The golden age of sports cars revisited – car pictures of the week
Stand-out used sports cars gather for a battle of models that spans two decades. Their charms are almost impossible to find in new cars today
It’s arguable that with the 718 Porsche Cayman GT4, the outgoing golden age of sports cars dies. We say outgoing because some more senior enthusiasts might say the era of 60 years ago that contained cars from Triumph, Lotus, MG, Austin-Healey and so on was the sports car golden era. But in the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s, there came a renaissance, arguably beginning with the first Porsche Boxster and ending with the last GT4. In issue 339 of evo magazine, we gathered a selection of six-cylinder stars from the last 20 years for a dose of the magic that’s missing from today’s cars. These are our favourite shots.
The Z4 M got a soft reception when new. It lacked the balance and compliance of a Boxster, but traded heavily on the raw appeal of that ITB-equipped, 3.2-litre S54 straight-six engine – an engine that owes more than a bit of its genius to the McLaren F1’s S70/2 BMW M V12. Nowadays, it’s a moment in time that was never repeated, that engine as mythically epic if not more so, than it was when new. Its raw charms have matured with time too – a car that seemed quite large when new is positively compact on today’s roads.
If you’re talking moments in time, TVR, or more specifically Smolenksi’s TVR, was a pillar of the 2000s sports car landscape and the T350 was arguably the sweetest of them all. Not as extreme or egregious on the eyes as the Sagaris or Tuscan 2, prettier than the Tamora, by far a better resolved product than the early Tuscan and other 1990s TVRs. That Speed Six engine is a (delicate) jewel – there’s a reason these cars hold the money they do.
The Evora and Cayman are curiosities because they’re much fresher in the memory. The Lotus has a very similar successor that’s (just about) still with us in the Emira V6, while the 718 Cayman is shortly departed from configurator lists. But these cars are still special. Some will have it that the Cayman peaked with the 981 GT4, meanwhile some will find the Evora Sport the peak latterday Lotus sports car. Find out exactly how the cars stack up in the full feature, in evo 339.
