What is the best car of the 21st century? It’s not an easy question to answer, but as the calendar counts down to 2025 we thought we’d have a go at finding the answer.
The challenge is defining what makes a car great and how do you narrow it down across the entire breadth of the car industry – from electric city cars to wildly powerful hypercars. Since 2000 there have been some many important and impactful new cars that have helped shape and define not only what we’re driving today but what we’ll be driving in the next 25 years.
With that in mind we’ve taken a look back at all the great cars of the 21st century and compiled this list. It’s by no means meant to be definitive, and will have a clear Australian bias, but this is the line-up we landed on.
Each day this week we’ll publish five entries in our list, counting down to the big reveal on Friday. Let us know your thoughts – what’s your favourite car of the last 25 years?
20. 2019 Land Rover Defender
Replacing an iconic model is difficult, but replacing one that has been in continuous production for nearly 70 years is nearly impossible. Which is why Land Rover almost failed when it tried to bring the Defender into the 21st century.
The DC100 concept was revealed at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show and was meant to preview a more modern take on the then-ancient Defender. However, the response was less-than-glowing, or actually terrible, to put it more accurately.
But the Land Rover team went back to the drawing board and in 2019 launched the all-new Defender at the Frankfurt Motor Show. While pursuits, who prefer to drive on dirt and rocks and dislike comfort and performance, hated it, the rest of the world has become quickly enamoured and it has become one of Land Rover’s great sales success stories.
19. 2003 Bentley Continental GT
When the Volkswagen Group added Bentley to its portfolio in the late 1990s it decided immediately to add a more affordable and more youthful model (although ‘youthful’ is a relative term with Bentley buyers, who all tend to be older, wealthier individuals). The Continental GT was the result, a twin-turbo W12 luxury coupe that was launched off the back of the brand’s return to Le Mans.
It has become a staple of the line-up, evolving subtly over the last 20+ years and across three generations. It has become, not by accident, Bentely’s version of the Porsche 911 – a brand staple.
18. Tesla Roadster 2008
If only we could have foreseen what would become when Tesla rolled out this Lotus Elise-based electric sports car back in 2006. Elon Musk is now a globally recognised businessman with interests in space rockets and social media and Tesla has become one of the world’s most influential car makers.
While electric cars are still not the majority choice they have become a viable alternative to vehicles with an internal combustion engine, and for that the Roadster played a major role. It demonstrated the technology in an appealing manner and laid the foundation for all that would follow.
17. 2017 McLaren Senna
It was tempting to put the 12C or the P1 on this list, but ultimately the car that best represents the emergence of McLaren as a rival to Ferrari off the racetrack is the Senna. When the 21st century began McLaren Automotive didn’t exist and the company had produced its own road car since the F1 of 1992.
Having established itself with the 12C and then expanded its range, leading to the P1 in 2013, it was the 2017 Senna that showed what McLaren Automotive could do when it unleashed its full potential.
While being entirely road legal, the Senna looks like a race car and is designed to be the ultimate track machine for the brand. It is the definition of function over form and would no doubt be the kind of car Ayrton Senna would have been proud to have his name attached to.
16. 2016 Mazda MX-5
My favourite fact about the fourth-generation Mazda MX-5 (ND, if you’re a trainspotter) is that the lever to adjust the seat is as small as it could be without breaking. That’s the attention-to-detail the Mazda went to to ensure it was as light as possible.
Thanks to this obsessive behaviour, the ND weighs just 961kg (with the 1.5-litre engine), which is remarkably 41kg lighter than the original NA MX-5 from 1989. When you consider all the extra weight that comes from modern crash safety technology and creature comforts buyers expect, being so light is a stunning achievement.
Of course, light is one thing, but it doesn’t mean anything if the car isn’t fun to drive. Thankfully for Mazda, and fans of rear-wheel drive roadsters, the latest MX-5 is still a vehicle that brings a smile to your face every single time you get behind the wheel.
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