- Slide of
Back in 2014, we polled our readers about what is the best British car.
Now revised for 2021, we take a close look. But just want constitutes a British car? In short order, we decided that British-owned firms – Bristol, Morgan, Austin – were a shoe-in. And so were firms that, like Bentley and Rolls-Royce, have always operated within these shores, but now have foreign owners.
That was the easy part, and one which in a very short but noisy discussion formed the lion’s share of the top 100 shortlist. We sought the very best and turned over a few surprises. The Megane Renaultsport 225 raised many eyebrows when it was included. It was the first complete car delivered by British engineering firm Ricardo, which developed the chassis, braking, steering, styling and engine upgrades.
And although it polled relatively few votes in the survey, it is perhaps the Megane that sums up the British car industry best: using the innovations of the world’s most talented engineers to make cars the very best they can be. We doubt you’ll agree with all the choices, but you can be sure they won’t be boring:
- Slide of
100: Range Rover Evoque
An instant hit for Land Rover and hugely desirable. Nearly 800,000 were sold of the first generation, and a new model went on sale in 2019. And it’s already selling as well as the original.
- Slide of
99: Ginetta G40R
Road-going variant of G40 racer got Leeds rocking again.
- Slide of
98: Vauxhall Astra
One of the most enduring nameplates in UK car production. A new generation model should arrive by the end of 2021.
- Slide of
97: Marcos TSO
The British firm’s best model but also, sadly, its swansong.
- Slide of
96: Honda Civic
Practical, reliable, efficient and – built in the UK since 1994 - British through-and-through. But not for much longer; Honda's Swindon factory will close in 2021, a sad ending to Honda's interests in UK manufacturing that began with its much-needed cooperation with British Leyland in the late '70s.
- Slide of
95: MG A
Prompted a significant leap forward in car styling.
- Slide of
94: Vauxhall Chevette HSR
The ultimate evolution of an everyday hatchback.
- Slide of
93: Triumph Dolomite Sprint
World’s first mass-produced multi-valve car.
- Slide of
92: Honda Jazz
Lacks excitement, but owners love its reliability and practicality.
- Slide of
91: Allard J2
Exploited a growing thirst for sports cars in America.
- Slide of
90: Sunbeam Tiger
Inspired by Carroll Shelby, but assembled in Britain.
- Slide of
89: Nissan Juke
Quirky B-segment crossover was a big seller in this country. A new generation model went on sale in 2020, also made in the UK.
- Slide of
88: Invicta Black Prince
Britain’s first car with a fully automatic transmission.
- Slide of
87: Noble M12
Track-ready road car was a serious TVR rival in the 2000s.
- Slide of
86: Lotus Carlton
So fast, Vauxhall faced calls to ban it, or limit the top speed. Our John Howell certainly liked it (pictured).
- Slide of
85: Caterham Seven 160
Slowest Caterham is better for having low grip and just enough power.
- Slide of
84: Caparo T1
Few road cars are as uncompromising or as fast as this single-seater.
- Slide of
83: Rolls-Royce 10 hp
The first car to carry the iconic Rolls-Royce badge.
- Slide of
82: Triumph TR5 PI
The first ever fuel injected British production sports car.
- Slide of
81: Radical RXC
Looks like a Le Mans refugee and goes like one too.
- Slide of
80: Triumph 1300
Small luxury saloon that proved rewarding to drive.
- Slide of
79: Daimler Dart
Used by the British police and a big seller in the USA.
- Slide of
78: Morgan 4/4
Modern car maintains a tradition that stretches back to 1936.
- Slide of
77: Renaultsport Mégane 225
No mistake – it was developed by UK-based engineers Ricardo.
- Slide of
76: Noble M600
Built in Leicestershire, this is one of our favourite hypercars.
- Slide of
75: Lotus Sunbeam
Built in Scotland, fettled in Norfolk, won rallies around the world.
- Slide of
74: Morgan Plus 8
A stunning take on one of Morgan's most famous models.
- Slide of
73: BAC Mono
Beautifully engineered single-seater, inspired by a fighter jet… and Björk.
- Slide of
72: Gordon-Keeble
A tortoise on the badge, but Giugiaro styling, Bertone assembly and a 300bhp V8 ensured appeal.
- Slide of
71: Austin Healey Sprite
The Frogeye was as successful on the race track as it was on the road and it evolved into the MG Midget.
- Slide of
70: MGB GT
Clever packaging allowed plenty of luggage space, rakish looks and sporting prowess. Spawned an intriguing V8 version too (pictured).
- Slide of
69: Bristol Fighter
Rarely seen Chrysler V10-powered machine from small and enigmatic car company.
- Slide of
68: Ford Cortina 1600E
The hot hatch of the day was affordable, fast and at the time, arguably even more desirable than Lotus versions.
- Slide of
67: Bowler EXR
One of the few cars as fast on the road as it is off it. Looks like a Range Rover Sport, uses its V8 engine, but little else.
- Slide of
66: AC Ace
Without the beautiful Ace, there could be no Cobra, and the world would be a sadder place.
- Slide of
65: Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow
Rolls’ first monocoque design was a sales smash – more Shadows were sold than any other model.
- Slide of
64: Austin FX4
It might be inefficient, but the styling and longevity of the FX4 means it is the definitive London motoring icon.
- Slide of
63: Napier-Railton
John Cobb’s 186mph aero-engined car broke 47 speed records in the 1930s and holds the lap record at Brooklands.
- Slide of
62: Caterham Supersport
Fast but still affordable, the Supersport is one of Caterham’s most appealing packages.
- Slide of
61: Triumph 2000
A modern monocoque-based saloon with independent suspension all round and, later, fuel injection.
- Slide of
60: Jaguar F-Type
The Big Cat returns to its sports car heartland in stunning fashion. A revised F-Type recently went on sale.
- Slide of
59: Morgan 3 Wheeler
Crazy reimagining of the 3 Wheeler from the 1910s is available with RAF roundels, and bullet hole decals.
- Slide of
58: Reliant Scimitar
Popular sportscar sold for 22 years in coupé and convertible form, but it is the GTE shooting brake that most remember.
- Slide of
57: TVR Sagaris
Like the Marcos TSO, the Sagaris was TVR’s final car and possibly its best. Certainly its most outrageously styled. We'll hopefully see a new TVR in production in 2021.
- Slide of
56: Ford Escort RS2000
With its nose cone, the RS2000 looked like no other Escort Mk2. A 110bhp 2.0-litre engine ensured impressive pace.
- Slide of
55: Bentley Continental GT
It’s a four-wheel-drive GT coupé and convertible that is at its most blistering in 6.0-litre W12 form, but one that’s at its most impressive – in every conceivable way – with a 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 under the bonnet.
It’s easy to see why the Continental GT is so popular. In its opulence, it’s a clear leap beyond cheaper offerings from, say, Jaguar, Porsche or Mercedes. At its price level, it’s far more cosseting than, for example, a Ferrari or an Aston Martin. It occupies – and, indeed, dominates – a valuable niche. An all-new version went on sale in 2018.
- Slide of
54: Ford Capri RS3100
Just a handful were built for a successful racing career, and it remains the most sought-after of all Capris.
- Slide of
53: DeLorean DMC-12
The politics, the drug trafficking charges, Back to the Future... the story of the DMC-12 is the stuff of Hollywood blockbusters.
- Slide of
52: Aston Martin V8
Aston’s bruising muscle car remained on sale for an astonishing 20 years.
- Slide of
51: Ascari KZ1
The KZ1 is built in Banbury, and there are just 50 in existence. Power came from a BMW M5 V8 turned up to 500bhp, but with a carbonfibre skin and tub, the whole thing weighed just 1275kg. So it got along quite nicely, although the car was capable of taking much more power than it was allowed.
“The Ascari KZ1 is one of the finest-handling supercars of this or any generation,” we said when we first drove it. “No Ferrari made today steers as well as this, and no Porsche can match its superlative blend of ride and refinement.”
- Slide of
50: Subaru Impreza WRX
Built by Prodrive in Banbury, few competition cars of the modern era are as iconic. Made legends of McRae, Burns, Solberg.
- Slide of
49: Aston Martin V12 Vantage S
Runner up in our handling day in 2013 is astonishingly good to drive and apocalyptically fast.
- Slide of
48: Hillman Avenger Tiger
Hillman’s rival to the Escort Mexico was impressive, and on a drag strip could outpace the Ford.
- Slide of
47: Triumph Stag
Michelotti-styled Stag remains hugely popular despite a reputation for poor reliability.
- Slide of
46: Hillman Imp
A total of 440,000 rear engined Imps were sold and it became a badge engineering hero with Singer, Commer and Sunbeam versions.
- Slide of
45: Lister Storm
Featured the largest V12 in a car since WW2 and was conceived primarily as a race car. Just three road cars remain today.
- Slide of
44: Rover P5B
Said to be the Queen’s favourite car, the Rover P5 was transformed by the installation of a newly acquired all-aluminium 144bhp 3.5-litre ex-Buick V8 to create the P5B, extending not only the model’s performance but also its life.
Perfectly proportioned and delicately detailed to provide subtle authority, the P5 looked expensive without shouting it and was in no way a machine of the nouveau riche like the cheaper Mk2 Jaguar.
- Slide of
43: Lotus Evora
On a (relatively) tiny budget, Lotus has built one of the most beautifully-balanced and comfortable sports cars currently available.
- Slide of
42: Rover P6 3500S
The innovative P6 was the first ever European Car of the Year. The manual 3.5-litre V8 3500S was the most beguiling in the range.
- Slide of
41: Nissan Qashqai
A true UK success story. Designed, engineered and built entirely in this country thanks to Nissan’s design and engineering presence.
- Slide of
40: Ariel Atom
Tiny firm producing one of the few road cars that can rival a motorcycle for performance and exposure to the elements.
- Slide of
39: Vauxhall Prince Henry
Genuine Rolls-Royce rival is considered by some to be the first sports car.
- Slide of
38: Aston Martin One-77
Big-budget, super rare hypercar. Few will see one in the metal. Even fewer will drive one. A masterpiece.
- Slide of
37: Rover 75
The best car Rover ever made, according to many. Sadly it was also the firm’s last.
- Slide of
36: Jaguar XJ
Ian Callum reinvented the XJ for the 21st century with huge success, but it’s even better to drive than it is to look at. The XJ will be relaunched in all-electric form in 2021.
- Slide of
35: Austin Seven
A total of 290,000 Sevens were built and for a while it was the dominant force in British car production.
- Slide of
34: Bristol Blenheim
Anachronistic Type 603 doesn’t care for modern trends. Leather, refinement and a big V8 is all you need.
- Slide of
33: Lotus Cortina
Built to succeed on the race track and excite on the road. Few ‘normal’ cars were faster at the time.
- Slide of
32: Austin Healey 3000
The best-known Healey’s beauty belied its potent ability on the world’s rally stages.
- Slide of
31: Aston Martin Vanquish
Achingly beautiful and dynamically beguiling grand tourer. Worth every penny of its hefty asking price.
- Slide of
30: Lotus 7
No car, arguably, has had such an impact on the lightweight sports car market.
- Slide of
29: Land Rover
Pondering a replacement for his Willys Jeep, Rover’s Maurice Wilks first sketched the car’s now-iconic silhouette in the Anglesey sand in 1947. Meanwhile, Rover needed a versatile new post-war product that was cheap to build and run. Wilks’s answer used the 1595cc petrol engine and gearbox from existing Rovers to drive all four wheels.
In 1948 we reported, “The Land Rover is likely to increase the name of quality British goods all over the world.” How right we were; 74 per cent of the first 250,000 were exported, and nearly 50 plants sprung up globally to assemble them from kits. The rest as they say is history, and today Land Rover sells over 400,000 cars per year.
- Slide of
28: Jensen Healey
Despite a Lotus twin-cam engine, the oil crisis was the death knell for the Healey, and for its maker.
- Slide of
27: Lotus Esprit
Giugiaro masterpiece sold for 28 years, and was another model made famous by James Bond.
- Slide of
26: MG Midget
Low cost roadster brought huge excitement to the 226,000 who bought one around the world.
- Slide of
25: McLaren 12C
One of the most advanced, comfortable and efficient supercars of all time. Capable of competing with the very best.
- Slide of
24: Morris Minor
Alec Issigonis’ creation sold more than 1.3m in 23 years of production.
- Slide of
23: Lotus Elan
The Elan was not only the best Lotus of its day (it was built from 1962 to 1973), but also, arguably, the best sports car. Rivals felt lardy next to the sub-800kg Lotus, which was technologically light years ahead thanks to race-bred kit such as a backbone chassis, DOHC engine, independent coilover suspension, all-disc brakes and GRP bodywork.
Colin Chapman supplied the technical and commercial cunning needed to make a success of the Elan, which sold over 12,000 examples excluding the longer, heavier Plus 2.
- Slide of
22: TVR Speed 12
One-off road car developed 960bhp. TVR boss Peter Wheeler deemed it too much for a road car and the project was shelved.
- Slide of
21: Rover SD1
Beneath the Ferrari-inspired styling was a comfortable exec. Image was helped by touring car wins and hot Vitesse models. Beloved by the police for its sure-footed handling, build quality was not great and it's rare to spot survivors today.
- Slide of
20: TVR Chimera
Based on the Griffith, but slightly softer and more suited to long distance touring. Was a sales success for TVR in the 1990s.
- Slide of
19: Mini
Resurrecting a British model under German ownership was always going to be tough. Styling, handling and quality shine through.
- Slide of
18: Bentley Blower
Bentley Boy Tim Birkin took a 4.5-litre Bentley and bolted on a supercharger. The Blower was born.
- Slide of
17: Jaguar XF
The first modern era Jaguar that could genuinely compete with the class best.
- Slide of
16: Ford GT40
In the early 1960s, Ford had agreed to buy Ferrari, but Ferrari pulled out. Ford planned revenge, established Ford Advanced Vehicles and gave the world the GT40 with a chassis built in Coventry and a body built in Farnham. After fixing teething problems, Ford demolished all-comers at the 1966 Le Mans 24 hours with a one-two-three finish. The 2019 movie Le Mans '66 dramatises the events.
- Slide of
15: Rolls-Royce Phantom
Few cars have ever been this opulent and refined. It saw off the Maybach and now exists in a rarefied class of one. A new-generation model arrived in 2018.
- Slide of
14: Lotus Elise
Biggest-selling Lotus ever was the perfect embodiment of Chapman’s ‘add lightness’ philosophy. Remains a handing benchmark.
- Slide of
13: Jaguar D-Type
D-Types took five of the top six places at the 1957 Le Mans 24 Hours.
- Slide of
12: Ford Sierra RS Cosworth
Built for the racetrack, loved by performance car enthusiasts, a proper 1980s automotive icon.
- Slide of
11: Jensen FF
The FF, not the Interceptor, was the first ever road car to use four-wheel drive.
- Slide of
10: Ford Escort Mexico
Built to commemorate the Blue Oval’s 1970 win in the London to Mexico Rally, it is one of the most sought-after Fords today.
- Slide of
9: TVR Griffith
Look past the Griff’s reputation for unreliability and you’ll find a properly fast car with a stunning cabin.
- Slide of
8: Aston Martin DB5
There are faster Aston Martins, there are ones that are better to drive and, you might argue, ones that are more beautiful, too. But none is more famous.
But its fame shouldn’t overshadow the fact that it steers, goes and cossets superbly. In the James Bond film, Skyfall, a DB5 is driven from a lock-up in north London to the wilds of Scotland in one hit. The truth is that few cars – of any era – would be better suited to perform such a task.
- Slide of
7: Jaguar XJ220
Was the world’s fastest car and motorsport success followed.
- Slide of
6: McLaren P1
Proof that hybrid tech can be cool and very effective for a performance car, Woking’s hypercar is a technological tour-de-force.
- Slide of
5: MOTIV.e
Conceptual city car, a partnership between Yamaha and Gordon Murray, is underpinned by the latter’s forward-thinking iStream production process.
- Slide of
4: Range Rover
Conceptually, so far ahead of its time that it appears not even its designers realised it. It provided a template from which the company has to this day felt no need to deviate. We're not just talking about a high driving position, an ability to tow a house or scamper across a ploughed field. It’s more about an attitude, an imperious approach to any terrain you point it at, the confidence in its stride that lets you know it’ll get on and do all the work while you sit in your big chair and command the action.
It is the perfect manservant, capable of sorting out problems that would bring lesser vehicles to their knees, and all without putting a single hair of its own out of place, let alone any of yours.
- Slide of
3: Jaguar E-Type
A car that was at least as fast as an Aston Martin DB4 or Ferrari 250GT – then the quickest cars in the world – but which cost half the price of the former and one third the price of the latter. And it was more striking than both.
- Slide of
2: McLaren F1
The world’s first hypercar, with a three-seat cockpit and a 6.1-litre V12 engine nestling in its tail, waiting to unleash hell upon anything or anyone that dared come near it: The world of motoring stopped what it was doing for a moment and just stared, open mouthed, stunned by what it had been presented with.
It was, and to some still is, the ultimate sports car. And part of the reason why was that it was designed and built by McLaren virtually without compromise.
- Slide of
1: Mini
And the winner is... the Mini. Mini by name, but actually pretty maxi inside. It’s a full four-seater, and your writer has been four-up plus guitars and amplifiers in mine when it had to double as a Transit van. The Mini could genuinely be used as family transportation; that was the real brilliance of the Issigonis design.
- Slide of
1: Mini - continued
Mini, and that’s the appeal. No wonder the car has spawned so many cottage industry suppliers, tuners and tweakers. It's just so charismatic; I mean, which other small car could sustain a film, or at least a half-hour chase in a major European city?
- Slide of
1: Mini - continued
Anyone who was anyone had one, be they a Goon (Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan), Beatle (all of them), supermodel (Twiggy, Jean Shrimpton), film star (Steve McQueen) or just your mum and dad. The Mini was at once classy and classless.
- Slide of
1: Mini - continued
Probably the bestest thing about Minis is that they are a hoot to drive. You knew that already, of course, but just in case you wondered, they are a particle accelerator on four wheels. That means they feel twice as fast as they actually are; 30mph really does feel like 60mph, and 60mph is pretty much take-off.
- Slide of
1: Mini - continued
Forget all about your Morgans, Bentleys and Bristols; the most British car ever is definitely the original Mini. That’s because it was the people’s car. Affordable, innovative and part of the automotive furniture of our great island. And that’s why the Mini is Britain’s favourite car. And mine.
If you enjoyed this story, sign up to Autocar’s newsletter for all the best car news, reviews and opinion direct to your inbox. Click here to subscribe.