Car magazines and awards juries spend months arguing over which performance machine deserves the top prize. This list draws on Top Gear’s Speed Week and Performance Car of the Year, evo Car of the Year and the World Performance Car award, with each verdict traced to its source. Here are twelve cars that earned those titles, from mid-engined exotics to a compact hot hatch.
1. McLaren 750S: Excitement Decided It
Top Gear crowned the McLaren 750S its Speed Week winner in 2024, and the verdict was blunt about the reason. As recorded in Top Gear’s Speed Week winners, the deciding line was ‘Excitement, that’s what made the difference in the end.’ The win came down to feeling rather than a stopwatch.
For a prospective buyer, the takeaway is that the 750S earned its place on emotion. Anyone weighing it against rivals on paper should expect its appeal to lie in how it feels on the road, which a spec sheet cannot capture, and which this verdict places at the centre of the argument.
2. Honda Civic Type R: A Hot Hatch for Drivers
Honda’s Civic Type R won Top Gear’s Speed Week in 2023, and the Speed Week winners roundup records the verdict as ‘It’s a co-conspirator rather than a challenge, and it’s one for the drivers.’ That wording frames the hatchback as a car that works with its driver instead of testing him or her, a notable compliment alongside winners as exotic as the McLaren 750S.
The caveat for owners is that the praise describes character, not a measured figure. Buyers should read it as a statement about approachability and involvement, and should check any specific example before committing.
3. Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Black Series: A Confidence Booster
Top Gear’s pick for 2013 was the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Black Series, and its verdict is one of the more memorable in the magazine’s history. According to Top Gear’s winners feature, ‘The SLS Black is a car that makes you start to believe you have talent.’ The line credits the car with flattering the person holding the wheel.
Few performance cars win praise for making a driver feel more capable than he or she is. For anyone shopping the used market, that quality hints at a car that rewards commitment without punishing small errors, though a single quotation is no substitute for a proper test drive.
4. McLaren 720S: The Secret Ballot Winner
The McLaren 720S was Top Gear’s Performance Car of the Year for 2017, with the outcome settled by a ‘secret ballot,’ as the Top Gear winners feature notes. A secret ballot asks each voter to commit independently, which makes the 720S’s victory a tally of individual choices rather than a negotiated compromise.
For buyers, the result places the 720S among cars that a whole panel chose, not just one reviewer. Used examples still deserve individual inspection, since an award reflects how the car performed in that year’s contest, not the condition or history of any particular car on a forecourt.
5. Ford GT: Beating a Record Field
The 2005 evo Car of the Year was the biggest in the contest’s history to that point, with 21 contenders, and evo’s winners list declares that ‘Ford’s GT is the overall winner.’ Beating that many rivals in one test gives the result extra weight, because the field was the largest eCoty to date.
The Ford GT therefore carries an unusually strong credential. Collectors and prospective owners can point to a field of 21 cars as the yardstick behind the title, rather than a thin year in which a modest group of rivals made victory easier to achieve.
6. Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano: Ferrari’s Long-Awaited Win
The 2006 evo Car of the Year went to the Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano, and the evo winners archive notes that Ferrari ‘claims an overall win at last.’ The phrase signals that the Italian marque had waited for the top step in earlier editions, which makes this victory a milestone rather than routine.
For owners, the Fiorano’s title is a point of pedigree: it was the car that finally delivered Ferrari an overall eCoty result. That history can matter when weighing one against later Ferraris, since a long-awaited win is the sort of detail enthusiasts remember and cite.
7. Lotus Evora: A Win on Skye
The 2009 evo Car of the Year was staged on the Isle of Skye, and the result, set out in evo’s year-by-year list, reads ‘Lotus keeps a 911 GT3 (the 997.2) off the top step.’ The Evora took the title, and a Porsche 911 GT3 did not.
For buyers, a Lotus finishing ahead of a 911 GT3 in a driver-focused test is the kind of credential that sets the Evora apart from cars judged mainly on speed or badge. The caveat is that the verdict belongs to one event on one set of roads, not to a universal ranking.
8. Maserati MC20: Old-School Thrills
Maserati’s MC20 won evo Car of the Year in 2022, with the evo winners overview praising ‘old-school supercar thrills and road-ravaging alacrity.’ The wording suggests the judges valued a traditional, driver-focused supercar experience over novelty, and rewarded the MC20 for delivering it.
Buyers considering the MC20 can read that verdict as an endorsement of its character on real roads, not merely as a showpiece. As with any magazine award, the comment reflects one panel’s priorities in one year, so a test drive remains the sensible way to confirm the match.
9. Audi R8: A Two-Time Winner
The World Car Awards named the Audi R8 its World Performance Car for 2008, and the R8 V10 took the same title again in 2010, according to the awarding body’s official World Car Awards history. Winning twice, with two versions of one car, sets the R8 apart in the record.
For owners and shoppers, the double result is a useful piece of provenance, showing that the original car and its V10 successor each impressed the jury. The history confirms the years of the wins but not the margins, so it works best as a credential rather than a comparison.
10. Nissan GT-R: Jury Pick of 2009
Nissan’s GT-R was the World Performance Car for 2009, according to the World Car Awards record, the official history published by the awarding body. The entry is brief, listing the car and the year, but it comes from the prize’s own archive rather than a secondhand summary.
That makes the GT-R’s title easy to cite and hard to dispute. Buyers should note what the record does not say, namely why the jury chose it, so the result is best treated as confirmation of a win and not as a detailed review of how the car behaves.
11. Ferrari 458 Italia: The 2011 Choice
The Ferrari 458 Italia was World Performance Car for 2011, a result documented in the World Car Awards history PDF. The source is the awarding body’s own year-by-year list, so the title rests on the primary record rather than on a magazine’s retelling or an enthusiast forum’s memory of events.
For anyone researching a 458, the award is a verifiable line in the car’s story. It does not rank the Italia against other winners on this list, and it says nothing about condition or value, so it serves as a credential to cite alongside a proper inspection.
12. Mercedes-AMG GT: The 2015 Winner
Mercedes-AMG’s GT closes the list as World Performance Car for 2015, as set out in the official World Car Awards history. Like the other entries drawn from that document, the record names the car and the year, which is enough to establish that the jury placed it first in its category.
Owners and shoppers can use the result as a straightforward credential for the model. The caveat is the same as for every winner here: an award reflects one year’s field and one jury’s priorities, so it supports a purchase decision without replacing a drive and an inspection.
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