Best cars of the 2010s – the modern classics that defined the decade
The 2010s saw kerb weights and bhp figures begin to rise significantly. Happily, it was still a decade shot through with bonafide thrillers
If the 2000s felt like a goldilocks period for the performance car, a moment of coincidence between minimal regulation and increasing technological innovation, the tide began to turn in the 2010s. Emissions and safety regulations loomed and the horsepower wars began to escalate. The result was a decade that saw cars that by and large got bigger, heavier, more powerful, more capable and more complex but in some (thankfully few) cases, at the expense of an effervescent personality in the powertrain or truly involving dynamics. Here began the long road to today’s 700bhp 2.4-ton hybrid super saloons but we had a lot of fun with the cars along the way.
In fact, the 2010s was an era that caught many by surprise. On the contrary to the assumption that it’d fall short of the glory of the 2000s, our selection of cars from the 2010s that we thought defined the era, proved this was a bountiful time for truly thrilling driver’s cars. Truthfully, such is the amount of incredible cars that came out during this period, we’re definitely going to have to pencil in an update for this list at some point. Even 15 entries is too few to do justice to an era for performance cars as rich as the 2010s.
Alpine A110 (2017-)
Possibly in the top five cars of the 2010-2020 era is the Alpine A110. Arriving in 2017 after a protracted gestation, this extruded aluminium featherweight is an affront to the theory that cars have to get heavier in the face of increasing regulation and complication. It proves that if you package and engineer cleverly, excess mass isn’t unavoidable.
> Alpine A110 2025 review – an all-time great sports car living on borrowed time
The way the car drives perfectly reflects its diminutive proportions, delicate design and slender kerb weight. It’s a car that dances where other sports cars would lumber, its lightweight extruded aluminium construction allowing for a compliant suspension set-up In terms of performance, it genuinely feels quick, making more in feel of its sub-300bhp potency than a BMW M2 does of its 470bhp. It joins the S1 Lotus Elise and 997 Porsche 911 as an absolute bucket list sports car that anyone who loves driving must own at some point. We’ll miss it when it’s gone.
McLaren 675LT (2015-2016)
McLaren is probably the definitive performance car company of the 2010s. The 12C’s 2010 arrival effectively crowbarred Ferrari into turbocharging in the pursuit of power. But being a disruptor doesn’t a perfect car make. For McLaren, that took iteration and refinement and with the 650S (a star of our Eras test) using learnings from the P1 hypercar before the even sharper 666bhp 675LT arrived in 2015.
> McLaren 675LT review - Lighter, faster, more focused and more fun
Ask anyone that’s driven McLaren’s back catalogue to date and the 675 will be up there as one of, if not the best car it has ever made. The clever hydraulic suspension tech, the feelsome steering, the bombastic 3.8-litre V8 remained. But everything was sharpened, tightened and most difficultly, imbued with a sense of fun and humour. On the latter, the 675LT arguably cleared the greatest hurdle McLaren faced up to that point. Not just one of the best cars of the 2010s but an all-time great supercar.
Porsche 911 R (2016)
The 911 R came from Porsche after a slightly bumpy first half of the 2010s. The 991 got a lukewarm reception and the GT3, while an incredible, eCoty-winning car, caused uproar by omitting the option of a manual gearbox. This all created the perfect conditions for the 911 R to assume its status as one of the 2010’s most hyped cars.
Limited, driver focused, shorn of its wing and pairing a 493bhp 4-litre naturally-aspirated GT3 RS engine with a new six-speed manual ‘box, this car had speculators swapping it for their Apple stock and driving enthusiasts pining for what might well be peak car. It is to this day a car whose value has held firm, in spite of Porsche’s ‘Touring’ GT3s effectively serialising what was its rarified formula. Its victory was almost a foregone conclusion on eCoty 2016.
Renault Mégane RS (2010-2016)
Renault Sport’s hot hatch sprint slowed to a jog in the 2010s what with the disappointing Clio RS 200 EDC but the Mégane retained serious form, arriving first as the 250 then graduating through 265, then 275 specs (reflecting power outputs in PS), with the Trophy R the crown jewel, effectively the GT3 RS of the hot hatch world.
> Used Renault Mégane RS (Mk3, 2009 – 2016) review – the beloved French Golf GTI rival
At the time it was considered a little serious, especially by comparison to the likes of the smaller, feistier Ford Fiesta ST, but the Mégane was great fun by comparison to the still excellent but slightly staid Volkswagen Golf R. It was also a keen participant in the hot hatch war at the Nürburgring that was so pervasive in the 2010s, trading blows with Volkswagen, Honda and Seat for supremacy. A great hot hatch and the perfect cross section of the genre for our 2010s Eras test.
Ferrari LaFerrari (2012)
Not before nor since, has there been a phenomenon quite like the hypercar ‘holy trinity’ of the early 2010s. Of which, the 950bhp LaFerrari was perhaps the most traditional participant. Paddle-shift transmission, V12 engine, carbon tub, rear-drive – it all sounds like Enzo revisited. Then you add the fact the transmission was a dual-clutch, plus the hybrid assistance and energy recovery in the braking and you have a very different beast.
But the LaF wasn’t just an Enzo electrified, it was a better car in every way – faster yes, but also more livable, more forgiving, more playful. Many described it in the most complementary way possible as being like a big V12-engined 458. We’ll likely never see its like again, given its successor the F80 is an entirely different prospect, with four-wheel drive and a hybridised turbocharged V6 engine.
Porsche Cayman GT4 981 (2015)
Another peak for Porsche in the 2010s was the Cayman GT4. The answer to the long-imagined question of what would happen if Andreas Preuninger got his mitts on a Cayman, it’s not far off the all-time sweet spot sports car. Not too hardcore, not too fast but at the same time, serious enough to be stimulating, powerful enough that you’re managing a traction deficit on occasion and therefore likely also enjoying its beautiful chassis balance.
> Used Porsche Cayman GT4 (981, 2015 – 2016): review, price and specs of a sports car great
The ingredients aren’t even that silly. Its 380bhp engine is from the old 991 Carrera S, its front suspension inspired by the 991 GT3. But the result is arguably all the driver’s car you could ever reasonably need, a point it proved by beating the ballistic McLaren 675LT (aforementioned) to the eCoty crown in 2015.
Honda Civic Type R FK8 (2017-2021)
The return of the Honda Civic Type R in the mid-2010s was hotly anticipated, even if we were all nervous about the naturally aspirated VTEC screamers being replaced with a turbo-four. The FK2 arrived and was reassuringly familiar, though: the 300bhp engine was intense and rev hungry in spite of its turbcharging, the gear shift quality was up there with the best, the chassis was… too hard.
> Used Honda Civic Type R (FK8, 2017 - 2022) review – 169mph hot hatch bargain
The FK8, pig uglier though it was, refined the formula as a hot hatch that you collaborated with to dissect a road, rather than hung onto as it bounced its way along it. The FL5 of the 2020s is the better car, arguably the ultimate evolution. But the FK8 is no poor relation and a star of the 2010s.
Volkswagen Golf GTI Clubsport S (2016)
If expectations were great of the Civics, none saw a variant of the humble VW Golf appearing as a contender for an eCoty win. But that’s exactly what the 306bhp Golf GTI Clubsport S was, eventually coming in the runner-up spot behind none other than the 911 R. Small wonder really, given that former Porsche’s GT department engineer Karsten Schebsdat was responsible for its development.
> Volkswagen Golf GTI Clubsport S (2016, Mk7): an ultra-exclusive hot hatch great
Lighter, more hardcore, with record-setting pace on the Nürburgring can mean unbearable on the road. On the contrary, the Clubsport S had a deftness to it that meant only the most challenging roads would unsettle it. The way in which the added aggression and focus was integrated with the inherent usability and pleasantness of the tried and tested Golf GTI formula was just genius. If it’s not all-time peak Golf GTI (a lofty claim), it’s indisputably the best Golf of the last ten years… and it’s not even remotely close – a fact reaffirmed by Clubsport S residual values, which remain in the £30-£50k arena.
McLaren P1 (2013)
Great expectations were had of the first products to come from McLaren Automotive, none more so than of the P1, its second new product, that had the unenviable job of following up the F1. From the off and by McLaren’s own mission statement, the P1 was no direct replacement. It was a different sort of hypercar, one not centred around analogue tenets. Instead it was a technical marvel, pairing the familiar V8 with a hybrid system for 903bhp, using active suspension and aerodynamics to generate stupendous downforce.
> McLaren P1 – review, history, prices and specs
Yet McLaren chose to avoid regenerative braking to preserve brake feel – a decision that about sums up the joy of the P1. For all its technical impressiveness and ballistic pace, the P1 was abundant in feel and a joy to interact with, from the powertrain, to the steering, to the brakes. It was a car that signalled McLaren was capable of making true driver’s supercars and indeed, they followed in abundance throughout the decade.
Ferrari 458 Speciale (2014)
The only car ever to score a unanimous vote for the win at evo Car of the Year. That should really say it all. It helps that the Ferrari 458 was such a fantastic basis upon which to build, but the 458 Speciale really was something, well, special.
> Ferrari 458 Speciale (2013 - 2015): the best driver's car of the last 25 years
Beautiful damping, sharp but intuitive steering, immaculate chassis balance and a screaming, linear 600bhp V8 good for 9000rpm feeding the rear wheels via a dual-clutch transmission and razor sharp electronic limited slip diff. It’s the ultimate toy box of parts, glued together and fine tuned by the best in the business. How was it going to be anything other than one of the greats? With hindsight we know it to be the last of its kind too, Ferrari acquiescing to the hunger for horsepower by turbocharging the 488 that took the 458’s palace in 2015.
Porsche 918 Spyder (2013)
The final entry into the holy trinity was a curiosity. To look at, much the same beats were being hit by the 918 as by the Carrera GT it succeeded. But its technical constitution was a polar opposite. Hybrid, V8, dual-clutch box and all-wheel drive, it could only be less ‘analogue’ by being a full EV.
And yet Porsche managed to weave the immense complexity of the 918 Spyder together, and calibrate it (eventually, it wasn’t the work of a moment or fully there at the time of its launch) to create a cohesive, responsive, rewarding and thrilling hypercar. It was heavy, yes but it hid it well and got under the skin of all who got behind the wheel. With 875bhp shifting over 1600kg it was the least powerful and heaviest of the ‘Trinity’, but it was by no means an underdog. Its icon status hasn’t dwindled over the last decade either.
Hyundai i30 N (2017-2021)
If the Golf GTI Clubsport S caught us by surprise, the Hyundai i30N came out of absolutely nowhere. The Koreans had form for producing normal cars you could in good conscience recommend, but performance cars? In 2016 with the help of ex-BMW M genius Albert Biermann, it concocted a hot hatch of the decade, the i30N.
> Hyundai i30 N (2018 - 2024) review
The recipe was familiar – front-wheel drive, limited-slip diff, adaptive dampers, turbocharged four-cylinder engine, manual gearbox. But the right ingredients don’t always make the star car, it’s how they’re executed and integrated together. All up the i30N was a properly punchy little thing – great fun, if a little rough riding. That it was as good as it was out of the gates is enormously impressive, and a vindication of whoever in Hyundai’s talent acquisition team roped in Biermann.
Ford Fiesta ST200 (2016)
Some cars are just the standard, from the first example to leave the line, right to the last. One such car was the Mk7 Ford Fiesta ST, which was to small hot hatches, what the 911 was to sports cars – the indisputable leader, the benchmark by which all others had to be measured.
> Used Ford Fiesta ST200 (2016 - 2017) – a hot hatch great for under £9000
But while the 197bhp standard car that first came along in 2013 was a star, the ST200 was the star, the ST racked up a notch. The springs and dampers were softer to settle the ride but the anti-roll bars and rear torsion beam were stiffened. If only one hot hatch made it onto our 2010s Eras test, it had to be the ST of some form. Handy then, and probably the ultimate endorsement of the car, that evo co-founder Richard Meaden has one of his own, that he brought along.
Nissan GT-R (2007-2025)
Yes yes we know, the GT-R came out in 2008 (at which point it won eCoty), but it’s a car of the 2010s for us, simply because of the way the Japanese go about their business when it comes to these flagships. Nissan simply could not leave it alone, tinkering, iterating, improving. So over the years, power increased, ride comfort improved and in the end, even the interior was tarted up.
> Nissan GT-R (R35, 2009 - 2025) review – the Porsche 911 Turbo’s greatest rival
Really the answer to what GT-R you should buy is whatever the newest one is that you can afford. And so it is a car of the 2010s, because it spanned the whole damned decade. It also arguably inspired the push towards brute force performance with its giant-killing pace, though it was the GT-R’s balance, tractability and unexpected analague feel that won our hearts from the very beginning.
Jaguar F-Type R (2014-2022)
It feels strange to say a Jaguar was a defining car of the 2010s, given it’s a brand that’s not really with us in 2025. But that’s what the F-Type was. And it was conceived in typical Jag style, by a bunch of very clever blokes that could do great things with a box of existing bits.
> Used Jaguar F-Type (2013 - 2024) review and buyer’s guide
One of those blokes was our very own John Barker and that box of bits included plenty of XK platform components and crucially, a 5-litre supercharged V8 engine. That monster powerplant in 542bhp form motivated 2014’s F-Type R coupe, the car that came second only to the 458 Speciale at eCoty in 2014. The big Jag was almost unanimously loved too and can now be had for a tenth of what Speciales go for in the used market.
