The best cars we’ve ever driven – evo’s five-star cars

The road to an evo five-star rating is not an easy one for any car. A five-star car must put the thrill of driving at the forefront of all of its priorities. The accolade is not awarded lightly, that last half a star up from 4.5 being perhaps the biggest jump a car can make. Sometimes, you know it as soon as you feel it, within the first 100 yards. Sometimes, it takes time for a five-star car to reveal its full personality and standout capabilities.

 It’s often the cause of great debate, not only amongst those of us who decide how many stars a car is worth, but also for those who claim to detect a bias – and those who own a car that falls half or a full star short of top marks and feel we’ve taken leave of our senses and should hand in our evo credentials forthwith. 

Over the last three decades, the contents of The Knowledge section published in each edition of evo – where we list the star ratings of the best cars we’ve driven – have created more debate than anything else we’ve written, evo Car of the Year results notwithstanding.

As of now, the number of cars with five stars in evo’s ratings almanac is closing in on the 300 mark, from the Mk7 Fiesta ST200 to the Rimac Nevera, and plenty in between, from Alfa Romeo to Mitsubishi, Lotus to Vauxhall, Aston Martin to Nissan, Bugatti to Noble. And yes, Porsche. Hot hatches, saloons, GTs and supercars – there’s a five-star evo car of every flavour, barring SUVs (though the Defender Octa gets close). While today’s new-car climate is delivering fewer nailed-on five-star heroes, we’ve seen another handful of new cars inducted over the course of 2026, including the new Lamborghini Revuelto SV and Toyota GR Yaris Aero Performance. Also the time we’ve spent in the back back catalogue features a rich seam of modern classics that still wear their five-star ranking proudly and with unblemished credibility.

Therefore, we’ve compiled some highlights five-star cars – from classics to the latest machinery – from the core sections of The Knowledge, with a full list in the table below each section.

Hot hatchbacks  

Lancia Delta HF Integrale Evoluzione II

It might not have the favoured front-wheel drive format of most hot hatchbacks, but the Delta HF Integrale shows there’s more than one way to spin a wheel. Still one of the most successful rally cars of all time, the Delta remains the definitive Group A homologation special – and the Evoluzione II its ultimate incarnation, launched shortly before the Delta went off sale, and splitting its 212bhp among all four wheels. Not as quick as modern all-wheel drive hot hatches (though at sub-6 to 62mph, hardly slow), the Delta offers more feedback than any of them, can still get down a wet B-road at a fair old lick, and looks absolutely fabulous.

Renault 5 GT Turbo

The Renault 5 GT Turbo predated Renault Sport as we came to know and love it, and even the Williams. It also predated, in spectacularly laggy ‘80s style, Renault’s naturally-aspirated era, with a brilliantly boosty, old-school pushrod turbocharged engine. It’s not just an antiquated curiosity though, rather genuinely capable, feelsome and supremely entertaining.

Mini Cooper S Works GP (R53)

The foundations of the Works GP formula were laid with the R53 generation car, which arrived in 2006. A 218bhp version of the Cooper S’s 1.6-litre supercharged four-pot provided the power, but the key factor in the GP’s appeal was the reduced weight, from binning the rear seats (replaced by a brace bar), cutting 15kg with new aluminium rear control arms, unique four-spoke alloys that trimmed 2kg a corner, and tearing out a bunch of sound insulation. It offered a more vivid experience than the Cooper S but one that, like the best hot hatches, seems to gel when you’re tonking on a bit. It’s not as unrefined as you might expect either – the first Works GP still feels great on regular, everyday B-roads.

Renault Sport Clio 182 Trophy

The Renault Sport Clio 182 Trophy is a bonafide modern classic and perhaps the ultimate and final flourish of the traditional small, excitable, French hot hatch before the Clio grew for the 197 generation. Its dual-reservoir Sachs dampers added a layer of extra sophistication that’s the cherry on the cake of a car that’s always felt like a modern-day Peugeot 205 GTI.

Honda Civic Type R (FL5)

No beating about the bush: the FL5-generation Civic Type R is nothing less than one of the greatest ever hot hatchbacks. Probably one of the biggest too at nearly 4.6 metres long, though far from being one of the heaviest, at 1437kg the last time we popped one on the scales. An evolution of the FK8 Type R, it’s a great deal more handsome but the handling has also been honed. Initial reports it was too stiff for UK roads were unfounded, we reckon – it’s perfectly adept at absorbing bumps, and body control is impeccable. It’s also got the best seats and the best gearchange in the business, explosive performance, and steering and brakes with genuine feedback. The engine’s a little dull to listen to, but other than that, and a price tag the wrong side of £50k new, it’s damn near perfect.

Volkswagen Golf GTI Edition 50 Performance Pack

The Volkswagen Golf GTI Edition 50 with the Performance Pack could have been too much for the road. On the contrary, it’s by far the best GTI since the sublime Clubsport S of 2016. It’s pointier, more responsive, more adjustable in the most old-school hot hatch way, which feels almost alien to a Mk8 Golf.

Saloons

BMW M5 (E28)

You could point to the E12 BMW M535i as laying the foundations for BMW’s super saloon, but the E28 M5 was the first to wear the now-familiar two-digit alphanumeric. With its 278bhp M88 straight six engine plucked from the M1 supercar it offered truly monstrous shove for the mid-80s, and 0-62mph in 6.2 seconds was up there with some pretty high-performance sports cars. Suspension upgrades meant it could outhandle a few of them too, yet ease off and it retained all the qualities of the base car – a classy cabin, long-legged refinement, and by modern standards, a fluid ride and blissfully compact form. It remains an icon.

Vauxhall-Lotus Carlton

The Lotus Carlton is a glorious anomaly, with nothing quite like it having come along before or since. Its 377bhp twin-turbo straight-six gave it supercar-humbling performance, allowing a monstrous 176mph top speed. Some thought it too potent to be allowed for public sale, a famous Carlton by the registration ‘40 RA’ gaining all the wrong attention having been stolen for a series of high-profile ram raids. But the Carlton is more than its anti-establishment performance. It’s of its time in terms of the inputs that are required, but it’s beautifully balanced and finessed.

Subaru Impreza 22B STI

An Impreza 22B featured in the very first issue of evo. It actually missed out on that five-star verdict the first time around, but this is one of those cars that has improved with time. It’s impossible not to be charmed by the shape, the closest any road-going Impreza has got to the pumped up WRC cars of 1997-onwards (until the Prodrive P25 arrived). The 22B was 80mm wider than a regular two-door Impreza, and its engine was bigger too, displacing 2.2 litres rather than the usual 2.0 – affording it not just the Japanese gentleman’s agreement 276bhp (in the brochure, anyway – they were thought to produce a fair bit more), but more torque, delivered through a close-ratio gearbox. Quicker steering, wider wheels and firmer suspension gave it a more serious feel on the road, too. All the usual Impreza sensations, but heightened. It’s no affordable hero though, with values now in the six-figure range.

BMW M5 (E39)

BMW’s E39 M5 arguably set the template for what a great sports saloon should be on its arrival in the late 1990s. It’s the ultimate exercise in automotive goldilocks zones: the right size, with the right power (about 400bhp), the right level of aggression and with plenty of personality. It’s a perfectly appreciable daily driver but will quite happily do its best D1 drifter impression with a squeeze of the throttle and a twist of lock.

Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio

The Giulia Quadrifoglio’s launch was accompanied by a profound sigh of relief that Alfa had finally nailed the sports saloon formula. It’s not that previous quick Alfas were bad necessarily (we don’t speak of the 4C), but the Giulia was a genuine M3 and C63 challenger. Actually, on some days it was better than either. Early cars had a few imperfections that later ones ironed out (such as a rear diff that would overheat on track, since replaced by a mechanical diff), and they chew through tyres, but the reward is a charismatic, engaging and agile performance saloon that is also a bit of a pussycat despite a power output of over 500bhp. It even rides well, and like most Alfas it’s easy on the eye, too.

BMW M5 CS (F90)

New five-star saloons are few and far between, so we defer to a used one that’s priced higher than its worse brand new equivalent. The M5 CS is a contender for best super saloon of all time, its subtly tightened, tautened, lightened constitution delivering an almost inexplicably sublime driver’s car and once that beat both a 911 GT3 and the last great V10 Lamborghini to the eCotY 2021 top step.

Estate cars

Audi RS4 (B7)

Audi turning out a genuine driver’s car isn’t much of a surprise today. In 2006 though, the RS4 suddenly becoming an M3 challenger was more of a shock. At the time we were aware of the Audi R8’s existence but it hadn’t gone on sale, and when presented with a 414bhp saloon with broadly the same 4.2-litre naturally-aspirated V8 as the supercar (there are a few technical differences), and driving through a manual gearbox, our hopes were sky high. Then we drove it, and discovered the new RS4 wasn’t just grippy and capable, per the Audi norm, but engaging, balanced, and urgent too. Few Audis have matched it since.

Mercedes C63 AMG (W204)

Mercedes-AMG’s W204-generation C63 wowed us when we revisited the finest V8 execs from the 2000s, only falling behind the RS4 in our tester’s preferences. There won’t be a motor like that 6.2-litre V8 ever again but the C63 impresses with finesse beyond its hotrod powertrain.

Audi RS6 Avant GT (C8)

The graphics might be a little much to some, an IMSA homage that still works best on the original Audi 90 Quattro racer. In the RS6 Avant GT’s defense, it’s only around 100bhp shy of the '80s monster, and a lot easier to take to the shops. The ultimate take on the already brawny RS6 Avant touts a £177k price tag with firmer (and adjustable) suspension, a carbon bonnet, 22-inch alloys that make it look like a Hot Wheels car, and is packed with character and ability. And involvement and entertainment, which aren’t always a given with fast Audis. Outrageous grip, clever diffs and four-wheel steering really take the edge off the size, too.

BMW M3 CS Touring (G81)

As per the M4 coupe and the M3 saloon, the G-series M3 Touring has been given the CS treatment – and it’s probably the pick of the bunch. More satisfying than even the M4 CS, strangely, though the extra practicality combined with the focus of the CS tweaks is undoubtedly part of its appeal. Nobody really needs an estate with Cup 2s, carbon seats, and 543bhp, but we’re glad it exists, and it’s significantly more appealing, and more satisfying to drive, than BMW’s own M5 Touring. The power, chassis, and brakes all easily cope with the 1850kg mass (on road or track); it feels more like a honed sports coupe than an estate. 

BMW M3 Touring (G81)

Whisper it, but the G81 M3 Touring is pretty superb as is, without the tweaks that elevate it to CS status. If anything it’s a complement to the CS, that if you wind back everything it does brilliantly by ten per cent, you get a standard M3 Touring that’s still a five-star car. 

Convertibles and roadsters 

Lotus Elise (S1)

‘One of the truly great driving experiences’ neatly sums up the original Lotus Elise. The Elise was a vital car for Lotus on its arrival in 1996, and its persistence over three generations until 2021 shows how right the basic formula was. There’s still something particularly special about those earliest cars however. They did a lot with only a 118bhp Rover K-Series, mostly thanks to a 731kg kerb weight, enabled by a revolutionary bonded aluminium structure and a near-religious attitude to minimalism. Nothing short of a Caterham is as involving to drive, and to be honest, not many cars have come close since; especially to the Elise’s gloriously talkative steering, and the uncanny way it deals with poor road surfaces.

Mazda MX-5 (NA)

The original Mazda MX-5 1.6 is not a fast car, nor a particularly focused one. But it distils almost perfectly, the elemental joys of driving. Taking power and performance almost completely out of the equation, it’s an exercise in balance and interaction. Experiencing one should be mandatory for all who claim to love driving.

Ariel Atom 3.5R

A year after Ariel introduced the Atom 3.5 came the 3.5R. The regular car was brisk with 310bhp, and the R took that output to 350bhp – chipping only a tenth from the 3.5’s 0-60mph time, but with 636bhp per-ton (the 3.5R weighed just 550kg), perhaps the more striking stat was the six-second 0-100mph time. A healthy options list included the likes of a Sadev sequential gearbox and a carbon aero package incorporating front and rear wings, making this an Atom aimed even more at track driving – something backed up by trick Ohlins dampers. Naturally, it’s a complete riot to drive, and amazingly considering the performance on offer, confidence-inspiring too.

Porsche 718 Boxster Spyder RS

The Porsche 718 Boxster Spyder RS was the end of an era and a dream made real for many: the marriage of a proper motorsport-spec Porsche GT engine with the sweetheart Boxster. It’s as intoxicating a recipe as you’re imagining.

Aston Martin Vantage Roadster

It took a little while for Aston Martin to perfect the Vantage, but the Vantage Roadster we drove in 2025 was deservedly a five-star car, with ‘a dynamic repertoire with no excuses’. Some soft tops force a compromise over the equivalent coupe in terms of their abilities, but that’s not the case here – it helps that the Vantage is more GT than hardcore sports car to begin with, but you don’t notice any difference in rigidity. It’s just as alert as the hard-top, and it’s a little more compliant too. Naturally, there’s a lot of joy in the 656bhp 4-litre AMG-sourced V8 – and being able to drop the roof makes it even more enjoyable when you’re just cruising.

Mazda MX-5 RF 2.0 (ND4)

The current Mazda MX-5 RF 2.0 is a real people’s hero, in that it equalled McLaren’s Artura Spider, a car eight-times its price, for second place on evo Car of the Year 2024. It’s a long-serving recipe nipped, tucked and refined to near perfection.

Sports cars

Honda Integra Type R (DC2)

The DC2 Integra Type R is the only front-wheel drive car in this category, and high-revving proof that a genuine sports car need not power its rear wheels alone. Driving an Integra R fast is as absorbing and exciting as almost anything here and a testament to what Honda engineers were able to achieve in the '90s with merely a mildly sporty coupe as their starting point. Selling points like a seam-welded shell and hand-built engine illustrate just how much went into the Type R, and that 1.8-litre B18C5 engine makes over 100bhp/litre, for 187bhp at a scorching 8000rpm and one of the most spine-tingling VTEC changeovers of any Honda engine. It needs commitment to come alive, but when you commit, it’s the equal of almost any car evo has tested.

Toyota MR2 (Mk1)

The Mk1 Toyota MR2 was a real delight on 2025’s evo Eras: the 1980s test. Not the most tied-down machine in the modern sense by any means but an intoxicatingly involving mid-engined sports car experience, with beautifully-judged controls.

BMW 1-series M Coupé

The 1-series M Coupe wasn’t the first turbocharged M car - that accolade rested with the dubious X5 and X6 M – but it still made enthusiasts a little nervous, not least because it didn’t use a ‘proper’ S-designated M engine. Instead, its N54 3-litre turbocharged straight six was a tuned version of that used in the 135i, though with 335bhp it wasn’t short of urge. Ultimately, we shouldn’t have worried: the pumped up bodywork and wider tracks hit the right visual notes, while brawny performance and the ever-present option to steer on the throttle ensured it drove like a proper M car.

Aston Martin V8 Vantage (2005)

Aston Martin’s V8 Vantage wasn’t the 911-beater many hoped on its reinvention as Aston’s entry-level sports car in 2005. But to dismiss it on those grounds is to miss out on the joys it offers all the same. The V8 doesn’t make it abundantly quick, but it’s sweetheart of the modern naturally-aspirated era. It’s not light, but its controls are beautifully judged, the overall driving experience a five-star thrill.

Toyota GR86

The Toyota GR86 lived only a short time in the UK due to emissions and safety legislation, but we’re glad Toyota made the effort to follow up the zippy little GT86. The GR model was a development of that car, with a little more where it mattered – notably, power and torque. The 231bhp flat-four offered much more punch than its predecessor, while the handling was improved by the fitment of proper performance tyres; the GT86’s balance was still there, but extra grip counter-intuitively meant exploiting the car’s handling became more intuitive. We liked it enough that it finished second in eCoty 2022 to the Maserati MC20.

Porsche 911 Carrera T (992.2)

The current 911 Carrera T is perhaps the sweet spot 911. Unlike so many performance cars today, it’s not excessively powerful or heavy, features one of Porsche’s sweetest manual transmissions and is just a beautifully judged road car overall. More usable than a GT3, more involving than any other 911 besides.

Supercars

Honda NSX (NA1)

The original Honda NSX is a long way from being the fastest supercar ever, or the most dramatically styled. But it’s undoubtedly one of the most important. It was technologically advanced, among the first cars entirely constructed from aluminium, and with VTEC technology in its cylinder heads. It was reliable, relatively easy to service, and nowhere near as recalcitrant as contemporaries from the likes of Ferrari. And it was great to drive, with spectacular visibility, an eager V6 engine (making 270bhp from three litres, initially), and biddable handling, though like many mid-engined cars of the era, it could still bite if you took liberties. Famously, the NSX’s mix of qualities were enough that Gordon Murray used one to benchmark certain aspects of the McLaren F1.

Ford GT (2004)

The 2004 Ford GT couldn’t be more divergent in recipe to the McLaren F1 if it tried: aluminium underpinning and a big supercharged V8 amidships. And yet thanks to its beautifully judged chassis, steering and gearshift, it’s one of the all-time great driver’s supercars, of any era let alone its own. It was an American supercar resolved to an eCotY-winning standard.

The modern classic: Ferrari 458 Speciale

You know the drill by now with hardcore versions of Ferrari’s V8 supercars. Or maybe you don’t, because the 458 Speciale was on another level again – one of only two cars ever to take unanimous victory at evo Car of the year, and one of our all-time favourite cars outright. Credit must go in part to the brilliance of the standard 458, because Ferrari was hardly turning a sow’s ear into a silk purse, but the extra intensity, communication and ability were all intoxicating. Ferrari squeezed 597bhp from the F136 V8, a barmy 133bhp/litre, and the first flat-out run is a shocking experience. Even better is that the chassis is still on top of it at all times, and copes with poor road surfaces too. It might just be peak Ferrari.

Audi R8 V8

All mid-engined exotica with a stick between the seats from the 2000s seems to be disappearing into the stratosphere value-wise at the moment. The Audi R8 V8 has been left behind, in spite of its Lamborghini underpinnings and sweeter-than-Lamborghini driving experience. By dint of its German branding, or perhaps how many they sold? Either way, it’s a bargain at the moment for what it offers: a bonafide five-star supercar for hot hatch money.

The new one: Porsche 911 GT3, GT3 RS and S/T

The 992-generation Porsche 911 hasn’t quite taken the triple eCoty crown, but wins in 2023 and 2024 for the RS and S/T, combined with 2021’s third-place for the GT3 Touring, demonstrate how broadly talented and thrilling the best versions have been. It helps that there’s nothing on the market quite like a manual, naturally-aspirated 911 these days. The 992 can feel quite large – it no longer has the pleasing compactness of earlier cars – but the 4-litre engines will do 9000rpm all day, passing 503bhp along the way, and Porsche has done a pretty good job extracting real steering feedback from electric power assistance too, making these cars as involving as they are capable. The S/T’s shorter gearing dials up the intensity even further.

McLaren Artura

McLaren’s Artura is perhaps the opposite of the GT3 RS, in that it’s almost entirely overlooked in the marketplace, in spite of being one of the very best supercars of the last five years. It’s a sweetheart, with silky steering, delectable balance and an astonishingly impressive powertrain that, in spite of its hybridity, doesn’t drag the Artura over 1600kg at the kerb.

Hypercars 

McLaren F1

Smaller than a first-generation Porsche Cayman and barely heavier than an MX-5, but propelled by a 7500rpm, 627bhp, BMW-developed V12, the F1 was designed to be the ultimate tactile driving experience but ended up becoming a speed record breaker and a Le Mans winner too. evo has driven the F1 on several occasions, both on its own and in concert with the later McLaren P1, and more recently the GMA T.50, but whatever you put the F1 against, it never gets any less special. The V12 still has searing response and enormous pull even from low revs, the steering is packed with feedback, and the central driving position remains unmatched for visibility. It doesn’t have the measure of the newer T.50 for crank speed, but the F1 has it beaten for richness of sound.

The old one: Ferrari F40

We suspect the Ferrari F40 is the supercar for a lot of enthusiasts. It remains one of Ferrari’s most distinctive and purposeful shapes, from its shovel-like nose to the tip of its square-edged rear wing. There’s even more menace in the power delivery of the 2.9-litre twin-turbo V8, with one of the most profound, eye-widening onsets of full boost you’re likely to experience. It still feels explosively fast today, helped by the quoted 478bhp having to push along just 1100kg (plus fluids), and the sensations coming through the unassisted steering. Driving an F40 quickly isn’t for the faint of heart, but it’s enormously rewarding all the same. Definitely meet your heroes, with this one.

The modern classic: Pagani Zonda S (7.3)

The Pagani Zonda S is a special car to evo: co-founder Harry Metcalfe owned one for a time, making it surely the best long-term test car that any journalist from any magazine has ever written about in print. The Zonda S is and remains incredibly special to behold, while the Mercedes-derived 7.3-litre V12 sounded spectacular. If good looks and a soulful engine were all the Zonda had on its side that would’ve been enough for some, but it had sharp steering and supple suspension too, while the fighter-jet-style cockpit enabled a view out over those prominent front wings that made placing it a doddle compared to most supercars.

Porsche Carrera GT

It might have a fearsome reputation but the Carrera GT is rightly being recognised as the modern classic Porsche icon. It’s a formidable recipe that could stand to be referenced as Porsche plans its upcoming supercar: A sonorous V10 engine, delicious manual shift and challenging yet rewarding dynamics. An all-time great.

The new one: Lamborghini Revuelto

In days gone by, V12 Lamborghinis were considered supercars, but with an output of 1001bhp, the follow-up to the Aventador probably now deserves the hypercar tag. The thing is, names are almost irrelevant with the Revuelto, because the big news here is that it’s simply the best supercar, hypercar, whatever, you can currently buy. It has an evo Car of the year win in 2025 to its name (with unanimous results from the judges), and while it’s adopted the near-inevitable use of hybrid technology, in this case it really does augment the performance of the screaming 6.5-litre V12 it’s attached to. The Revuelto has all the drama of previous Lambo supercars, but there’s even more driver engagement, and it’s also confidence-inspiring, exploitable, and easy to use when you’re not driving like your trousers are on fire.

Pagani Utopia

Pagani’s stubbornness to not engage in the horsepower wars and keep its focus on the experience of its hypercars, is enormously commendable. The Utopia makes no fuss about its return to a manual gearbox option because it’s only part of the experience. This is high-end Swiss watch levels of engineering, attention to detail and experiential refinement, on four wheels.