With distinct 250 GTO vibes, this Ferrari is in some ways even more exotic. We get behind the wheel of a 250 GT-based reincarnation of a famous Drogo-bodied Ferrari 250 GTO.
Don’t let that Chrome Blue wrap confuse you into thinking this fourth-gen Golf is purely all-show and no go. As Bryan McCarthy discovers, it’s got plenty of ‘go’ to back up that show!
With its 1000hp powertrain, the SF90 hybrid is the most potent road car Ferrari has ever made. We strap ourselves into the Assetto Fiorano version and experience a world of true extremes.
Simple, rational, essential. That’s the Fiat Panda, whose development ideals stemmed from an ideology that now seems long forgotten. In replacing the 126, Fiat wanted a car that had the same utilitarian abilities as the Renault 4 and Citroen 2CV
As one of our two ‘wild card’ brand new car entries, the Alfa Giulia Quadrifoglio holds its own with effortless ease. Even the regular Giulia Q would easily have made our Top 12: after all, it is comfortably Alfa’s greatest car of the last decade: Ferrari-developed 510hp V6 twin-turbo; dedicated Giorgio platform with sensational steering and suspension; lightweight carbon goodies; we could go on and on.
You just can’t stop gawping at it. On looks alone, the Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint deserves its high placing in our ‘Greatest Ever’ shootout. Designed by Franco Scaglione of Bertone, the Sprint was an exercise in the elegance of simplicity, perfect proportion and delicate understatement. This 1950s icon’s shape has withstood every changing fashion with easy grace
Some may question why the Alfasud rates such a lofty position as seventh in our top 12. After all, this is a car that could so easily have a tragic opera written about it, so troubled was its birth and its early life, as it returned to base mineral elements. The reason why the Alfasud is in seventh position – and why the tragedy of its reputation for rust is all the more acute – is because it’s an absolute cracker of a car.
If you had to choose one car to sum up Italy, what would it be? The answer to this question is why the smallest Fiat of all time is rubbing shoulders with Ferraris and Lamborghinis in our Top 12 shootout.
Even among Italian car aficionados, we expect a few eyebrows to be raised over our choice of the humble Fiat 128 as one of the 12 greatest cars ever made in Italy. But permit us, if you will, to set out our stall. Launched in March 1969, we contend that the 128 was one the single most important popular cars of modern times. It was truly ground-breaking, marking the point when front-wheel drive family cars finally reached the point of maturity.
The 1973 Alfa Romeo Giulia Super 1.6 Tipo 105 is here as a representative of our family car class, but it could so easily have joined as a sports car, even in four-door Berlina guise. Much of the magical driving experience you can enjoy in the sportier members of the Alfa 105 family – the Giulia GT coupe and Duetto/Spider – applies in equal measure to the saloon.
If the car on this page looks familiar, you might recognise it as the Francis Lombardi Grand Prix – a car we featured back in March 2018. But this isn’t quite a Lombardi – it is in fact an OTAS 820 Tigre. If you’ve never heard of OTAS, we’re not surprised.
With its V6 hybrid powerplant, the Ferrari 296 GTB marks a whole new approach from Maranello. 830hp and a short wheelbase lead Ferrari to claim this is the most fun-to-drive car in its range. But is it? We’re about to find out – on road and track.
