, 12-cylinder, blood-and-thunder GT. It’s also such a stunning one to behold, and so stellar to drive in its singularly enriching and enticing, occasion-cherishing long-distance mould, that it sets a new standard for its maker.

Power comes from a 5.2-litre V12, an engine derived from the V12 that first arrived in the Vanquish back in 2001. This is an outstanding super-GT representing the British car maker at its absolute best, and can today be bought from around £110,000.

The concept of a diesel engine in a Bentley might seem strange, especially today. But we reckoned that placing an Audi 4.0-litre V8 diesel engine pinched from the Audi SQ7 was a masterstroke. Suddenly you had all the luxury of a Bentley, decent off-road capabilities, the practicality of an SUV, complete with the ability to drive a potential 700 miles on a single tank.

Our testers loved it, and found it wonderfully refined. It even had the same amount of torque – 664lb ft – as the W12 petrol version, generated much more economically.

Shame then the car lasted barely two years on the market. It was conceived and engineered in the glory days of Volkswagen’s obsession with diesel. By the time it came out Dieselgate had arrived to help destroy diesel’s reputation and severely dent the VW brand too.

Which probably encouraged Bentley to yank it from production. A shame. Used examples are out there, from around £50,000.

The BMW 320d has been as consistent a contender for the title of ‘best car in the real world’ as the industry has made in decades – and the G20 version unquestionably raised the game. It was better in ways that greatly pleased long-time 3 Series owners – outright performance and sporting flair, as well as handling precision and driver appeal – but also in others that made it a more complete executive car.

Both practicality and perceived cabin quality advanced, and the car now featured electronic driver aids and infotainment features that were the envy of almost any saloon. It has also advanced on real-world fuel economy and, in becoming a car easily capable of topping 60mpg at one moment and sprinting like a hot hatchback to 149mph the next, sets a dynamic standard matchable by absolutely none of its peers.

In a class where new rivals have been given room to emerge and old ones the opportunity to eke out a significant sales lead, this car was clearly the product of a company intent on making the 3 Series the default affordable executive option – for keen drivers, but perhaps even for others too.

Plenty of used examples out there, of course, from £12,000.

The 488 GTB features a 3.9-litre turbocharged V8, which delivers 661bhp.  Driving a 488 for its road test at our test track made our testers marvel at what it could do. No other turbocharged engine in a 488 rival – not the Porsche 911 GT2 RS, not the McLaren 650S or McLaren 720S – responded so quickly to the throttle.

And none has a progressive power build, which Ferrari achieves by limiting torque at low revs. It’s not just great, for a turbo. It’s a great engine, full stop.

Indeed, we concluded that the best chassis had met the best turbocharged engine. When the Ferrari 458 arrived in 2009, we were taken aback by how much better it was than the 430; in 2016, Ferrari did it again.

Used examples can be bought from around £140,000 today.

For years now Ferrari has been at the top of its game, time and again delivering mid-engined supercars of breadth, soul and unrivalled dynamic exploitability – class leaders all. Regulations obligated the arrival of electrification with this plug-in hybrid 296 GTB, with its downsized six-cylinder turbo engine.

This new car was remarkable when it arrived. It picks up where the V8 lineage ended, seamlessly blending in the advantages of electrification with precious few of the drawbacks we’d feared.

Benign and adaptable but also wildly quick and expressive, the 296 GTB was and is spectacular to drive and the V6 also sounds stunning. It is usable yet oh so special and its clear manner belies its complexity. Ferrari continues to set the standard.

Of course this is not a cheap club to join: prices for used examples start at £200,000.

The third-generation Ford Focus RS wasn’t without its fair share of shortcomings - the engine is no better than average, the low speed ride is tight and the driver’s seat is set far too high - but these were all things we were happy to overlook. Simply put, we reckoned the RS was ‘the most fun you can currently have in a hot hatchback’.

There were some reports of reliability issues, with many owners reporting head gasket failures. Ford has responded by offering a free repair for any car built between August 2015 and July 2017.

The cars are desirable and retain their value well – you’ll have to spend at least £19,000 to get a used one today.

The Ioniq 5 N was and remains a game-changer. Reading about this hot hatch-cum-super-saloon on paper, it is perhaps difficult to imagine that all its tricks and innovations wouldn’t feel a touch gimmicky. Certainly, you wonder whether the established German performance brands simply take themselves too seriously to explore, for example, synthesised gearshifts, or throttle-adjustability that at times can seem almost cartoonishly easy to generate.

And perhaps that is their loss. The first N-badged EV from the South Korean marque with the Nürburgring test base is blindingly good fun and capable of rising to any occasion in dynamic terms.

It’s a heavy car, and complicated in software terms, but a swift and natural-feeling companion, and has clearly been conceived with the aim of entertaining, rather than mindlessly impressing with vast grip and accelerative clout.

The electric driver’s car has landed, and it will slot into most of our lives with ease – and plenty of smiles. It’s the first electric car ever to get the full five stars from us. Used examples can be found from around £55,000.

It might give up more than 300bhp, an electric motor and a stack of batteries to the P1, but the McLaren 570S really does deliver a good chunk of the hypercar’s driving experience. The basic carbon fibre tub is shared between the two cars, of course, and so is the 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8 engine architecture.

The 570S feels monstrously quick in its own right, too, and it steers with all the precision of the P1.

That's extremely good news for those of us who’ll never be able to afford a P1. The 570S isn’t exactly swapping hands for pocket change, but from £75,000 for a 2016 model, they’re a whole lot cheaper to buy.

By beating the mighty Ferrari 488 GTB in a twin test, the McLaren 720S shot straight to the top of the supercar class and became the third McLaren to clinch a five-star rating. The 720S went through our road test process with imperious disregard for its norms.

In accelerating from rest to 60mph in less than 3.0sec and to 190mph from rest within a measured mile, in stopping from 70mph in less than 40 metres and in coming within a fraction of a second of smashing our all-time dry handling circuit lap record, it showed itself to be a car of incredible, almost unprecedented speed and purpose.

The 720S’s class-transcending performance comes combined with remarkable breadth of ability on the road (ride and handling that can be more supple, progressive, tactile and mild than any true rival), with excellent usability, too, and with more indulgent on-the-limit track handling than any McLaren we’ve known before.

Used examples can be obtained from £120,000.

The Cayman GT4 is the car that, for a long time, Porsche said it would never build. When it did eventually arrive in 2015 the GT4 won accolades across the globe. There are a handful of factors that will ultimately stop it from being as revered as any 911 GT3 you care to mention, however.

For one thing, its 911 Carrera-sourced 3.8-litre flat-six engine was sweet, but no match for a GT3 motor. The hardcore Cayman was built in relatively large numbers, too, and - most significantly of all - it just isn’t a 911.

But we’re nit-picking – the GT4 is a wonderful point-to-point sports car. And the car’s sheer desirability means they hold their value very well; 2018 examples are to be had from £64,000.

When we first drove the 718 Cayman GT4 RS, we concluded that it was one of the most thrilling and special Porsche GTs yet. Its configuration makes it more raw and exciting, arguably, than any fast roadgoing 911, while its mid-engined chassis gives it a dynamic purity and instinctive handling poise that few sports cars have known, the best GT3s included.

What this car represents is every bit as wonderful as what it does: a new way to immerse yourself in the character of a truly wonderful combustion engine and savour and cherish its every detonation, vibration and impulse.

That feels like a particularly timely invitation, and whether Porsche intended it that way or not, you can’t help interpreting this car as a celebration of the combustion-engined sports car at the most vivid and affecting height that it may ever reach. Yet you don’t need sentimentality to build a case for a five-star score here.

Few sports cars have offered such a spectacular blend of dizzying dramatic performance, supreme handling accomplishment, sublime track-day purpose and all-round sensory involvement as this spine-tingling new RS. It deserved every plaudit we can give. Used examples are from £120,000 today.

It may have ripped up the patented GT3 RS blueprint with all the recklessness of a common vandal spray-painting over Banksy original, but, somehow, the 991-era 911 GT3 RS got away with it. Out went the manual gearbox in favour of a twin-clutch item and gone was the Mezger engine.

Even the steering junked hydraulic assistance in favour of EPAS. The ride and handling magic, however, was very much still intact.

‘The GT3 RS is truly outstanding and deserves our categorical praise,’ is what we wrote at the time. Today, you won’t pick one up for less than £125,000.

Taking the blueprint of the ever-so-serious GT3, tactically applying some GT3 RS know-how, then stripping out weight, fitting unashamedly road-optimised suspension and putting the driver at the heart of the matter has resulted in an utterly magic 911 with the 911 S/T.

Did this all make it the greatest 911 ever? Quite possibly. Extremely rare, they currently sell for a major premium on their original list prices.

‘Still not exactly beautiful’ is how we described the new Porsche Panamera. In just about every other respect, though, it was beyond criticism. The car features a 4.0-litre diesel which delivers 416bhp, but with 627lb ft of torque produced from just 1000rpm without the aid of electric turbochargers made it intriguing.

It’s not the most luxurious GT of its kind, but in the light of other talents, it is a brilliant compromise. Real-world fuel economy and range is as outstanding as the acceleration. This is a near-43mpg cruiser with a 90-litre tank, capable of more than 800 miles between fills.

Sadly the car didn’t stay on sale for long; there aren’t that many out there, and they’re priced from £30,000.

By earning a perfect five-star rating the Range Rover Sport SVR - the very first model from Special Vehicle Operations - proved that Jaguar Land Rover’s newly-formed department had hit the ground running.

The car deployed 542bhp from its supercharged 5.0-litre V8 engine and adopts a raft of mechanical and dynamic changes to accompany the extra horsepower.

All that power, speed and decent on-road handling, combined with impressive off-road ability too. While there are high-mileage used examples out there from just £23,000, we suggest spending a bit more as these complicated heavy cars can be expensive to maintain. We liked the look of a 2016 example with 56,000 miles and a £27,000 price tag.

When we tested the then-new V12 Rolls-Royce Phantom, we concluded that it was ‘the best car in the world'. Sequels are rarely better than the books, films or shows they succeed. And yet the functional superiority of the new Phantom over its super-luxury peers may be even greater than the margin by which its predecessor led its field.

Despite the strides taken by the Audi A8, Mercedes S-Class  and even by the Bentley Mulsanne, the Phantom surpassed by some distance what they offer in every way that’s critical for a genuinely luxurious car: on mechanical refinement, ride comfort, cabin isolation, convenience, outright space, lavish richness and easy drivability.

We reckoned that it had grandness, ostentation and sense of occasion far in advance of anything else on four wheels, and it still has that today. It also seems even better aimed at the tastes and preferences of its customer base than its predecessor was; it has an even deeper and more easily accessed reserve of silken performance to plunder; and it has added greater dynamic flexibility and range without having compromised the supreme highlights of its utterly singular and special driving experience.

The car is frankly in a league of it own, and the design has stood up well, being marginally tweaked in a facelift in 2022. Used Phantoms can be had from £218,000.

The Superb is the perfect example of how the brand takes mass-market VW mechanicals and software, and then makes them just that bit more usable and accessible with careful design, and by adding a well-judged selection of physical controls, while also avoiding technolog y excesses and overstyling.

While other manufacturers boil down their model ranges to just a few big sellers, Skoda also continues to offer buyers a wide range of bodystyles and powertrains, including petrol, diesel and plug-in hybrid, which are all impressive in their own right. With the fourth-generation Superb, Skoda hasn’t tried to reinvent the wheel.

In the modern car industry, that kind of restraint seems almost an achievement in itself. By sticking to the essentials – space, efficiency, ease of use and intuitive driving characteristics – and doing those well, Skoda produced a car that is outstandingly fit for purpose, makes the case for the estate car like few current rivals and does it at a price that significantly undercuts its competition.

Used examples can be had from £28,000 today.

With this car, Toyota launched a new hot hatch champion of the kind you just didn’t think people made any more – removed from a standard production line, chopped and changed in what must be hugely expensive fashion and fitted with a high-revving, powerful engine, a passive suspension set-up and a good old manual gearbox.

It is spookily fast if you’re absolutely on it and so a bit more interaction at lower speeds wouldn’t hurt, but this is a driver’s car hero that’s great fun and approachably priced. And worth savouring because, well, who will ever build something else like it?

They hold their value very well, and used examples start at £24,000 today.

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