Ted Welford is a senior staff writer on the Bauer automotive hub, working across CAR and our sister website Parkers. Specialising in road testing the latest cars, Ted is also quite the newshound, always investigating the latest industry topics and digging out new stories at any opportunity.
Every year the CAR Magazine team tests hundreds of cars. New, old, expensive, cheap, and this year has been no different., but what happens when it comes down to the ones we’d actually want to take home, and the cars that resulted in our favourite drives of the year? Well, you might be surprised by the results.
Keep reading to find out our most memorable and favourite drives of 2025, and let us know in the comments about what your car of 2025 has been. Really tough one. The Alpine A390 was great, with a blend of comfort and interest that bodes well for the electric A110. I found the Hyundai Ioniq 6 N to be a riot, impressively improving on the already excellent Ioniq 5 N. But I think my best car of 2026, on account of the sense of reassurance it restored to my universe, was the. A Morgan for the 21st century could have been a disaster, stripping all the eccentricities out and leaving only a hollowed out husk. It didn’t. Much to my colleagues’ sputtering disbelief, I’m not a natural Morgan fan because they are, or have been, pretty compromised. But the Supersport has bottled the essence of the company’s 100+ year history and made it work in a modern car. I could see myself having this as a second car and using it pretty regularly – we drove it for several hundred miles and I genuinely didn’t want to hand it back. It’s the first time I’ve ever felt like that in a Morgan.duo, which have taken the UK by storm in 2025. I think the French have done more to democratise small electric cars than any other brand – and at a price that won’t break the bank. La Regie recognised early on that it must innovate aplenty to ward off the threat from cheaper Chinese upstarts and this pair prove that remixing your heritage really can work. Both cars riff on nostalgia, but with a modern, progressive twist. The fact that they’re ace to drive, interesting to look at and have decent EV creds seals the deal – especially when prices start at little over £200 a month on a main dealer PCP . This year I was fortunate enough to drive a Porsch 911 Turbo S to the Nordschleife and my Audi S3 long-termer to Munich. Both cars were memorable and impressive in their own ways, but I reckon they were edged out by the Compact, sensible and relatively cheap – the Hyundai is by no means a looker, but it feels like a turning point for EVs. A mixture of forward-thinking and old school inside, it’s small and nippy around town, and it’s got a range that’s feasible for most journeys. Simply put, the Inster is an antidote to the overly performant, bloated electric SUVs we keep seeing, and dare I say that makes it the best Hyundai EV on sale too.a five-star verdict recently – one of the very few I’ve ever given out. But it really is damn good. It blows everything it competes against out of the water, whether you’re looking at the on-paper figures, spend time sitting inside it checking the space or just drive it for more than a few minutes. I never thought I’d say this about an electric SUV, but it has very quickly become a car that I would happily own because of just how complete it is. The interior and tech is properly next-generation, and it handles like a BMW should. What more could you ask for?as his favourite car this year’ – is no doubt the cry from my colleagues. And they’re right, it’s a touch unimaginative. But I challenge anyone to hear the sound of this car’s V12 engine sublime. Probably helped that this one could have been made especially for me, Shark Blue and a manual gearbox triggering memories of my old Mariner Blue MX-5. Crazy that all the extras added up to a list price of £91,176, but frankly: worth it. This car is comfortable, yet ferocious. And that big flat six – sounds incredible, punches like an artillery shell. No wonder Porsche has rolled back on going entirely EV for the next generation. Once again, my best car of the year is actually a van. This year, though, it’s something that has stood out more for the package it offers rather than the physical vehicle. The van in question is the, which drives exactly how you’d expect a Kia electric vehicle to drive and has a loading bay that could do with a few improvements. But it makes up for any shortfalls by being such astonishingly good value, and by that I don’t just mean cheap. Kia has said that it isn’t targeting fellow EVs as its rivals, but instead taking aim at established diesels. This means it’s more Citroen Berlingo than VW ID.Buzz in terms of its pricing and then you factor in the seven-year 100,000-mile warranty that Kia offers. I’d be amazed if this doesn’t have the pricing teams at rival manufacturers taking a good look at how much they are charging for their electric vans. This one was never going to be entirely rational. I love the original Renault 5, I adore the mid-engined Turbo, and I have a deep soft spot for the Supercinq. So of course I was going to love this. Just look at it! But the real surprise is that theIt feels right-sized for modern cities in a way so many new cars no longer do. It’s light on its feet, beautifully judged on the road, and happy to be driven properly without overwhelming you with tech or mass. The steering is alert and it darts about on the head of a pin in a way that makes you want to keep finding excuses to take the long way home . Most of all, it has sparkle. It has attitude. It makes people smile and start conversations wherever you stop, which is something we’ve quietly lost along the way. Renault has remembered that small cars should be joyful, not apologetic. Back in the day they did a Zandra Rhodes version of the Supercinq. I won’t be truly happy until they recreate it. I’m quite vocal about my contempt for modern cars. Manufacturers are now locked in a race to the bottom, prioritising distracting AI-driven infotainment systems and frustrating active safety kit over good old-fashioned mechanical engineering. It’s killing the industry. We’re paying more money for technology we don’t want and, to add insult to injury, the technology being forced upon us is ruining the way our cars drive. For petrolheads, watching this process has been soul destroying. Mercifully, there are a couple of companies left that pride themselves on driver engagement aboveis one of them and, in Spring 2025, it let me sample its latest masterpiece. It’s a sympathetically improved Series I E-Type roadster with just the right amount of modern technology. You get fuel injection, so it starts on the button. It has Bluetooth and DAB, so you’re not forced to listen to the drivel on commercial radio. Plus, because it’s been repainted and rewired using modern materials, you won’t spend your entire ownership experience worrying about rust and electrical gremlins. Then there’s the performance. Thanks to a fancy twin-spark head, tighter engineering tolerances and proper fuel management, E-Type UK screwed a scarcely believable 430bhp from Jaguar’s aging straight-six petrol engine. In a car this light, that’s enough to embarrass a Porsche 911 Carrera. It’s hilarious. It’s intoxicating. And I want one. The trade-off is, if you’re not careful, you’ll round every corner on the lock stops with smoke pouring off the rear tyres. But such omnipresent jeopardy is exactly what makes a car feel exciting to drive – and you won’t encounter the same sensations in any new motor on the road today. It’s a shame. I miss them. I’m always scared when car has a cult of personality around it before it even launches. It’s the Suzuki Jimny effect – a hype culture car that and inevitably falls short of overstretched expectations. And that was precisely what I was worried the Renault 5 E-Tech would end up being. I was so, so wrong and I’m so, so pleased that I was. The Renault 5 E-Tech is outstanding, and easily the best car I have driven all year. I could prattle on about the dull but important reasons it’s a good supermini. The excellent infotainment system, fabulous interior and sweet driving dynamics are all standout features, but none of that is why it secured a place at the top of my list. The reason I adore it is that it’s the most charming and charismatic little car I’ve ever experienced. It’s an automotive Pierce Brosnan or Nigel Havers – with an added baguette holder. I’ll concede that it’s not perfect, rear occupant space is laughable even with my 5’7” driving position set and it’ll do 150 miles when it gets chilly out. But it does so much right that I don’t care. I’ve been running one as aThis is a very tough question, especially given the automotive year I’ve had. Highlights include driving an Ineos Grenadier on portal axles around a quarry, getting my mind blown by the 900bhp+ RML GT Hypercar, and an incredible blast in the Maserati MCPura Cielo.. A low scuttle gives incredible forward visibility, and the alloy-topped gearlever is attached to one of the finest manual shifts I can recall. Even driving across the office car park reveals detailed feedback filtering up from the wheel, and I’ve not even got to the best bit yet. I’m a real sucker for induction noise and an engine that likes to rev to the moon, and you can’t get much better than the DC2’s B18C. You’ll need at least 6,000rpm on the clock for it to find its voice, at which point the needle soars round towards 9,000rpm whilst delivering one of the best four-cylinder soundtracks ever. It’s also worth noting that the DC2 Type R weighs around 1100kg, or about the same as an Alpine A110. 197bhp therefore feels very strong indeed, and it feels incredibly light on its tyres. Trailbraking sets the rear a little loose, aiming the Integra deep into a bend, while the strong limited-slip diff allows you to carve your chosen line without fear of understeer. Although short, it’s an emotionally charged drive that no modern car has been able to equal this year. 2025 was the year when I finally realised the magic of Porsche 911. I’ve had brief goes in various versions over the years but never enough time to fully appreciate why it’s heralded as the best sports car ever. But over a few consecutive weeks I was lucky enough to cover hundreds of miles in various 992.2 911s. My favourite, and the one I’d have in my dream garage? The wonderful Previously it was quite hard to see the point of the T, but now that it’s the only way of getting a new 911 with a manual gearbox outside of a GT3 Touring, it’s most certainly earned its place. Back using a six-speed ‘box , it gets a cool walnut laminated gearknob and has one of the most precise gearboxesI’ve ever encountered. Over a week I clocked up hundreds of miles owing to the simple fact I could not stop driving it. The Carrera T might not be the quickest, but I don’t care about that, it’s usable, great fun and – for me at least – the best 911. I am new to this. So new, that the chance to pick up the keys of all the cars we get to drive is a thrill. My colleagues tell me it’ll wear off soon. For me, pretty much everything is a first, so picking the best car of the year for me has been tough. I got to drive an EP3 Civic Type R, a DC2 Integra Type R, an Alpine A110S, and finally got to understand the cult surrounding the MX-5. But the car that will have a chokehold on me for a long time is the McLaren Artura GT4. My first McLaren. The ferocity at which the Artura launched me from corner to corner, I turned to my instructor, and with a dry throat told him ‘at one point I forgot to breathe’. The power at the sole of my size fives, the deeply satisfying click of the paddles and the shriek from the 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6 climbing to 8500 revs. The booting I needed to give the brakes, and the kick to the chest of wiping 100 mph off the speedo in a blink. That macho idea of taking it by the scruff of the neck and wrestling the wheel is not what the Artura GT4 deserves. It is a machine to be respected and used appropriately, with smoothness, and skill, and grace. It wasn’t just my favourite car I drove this year, but the most exciting thing I’ve ever done. I hope the feeling these things give me doesn’t wear off. Roll on, 2026.This year I got to compete in my first races, contesting the 750 Motor Club’s new-for-2025 Swift Sport Challenge Series. It’s a one-make series for identically prepared first-gen Swift Sports that attracted a record 29 entries for the first round on Silverstone’s National Circuit. The cars feature uprated brakes, suspension and tyres, plus all the usual safety gear, but remain road legal. I raced 750MC’s development car and what a fantastic little thing it was. Surprisingly quick and fundamentally benign, but with some handling characteristics to keep you on your toes – 90mph oversteer through Copse, massive understeer through Luffield, a very squirrely back end under heavy braking. I just chucked it at the corners and sorted out the mess, set a very quick lap in Race 1 and battled through the field in Race 2. It was the most fun I’ve ever had with a steering wheel. In an 18-year-old, 120hp hatchback that cost less than £10,000 to put together.
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