The Crittenden Automotive Library

Our Top Ten Cool Cars

Our Top Ten Cool Cars

Matt Hubbard
Speedmonkey
May 27, 2013

Karmann Ghia

Porsche 911

Lotus Esprit S1

TVR Tuscan

Jaguar F-Type

Audi R8 GT

McLaren F1 GTR

VW Golf GTi Mk2

Audi Quattro

Ferrari 288 GTO Evoluzione

How would you define a cool car? Exclusivity? Price? Shape? Well, to us it would be none of those things. A cool car is cool simply by the fact it immediately elevates the status of anyone - no matter what age, sex or creed - who is sitting at the wheel. It is a leveller.

So a Bentley Continental GT is not cool because people would think you are a footballer with a grotesque amount of money to spend and without the wherewithal to spend it wisely. Likewise a BMW 135i is not cool because people would assume you have no concept of aesthetics.

Any top ten cool car list is actually a top twelve because the Jaguar E-type and Aston Martin DB5 are so universally accepted as cool cars as to be on any list, no matter the opinion of the writer. They are the ROM to the rest of the lists' RAM. Therefore our top ten (twelve) features ten cars plus the E-Type and DB5. The list is in no particular order.

Karmann Ghia Type 14

Based on the Volkswagen Beetle platform, and sharing the its air cooled engine, the Karmann Ghia achieves the trick the Beetle can't - it is universally liked. Whereas the Beetle tends to be a Marmite car (you either love them or hate them) the Karmann Ghia's wonderful bodywork and simple engineering is appreciated the world over.

Porsche 911

For a time in the 80s and 90s a Porsche 911 was an object of derision. City boys spending their bonuses on 911s were thought of no higher than footballers or politicians. But in recent years the 911 has undergone a transformation - it is now the everyman's aspirational object. And you look cool if you drive one. The actual year and shape is down to personal preference, so we've cheated and used the GIF from this article.

Lotus Esprit S1

James Bond drove one into the sea whereupon his Esprit turned into a submarine complete with missiles. Is another reason needed? OK, the wedge design has aged fantastically well, anyone would want to at least drive one and it weighs less than 1,000kg. That'll do.

TVR Tuscan

TVR had a habit of making fantastical looking cars with fantastic names and the Tuscan was the pinnacle of all that. Loud, crazy and fast. Who couldn't resist a Tuscan?

Jaguar F-Type

Its not even available yet but the F-Type is already one of the coolest cars of all time. It looks cool from the front and from the sides but the rear end is one of the most aesthetically pleasing posteriors in automotive design. Cool as...

Audi R8

We asked several people what their top ten cool cars list would be and, whilst each list was different, every single one included the R8. People power makes it cool. This photo shows the R8 GT, surely the coolest of all.

McLaren F1

Gordon Murray's innovative and unique thinking produced one of the most iconic, and for a while fastest, cars of the twentieth century. The McLaren F1 was, is, and always will be, cool.

Volkswagen Golf GTi Mk2

A cool car anyone can afford and which, surely, anyone would agree is cool. Loved by both sexes, young and old. The Mk1 is possibly a little too exclusive, too much the preserve of anal obsessives now to be truly cool but the Mk2 is most certainly a cool car.

Audi Quattro

Rallying made the Audi Quattro cool. The fact that Michelle Mouton was one of those rally drivers made it cooler. The fact anyone could buy a road going Quattro was the icing on the cool cake

Ferrari 288 GTO Evoluzione

Pick a Ferrari - any Ferrari and it's cool. Most people would say the F40 is the coolest. But that's because they don't know about it's predecessor, the 288 GTO Evoluzione. You can read about it here. It's the coolest Ferrari, hands down.

Our top ten cool cars list is obviously a subjective one. Tell us your cool cars in the comments section below.