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The sixth-generation Toyota RAV4 GR Sport is a suspiciously good SUV: tough-looking, superbly built and refreshingly full of physical buttons. The smooth hybrid drivetrain returned 5.9 l/100km on test, and the GR Sport chassis is firm yet comfortable. Only over-eager safety systems, hard cabin plastics and a steep GR Sport price hold it back.

The facelifted Opel Astra is one of the most complete cars in its class. It looks fantastic, drives with an easy, eager nippiness, and returned a frugal 5.0 litres per 100 km on our run. Add real buttons, an excellent driving position and clever Intelli-Lux HD headlights, and only the colour range and a near-35,000 euro Ultimate price hold it back.

BMW has spent years promising that the Neue Klasse would reset the brand. The 2026 iX3 50 xDrive is the first car to deliver on it, and it largely succeeds: a genuinely intuitive new iDrive, a clever full-width Panoramic display, more than 800 km of claimed range and 400 kW charging that makes range anxiety feel old-fashioned. There are small gripes, but this is the most convincing electric BMW yet.

We have loved the GranCabrio since 2009, so replacing its glorious V8, then V6, with electric motors sounded like a nightmare. Then we drove the Folgore. It looks as gorgeous as ever, delivers an absurd 750 hp, and stays every bit the refined, elegant grand tourer. The boot is tiny and the range is short for a GT, and the weight blunts the handling, but as a beautiful way to travel with the roof down, it works.

The Ferrari 330 GT 2+2 Series 1 has spent decades underrated, and that was always unfair. Designed by Pininfarina, powered by the legendary Colombo V12 and reportedly used by Enzo Ferrari as his personal daily driver, it is grand touring in its purest 1960s form: beautiful, comfortable and built to be used. This low-mileage, mechanically restored example at Collection by Vermant is about as good as they come.

The 2026 Audi RS5 Avant arrived to a chorus of online complaints: a plug-in hybrid, too heavy, not playful enough. We drove it. Like the BMW M5 Touring, Audi has hidden the weight remarkably well, wrapped it in the meanest bodywork in the class, and added a genuinely clever electrified rear axle. It still cannot match a BMW M3 for pure fun, but it is the most convincing fast Audi estate in years.

The 1960 Alfa Romeo 2000 Spider is the kind of classic that stops you in your tracks. Bodied by Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera and built largely by hand, it pairs breathtaking elegance with a genuinely usable, high-speed cruising character. Sometimes called a baby Ferrari 250, it is far easier to run, and this example is for sale at Collection by Vermant.

The GLB 250+ is the bigger, more practical brother of the electric CLA, and it makes a strong case. It rides beautifully, feels solid and expensive, and returns genuinely astonishing efficiency for its size, easily clearing its 606 km claim. The screens and the options list can frustrate, but as a calm, trustworthy long-distance EV, this is a true Mercedes.

The Leapmotor B10 is one of those cars that makes you question what value still means in the EV market. Because on paper, this is a relatively affordable electric family SUV from a Chinese brand that is still building its name in Europe. In reality, it feels far more mature than that description suggests.

This is a proper electric hatchback. A good-looking one too. Low, wide, clean and far more European in its proportions than many people might expect from a Chinese EV brand. There is something Volkswagen Scirocco-like in the front, a hint of Porsche Macan in the rear, and somehow it all comes together better than that sentence should suggest. The result is a car that looks surprisingly resolved. Maybe even suspiciously good.

The Renault Twingo E-Tech Electric is a small car with a big job. It has to be affordable, electric, practical, easy to drive, efficient and charming enough to make people care. That last part matters more than carmakers sometimes realise. Because small cars used to be fun. Simple, clever, colourful and full of personality. The new Twingo understands that.

The Ferrari 812 GTS is not a normal car. That sounds obvious, but it matters. Because in a world where even supercars are becoming more digital, more hybridised and more controlled, the 812 GTS still feels like something beautifully unreasonable. A front-engined Ferrari. A naturally aspirated 6.5-litre V12. 800 hp sent to the rear wheels. A folding hardtop. And enough drama to make every kilometre feel like an event.