What was the "greatest" performance car of the 2000s?
Discussion
As a child of the 1980s, I have a lot of nostalgia for the performance cars of the 1980s/1990s, growing up reading car magazines and dreaming of owning them but in the modern era, I would have to say the 2000s ie the decade from 2000-2009 is where it's at. There was really something for everyone, you benefitted from better technology and more performance, better passive safety and niceties such as air conditioning as standard on most vehicles but a lot of these cars retained an "analogue" feel and weren't ridiculously heavy. And yet at the time, many of them were relatively affordable unlike their modern counterparts and unlike their counterparts from the 1980s/1990s, their values in many cases have not gone silly yet, so they are still modern enough and yet affordable enough to enjoy today.
What is most evident to me is the pure amount of choice.
Even just looking at a single genre, the humble hot hatchback, you could get a 200bhp+ hot hatch for the first time and had the choice of 4/5/6 cylinders, NA/turbo/supercharged, FWD/AWD/RWD and manual/automatic/dual clutch transmissions.
The German manufacturers had a full-on arms race on with small saloons championing V8 engines and large saloons with V10 engines and Audi RS/Mercedes AMG really got into their stride with arguably the best AMG V8s ever made (the 5.5 supercharged and 6.2 NA units) and whether you're a fan of the E46 or E90 M3 or E39 M5 or E60 M5 possibly the best M cars ever made too. Porsche had the 997-generation 911, which is probably still the sweet spot between modern and classic, the Carrera GT and the Boxster really came of age.
The decade for Ferrari spans from the 360 to the 458, so you could still get a manual open-gate Ferrari or a paddleshift later with dual-clutch if you prefer and Lamborghini introduced the Murcielago and the Gallardo.
One could argue that the 90s was "peak" Japanese car but it was still the height of Impreza vs Evo but S2000 and a multitude of Type Rs, 350Z/370Z/GTR and RX8 came along too.
Even if you had to have an SUV, you could get a performance version in the X5 V8, Cayenne Turbo, ML AMG or supercharged L322 Range Rover or even something fairly brisk that you fill from the black pump if you went with the V10 Touareg.
So not necessarily the "best" but by your criteria what would you consider to be the "greatest" performance car of the 2000s?
For me, 3 cars stand out.
If we're talking the ultimate (and ultimate price), the Porsche Carrera GT
I flip-flop between this and the Aston Martin Vantage but these were the first cars to really come along and challenge the Porsche 911 as credible alternatives whilst being cooler/faster/more exotic for not a lot more money but I'll give the nod to the original V8 Audi R8 today, as it was just so unexpected from Audi at the time and with that open-gate manual and glorious NA V8. Both cars still seem like excellent value today too.
And for nostalgia and being so influential, the one that I actually owned was one of the later "Blobeye" cars, which was probably better ie stiffer, better safety, quicker etc but the 2000s straddled the classic and new-age Impreza and I always lusted after a P1.
So what in your opinion was the "greatest" performance car of the 2000s?
What is most evident to me is the pure amount of choice.
Even just looking at a single genre, the humble hot hatchback, you could get a 200bhp+ hot hatch for the first time and had the choice of 4/5/6 cylinders, NA/turbo/supercharged, FWD/AWD/RWD and manual/automatic/dual clutch transmissions.
The German manufacturers had a full-on arms race on with small saloons championing V8 engines and large saloons with V10 engines and Audi RS/Mercedes AMG really got into their stride with arguably the best AMG V8s ever made (the 5.5 supercharged and 6.2 NA units) and whether you're a fan of the E46 or E90 M3 or E39 M5 or E60 M5 possibly the best M cars ever made too. Porsche had the 997-generation 911, which is probably still the sweet spot between modern and classic, the Carrera GT and the Boxster really came of age.
The decade for Ferrari spans from the 360 to the 458, so you could still get a manual open-gate Ferrari or a paddleshift later with dual-clutch if you prefer and Lamborghini introduced the Murcielago and the Gallardo.
One could argue that the 90s was "peak" Japanese car but it was still the height of Impreza vs Evo but S2000 and a multitude of Type Rs, 350Z/370Z/GTR and RX8 came along too.
Even if you had to have an SUV, you could get a performance version in the X5 V8, Cayenne Turbo, ML AMG or supercharged L322 Range Rover or even something fairly brisk that you fill from the black pump if you went with the V10 Touareg.
So not necessarily the "best" but by your criteria what would you consider to be the "greatest" performance car of the 2000s?
For me, 3 cars stand out.
If we're talking the ultimate (and ultimate price), the Porsche Carrera GT
I flip-flop between this and the Aston Martin Vantage but these were the first cars to really come along and challenge the Porsche 911 as credible alternatives whilst being cooler/faster/more exotic for not a lot more money but I'll give the nod to the original V8 Audi R8 today, as it was just so unexpected from Audi at the time and with that open-gate manual and glorious NA V8. Both cars still seem like excellent value today too.
And for nostalgia and being so influential, the one that I actually owned was one of the later "Blobeye" cars, which was probably better ie stiffer, better safety, quicker etc but the 2000s straddled the classic and new-age Impreza and I always lusted after a P1.
So what in your opinion was the "greatest" performance car of the 2000s?
Starsky80 said:
As a child of the 1980s, I have a lot of nostalgia for the performance cars of the 1980s/1990s, growing up reading car magazines and dreaming of owning them but in the modern era, I would have to say the 2000s ie the decade from 2000-2009 is where it's at. There was really something for everyone, you benefitted from better technology and more performance, better passive safety and niceties such as air conditioning as standard on most vehicles but a lot of these cars retained an "analogue" feel and weren't ridiculously heavy. And yet at the time, many of them were relatively affordable unlike their modern counterparts and unlike their counterparts from the 1980s/1990s, their values in many cases have not gone silly yet, so they are still modern enough and yet affordable enough to enjoy today.
What is most evident to me is the pure amount of choice.
Even just looking at a single genre, the humble hot hatchback, you could get a 200bhp+ hot hatch for the first time and had the choice of 4/5/6 cylinders, NA/turbo/supercharged, FWD/AWD/RWD and manual/automatic/dual clutch transmissions.
The German manufacturers had a full-on arms race on with small saloons championing V8 engines and large saloons with V10 engines and Audi RS/Mercedes AMG really got into their stride with arguably the best AMG V8s ever made (the 5.5 supercharged and 6.2 NA units) and whether you're a fan of the E46 or E90 M3 or E39 M5 or E60 M5 possibly the best M cars ever made too. Porsche had the 997-generation 911, which is probably still the sweet spot between modern and classic, the Carrera GT and the Boxster really came of age.
The decade for Ferrari spans from the 360 to the 458, so you could still get a manual open-gate Ferrari or a paddleshift later with dual-clutch if you prefer and Lamborghini introduced the Murcielago and the Gallardo.
One could argue that the 90s was "peak" Japanese car but it was still the height of Impreza vs Evo but S2000 and a multitude of Type Rs, 350Z/370Z/GTR and RX8 came along too.
Even if you had to have an SUV, you could get a performance version in the X5 V8, Cayenne Turbo, ML AMG or supercharged L322 Range Rover or even something fairly brisk that you fill from the black pump if you went with the V10 Touareg.
So not necessarily the "best" but by your criteria what would you consider to be the "greatest" performance car of the 2000s?
For me, 3 cars stand out.
If we're talking the ultimate (and ultimate price), the Porsche Carrera GT
I flip-flop between this and the Aston Martin Vantage but these were the first cars to really come along and challenge the Porsche 911 as credible alternatives whilst being cooler/faster/more exotic for not a lot more money but I'll give the nod to the original V8 Audi R8 today, as it was just so unexpected from Audi at the time and with that open-gate manual and glorious NA V8. Both cars still seem like excellent value today too.
And for nostalgia and being so influential, the one that I actually owned was one of the later "Blobeye" cars, which was probably better ie stiffer, better safety, quicker etc but the 2000s straddled the classic and new-age Impreza and I always lusted after a P1.
So what in your opinion was the "greatest" performance car of the 2000s?
PH pretty much did a poll on this, multiple categories What is most evident to me is the pure amount of choice.
Even just looking at a single genre, the humble hot hatchback, you could get a 200bhp+ hot hatch for the first time and had the choice of 4/5/6 cylinders, NA/turbo/supercharged, FWD/AWD/RWD and manual/automatic/dual clutch transmissions.
The German manufacturers had a full-on arms race on with small saloons championing V8 engines and large saloons with V10 engines and Audi RS/Mercedes AMG really got into their stride with arguably the best AMG V8s ever made (the 5.5 supercharged and 6.2 NA units) and whether you're a fan of the E46 or E90 M3 or E39 M5 or E60 M5 possibly the best M cars ever made too. Porsche had the 997-generation 911, which is probably still the sweet spot between modern and classic, the Carrera GT and the Boxster really came of age.
The decade for Ferrari spans from the 360 to the 458, so you could still get a manual open-gate Ferrari or a paddleshift later with dual-clutch if you prefer and Lamborghini introduced the Murcielago and the Gallardo.
One could argue that the 90s was "peak" Japanese car but it was still the height of Impreza vs Evo but S2000 and a multitude of Type Rs, 350Z/370Z/GTR and RX8 came along too.
Even if you had to have an SUV, you could get a performance version in the X5 V8, Cayenne Turbo, ML AMG or supercharged L322 Range Rover or even something fairly brisk that you fill from the black pump if you went with the V10 Touareg.
So not necessarily the "best" but by your criteria what would you consider to be the "greatest" performance car of the 2000s?
For me, 3 cars stand out.
If we're talking the ultimate (and ultimate price), the Porsche Carrera GT
I flip-flop between this and the Aston Martin Vantage but these were the first cars to really come along and challenge the Porsche 911 as credible alternatives whilst being cooler/faster/more exotic for not a lot more money but I'll give the nod to the original V8 Audi R8 today, as it was just so unexpected from Audi at the time and with that open-gate manual and glorious NA V8. Both cars still seem like excellent value today too.
And for nostalgia and being so influential, the one that I actually owned was one of the later "Blobeye" cars, which was probably better ie stiffer, better safety, quicker etc but the 2000s straddled the classic and new-age Impreza and I always lusted after a P1.
So what in your opinion was the "greatest" performance car of the 2000s?
https://www.pistonheads.com/news/ph-features/best-...
https://youtu.be/ElP1H-i93B0?is=IKDW3nMS9BBZtVaT
Tickle said:
PH pretty much did a poll on this, multiple categories
https://www.pistonheads.com/news/ph-features/best-...
https://youtu.be/ElP1H-i93B0?is=IKDW3nMS9BBZtVaT
Some overlap for sure but the criteria for that poll was last 25 years ie not restricted to a single decade (2000-2009). Interesting that many of those cars were on sale in the 2000s but an Elise S1 is clearly 1990s and a GR Yaris 2020s not 2000s.https://www.pistonheads.com/news/ph-features/best-...
https://youtu.be/ElP1H-i93B0?is=IKDW3nMS9BBZtVaT
esuuv said:
Veyron surely - loves it or hate it, it moved things on (technology and cost wise) - and I'm sure lead to a lot of the hypercars we have today.
It's remit is a little limited though isn't it? Crossing continents at high speed in luxury but on the narrow B-roads that I just commuted home on, it would be an awful experience.Tickle said:
PH pretty much did a poll on this, multiple categories
https://www.pistonheads.com/news/ph-features/best-...
https://youtu.be/ElP1H-i93B0?is=IKDW3nMS9BBZtVaT
How was that 3 years ago? It feels like yesterday to me! https://www.pistonheads.com/news/ph-features/best-...
https://youtu.be/ElP1H-i93B0?is=IKDW3nMS9BBZtVaT
Starsky80 said:
Some overlap for sure but the criteria for that poll was last 25 years ie not restricted to a single decade (2000-2009). Interesting that many of those cars were on sale in the 2000s but an Elise S1 is clearly 1990s and a GR Yaris 2020s not 2000s.
That Elise is 2000, but yeah the Elise was released in the 90s.Starsky80 said:
esuuv said:
Veyron surely - loves it or hate it, it moved things on (technology and cost wise) - and I'm sure lead to a lot of the hypercars we have today.
It's remit is a little limited though isn't it? Crossing continents at high speed in luxury but on the narrow B-roads that I just commuted home on, it would be an awful experience.MarkJS said:
Starsky80 said:
esuuv said:
Veyron surely - loves it or hate it, it moved things on (technology and cost wise) - and I'm sure lead to a lot of the hypercars we have today.
It's remit is a little limited though isn't it? Crossing continents at high speed in luxury but on the narrow B-roads that I just commuted home on, it would be an awful experience.Tickle said:
Starsky80 said:
Some overlap for sure but the criteria for that poll was last 25 years ie not restricted to a single decade (2000-2009). Interesting that many of those cars were on sale in the 2000s but an Elise S1 is clearly 1990s and a GR Yaris 2020s not 2000s.
That Elise is 2000, but yeah the Elise was released in the 90s.
t car. All a bit XJ220 but worse. Nobody actually desires them, do they?
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