18 of the wildest things we’ve driven in 2024

“It’s the slap off the line that gets you, forces the air from your lungs. And it’s utterly unrelenting. I hit the limiter after less than five seconds and gasped with relief. Nothing this side of a top fueler sprints as well as this.

“In fact it’s so fast it feels entirely different to anything else car-shaped. Skydived from an aeroplane or jumped off a high diving board? That’ll give you a better idea of the Spéirling acceleration. Or rather half of it, as you accelerate with one force of gravity, rather than two.”

Read the full fan-car review

“The RN24 melds the Ioniq 5 N’s twin motor powertrain with a WRC-inspired chassis and radically shrinks the package down to more traditional hot hatch dimensions.

“The result is an EV gymkhana car that sounds like it’s tackling a rally stage whilst destroying tyres in spectacular style.”

Read the full prototype review

“The shell is (well, it was) a 1948 Chevy Loadmaster Super Truck, but during 10,000 hours of build time it was chopped and transformed into an open wheel racer with a Goodwin Competition 8.4-litre LS race engine, a Bowler Performance four-speed automatic gearbox, a bespoke chassis, a Dana limited-slip differential, custom inboard suspension with Öhlins springs and dampers, Brembo brakes with six-piston calipers, bespoke 18in HRE wheels and Goodyear Racing Eagle slick tyres. And yes, we are driving it on the road.

“Oh, and did I mention that this thing is utterly terrifying? If my knowledge of Greek mythology was slightly better, I probably would have had some prior warning – it turns out Enyo is the ancient Greek goddess of war. Although I get all the warning I need when that monstrous V8 is fired up for the first time. The titanium exhaust system is a work of art in itself, and you can flip a switch to have all of the noise out of the side pipes or to send some of it back behind the cab. The latter is apparently the more civilised, slightly quieter option. From where I’m sitting there doesn’t seem to be much difference between the two. The noise is pure NASCAR fury. I’m pretty sure the BBC’s occupational health team can hear it back in London. Whatever – my hearing was never very good in the first place anyway.”

Read the full Ringbrothers story

“What do you mean you’ve never heard of the Engler Desat? First unveiled in 2020 and built in Slovakia, it’s described by its creator Viktor Engler as 'the world’s first superquad'.

“Viktor bestows it with that title because this is a quad bike like no other. Not only is it the size of a car with a full carbon fibre body, but it’s also powered by a 5.2-litre V10 engine that should theoretically produce 1,085bhp.”

We lived to tell the tale, so go on and read the full review

“The Mk IV is one of the most exciting, all-enveloping and charismatic cars I’ve ever driven. It feels monstrous and sounds like pure evil and yet melds that incredible sense of occasion with a genuinely exploitable and indulgent dynamic character. The controls are brimming with feel and consistency, the power, braking performance and sheer mind-scrambling grip are addictive and the car just sweeps you up and transports you to a new world where fear, excitement, intensity and joy smash into each other and create a new emotional state.”

Read the full review of this ultimate Ford GT

“Don’t let the Raptor R’s nearly 6,000lbs of heft fool you, this sucker can fly. Hit the right embankment, and it sails through the air like an angrily hurled brick, though it lands with a relatively lighter touch. Our run off a particularly leap-worthy hillock started at 60 mph and touch down felt like we’d just gone over a speed bump. At 70mph, things got more interesting.”

Read the full US review

“Welcome to the world of the Pagani Utopia – a Jules Verne fever dream for the 23rd century. Done with the mirror? Then have a look at those bonkers carbon wheel spats, the brake calipers like bronze knuckle dusters, the elegant slivers of aluminium, the leather buckles, the roof portholes. It’s a 1930s vision of the far future, Flash Gordon’s motor conveyance. Pagani likes to claim its cars perfectly balance art and science, but I walk around it convinced it’s all about the art, the sculpture, the effortless luxury, certain that functionality has been willingly overlooked, that Pagani has let the weight swell.

“And then I drove it.”

Read the full Utopia feature

“It’s a thorough job; the mechanicals are all 987 Cayman S, so there’s a 3.8-litre flat-six in the middle, rear-wheel drive and a six-speed manual. Carbon body bits and a petite size produce a kerbweight of just 975kg (plus fuel), and an output of roughly 375bhp mean this is a car that’s got more than enough mouth to match the trousers.”

Read the full retrotastic review

“The Humvee is actually very simple and easy to drive. We’re not joking. It may look like a tough guy, but with a three-speed automatic gearbox and extremely light steering it really doesn’t take much effort to pilot. Although saying that, the big diesel engine will sound like it’s making a whole lot of effort. At idle it feels as though someone has parked a dump truck underneath your feet, and once you’re on the move the gear ratios are so long it’ll be screaming away long before you get the sweet relief of an upshift.”

Read the full military-spec Humvee review

“Porsche is usually modest but says Attack Mode and launch control together will take you from 0-62mph in 2.2 seconds.

“Easy for you to read; hard for me to do. It genuinely is uncomfortable. Tense your muscles and nerves, hold the pedal and it just keeps gobbling velocity to 120mph and beyond. EV acceleration usually softens after motorway speed, but not here. You just hear the gearbox whine pitch drop as it upshifts and you're propelled madly onward: 4.4 seconds zero to 100mph, 6.4s to 125mph. Which makes the claim for the 918 Spyder, 7.2s, look sluggish.”

Read the full 1,000bhp+ Taycan review

“Opt for an eActros 300 cab and you’ll get 336kWh of battery capacity for up to 186 miles of range, while the eActros 400 adds another pack to the modular setup for 448kWh capacity and a maximum range of 249 miles. Within touching distance of the 252 miles a trucker can cover in their legally limited 4.5-hour shifts at Great Britain’s 56mph HGV limit, but crucially without the weight of a fully packed trailer countered into the calculation. A maxed-out eActros artic’ might cover closer to 100 miles in the real world. Yikes.”

Yep, we went trucking. Read the full review

“There’s a 5.6-litre, naturally-aspirated V8 (400hp and 413lb ft) upfront. Length is up 94mm on the already-gargantuan Patrol (now 5.3m); width is up 84mm (now 2.1m) and it gains 50mm in ground clearance and thus overall height. It weighs a staggering 2.9 tonnes and has a gross vehicle mass of 3.6 tonnes. It has 34.4in tyres from the factory, seats eight, and can tow 3.5 tonnes.

“Were we in the UK, you’d need a special licence to drive it.”

Read the full review of this Aussie run-out special

“Outwardly, people gasp and point and stare. It looks bananas on the road, all slats and vents, cuts and slashes. The ride height has been lifted a little to help get the carbon splitter over speedbumps, but the arches are still packed out, larger wheels have been fitted (19s at the front, 20s rear). Spindly wing supports dangle the rear wing from above, the snorkel curves up from the rear deck jutting aggressively into the airflow. It just looks wonderfully out of place because it’s so purposeful, so clearly intended to only spend a life on track.”

Read the full race-car-for-the-road review

“A wheel at each motor gives the U8 its TikTok-pleasing party trick; its maker calls it ‘vehicle origin turn’ but it’s more colloquially known as ‘tank turn’. It resembles a low-key donut as the vehicle spins up to 360 degrees on the spot thanks to the motors on one side of the car turning slowly in the opposite direction to the others.

“It looks bizarre from the outside and feels even more discombobulating inside, but if your brain has anything like the mechanical sympathy of ours, you’ll soon be fearing for the diffs and tyres.”

Read the full prototype review

“It’s hard not to be blown away by a sub-tonne track car with huge aero, a stunning V10 engine and a unique and brilliant driving environment. So, we quite like the Solus GT. The fact that it offers such incredible performance with the reassurance of ABS and traction control is fantastic. That you don’t seem to rely on it at all as the car is so easy to drive and encourages you to push is even better.”

Read the full Solus GT review

“Skoda commissioned this hand-built, one-off slice of extreme sensibleness to celebrate the third-gen Superb’s success, entrusting a very, very good standard spec – green and tan FTW – over to the folks at RE Performance. They’re the ones who built an Octavia that managed 227mph at Bonneville. So they know a thing or nine about speed.”

Read the full 470bhp Sleeper review

“This is the first electric sports car to be sold at (almost) mainstream prices. A decade ago MG was selling bargain basement hatchbacks and saloons to a reasonably small trickle of buyers. Now, it has a halo roadster to float glamorously above a bank of strong selling EVs and SUVs.”

A 500bhp MG with supercar doors? Read the full review

“What you’re looking at is an Agera RS. Well, it was an Agera RS, belonging to the president of the FIA – Mohammed Ben Sulayem – who one day had an idea. Could you cram the ‘big turbo’ 5.1-litre flat-plane crank V8 from the Jesko, plus the CC850’s trick simulated manual gearbox (that piggybacks the already trick ‘Light Speed’ nine-speed auto) into the more petite frame of the Agera RS?”

Read the full, flat-out feature