But Rolls-Royce is one of them.A $100 Rolls-Royce and a $20 million Rolls-Royce obviously have almost nothing in common apart from the badge on the front, but that’s what makes the comparison so interesting. What actually changes as you keep adding zeros to the price?

Would a $10,000 Rolls-Royce already feel luxurious? What about a modern $100,000 Ghost? And at what point does a Rolls-Royce stop being simply expensive and become something completely ridiculous?

To find out, let’s start at the bottom.

$100 — Technically a Rolls-Royce

The cheapest Rolls-Royce on the list costs just $100.Of course, there’s a reason.

The car is in pretty rough condition, with an engine that needs work and a boot that looks like it hasn’t been opened in years. There are even random things sitting inside, including a Rolls-Royce grille that looks like it could probably be cleaned up.

But for $100, you’re getting an actual Rolls-Royce grille, the Spirit of Ecstasy mounting area, enormous headlights and even little windshield-wiper-like mechanisms for the headlights.

It’s obviously not a usable luxury car, but technically, you could tell someone you own a Rolls-Royce.

You’d just have to explain the rest.

$2,000 — A Rolls-Royce That Actually Moves

The next jump is much more interesting.

For around $2,000, you can apparently find a Rolls-Royce that actually runs and drives.

It’s still far from perfect, and you’d probably want to spend another couple of thousand dollars getting everything properly sorted, but suddenly the idea doesn’t seem completely insane.

The grille is there, the headlights are intact and the car looks more like an old luxury car than something that should be sitting in a scrapyard.

It isn’t clean, but it’s not terrifying either.

And that’s when the question changes from “Why would anyone buy this?” to “Wait, could this actually be worth it?”

$10,000 — The First One You’d Actually Want

At around $10,000, things start getting serious.

This is a 1982 Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit, and unlike the first two cars, this actually looks like a Rolls-Royce you’d be happy to drive down the street.



It still needs some minor repairs, but inside, you’re surrounded by soft seats, plenty of space and the kind of relaxed driving experience you’d expect from an old Rolls-Royce.

For a calm weekend drive, there’s something strangely appealing about a $10,000 Rolls-Royce. You get the huge presence, the comfortable ride and the feeling of sitting in something much more expensive than it actually is.

This is probably the first car on the list where I’d genuinely understand someone buying it.

$20,000 — You Don’t Even Get the Car

Then things get funny again.

For around $20,000, instead of buying a Rolls-Royce you can buy a 1:8-scale model of one.

It’s an incredibly detailed replica of the Rolls-Royce Spectre, with the kind of craftsmanship you’d expect from a miniature version of a car that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars.

So technically, your $20,000 Rolls-Royce can sit in your house.

Just don’t expect it to move.

$100,000 — A Modern Rolls-Royce

Now we’re finally getting into modern territory.

For around $100,000, a used 2012 Rolls-Royce Ghost can be yours.

This particular car has around 70,000 km on it, but from the inside, you’d have a hard time believing it’s more than a decade old.

The leather is still beautiful, everything feels premium and the cabin has that unmistakable Rolls-Royce atmosphere.

There are some differences compared with the newer cars, though.

For example, where are the umbrellas?

It sounds like a tiny detail, but that’s exactly the sort of thing that separates different generations and specifications of Rolls-Royce.

Still, if you suddenly had $100,000 sitting around and wanted a Rolls-Royce, this starts looking like a pretty tempting option.

$130,000 — Rolls-Royce, But Make It a Limo

For another $30,000, the Ghost turns into something much more focused on the person sitting in the back.

This particular Rolls-Royce is a limousine, meaning the whole point is that you’re probably not supposed to be driving it yourself.

The rear compartment has enormous amounts of legroom, a TV, a VHS system, infotainment, picnic tables and privacy glass with built-in speakers.

It’s basically a small luxury lounge that happens to have four wheels.

The only problem comes when you decide to drive it yourself.

Making a U-turn in a car this long becomes a surprisingly complicated event.

$180,000 — A Rolls-Royce Convertible

At around $180,000, you can move into something completely different: the Rolls-Royce Dawn.

It’s a convertible, but it somehow manages to retain the same huge presence as the company’s closed-roof cars.

The long body, enormous doors and exposed wood around the rear make it look more like a luxury yacht than a traditional convertible.

And that’s what makes the Dawn so appealing.

You get the open-air experience without giving up the quiet, smooth character that makes a Rolls-Royce feel like a Rolls-Royce.

You can even sit comfortably in the back, which isn’t something you can say about most convertibles.

$300,000 — Brand New

Now we’re entering the territory where the prices start climbing quickly.

Around $300,000 gets you a brand-new Rolls-Royce Ghost, depending on specification.

And this is where you start realizing that buying the cheapest possible Rolls-Royce and buying a new one are two completely different experiences.

Everything smells new, the specification can be heavily customized and the entire car feels like a much more modern interpretation of the classic Rolls-Royce formula.

But naturally, there is always another level.

$400,000 — The Cullinan Starts Getting Ridiculous

For around $400,000, you can get a heavily specified Rolls-Royce Cullinan.

And this isn’t just about choosing a nicer leather color.

This particular car had Rolls-Royce’s Viewing Suite, which turns the rear of the SUV into a little outdoor seating area when the boot is opened.

Two seats fold out from the back, along with a small table, allowing you to sit outside the car while still technically being part of it.

The feature alone costs tens of thousands of dollars.

And that’s the thing about Rolls-Royce.

Once you reach this price level, you’re no longer just buying a car.

You’re choosing how you want your car to exist.

$1 Million — When Brabus Gets Involved

Then there’s the point where even Rolls-Royce itself isn’t enough.

A heavily modified Rolls-Royce Cullinan can reach around $1 million, and this one has been transformed with carbon-fiber parts, enormous 24-inch wheels and a completely redesigned interior.

But the biggest difference isn’t cosmetic.

The engine has been upgraded to produce around 700 horsepower.

And remember, this is still a Cullinan.

It’s a huge luxury SUV designed to quietly carry you around town.

Yet somehow, it can now accelerate with the kind of force you’d expect from a serious performance car.

$1.5 Million — Over 100 Years of History

Then the list takes a completely different turn.

The 1922 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost is more than 100 years old, and driving it is nothing like driving any of the modern cars on this list.

The headlights were an impressive piece of technology for their time. The controls are scattered across the dashboard and steering wheel, with settings for things like carburation and engine speed.

There’s even an external fuel gauge.

Driving it requires an entirely different mindset.

There is no automatic transmission, no modern stability system and certainly no giant touchscreen telling you what to do.

Yet this car could reach around 90 mph in its day.

That’s remarkable when you consider how different everything was when it was built.

It’s expensive because it’s a piece of automotive history.

$20 Million — The Goldfinger Phantom

And finally, we reach the top.

The most expensive Rolls-Royce on the list is a one-off Phantom inspired by one of the most famous Rolls-Royces in cinema: the car associated with Auric Goldfinger in the James Bond film Goldfinger.

Its estimated value is around $15–20 million.

And this is where Rolls-Royce stops making subtle luxury cars and starts making something closer to an art piece.

The Spirit of Ecstasy is gold-plated. The license plate uses AU, the chemical symbol for gold. Gold details appear throughout the cabin, including gold-plated components and an actual 18-karat gold element displayed beneath glass.

There’s even a golf putter inspired by the one associated with Goldfinger, while the picnic tables feature a fictional map of Fort Knox.

Every detail has a reason.

Even the small 007 reference is based on the tracker James Bond used in the film.

It’s essentially a modern Rolls-Royce built around a movie car that itself was fictionalized from a 1937 Phantom III.

And somehow, it still drives like a Rolls-Royce.

The steering is incredibly light, the ride is smooth and effortless, and there’s something completely absurd about looking over and seeing a solid gold piece sitting inside your $20 million car.

So, How Much Rolls-Royce Do You Actually Need?

The difference between a $100 Rolls-Royce and a $20 million Rolls-Royce isn’t just the number on the price tag.

It’s up to you how much money you are willing to spend on one.

So what actually makes a car luxurious?

That was the question behind this comparison between the Rolls-Royce Phantom and the Mercedes-Maybach S-Class, two cars that approach the same idea from completely different directions.

The Phantom is basically Rolls-Royce’s answer to what the ultimate luxury car should be. The Maybach, meanwhile, is Mercedes taking its S-Class and pushing practically everything to the extreme.

And the price difference makes the comparison even more interesting.

The Phantom tested was originally commissioned for more than $700,000 Canadian, while the Maybach was somewhere in the $200,000 range. That’s still an enormous amount of money, but compared with the Rolls-Royce, the Maybach almost starts looking like a bargain.

The first thing you notice in the Phantom is that it doesn’t really try to impress you with technology.

That’s not because it lacks technology. Quite the opposite. The Phantom uses an advanced suspension system that scans the road ahead and adjusts the suspension accordingly, helping create the incredibly smooth ride Rolls-Royce is known for.

But you don’t sit inside thinking about the suspension.

You just notice that the road seems to disappear.

The Phantom glides over bumps in a way that makes the outside world feel strangely distant. Even with huge 22-inch wheels, there is an almost floating sensation to the way it moves.

And then there is the cabin.

Almost everything you touch is either leather, wood or metal, with the kind of attention to detail you would expect from a car at this price. The particular Phantom also had a Starlight headliner, lambswool carpeting and beautifully finished wood throughout the cabin.

Nothing really screams for your attention.

That’s actually the point.

Rolls-Royce calls this idea “post-opulence”, essentially moving away from obvious displays of wealth and towards a quieter kind of luxury. The Phantom isn’t trying to show you how many features it has. It’s trying to make you forget that you’re even in a car.

The Maybach takes almost the opposite approach.

Get into the back and it immediately starts showing you what it can do.

The rear seats can recline, there’s a footrest, massage functions, adjustable everything, electric tables, blinds, ambient lighting, champagne holders and a huge Burmester sound system. The car even has airbag-equipped seat belts and a system designed to make the audio experience feel more immersive.

Then there are the screens.

There are screens everywhere.

The Maybach also brings technology such as augmented-reality navigation, a 3D instrument cluster and active noise cancellation. It’s essentially an S-Class taken to its most extravagant possible form.

And some of it is genuinely brilliant.

The seats are incredibly comfortable and much more adjustable than those in the Phantom. The ambient lighting looks fantastic, especially at night, and the four-wheel steering makes a car this large surprisingly easy to maneuver.

The Maybach also has something the Phantom doesn’t: all-wheel drive.

With a twin-turbocharged V8 sending power to all four wheels, it feels seriously quick when you put your foot down. A V12 version was also planned for the S-Class Maybach range, making the whole thing even more ridiculous.

But then you drive the two cars over the same road.

And the difference becomes obvious.

The Maybach is extremely comfortable, but the Phantom is on another level. It’s quieter, smoother and more isolated from the road. The Phantom seems to absorb the imperfections beneath it rather than simply trying to hide them.

Even the sound test was revealing.

With an Audi honking outside each car, the Rolls-Royce kept the noise slightly lower inside than the Maybach. The difference wasn’t enormous, but it reinforced something you could already feel while driving: the Phantom is obsessed with isolation.

The Maybach has technology to make the outside world quieter.

The Phantom makes you feel like the outside world isn’t there.

But that doesn’t mean the Maybach loses at everything.

In fact, there are areas where I’d probably choose the Maybach.

The rear seats give you more ways to adjust your position, the technology is far more obvious, and the car feels more futuristic. The ambient lighting, displays and various electronic features make the cabin feel like something from the future.

The Phantom feels more timeless.

And that’s probably the biggest difference between these two cars.

The Maybach wants to show you what it can do.

The Phantom wants you to stop thinking about what it is doing.

That difference becomes especially obvious when you look at the details. The Maybach has features that make you think, “That’s really cool.” The Phantom has details that make you think, “Of course it does.”

Even something as simple as the doors demonstrates the difference.

The Maybach can automatically open its doors, which is undeniably cool. The Phantom has its famous coach doors, but the experience feels much less like a technological trick and more like part of the identity of the car.

The same goes for the exterior.

Both cars are enormous, but the Phantom has a presence that is difficult to replicate. It looks expensive without needing to explain why.

And then there’s the price.

The Maybach gives you an incredible amount of luxury for a fraction of the Phantom’s price. If you want technology, comfort and an enormous amount of equipment, it makes a very strong case.

But the Phantom isn’t really competing on equipment.

That’s what makes this comparison so interesting.

You could argue that the Maybach actually gives you more luxury features. It has more adjustments, more screens, more technology and more ways to customize the experience from the back seat.

But luxury isn’t necessarily about having more.

Sometimes it’s about having less to worry about.

That’s where the Phantom wins.

It doesn’t need to constantly remind you that you’re sitting in an expensive car. It simply creates this incredibly calm, quiet space around you and lets everything else disappear.

The Maybach is the more futuristic car.

The Phantom is the more timeless one.

And if the question is which one gives you the most technology for your money, the Maybach wins easily.

But if the question is “What is luxury?”, the Phantom probably has the better answer.

Because sometimes the most impressive feature in a luxury car is the fact that you don’t notice any of the work happening underneath you.

You just sit back, close the door, and let the world disappear.

The strange thing is that a similar crash really happened, not even 2 decades ago!

On March 28, 2015, Mardenborough was driving a Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 in a VLN endurance race on the Nürburgring Nordschleife. Approaching the Flugplatz section, the car went light over the crest, became airborne and crossed the spectator barrier. One spectator was killed and several others were injured, though Mardenborough himself escaped the crash without serious physical injury.

For the movie, this became one of the biggest turning points in Jann’s story. After the crash, the fictional version of Mardenborough is shaken by what happened and begins questioning whether he belongs in professional racing. Eventually, he returns to the track and heads toward Le Mans.

But there’s a major problem with that timeline.

It didn’t happen that way.

In real life, Mardenborough had already raced at Le Mans almost two years before the Nürburgring crash, finishing third in class in 2013. The movie moved the Nürburgring accident earlier because it worked better dramatically as part of his journey toward Le Mans.

That doesn’t make the crash itself fictional, though. In fact, the movie’s recreation is remarkably close to what actually happened.

And the reason the Nissan went airborne is where the story gets really interesting.

The Flugplatz section isn’t just another corner on the Nürburgring. The track rises sharply there, creating a crest where cars can become extremely light, as there downforce disappears for a fraction of a second, disturbing grip. Drivers have known for years that cars can leave the ground over the rise, but Mardenborough’s crash was far more serious than the usual four-wheel hop.

The Nissan became airborne and travelled beyond the track before coming down behind the spectator fencing. The crash immediately raised questions about the car’s aerodynamics and the safety of the circuit. Contemporary motorsport reporting described the incident as being reminiscent of another famous racing accident — one involving a completely different car, on a completely different track.

And that’s where Mercedes-Benz enters the story.

In 1999, Mercedes had built the CLR, a low-slung Le Mans prototype designed to do one thing extremely well: go very fast around Le Mans. But during testing and the race weekend, something went badly wrong.

The CLR became aerodynamically unstable over the crests at Le Mans and went airborne. Mark Webber’s car flipped during practice, then another CLR driven by him went airborne again during warm-up. Later in the race, Peter Dumbreck’s CLR suffered an even more spectacular accident, lifting off and flying away from the track before coming down in the trees.

The cars were different, the circuits were different, and nearly sixteen years separated the incidents.

But the basic problem looked hauntingly familiar.

A very fast racing car approaches a crest, which makes the car becomes light. The aerodynamic forces change, so instead of being firmly pressed against the track, the car can suddenly start behaving very differently from what the engineers intended.

That is why Mardenborough’s crash was compared with the Mercedes CLR incidents at the time. Commentators and fans specifically described the Nürburgring accident as reminiscent of the infamous CLR flips at Le Mans.

It is a fascinating reminder that downforce is only useful while the car is actually in the right aerodynamic position. A race car can be incredibly stable at one moment, then encounter a crest where the airflow underneath and around the body changes enough to create a completely different situation

The crash triggered a major safety response, with changes were made to the Nordschleife, including modifications around the problematic section, while restrictions were also placed on the aerodynamics of GT3 cars. The aim was to reduce the possibility of another car becoming airborne in the same way.

For Mardenborough, however, the story was much more personal than an engineering investigation.

He later described the accident as the lowest point of his life and career, and he actually wanted the crash to be included in Gran Turismo. He felt that removing it would ignore what really happened and, more importantly, the spectator who lost his life.

The movie therefore does something unusual. It takes a real tragedy and places it inside a much cleaner Hollywood story about a gamer becoming a racing driver.

The real story was messier.

Mardenborough wasn’t a complete newcomer to racing by the time he reached Le Mans. He had already moved through professional racing categories and had competed at Le Mans before the Nürburgring accident. The crash wasn’t the dramatic obstacle he had to overcome before his first Le Mans podium, as the movie suggests.

But it was still an enormous event in his life.

And perhaps that’s what makes the real story more interesting than the movie version.

There’s also something strangely fitting about the fact that the scene connects two famous racing accidents separated by years: the Nissan GT-R at the Nürburgring and the Mercedes-Benz CLR at Le Mans.

Bugatti’s Veyron, for example, had a highly specialized 7-speed dual-clutch gearbox that was needed to control the immense power from its 8.0L W16 engine.

Koenigsegg, on the other hand, asked the question: Why do we need a gearbox at all? They decided to think outside the box with their supercar, the Regera, and in doing so, they came up with one of the most unique drivetrains in the automotive world.

Christian von Koenigsegg was not trying to build another supercar with a slightly better gearbox or an additional ratio. He wanted to rethink the way power was being delivered to the road, and ultimately created one of the most interesting powertrains to ever grace the road.

The heart of the Regera is a twin-turbocharged 5.0L V8 engine that churns out over 1100 horsepower. To put that into perspective, that’s already more power than most supercars have at the rear-wheel. However, this isn’t all that the Regera has to offer, as three electric motors have been bolted on to the engine, providing an additional 700 horsepower.

The three electric motors are what allow Koenigsegg to go where few others dare to: eliminating a traditional automatic gearbox. A standard powertrain only has fixed gear ratios, and therefore an automatic transmission with multiple ratios is needed to compensate for the broad power band of an internal combustion engine. The engine can’t provide max power across all rpm, so lower gears are designed to provide more torque at lower speeds, and higher gears allow the car to continue accelerating at higher speeds. An electric motor, on the other hand, provides max torque at a standstill and is capable of producing peak power across a far broader range of rpm.

By using electrically-assisted power delivery, Koenigsegg has been able to do what few others have achieved before: create a car that has no need for gear ratios.

Koenigsegg dubbed their drivetrain “Koenigsegg Direct Drive”, or KDD for short. The principle is simple, they removed the multi-speed gearbox and put the torque from the V8 directly to the drivetrain through a single reduction ratio. The electric motors assist with the torque at lower speeds and power the car through higher speeds.

KDD may seem simple in theory, but the execution was anything but.

The Regera’s powertrain consists out of an electric motor on the crankshaft of the V8, as well as two more electric motors at the rear wheels. The three electric motors assist with torque delivery and allow for a smooth transition between low-speeds and high-speeds. They allow the power delivery to feel similar to a traditional automatic, however the V8 engine can take over at higher speeds with little assistance from the electric motor. The most interesting thing about this powertrain is that it doesn’t even have a reverse gear.

When the driver needs to put the car in reverse, the electric motor can be turned the other way, instead of putting the transmission in a special reverse mode and putting unnecessary strain on the combustion engine.

This level of detail is what makes the Regera special, it makes it feel less like a traditional car that has had some smart technology tacked on to make it efficient, and more like Koenigsegg rethought the entire concept of power delivery from scratch. It has a certain amount of brilliance to it.

However, there is a major reason why the transmission was removed. A traditional automatic gearbox is complicated and has multiple ratios so that the engine can remain in its powerband. Koenigsegg wanted to reduce this complication while still being able to maintain the smooth power delivery across all speeds, and in doing so they created a much simpler system that has less weight and moving parts.

As seen in the figure above, the 5.0L V8 engine is connected to reduction gears that allow for a single ratio power delivery, while the electric motors allow to assist from a standstill and then power the car forward.

It’s a pretty simple concept, really.

Koenigsegg wanted to get rid of this complication of a multi-speed automatic gearbox, and replace it with something much simpler. This is what allowed them to make a car that can accelerate from 0-400km/h and back to 0 in just 28 seconds, while only weighing around 1600kg dry weight.

And that’s the key, because this car was never about efficiency or being a “smart” hybrid. When Koenigsegg designed this particular model, they wanted something that would allow them to harness all of their power from both the internal combustion engine and the electric motors and put it down on the road as quickly as possible. The Regera has more than enough power, with the V8 alone being capable of putting out over 1100 horsepower. Combined with the three electric motors, the output is well over 1500 horsepower. That’s a ridiculous amount of power, and the removal of the gearbox was done so Koenigsegg could utilize it to the fullest extent.

And so, the most interesting thing about the Koenigsegg Regera is that it has no gears.

While other manufacturers have been developing hybrid systems with electric motor-assisted power delivery, most of them only use them as a complement to the primary power delivery method. The Regera takes advantage of full electrification to question the need for a traditional power delivery method at all. It is very much the Koenigsegg way, as the company could have designed a standard hybrid supercar with a traditional 7-speed or 8-speed automatic gearbox, refined it, and put it on the market as another high-end supercar. Instead, Koenigsegg posed the question: what if we got rid of the gearbox?

And somehow, with over 1500 horsepower assisting in the effort, they managed to do it.

But once the engineers started thinking about what the car would actually have to do, they discovered something rather inconvenient.

Getting a car past 400 km/h wasn’t just a problem for the engine though.

The tires had to survive it too.

At those speeds, a tire isn’t simply rolling along the road like it does during an ordinary drive. The forces involved become enormous, and even tiny imperfections can veer the car of course into a deadly crash.

The Veyron was supposed to be capable of more than 400 km/h while still being a usable production car, so Bugatti couldn’t simply put a set of racing tires on it and call it a day.

The tires had to work on the road, last like road tires, provide enough grip, cope with the car’s weight and power, and still remain stable at a speed that very few production cars had ever approached.

So Bugatti worked with Michelin to create a completely new tire specifically for the Veyron. The resulting Pilot Sport PAX tyres were the first production tyres approved for speeds above 400 km/h, according to Bugatti.

Even the tire sizes were ridiculous. The Veyron used specially developed tires measuring 26.5cm wide at the front and 36.5cm wide at the rear, with the rear tires being particularly wide to deal with the enormous amount of power being sent through the car.

And Michelin couldn’t just test them by driving around a normal circuit.

The engineers had to simulate the forces the tires would experience at extreme speeds, including the huge centrifugal forces acting on the tire and wheel assembly. Bugatti says the tyre pressure sensors themselves had to be specially developed because centrifugal forces of up to 130 kilograms were generated at speeds above 400 km/h. The testing was so extreme that equipment normally used for aircraft gas turbines was involved in the development process.

That gives you an idea of what kind of problem Bugatti had created.

The Veyron had almost every part of it had to be reconsidered because of how fast it was supposed to travel, meaning they had to test every new invention to make sure it was effective and safe.

The aerodynamics were another example. At top speed, the Veyron lowered itself and changed its aerodynamic configuration to reduce drag. The rear wing moved to a low-drag position and the diffuser flaps closed, allowing the car to cut through the air more efficiently. Bugatti even developed a special Speed Key that the driver had to use to activate the car’s top-speed setup.

Then there was the small matter of actually stopping it.

At more than 400 km/h, slowing down becomes a serious engineering problem in itself. The Veyron’s rear wing could rise dramatically under heavy braking, effectively acting as an air brake, while the carbon-ceramic brakes dealt with the rest. Bugatti says the car could stop from 400 km/h in under ten seconds under the appropriate conditions.

But the tires remained one of the biggest limitations.

The Veyron eventually reached 407.5 km/h in 2005 at Volkswagen’s Ehra-Lessien test track in Germany, becoming the first series-production car to break the 400 km/h barrier.

And when Bugatti later created the 1,200-horsepower Veyron Super Sport, the production version was electronically limited to 415 km/h specifically to protect the tires. The record car used for the high-speed run was different, but the production cars were deliberately kept below their absolute potential.

That is probably the funniest part of the whole Veyron story.

Bugatti had built a car with 1,001 horsepower, an enormous W16 and enough engineering to make it capable of more than 400 km/h, and eventually one of the things telling the engineers where to stop was a piece of rubber.

It makes the Veyron seem even more impressive when you think about what it was actually trying to achieve. Bugatti wasn’t just asking, “How do we make the engine powerful enough?” It was asking whether the entire car could survive what that engine was capable of doing.

The answer required new tires, new wheels, new aerodynamics, new cooling systems, new braking technology and years of testing.

The engine may have made the headlines, but the tires were the things standing between the Veyron and the road.

And at 400 km/h, that’s a pretty important job.

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But with this visual impact came a sacrifice, and not just the lack of seating room typical of a sports car.

The Countach’s low-slung design, the engine placed directly behind the driver and the near-vertical rise of the body at the rear all contributed to another, more critical problem: the view out the back of the car was severely limited. This was a car that had to be driven on the road, had to be parked, had to be reversed, and all of these tasks became massively complicated by the limited vision out the back.

Lamborghini’s solution was as unorthodox as the car itself.

The Countach LP400 prototype first unveiled at the 1971 Geneva Motor Show featured a periscope mounted on the roof, a system that allowed the driver to see what was happening on the road behind the car without detracting from the Countach’s dramatic silhouette. Lamborghini christened the innovation the Periscopio, and it worked by utilizing a set of mirrors to relay the view from behind the car to the driver through an opening in the roof

So while the Countach’s roof-mounted periscope was indeed unusual, it wasn’t nearly as simple as it sounds. This was a complex mechanical system hidden within the roof of the car, and the sheer audacity of it is yet another example of Lamborghini’s commitment to style over substance.

The LP400 production model made its debut in 1973 and featured the Periscopio as standard equipment, and the name itself became synonymous with the earliest Countachs. From 1973 onward, one of the easiest ways to spot an early Countach was to look for the subtle bulge along the roof, a tell-tale sign of the rear-view system.

It’s a telling example of the Countach’s design philosophy, because it’s a complicated solution to a problem that was entirely of the Countach’s own making.

Lamborghini could have easily solved the issue of the car’s poor rear vision by simply modifying the rear end to feature a larger window, but doing so would have sacrificed the Countach’s dramatic profile. Lamborghini wanted the car to look like no other, and it was willing to make sacrifices to achieve that goal

It’s the same philosophy that dictated the creation of the Countach’s iconic scissor doors. While the Countach’s doors were undeniably a design statement, they also served a practical purpose. The Countach was a very broad car, and opening the doors normally would have required far more space than was available. By utilizing the scissor-opening design, Lamborghini managed to make the car more practical without sacrificing style

The Countach’s design was all style, but it had to make concessions to practicality in a number of places. The car’s driving position was low and cramped, and the view out the back was just as compromised as the view out the front. The Countach even had an unusual set of driving “adventures” associated with it, like the technique for reversing the car, which often involved the driver opening the door and leaning out in order to get a better view of the car’s rear end

.

The Countach LP400 was all spectacle and little practicality, and that’s precisely what made it such an iconic car. It prioritized drama, and everything else had to find a way to fit around that

The Periscopio eventually disappeared from the Countach models, as Lamborghini sought other ways to improve the car’s rear vision. The later Countachs featured a more conventional set of mirrors, but the roof-mounted periscope was an innovation that defined the earliest examples of the model. As the years went by, the Countach continued to evolve, growing broader, more powerful, and more aggressive with each iteration, until it had little in common with the LP400 that had first introduced the world to the sound of a screaming V12

The Periscopio was eventually relegated to Countach history, but it remains an interesting detail nonetheless. The next time someone talks about the Countach, odds are they will mention the V12 engine, the doors that opened like aircraft wings, the supercar image that defined the 70s and 80s. Few will mention the innovative roof-mounted periscope that allowed the driver to see out the back of the car, because few will think about the fact that the Countach’s revolutionary design had to make concessions to practicality

The Periscopio is the perfect encapsulation of the Countach’s design ethos. Lamborghini made the car so extreme that it sacrificed a number of practical features, and instead of modifying the design to accomodate them, Lamborghini’s engineers developed novel solutions to the problems at hand. The result was an absolutely ridiculous set of roof-mounted mirrors that managed to feel like a natural extension of the Countach’s style.

A Lamborghini Countach with a periscope on the roof.

Now that’s a fitting description of the Countach.

A Ferrari, a Lamborghini, something rare and exotic that only the wealthiest could afford to own. Now, you don’t have to go to a specialty supercar dealership to find a car that costs well over $100,000. Even a luxury SUV can reach that price point with relatively easily, and once you start looking at performance cars, it’s easy to find yourself staring at numbers that make you wonder where all the money went.

When you look at what you could buy with that kind of money, it makes you realize just how absurd these prices really are. Depending on where you live, that $100,000, $150,000, or even $200,000 could be a down payment, or even be enough to buy a house outright. Obviously, housing prices are going to be wildly different from country to country, but it’s a good reference to understand just how much things have changed in the last few decades.

Luxury cars have changed a lot over the years, and that’s a big part of the reason why they cost so much more now than they used to. A modern luxury vehicle is much more than just an engine, a set of wheels, and some leather seats. There are cameras, radar, giant screens, advanced driver-assistance systems, powerful computers, heated and ventilated seats, and more.

It all adds up, and automakers have been investing billions of dollars into making their cars as safe, efficient, and advanced as possible. But even then, there’s another reason why these cars cost so much.

Part of the reason why these cars cost so much more now than they used to is because of the name on the front.

A Rolls, for example, doesn’t cost what it does because of the amount of aluminum or leather that goes into every standard model. The same goes for Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, and Ferrari. Once a company has been around long enough to develop a strong reputation, the name itself becomes part of the product. This is why cars that are generally comparable in terms of power, equipment, and performance can cost drastically different amounts, and why some buyers are willing to pay thousands of dollars more for one over another.

There’s also the way that cars are sold that helps make big luxury car prices feel a little more manageable. Instead of seeing something like “$80,000 total,” you might see “$999 per month,” you’re seeing smaller, more manageable numbers and being reassured that this car is well within your budget. The car itself hasn’t gotten cheaper, but the way it’s presented makes it easier to ignore the sticker price and focus on the smaller numbers.

But it’s not just the way the cars are sold that makes them feel more accessible. Automakers also know how to make you feel like you’re getting more car for your money when you upgrade to the next trim level or choose optional upgrades. You might be looking at a $45,000 car, then realise the nicer trim is only a little more per month. Then you add the better wheels, upgraded interior, larger screen and performance package, and suddenly the car you originally planned to buy is a $60,000 car, but none of the extras you’re adding seem like much individually. Once you get to the final price, however, you may find that you’re paying thousands more for a car you thought you’d be happy with.

This is especially true for luxury cars, as many of these brands have begun to shift their focus away from transportation and toward prestige. No one really needs a $200,000 SUV to get around in, and at that point, it’s really about performance, comfort, image, and exclusivity. In this way, cars are a lot like watches. A $200 watch tells the time, and a $20,000 watch is essentially the same as any other watch in terms of function.

What makes it special is everything that comes with it, and the same goes for cars. A $25,000 car can get you to the same place as a $150,000 car has far more technology and features than it did when it was first released, and the same goes for the competition.

What’s interesting is that modern cars really are capable of much more than they used to be. A family-friendly SUV can accelerate faster from a standing start than many sports cars did thirty or forty years ago, all while providing an interior full of advanced technology and driver-assistance features that didn’t even exist when those older cars were built. So, it’s not surprising that these cars have gotten more expensive over time, or that automakers don’t feel the need to reduce prices now that buyers are used to spending more.

That’s really the root of the issue, and it’s what makes six-figure cars so confusing. It used to be that a car that cost $100,000 was something truly special. Now, it’s more common to see cars that cost that much, and it’s not unheard of to see them cost much more. It used to be that a Porsche, a Mercedes-Benz, or a BMW was something to be desired for, and now they’re commonplace, with many buyers expecting much more than just the standard model.

And that’s what makes the whole situation with six-figure cars so strange. It’s not just that we’ve accepted it, we’ve gotten used to it.

In the 2000s Jaguar aimed at gaining a broader audience than ever before. Although the company had a reputation for its large luxury saloons and elegant grand tourers, these types of cars meant that only a limited number of people could afford to buy Jaguar vehicles, and not a lot of returning customers.

That is why the company decided to enter the compact executive car market, a segment which included cars like the BMW 3 Series and the Mercedes-Benz C-Class and which had a massive potential to attract a much larger audience.

When the Jaguar X-Type was launched in 2001, it was meant to serve as an accessible way for people to become owners of a Jaguar. Since Jaguar was owned by Ford the company at the time, they based the model on the Ford Mondeo platform, thus lowering development costs and enabling Jaguar to produce a smaller car without having to design a completely new architecture or chassis.

The link with the Mondeo soon became the focus of any discussion regarding the new car. Even though Jaguar made major alterations to the platform and provided the X-Type with its own suspension settings, styling and range of engines, a great many people simplified the whole thing and described it as a Ford Mondeo with a Jaguar badge, not a masterpiece or anything special like all the models before. For many, it was a failure.

The comparison wasn't entirely accurate, but it was easy to remember.

The X-Type was similarly designed to resemble Jaguar's larger vehicles, with rounded headlights, a traditional grille and lines that linked it with the XJ.

Although some customers liked the classic look, others believed that the car looked more like a smaller version of an expensive Jaguar rather than a model that had its own identity!

But the car shouldn’t be considered a total failure since it had a roomy interior, was equipped with all-wheel drive and provided a more economical way of getting into the brand, and many owners enjoyed its handling. Yet luxury vehicles are evaluated on grounds other than their specifications, customers also attaching importance to exclusivity, heritage and the sensation that the car gives them of owning something that cannot be obtained elsewhere.

After the Mondeo had become part of the X-Type's reputation, Jaguar found it hard to control the narrative. Even those who had never driven the car would make the comparison, and as a result the model came to be seen as evidence that Jaguar had given up some of its own identity in order to boost sales.

What made the X-Type important for Jaguar was the fact that the company wanted to grow, but at the same time it needed to preserve the qualities which had made the brand desirable. An easier-to-afford model can draw in new customers, but if it seems too similar to a normal car it might also cause current customers to doubt what the badge stands for.

Jaguar eventually substituted the X-Type with the XF, a model featuring a more modern design and thus helping to steer the brand towards a new path. Nevertheless, the X-Type remained in people's memories thanks to the simplified explanation that it was simply a Mondeo with a Jaguar badge, even though the actual car was more complex than that account implied.

The key lesson is not that luxury manufacturers such as Jaguar, should avoid sharing platforms or components. Many successful premium cars use engineering developed across larger automotive groups. The important part is ensuring that the finished car still feels distinctive enough to justify the badge.

The Jaguar X-Type demonstrated how easily public opinion can outweigh the engineering of the actual car. A car may have real strengths, but its reputation can still be shaped for years by a single comparison.

It's not all unrestricted speeds and open roads as some might have you believe. Speed restrictions are regular on the Autobahn, and Germany even suggests 130km/h as a default speed for motorists on sections without restrictions. However, the unrestricted stretches hold a certain appeal that have made manufacturers work overtime to make cars that can exploit them.

If you look at the engineering it's easy to see the thinking. A BMW M4 isn't built for rapid bursts of speed before returning to the slow crawl of the motorway. Manufacturers had to think about how the car would behave long after the initial acceleration run. Cooling, tires, brakes, stability, and aerodynamics all are factors when the road ahead is likely to remain wide open for a long period of time.

But what about the truly ludicrous speeds?

Bugatti engineers have tested their cars on a stretch of Autobahn in Lower Saxony called Ehra-Lessien. The large Volkswagen Group used it to test just how fast a Bugatti could go on normal roads and highways.

A Veyron set the record for the company in 2005, with a run of 407.5km/h on the track. The driver had to use the special Speed Key for the run, which lowered the car by 3cm and reduced the angle of the rear spoiler to reduce drag.

It wasn't repeated in Ehra-Lessien for another 14 years. The Chiron development prototype almost ran the 490.484km/h needed to beat the 300mph barrier in 2019, with Andy Wallace spending about 70 seconds with his foot to the metal. He traveled 136 meters every second on average on the highway.

Of course the run Ehra-Lessien was on a controlled road that was closed at the time. The road was surrounded by safety barriers and had all the usual safety precautions in place for the run. Even then, the fact that a manufacturer could attempt such a test on a German motorway says something for their trust for the quality of the road.

Though you can't see a Bugatti doing 490km/h on the motorway when you're on your way to the supermarket. Other traffic going far below the car's maximum speed takes precedence, and that includes cars, cyclists, and pedestrians. The Autobahn is a controlled environment, and the lack of junctions reduces the number of potential hazards that would slow traffic down.

It's not the only control. As a general rule on the Autobahn, drivers stick to the right-hand lane and overtake on the left. That way the faster car has only the slow lane to deal with, instead of having to worry about oncoming traffic from the front. While it can still be a harrowing experience if the wrong driver picks you.

The combination of these features may not seem like much, but on a controlled motorway with excellent visibility it means a driver can be more confident on the road even when traveling far quicker than the average car.

That may not be an excuse for speeds far above the average, but they do help.

A car doing 180km/h on a controlled motorway that rarely has junctions can still be less stressful than someone doing 90km/h on a busy road with all manner of other traffic weaving in and out.

Speeds this high aren't safe. Germany's own road safety stats show that for all the controls in place on the Autobahn, excessive or inappropriate speeds are still likely to cause the most fatalities on the road. In 2024 alone there were 2,770 road fatalities in Germany, with many caused by such speeds.

The Autobahn isn't an open road where physics are ignored. What makes it special is a combination of factors that reduce the risks in other places, allowing higher speeds to be reached more safely. Unrestricted motorways are just one aspect of a greater system that provides better safety overall. And those Bugatti tests?

The normal Autobahn and Ehra-Lessien part are obviously two different things. But it's the similarity of philosophy that underpins their development as places where manufacturers can explore the very edges of speed on different kinds of roads. It's also what makes the Autobahn special.

The feature that makes the Autobahn so special is it's lack of a general speed restriction.

The real reason it's safe is everything else that goes into it's design.

McLaren’s Gordon Murray had a specific reason for choosing this design, however.

He wasn’t satisfied with the design philosophy of other supercars at the time, and instead decided to make a car centered around the driver.

Murray knew from his time in Formula 1 that putting the driver in the middle of the car put them in the best position to be in control. This made sense on a racing car, but most road cars at the time placed the driver either on the left or the right. The F1’s design allowed the driver to see both sides of the road, and also placed all of the car’s controls directly in front of them in a way that maximized convenience and control.

This was further demonstrated by another seemingly odd design choice for a supercar! Adding three seats instead of two! By putting the driver in the middle also meant that the F1 could be driven on both left-hand and right-hand side countries without requiring any modifications to the wheel or seating.

While moving the driver’s seat to the middle may seem like the only change Gordon Murray made to the conventional supercar design, it was actually the inspiration for almost everything else about the F1.

Murray and his team designed the F1 to be as lightweight as possible, so instead of building a traditional steel-chassis car and then modifying it to be lighter and more powerful, they bypassed steel altogether and used a carbon-fibre monocoque, which at the time was an incredibly innovative feat for a road car.

Murray also initially pursued Honda for a V12 engine to go under the F1’s hood, but eventually settled on a partnership with BMW’s M division. The end result was a 6.1-litre naturally-aspirated V12 capable of producing 618 horsepower, and which was actually built exclusively for the F1 rather than modified from an existing BMW engine.

The F1’s engine is another large part of what makes the car what it is: while modern supercars often feature turbocharging to put power down on the road, the F1’s 618-horsepower V12 provides a more mechanical connection to the road. The simplicity of the drivetrain meant that the F1 could accelerate far more rapidly than its competition, despite not having any of the modern technological advantages over its rivals that Ferrari, Lamborghini, or Porsche might have used.

McLaren even took the mechanical theme to the extreme in the F1’s engine bay, which is surrounded by gold foil for insulation purposes, as gold is an excellent thermal conductor and reflector. It sounds like something of a frivolous waste of resources, but the F1’s V12 engine puts out an absurd amount of heat, and the gold served a practical purpose besides aesthetics.

Practicality was actually a massive part of the design philosophy, and not just a factor for the driver.

The F1 featured storage compartments at front and rear to ensure that the car could be driven on regular roads rather than being a track-only toy. This seems incredibly sensible in retrospect, but most modern supercars do not feature anything close to the same level of convenience as the F1, which was designed to be used and driven as much as possible.

The final result of this obsessive focus on driver’s convenience, however, led to one of the fastest cars of all time. The standard road car model of the F1 officially hit a top speed of 240.1 mph or 386 km/h in 1998, and that was without the reinforced wings, hybrid drivetrain, or active aerodynamics of a modern hypercar.

The F1 was just a very light car with a huge naturally-aspirated V12 and a driver in the middle.

The success of the road car model eventually led to the F1 GTR, a spec racing model which saw a large amount of competition success, including winning the 24-hour race at Le Mans in 1995.

This is perhaps the part of the F1’s legacy that is most interesting.

While the three-seat design may seem odd, it was actually part of what made the F1 so good, and not an outlier from the rest of its design philosophy.

McLaren didn’t pursue the creation of an ultra-modern supercar that used as many new and exotic technologies as possible in order to impress buyers and critics. Rather, Gordon Murray pursued the design philosophy of removing any elements that took away from the driver’s experience, leading to almost everything else about the F1.

The middle seat offered enhanced vision and control over the car for the driver, the carbon-fibre monocoque reduced weight, the naturally-aspirated V12 increased responsiveness and put less strain on the drivetrain, and even the front and rear storage areas ensured that the car could be used practically as well as on a track.

The F1 featured numerous cutting-edge technologies for its time, but it didn’t utilise them just for the sake of using them.

They were utilised specifically to enhance the driving experience in ways that few supercars have rivalled since.

A modern hypercar may be able to accelerate faster and produce more power, but it lacks the very philosophy that made the F1 special. It came from a different design ethos, and that ethos began with putting the driver in the middle of the car.

Everything else followed from that decision.

Mercedes and McLaren had a close working relationship in the racing world, and both of the companies knew that they could combine their efforts to make a car that had never been made before, a car that would become a legend in the automotive world, loved by all.

And Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren was the result of this partnership.

A Dream Car From A Formula One World

The first concept cars appeared in 1999, and they were called Vision SLR (these first prototypes were outrageously sporty). With a long front, carbon fiber body panels, big air vents, and doors that opened upwards like a racing car from the movies. They looked as if they were from science fiction movies, but they weren't that far from reality. Inspired by the 300 SLR from the fifties, a legendary racing car from Mercedes-Benz's past, engineers at Mercedes wanted a more modern design of it. But they also knew its power, and racing spirit would need a elegant and timeless design.

It wasn't easy to combine the two companies' approaches into one car though! While Mercedes-Benz wanted something subtle and sporty that didn’t push out of their normal car designs, McLaren pushed for something far more extreme. So basically, finding a common ground was a very difficult task for both.

The Engine Was Not What You Expected

When word got out that Mercedes and McLaren were collaborating on a project that would result in a beast of a car, many expected some extraordinary results. Some expected a car with a giant V12 engine and all the best electronics from the racetrack. But what they got was something completely different from their thoughts. The engine was in fact an AMG-engineered supercharged V8 with a capacity of 5,4 liters that delivers an astonishing 617 horsepower, almost around 4-5 times the normal horsepower for a sports car. With that kind of power, the SLR McLaren could accelerate from 0 to 100km/h in just 3,8 seconds. This was truly something shocking and special for a car from back then.

But the SLR's power wasn't only raw though. While the F1, Enzo, or Carrera GT delivered incredible power figures, the SLR had a more accessible power delivery for the driver, which is the kind of power that made the road feel like a airplane runway. The SLR was a supercar with a heart, and people described it almost as if it was a living creature rather than a race car.

Built From McLaren's Own DNA

While the monstrous V8 from AMG powered the SLR, it was McLaren who gave the car many of its other notable characteristics. Like McLaren's carbon-fiber monocoque that formed the car's skeleton. Not only that, the SLR also got some other exclusive features from McLaren, like carbon-ceramic brakes, weight-saving characteristics, and an exhaust system with side exit pipes, which further complimented on the SLR's unique appearance. So all of these details made the SLR what it was: a supercar that, visually, had nothing in common with its competitors.

It was a masterpiece, a work of art!

The Same Car That Was Too Much Of Everything

And there you have it, the SLR, a car that had too much of everything. It delivered incredible power but failed to deliver the power figures that a car like the Enzo or the F1 race car had. It had two racing bloodlines but failed to deliver the exclusivity and unique approach of the other supercars, and also offered the comfort of a Mercedes but at the price of a supercar. At the end, it  was a car that tried to be suitable to everyone but ended up giving virtually nothing extraordinary.

But that's not a really bad thing, in fact, for me, it's what makes the SLR so interesting. While the Enzo was all power and performance, the SLR had a balance for power and comfort, and it had everything a luxurious Mercedes would while having the power of the McLaren.

The Partnership That Went Too Far

The SLR was discontinued in 2009, and rightfully so because only around 2,000 examples of the SLR were made in its ten-year production span. This car was made when McLaren and Mercedes were extremely close, but that kind of partnership wasn't destined to last forever. So eventually, McLaren distanced itself from Mercedes, and the companies went their separate ways. McLaren started developing its own supercars, like the MP4-12C, and competed with other performance car manufacturers.

The SLR was the only thing that represented the incredible relationship between the two companies. This car wasn't something special that came from a partnership, but it was the partnership itself that was really unusual, and today, it's a car few people seem to remember.

It was never the best at anything, at least not in the eyes of its rivals. It was just a car that came from two companies that wanted to create something truly special. And to this day, it remains the only car that came from an unlikely partnership between two completely different companies.

One example of such a special car is the Porsche 911.

The design has been around for so long that it feels as though Porsche has always made that particular car, although in truth, when Porsche started working on it, their intention was not to create their most popular model in their company, but rather to develop a worthy successor to the 356.

The 356 had served its purpose really well, as it had given Porsche the reputation for making small, agile sports cars, but by the late 1950s, it was deemed too old and ineffective to continue its service at Porsche, despite the success of the particular model.

Ferry Porsche wanted something completely new, something better than anything he had ever seen or built before.

The initial idea was not revolutionary in any way, as it only suggested to make the next car larger and more comfortable than the previous one but has to retain the spirit of a Porsche sports car. One of the most crucial elements was that Porsche had something specific they wanted to improve, and have, which created a solid basis for the project to start on.

Ferry Porsche's son, Ferdinand Porsche, was strongly involved in turning the idea into a reality. He participated in the crafting, body design, etc… anything that helped it become better than the 356.

It took almost two years of development and design to produce the car that seemed to have the features of Porsche's past models, but also had some significant differences.

The roof extended further back to provide more space for the driver/passenger, the body was more streamlined and aerodynamic, and overall it looked less boxy and more sporty than its predecessor.

It is hard to say what particular element made the car look so good, but the lack of protruding elements and excessive aerodynamics is what made it look both good and timeless, all the way to today!

But they started by calling it the 901, not the 911!

It was actually Peugeot that caused the future model to receive its iconic name.

Peugeot had previously used a system of three-digit model numbers with a zero in the centre, and the company protested that Porsche was not allowed to use the name 901. Although Porsche could have argued the case in court, it was pointless to fight over the name when a car was already prepared for launch soon.

So that’s basically why they turned 901 turned into 911.

It is one of the most bizarre automotive twists in history, as the number seems so fitting and deliberate that it appears as if Porsche had thought about it for ages, though it was rather a quick decision to make that saved time and effort.

But what was more important was the car itself, not the name.

The first 911 had a two-litre flat-six engine with 130 horsepower, which was significantly more than most of its competitors.

While it may not seem like much today, the car was not meant to be the fastest one on the road. Rather than that, it was intended to be a quick and reliable car that performed well enough under everyday use but was not exaggerated in its performance in terms of power, as compared to other sports cars of the era.

Another interesting fact that I bet you didn’t know about the 911 was that it had one of the rarest engine configurations at the time, namely a rear-engine layout!

Porsche had mounted the engine at the back of the car, and instead of removing it when developing the 911, the engineers utilised the opportunity to enhance the characteristics of the engine.

As can be expected, the rear-engine layout was not ideal in terms of handling, especially when the car had to corner at higher speeds, but Porsche was quick to resolve that particular issue.

For a long time, they continued to refine and tweak the 911, trying to get more power out of its engine, improve the quality of brakes, revise the suspension, and introduce the Targa, which effectively turned the 911 into an open-air car with a removable roof panel.

The 911 S also came out, followed by the 911 Turbo, which transformed the 911 into a racing machine.

The racing scene was also beneficial for the 911, as it made the model very popular and appealing among car enthusiasts, a legendary icon in the racing world, even to today.

The 911 was designed to be better than the 356, which was mostly used for daily use and occasional races, instead it was a true racing machine, and the improvements made to it were regularly transferred to the street variants.

Its presence on the racing circuits gave it publicity and made it way more desirable.

The 911 was popular among the people in charge at Porsche as well, and for a long time, they considered moving on to develop another model called the: 928.

The 928 was set to be the future flagship sports car of Porsche, as it had a more modern design, better comfort, and a V8 engine at the front of the car. For a certain amount of time, the 928 seemed to be better than the 911, and Porsche seemed to move towards the possibility of replacing the 911 with the 928.

However, that possibility remained only on paper, as, in the end, the 911 proved to be much more popular than the 928.

So Porsche continued to develop the 911, constantly updating and improving it rather than dismissing it as old and outdated sports car.

They equipped the 911 with air-cooled engines for some time, until they replaced them with water-cooled ones, increased the level of performance, and introduced turbocharging. Now 911s utilise electronics to manage the throttle and other functions previously handled by mechanical parts, which made them much more powerful vehicles than their predecessors.

Even today, you can park a 2026 911 next to a 2019 911 and see the differences between the two cars, but the overall design language of the 911 remained the same throughout the years, which is why the story of the 911 is much more interesting than just a tale about Porsche making a successful car.

It was the only model that they could update and tweak to perfection while keeping all the fundamental elements that made the 911 a 911.

When you look at the current model, it is easy to forget that there was a time when Porsche did not think that the car would be as successful as it is now.

Even then, they only kept building the 911s for long enough for the rest of the world to see the value in them.

Bugatti was one of the most respected names in the car industry, having a history that goes back to 1909, its vehicles were engineering masterpieces and, while it was owned by Volkswagen, it manufactured the Veyron and Chiron, two hypercars which redefined what appeared to be physically possible in a four-wheel vehicle.

At the same time, Rimac did not exist.

When Mate Rimac set up his company in 2009 it was not a well-known name; the venture began in a garage since he had blown the engine in his old BMW E30 while racing and therefore decided to fit it with an electric powertrain instead, and what began as his personal undertaking gradually turned into something of a much larger scale.

Within ten years Rimac was no longer only producing electric hypercars; it had also been developing batteries, electric motors and software for some of the largest manufacturers in the world such as Porsche, Aston Martin and Koenigsegg. Suddenly the small company from Croatia had become one of the most respected names in the field of high-performance electric technology.

At the same time, Volkswagen came across a problem which is nearly every successful company has to face at some stage.

It had already accomplished what appeared impossible TWICE!

The arrival of the Veyron in 2005 altered the way people regarded performance cars since it was not intended to be practical to reach over 400 km/h, yet Bugatti achieved this while dressing the entire experience in leather, luxury and refinement. The Chiron then went even further than that, showing that the Veyron had not been a one-off success.

What comes next then?

The fact that the car had 20 more horsepower was not sufficient reason for launching a new generation, since the industry was itself going through changes. Emissions regulations were becoming stricter than ever, hybrid technology was progressing quickly and customers expected innovation annd new models instead of yet another version of the same concept.

Volkswagen knew Bugatti couldn't just stay the same, as it has been before.

The simplest option would have been to carry out all aspects of the operation in-house, but that didn't have to be the most sensible choice. Rimac had already found solutions to problems which even some of the biggest manufacturers in the world were still tackling. More importantly, it wasn't burdened with decades of outdated practices. It was taking a completely different approach to performance.

So in 2021 Volkswagen Group, via Porsche, and Rimac set up Bugatti Rimac, a joint venture which brought Bugatti and Rimac together under one roof. This move came as a surprise to almost everybody; on one side was a company that had taken over more than a century to perfect the combustion engine, while on the other was a startup whose reputation had been based on electric technology.

It seemed like the worse match possible!

But Bugatti offered craftsmanship and one of the most respected names in the history of the automotive industry, while Rimac provided the technology that would determine the next generation of high-performance cars. Rather than replacing one with the other, the plan was to combine their strengths.

It was obvious with the Tourbillon.

Although it was expected that Bugatti would give up on petrol engines completely, this did not take place. The Tourbillon was offered with a naturally aspirated 8.3-litre V16, which was developed in collaboration with Cosworth and assisted by three electric motors. It was not aiming to erase Bugatti's past nor was it pretending that the future didn't exist.

In so many ways it was precisely what the partnership had been intended to achieve and Volkswagen was aiming to ensure that Bugatti could have both.

That could well be the greatest difficulty facing any famous car brand. While history can draw in customers, it is incapable of creating the next generation of cars by itself. Moreover, attempting to follow the most recent technology without respecting what made the brand unique is one of the quickest ways to lose its identity.

Bugatti is now in a position somewhere between those two worlds.

We won't know whether that turns out to be the correct decision for some years to come, but one point is already clear: Volkswagen didn't place trust in Rimac since it wanted Bugatti to become an electric car company.

It trusted Rimac since it's often easier to build the future when you're willing to learn from someone who hasn't been carrying out things the same way for the last hundred years.

One earned its reputation through racing, another became the world's most recognisable sports car brand, a third emerged as Ferrari's greatest rival, and the fourth produced some of the most extraordinary hypercars ever made.

At first sight, they have very little in common.

However, if you look at their history from the very start, you will notice a surprising fact: none of these brands exists entirely on their own. In one way or another, each one has contributed to the creation of the next.

This didn't happen intentionally or as the result of some carefully arranged partnership, but because of people who learned from experience, disagreed, left, or simply wanted to take a different approach.

Everything starts a very long time before the very first Ferrari was ever created.

It Started With Alfa Romeo:

Prior to the establishment of a Ferrari factory in Maranello, before the red cars and the Formula 1 world championships existed, there was a young Enzo Ferrari who was attempting to establish his reputation at Alfa Romeo.

He became a racing driver with the company in the early 1920s, but it was not in this area that he made his greatest contribution. Enzo had a wonderful ability to organise people, to identify talented drivers and to form successful racing teams, which was something which Alfa Romeo soon realised.

He established Scuderia Ferrari in 1929.

At present, the name brings to mind Ferrari, but at that time the team was not manufacturing Ferraris; instead it was preparing and running Alfa Romeo race cars. The famous Ferrari name predated the establishment of the Ferrari brand.

Those years served as Enzo's education since he acquired the skills needed to manage engineers, to run a professional racing operation and to compete against Europe's best manufacturers. When looking back, it is hard to see how Ferrari could have become what it is today without that experience.

However, eventually the relationship did change as Alfa Romeo decided to take its racing activities back under its own control and Enzo left the company; for some years he wasn't even permitted to use his own surname on a racing car as a result of the agreement he had signed.

For him, at that time it must have seemed frustrating.

Yet in some cases the finest companies come into existence because a person is made to start over, just like him in this situation.

When the restriction had expired Enzo constructed the Ferrari 125 S in 1947, it being the first car to officially bear the Ferrari name.

Ferrari probably wouldn't have become Ferrari without Alfa Romeo, and Enzo never imagined that his own company would soon lead another man to carry out precisely what he had done.

Ferrari Created a Rival Without Meaning To:

In the early 1960s, Ferrari was the dream car for successful businessmen all over Italy, and Ferruccio Lamborghini was one of the earliest customers.

People generally know him as the founder of Lamborghini, but prior to that he had established a successful business in the tractor field by using surplus military equipment following the Second World War. Since his company was a success he was able to buy several Ferraris, although he enjoyed their performance, he wasn't convinced that they were perfect, and thought they needed a little tweaking.

It has become one of the most well-known stories in the history of the automotive industry.

Following a series of troubles with the clutch, Lamborghini turned to Enzo Ferrari and proposed some ways in which the cars could be improved. The exact words used that day have been the subject of debate for many decades, but the story has always concluded in the same way: Ferruccio left feeling that he had been dismissed.

Instead of complaining any more, he decided to have built the kind of grand touring car that he had wished Ferrari had made.

Automobili Lamborghini started in 1963.

The initial models of the company were refined, comfortable and incredibly fast, but all that changed with the launch of the Miura in 1966; thanks to its V12 engine placed mid-way along the car and its striking shape, it totally altered people's ideas of what a supercar could look like.

It is ironic that Ferrari had not only acquired a competitor but had in fact helped to create one.

In Lamborghini another young engineer was quietly picking up lessons which would one day result in the formation of yet another legendary company.

The Engineer Who Wanted More:

Horacio Pagani was born in Argentina and always dreamed of Italian sports cars.

Being certain that Italy was the place he should be, he travelled all over the world and eventually secured a job at Lamborghini in the early 1980s.

This was the opportunity that he had been looking for his whole life!

Pagani soon gained a reputation for his obsession with lightweight materials, especially carbon fibre; at a time when most manufacturers still regarded composites as rare and costly, he believed that they would become the future of performance cars.

He urged Lamborghini to increase its investment in the production of carbon fibre and even proposed that the company buy an autoclave in order that it might make advanced composite parts itself.

Lamborghini wasn’t convinced at all!

It was hard to justify the investment, and the company decided to take a more cautious approach.

However, Pagani saw things differently.

Rather than delay, he took out a loan, purchased his own autoclave and established Modena Design, providing composite parts to manufacturers such as Lamborghini.

A few years later, he made the next move.

The Pagani Zonda was first introduced in 1999.

It never attempted to copy Ferrari or Lamborghini; rather, it blended engineering with craftsmanship in a manner that was almost artistic, with exposed carbon fibre, complex aluminium parts and a naturally aspirated Mercedes-AMG engine giving Pagani a uniqueness never found elsewhere on the road.

The knowledge which Horacio acquired at Lamborghini later formed the basis of a company that in the end ended up competing with it.

One Story, Four Legends

If you look back on it, you have to admit just how closely these brands are connected.

Alfa Romeo offered Enzo Ferrari the chance to gain experience in managing a top-ranking racing team.

Ferrari's actions led Ferruccio Lamborghini to decide on building his own cars, and this disagreement later became part of automotive folklore.

Lamborghini provided Horacio Pagani with the experience and confidence needed in order for him to pursue the ideas that later led to the creation of one of the world's most exclusive hypercar manufacturers.

None of them could have possibly imagined what this would create, as each one was merely attempting to solve its own problem, to produce a better car or to pursue a different vision.

Nevertheless, they put together a chain that had a significant influence on the history of the automotive industry over many decades.

There was no chasing any fastest laps or reaching the podium, nothing like the usual race intentions manufacturers know and follow for every race.

For Ford, that was not a sign that the GT40 had failed, for them it was part of the reason the car eventually won the whole race!

In the 1960s, Ferrari dominated the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Winning the race was nearly impossible by any standards, especially when they had superior engineering and were in the race way longer than any other brands. It was almost a race purely advertising Ferrari’s powerful builds and manufacturing. If anyone could win them, it will prove that a manufacturer could build a car capable of surviving a full day of extreme speed even more successfully than Ferrari, guaranteeing them massive success and sales! Ferrari had won Le Mans six times in a row, and its success had become a major part of the company’s identity.

Ford wanted to change that indecisively!

After an attempt to buy Ferrari collapsed, Henry Ford II decided that if Ford could not own Ferrari, it would try to beat it in a competition they are known to be the very best at. The company poured enormous resources into building a car capable of ending Ferrari’s winning streak, and the result was the GT40.

The first versions looked promising. They were powerful and extremely fast, but speed was not enough. The cars suffered from reliability problems, and several early attempts at Le Mans ended in utter disappointment.

Ford had built a car that could be quick around a track, but they  had not yet built one that could survive the grueling 24 whole hours!

That distinction changed the entire course of the project.

The engineers began to focus less on producing the highest possible performance and more on making sure the car could keep running. The GT40 Mk II received a huge 7.0-litre V8, but the team understood that using every bit of power for 24 hours could turn their advantageous speed into a major weakness.

An engine that produces more power also creates more heat and puts more stress on its components. The tyres wear faster, the brakes work harder etc.. and the chances of something failing increase. Over one lap, those risks may be worth taking, but it’s the longest automotive race in the world: doing that over an entire day, they can destroy the car, therefore losing against Ferrari.

So the GT40 was not always driven at its absolute limit.

Ford’s drivers were taught that they had to think beyond the car directly in front of them. If a Ferrari was faster during one part of the race, there was no reason to panic and chase behind it and try to pull ahead. Ford stated that the ultimate goal was not to win every lap or lead every hour, but to lay low during the first half and unleash the beast when the race reached its final stages.

That meant accepting moments that looked like losing the race: a driver could let another car pull away rather than push the engine too hard, risking overheating or damaging it. The team could choose a safer pace instead of chasing the fastest lap so that they could give up seconds now to avoid losing hours later.

It was a strange way to race, especially for a company that had entered Le Mans with such a clear desire to beat Ferrari, even repeatedly mentioning it to their rival! Ford had come to win, but after tests it had learned that trying to be the fastest at every moment was one of the easiest ways to fail the entire race.

So by 1966, the work began to pay off.

The GT40 Mk II was powerful, but it was also much better prepared for the demands of Le Mans. While other cars struggled with the pressure of the race, Ford’s machines kept going, even after twenty-four hours, all three Fords finished first, second and third, ending Ferrari’s six-year winning streak in one of the most famous results in motorsport history.

The victory looked dominant, and it was, after that many other brands, with the help of former Ford engineers, created even better cars, crushing Ferrari once and for all. The engineers had accepted that giving away a little performance could make the car stronger over the distance that mattered.

That idea appears much more throughout endurance racing today.

A car may be capable of producing more power than the team chooses to use and drivers may protect their tyres rather than attack every corner. From the grandstands, it can look as though a team is being cautious and trying to keep their position. Though inside the company, every decision is part of a plan that has been carefully crafted after years of tests.

Sometimes, the best race car is not the one that tries to win every lap, for me it is the one that knows which laps it can afford to lose.

It is rather strange since the car has not changed at all : the paint, the body and the design are exactly the same as when it came out of the factory, yet the way we perceive it has changed. A car which seemed a bit odd when it was new can suddenly acquire character, while a design which had once appeared modern can later seem closely associated with a particular time.

In my opinion, the five cars now look better than the way they did when they first arrived.👇

1. BMW Z4 (E85)

The initial BMW Z4 was never aiming to be subtle, as when it was launched in 2002 its sharp lines and odd curves gave it a very different appearance from the more gentle BMW designs to which people had become accustomed. While some people enjoyed it, many felt that it was overdesigned.

If you look at it nowadays, the design seems more reasonable. It's small, low and obviously a roadster, with a shape that could never be mistaken for anything else. Since more recent BMWs have become larger and more aggressive, the original Z4 now has the character of a car from a period when BMW was prepared to experiment.

It may not be what everybody considers a beautiful car, but it has character, and this has become more important as a growing number of cars start to look the same.

2. Porsche 911 (996)

The 996 began off to a difficult start.

Many Porsche enthusiasts disliked the headlights, particularly since they were similar to those on the more inexpensive Boxster. The fact that it was the first water-cooled 911 also led some people to feel that Porsche was altering the car too greatly.

For a long time the 996 was the model that people chose since it was cheaper than the rest.

At present, things are different. The modern-day 911s are now wider, heavier and contain even more technology, causing the 996 to appear smaller and more straightforward. The car's design is simpler than most people realised back then, and the headlights which had attracted so much criticism are now a feature that helps to identify it.

It might never have been the most popular 911, but it is now much easier to appreciate.

3. Audi TT (8N)

The initial Audi TT resembled a concept car which had somehow managed to get onto the road.

In 1998 the rounded shape was untypical, particularly when compared with the sharper styles which were popular then; the entire car appeared to have been designed with circles in mind, from the roof line to the interior details.

What makes the car interesting at the moment is that Audi didn't attempt to include excessive features; the design is simple, yet each element seems to fit in properly.

It also brings you right back to the late 1990s at once, yet in a way it doesn't seem embarrassing, it retains a neat, almost modern look.

4. BMW 5 Series (E39)

The E39 is most likely the car on this list that comes as the least surprise since people have been praising its design for years.

When it first came out it appeared to be an ordinary executive saloon; it was clean, well-balanced and not especially dramatic. BMW didn't need large grilles or sharp angles in order to give it a luxurious appearance.

That is most likely the reason why it still works.

If you park an E39 alongside a modern luxury saloon it appears smaller and more straightforward, though not old-fashioned; the shape is well balanced and there is very little on the car that seems unnecessary.

This is a good example of a car being able to remain attractive without attempting to draw attention.

5. Peugeot 406 Coupé

The Peugeot 406 Coupé is probably the car in this group that has been given the short end of the stick.

The car was designed by Pininfarina, the Italian company which has been responsible for the design of several well-known Ferraris, and this is evident in its long and smooth outline. It features neither bold headlights nor large wheels; instead, it has a graceful appearance.

Featured in films such as Taxi, a famous French series, it quickly won the heart and attention of car lovers!

At the time it was first introduced there were a lot of stylish coupés available, so the 406 Coupé didn't stand out as much as it does nowadays. The fact that modern cars are taller and more complicated means that the low roofline and straight sides of the 406 Coupé look all the better.

It's a type of car that has no need to make a big deal about itself to draw attention.

What makes them look better now?

All these cars are different, but none of them made much of an effort to copy what all the others were doing.

The Z4 was unusual, the 996 was controversial and the TT was entirely different from the majority of cars in its class. The E39 adopted a simple approach whereas the 406 Coupé stressed elegance.

The cars surrounding them have also been affected by the passage of time. Nowadays, new models tend to be bigger, heavier and have more styling features, which makes the older cars seem lighter and simpler in comparison.

A few cars are admired right away, while with others one has to stop comparing them with the latest model before their design begins to make sense.

It could be for that reason that some cars become more interesting with age since they cease to be regarded as "old cars" and begin to be remembered for the features that made them special.

For some people, that would obviously feel disappointing!

If the car is expensive, shouldn’t every part be exclusive?

The reality is more complicated. Luxury car companies often share parts with cheaper models, and sometimes those parts are hidden in places most owners will never notice. A window switch, infotainment system, engine component or even an entire platform may have been developed for several different vehicles.

At first, this can make an expensive car seem less special, but sharing parts does not automatically mean that a luxury car is simply an ordinary car with a more expensive badge.

In many cases, the part is shared because it already works well, has been tested for years and would cost millions to redesign without making the car noticeably better.

Still, there are moments when the shared parts are impossible to ignore.

The button that gives the game away:

One of the most famous examples comes from the Aston Martin DB9.

When the DB9 arrived in 2004, it represented everything people expected from Aston Martin. A stunning design, a naturally aspirated V12 engine, handcrafted materials and a price tag that placed it firmly among the world’s most desirable grand tourers.

But hidden inside was a surprisingly ordinary connection!

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Written in collaboration with: Nicolo Caiti

For a long time, buying a used car felt like one of the easiest financial decisions you could make.

A new car would lose a large part of its value during its first few years, while a used one gave you the chance to buy the same model for much less. You could get more equipment, a bigger engine or even move into a more premium brand without paying the original price.

That was the appeal!

A three-year-old BMW could cost less than a new family hatchback. A used Mercedes might offer leather seats, a powerful engine and a more luxurious interior for the same money as a basic new car! Even a sports car that once seemed completely out of reach could become surprisingly affordable after a few years.

Used cars gave buyers access to cars they might never have considered when they were new!

Then the market changed.

During the pandemic, new car production slowed, waiting lists became longer and dealerships had fewer cars to sell. Buyers who would normally have chosen a new car moved into the used market instead, and demand increased quickly.

The result was unusual.

Some nearly new cars became almost as expensive as their new equivalents. Certain models even held their value so well that owners could sell them for close to what they originally paid.

For a while, the usual rules of depreciation seemed to disappear.

A used car was no longer automatically the cheaper option. Sometimes, the smarter choice was to buy new, especially when a manufacturer offered a better finance deal or a full warranty.

The market has cooled since then, but it has not returned completely to the way it used to be.

Google search data analysed between July 2022 and June 2026 shows that searches for “used car” in the United States averaged around 673,000 per month, although the term was down 33% compared with the previous year. That suggests the intense demand created during the shortage is gradually easing, but it also shows that used cars remain a huge part of the market.

(Source : Quantumadslab.com)

For someone looking at cars today, that change can mean more choice than before!

During the shortage, buyers often had to accept whatever was available. Colour, specification and mileage became less important because finding the model you wanted was difficult enough. Now, it is becoming easier to compare different examples and walk away from a car that is overpriced or poorly maintained.

That could be one of the biggest advantages of the cooling market.

A buyer looking for a used hot hatch may now have several cars to compare instead of choosing the only one available. Someone searching for a used luxury saloon may be able to find a better specification or a cleaner example without paying the extreme prices seen a few years ago.

But lower demand does not mean every used car is suddenly cheap.

Some models remain expensive because they are genuinely desirable, rare or difficult to replace. A well-kept Porsche 911, for example, can hold its value because there is always demand for it. Certain Toyota Land Cruisers remain valuable because of their reputation for durability, and popular performance cars can also stay expensive when there are few good examples available.

The condition of the car matters just as much as the market around it.

Two identical models can have completely different values depending on how they were treated. A car with a complete service history, careful ownership and sensible mileage may be worth paying more for than a cheaper example with missing records or signs of poor maintenance.

That is especially important with used luxury cars.

A ten-year-old Mercedes, BMW or Audi may look like an incredible bargain because its price has fallen far below what it cost when new. However, the parts and repairs do not become cheap simply because the car has depreciated.

A €100,000 luxury car can eventually cost the same as a new family hatchback, but it may still have the maintenance costs of a €100,000 car.

That does not mean it is always a bad purchase. A well-maintained example with a detailed history can be an excellent car, especially if the previous owner has already dealt with major repairs. The problem is assuming that a lower purchase price automatically means lower ownership costs.

The same idea applies to performance cars.

A used sports car may look affordable after several years of depreciation, but tyres, brakes, insurance and servicing can still be expensive. The price on the advertisement is only the beginning of the cost.

This is why the best used car is not always the cheapest one.

A slightly more expensive example with good maintenance records can be a much better purchase than a cheaper car that needs immediate work. The money saved at the dealership can disappear quickly if the car requires repairs soon afterwards.

The used-car market is becoming easier to navigate again, but buyers still need to compare carefully.

The smartest question is not:

“How much has this car fallen in price?”

It is:

“What am I getting for the money, and what will this car cost me after I buy it?”

Used cars still offer something new cars often cannot: choice.

You can buy a model that is no longer produced, find an engine that has disappeared from newer cars or get a higher specification for the same budget. You can choose a car because it has character rather than because it is the newest model available.

That is why the used market will always matter.

The market may be cooling, but the cars are still there. Some are becoming better value, while others remain expensive for good reasons.

The real opportunity is not simply finding a cheaper car.

It is finding the right one before everyone else notices its value.

I started writing about cars because I’ve always found that there’s m…

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Why did they remove the manual gearbox?

Why does everything have to be controlled through a touchscreen?

And perhaps the question people ask most often is: who asked for this?

Sometimes, it genuinely feels as though car companies are ignoring the people who care most about their products. Brands that built their reputations on lightweight sports cars now sell large family SUVs, while companies famous for powerful engines are moving towards quieter hybrid and electric models. Even familiar designs are changing so much that some long-time fans barely recognise the cars they once loved.

However, there is a reason these models keep appearing, and it is not necessarily because car companies have stopped caring about enthusiasts.

The people who are most passionate about cars are not always the people buying the most cars.

An enthusiast might dream about a small, lightweight sports car with a manual gearbox and spend hours comparing engines, watching reviews or debating which generation was the best. But when it is time to buy a car, many people are thinking about completely different things. They need enough room for passengers, a large boot, comfortable seats and something that can handle school runs, shopping trips and long journeys without making everyday life more difficult.

For them, the perfect car may not be the most exciting one. It may simply be the one that fits their life, and there are far more people looking for that than there are people searching for a manual sports car.

Porsche understood this better than almost anyone.

The 911 remains the car most people associate with Porsche. It has decades of history, a design that is instantly recognisable and one of the strongest followings in the car world. Yet Porsche’s SUVs have become just as important to the company’s future.

When the Cayenne was introduced, many enthusiasts were confused. A Porsche SUV sounded almost like a contradiction, and some fans worried that the brand was moving away from everything that had made it special. However, the Cayenne brought Porsche to a much larger audience, especially buyers who wanted the performance and image of the brand but also needed more space and practicality.

Today, it is difficult to imagine Porsche without the Cayenne or Macan.

Those models helped the company grow, and that growth gave Porsche more resources to continue developing cars such as the 911. The SUV did not replace the sports car, in many ways, it helped support it.

Lamborghini experienced something similar with the Urus.

For a company built around low, loud and dramatic supercars, creating an SUV seemed like an unusual decision.

Some fans worried that Lamborghini was becoming too practical and too mainstream, but the Urus attracted customers who wanted the brand’s design and performance in a car they could use more easily every day.

The important point is that these cars did not necessarily take the place of the supercars enthusiasts loved, but helped make the companies behind those supercars larger and financially stronger.

That is the part people sometimes forget!

Car companies may care about their history, but they also have to pay engineers, develop new technology, build factories and meet increasingly demanding safety and environmental standards. A low-volume sports car can generate attention and strengthen a brand’s image, but a practical model that sells in much larger numbers can provide the money needed to keep the company moving forward.

Modern cars are also becoming more expensive to develop. Even an ordinary family car now needs advanced safety systems, complex software, large digital displays and increasingly efficient powertrains. Creating a niche model for a small group of buyers can be difficult to justify when the same investment could be used to build a vehicle that appeals to far more people.

This may be why so many new cars seem designed to do everything. They are comfortable, safe, practical and filled with technology, which is exactly what most buyers want. Yet, for some enthusiasts, something still feels missing.

A modern car can be faster than ever while feeling less exciting. It can have more technology but less personality, and it can do almost everything well without giving you a reason to look back at it after you park.

That is where the disagreement begins.

Enthusiasts want brands to protect the qualities that made them special, while car companies have to think about what customers will buy today and what will keep the business healthy tomorrow.

Sometimes those goals come together perfectly, though other times, the result is another SUV that enthusiasts complain about online while thousands of people quietly buy one.

And perhaps that is the strange truth behind it all: the cars enthusiasts call boring may be the very reason their favourite sports cars are still being built.