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Our best cars of 2017
With so many cars on hand to drive each year, it takes a special machine to stand out. But when put on the spot, which four-wheeled machines impressed Autocar's staffers the most in 2017?
Using whatever criteria they fancied in order to make their choices, our team provides the answers. Click through the pictures to see our picks.
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Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio
Be honest: who really thought Alfa would ever get round to executing its comeback plan – the fifth such plan we’ve heard of in recent years, and the most ambitious. Not me, for one. And then the first new-era Alfa arrived, a stunning rear-wheel-drive sports saloon with a 500bhp-plus Ferrari-developed V6 and handling none of its rivals could live with. What a joy.
I drove it right at the start of the year and nothing I’ve driven since has bettered it, nor does anything immediately spring to mind that could do so in 2018. Now do it again, Alfa.
Mark Tisshaw, editor
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Aston Martin DB11 V8
I’m still mentally invested in my long term Seat Ateca, which I returned in spring. Not particularly exciting but an excellent all-rounder which I’d absolutely buy. But, predictably, the glamour of fast cars wins.
I wasn’t sold on the DB11's looks when it was first revealed, but in the flesh it is much prettier, in a muscular kind of way. The V8 is also far better than I expected from behind the wheel, with sharp(ish) steering and keen handling. I only drove it for a couple of hours – a welcome break in an otherwise unremarkable Monday – but I reckon I could easily be convinced to make it a daily driver. If only…
Rachel Burgess, news editor
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Honda Civic Type R
I’m a bit surprised my favourite car isn’t an SUV, given my preference for them in recent years. But the Honda Civic Type R is my stand-out this year. I’m not struck on its outlandish looks, which are not only OTT but rather spikey with it (Jeremy Clarkson has reflected in The Sunday Times on how small your manhood needs to be in order to drive a car that looks like this). But the way this car drives would give me pleasure every single day. The engine is smooth, extremely powerful and responsive everywhere. The gearchange is Honda brilliant. The steering is firm but lovely. And the Civic is so little slower than the likes of a 911, practically speaking, that it has to be a bargain.
What amazes me most is that the ride is comfortable, even supple, despite the ribbon tyres and the close-to-perfect body control. Like I say, I’d enjoy this car every time I drove it.
Steve Cropley, editor-in-chief
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Porsche 911 GT3
Yes, I know, this choice is about as predictable as mince pies at Christmas, but offer me a year in any car I’ve driven in 2017 and I wouldn’t have to think twice. I think the new GT3 looks fantastic in the metal, much better than it ever looks on the page or on a screen, because there’s a sort of subtle muscularity to it that is only appreciated in person. I’d have mine in Touring spec, which deletes the rear wing for maximum subtlety points. And, of course, the way the car looks is entirely secondary to the way it drives.
Dan Prosser, contributing writer
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Hyundai i30 N
It’s been a long time since any badge snobbery could have been directed at Hyundai, but the Korean firm is still best known for producing good quality, good value, good-but-not-great cars. So the firm’s decision to launch a performance division - and produce a Volkswagen Golf GTI-rivalling hot hatch - seemed somewhat audacious.
A brief run in a prototype i30 N on Hyundai’s surprisingly fearsome test circuit (think a very, very mini-Nürburgring) in Namyang, Korea, had me utterly convinced. It was confidence-inspiring, engaging and simply huge fun. And, as our reviewers have found after spending more time with the finished machine, if it's not as refined as a Golf GTI, it’s closer than a first effort has any right to be. As statements of intent go, the i30 N is a bold one.
James Attwood, digital editor
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Honda Civic Type R
Here, 'best' means the car that’s made me happiest. Here’s why: I know what a bunch of car nuts Honda engineers are. I’ve been there, seen the secret sheds full of the most extraordinary cars and bikes, and loved all the early Type Rs and NSXs I drove. Then, and for a while, fun left the menu. And the thing is I’ve not been too convinced by what’s been served up since it returned: the last Type-R was too patchy, the new NSX a car more to admire than adore. But the new Type R? Now that’s a proper hot Honda.
Yes, the interior is scruffy and the exterior an embarrassing thing for a man in his 50s to be seen in. But so too does it drive like it was engineered by angels, the engine merely a supporting cast member to the best front-drive chassis on sale. I just hope it’s not a blip but genuinely indicative that Honda has, after too long searching, finally rediscovered its mojo.
Andrew Frankel, senior contributing writer
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Lexus LC
It is not as multi-dimensional as the very best sporting GTs, but opt for Sport+ spec (thus equipping it with four-wheel steering, a carbonfibre roof, a limited-slip diff and a variably geared steering unit that weights up according to speed) and this is a car that is truly engaging to drive and almost certainly the first Lexus to deliver such fine-tuned thrills since the LFA (a host of bombastically engined F models notwithstanding). The LC’s styling was meant to herald a new era for the firm, and it certainly lands smack-bang in territory labelled 'love it or hate it', but really it is the delicacy of this car’s handling agility for which it should be both remembered and celebrated.
Jim Holder, editorial director
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Honda Accord Type R
Cropley and Frankel are right; the latest Civic Type R is a glorious thing. But my favourite car of 2017 was actually one of its elder siblings. I’d often thought of the Accord as the bottom of the Type-R ladder before I drove one through France earlier this year. How wrong I was. It’s a hair’s breadth from the Integra in terms of its old-school Type R driving excitement, with a beautiful chassis and an engine you can’t resist wringing out at every opportunity, yet there’s more low-down torque and it’s a genuinely practical proposition. The best part? Three grand gets you a decent example. It’s hard to think of any cars that offer such a blend of exhilaration and practicality for so little right now.
Alex Robbins, used cars editor
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Volkswagen Up GTI
As the owner of a soon-to-be-fast Lupo, and as someone who idolised the Lupo GTI as a child, the Up GTI brought it all flooding back when I saw it at the Worthersee GTI meet in Austria. Sure, it may not pack quite such a visual punch as the mad Lupo GTI, but its small stature and focus on fun is hard to argue with. No other car revealed across the year has ignited such a strong sense of longing in me, and the hot Up's entry in the not-so-strong city car segment and next-to-nonexistent fast city car segment is testament to Volkswagen’s daring and enthusiast-friendly product strategy.
The fact that VW isn't abusing the GTI badge (as other manufacturers have been tempted to with their performance models) and is keeping the sub-brand locked to three models - Up, Polo and Golf - is further proof of this. Thanks, VW.
Jimi Beckwith, staff writer
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Dallara-Mercedes Formula 3 car
I’m not sure I'll ever be able to top the experience of driving a Formula 3 car. I adored every single second of it, from the excitement of the seat fitting weeks before to finally slipping into the Double R Racing-run Dallara’s slender cockpit on a chilly March morning. The anticipation of driving this thoroughbred – it's not a stripped out road machine or gentleman-spec GT car with ABS, but designed from ground up as a racing car – was akin to an EasyJet pilot contemplating a go in an F18 fighter.
The car was phenomenal– of course it was – and I’ve not come close to steering something so alert, so intrinsically connected to your senses, since. I’ll never forget the sensation of taking Pembrey Circuit’s Christmas Corner at 115mph with just a lift. The feeling of driving a properly loaded up top-level single-seater forces you to rethink what is possible.
Sam Sheehan, senior staff writer
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