This restomod based on an old Italian coupe is TG's best performance car of the year

When the EVO37 erupted into life at the Portimão pitlane on the first evening of our 2025 PCOTY showdown, it wasn’t just the Top Gear team drawn into its tractor beam. Support crews from Ferrari, Maserati and Lamborghini sidled up, nodding sagely, gesturing with only slightly begrudging approval.

Every time it rolled to a stop in the pits after performing yet another religious baptism on an unsuspecting driver, one of the rivals couldn’t help but pop over for an ogle. And when we told the Kimera guys they’d won our PCOTY title, there were literal tears. That’s what’s so magical about this car. You can’t help but be swept along in its badge kissing Italian passion.

Naming a restomod based loosely on a 1970s/1980s Lancia coupe as the best driving experience we’d had all year was a strange call in some ways – a rejection of everything we’ve been indoctrinated to believe we need. No launch control, no drift mode, barely aircon at times. It’s not built for straight line speed or lap records. There is no downforce to speak of.

But the EVO37 won our hearts with its lightness, its energy, its absorbing, addictive assault on the senses drive. And it never broke down once – because when it comes to new age Lancias, they don’t build them like they used to.