This was not because of the correlation to the number of cars included but, in an age when Nürburgring-crushing hypercars seem to go on sale with only slightly less regularity than compact crossovers, we thought it might bring a welcome change of pace.

Otherwise, the usual rules apply, which means that there are no rules. These cars are not united by being the best in their classes, nor by having won group tests or the number of stars awarded in road tests. The only thing that binds them together is that, for a whole host of reasons both subjective and objective, we just really like them.

One more thing: every year the pool of choice widens, giving us ever more cars from which to choose – so congratulations to all that even made the list, for that in itself is a real and great achievement. They're ranked in order, starting at number 50 and working all the way up to number 1 - officially Autocar's best car you can buy today. Pricing stated is the lowest on-the-road price you'll pay to get into one of the cars listed new, without any options.

Written by Simon Davis, Andrew Frankel, Richard Lane, Matt Prior and Matt Saunders