Here are 40 brilliant cars from 400 issues of Top Gear magazine

Arrived in the UK in early 1990. A light, affordable, RWD roadster.

BMW’s Rover (mis)adventure yielded new MINI. Immediately desirable.

The greatest. The apex of analogue hypercar sensation.

Another cracker. Felt unexpectedly tough for a French featherweight.

The OG. Channelled Colin McRae world rally vibes.

Unloved 348 is reborn as the revered F355. A modern classic.

Underpinned by a lightweight ethos – the stuff of fantasy by 2025 standards.

A 400bhp V8 and sublime chassis = the ultimate driving machine.

If the 1990s is the JDM decade, the R34 is the guv’nor Godzilla.

Dazzling concept transferred to the road largely intact. Joyful.

First RR to drive like a true luxury car. Thank BMW. But still a true LR.

Another genius BMW interpretation of a Brit grandee. As special as it looks.

Apex Porsche, pin sharp in every way, matching its epic racebred V10.

One genius’s gothic fantasy. Epic AMG V12, brilliant dynamics.

Four seat hatch of Elise mass. A wheeled haiku, profoundly simple.

Piech’s monument. Lambasted pre-launch for hubris, yet hit all targets.

Detail re-engineering transcends the supermini. Rapid, vivid, lucid.

Great looks and superb interior no surprise. Sharp drive absolutely was.

Many AMGs were blunt implements, but this hit the motorsport core.

Final, operatic nat-asp V8 Ferrari, with modern chassis tricks. Graceful.

Beat the McLaren P1 to TG’s Car of the Year crown in 2013.

The cheapest of the Holy Trinity yet also the most tech advanced.

An idea born in 2000, but didn’t reach production until late 2010.

Futuristic in its looks, construction and powertrain.

Not the quickest, but an old school inexpensive sports car.

The car that truly kicked off the world’s restomod obsession.

A raucous Alfa super saloon that bested the BMW M3 and Merc C63.

Like nothing else on this list. Heck, like nothing else on earth.

Do we want one? No. But we can’t deny its influence on the industry.

After the Up, every city car had to up its game. Ha.

Spaceship looks and performance, yet freakishly daily drivable.

Sports car lovers begged for a teeny lightweight... then didn’t buy it.

Stuck the landing on an almost impossible followup act. Disco who?

The endgame version of ‘Piëch’s ultimate supercar’ story. Broke 300mph.

Proved to be among the last affordable chuckable hero hot hatches.

One of the all round best drivers’ cars ever made regardless of budget.

Influencing everyone from AMG to Ferrari with clever e-fakery.

We called it the best drivers’ car ever. A debugged, lighter, revvier McLaren F1!

Pretty much the perfect modern sports car. The hype is justified.

Stellar design and right price made Europe want an electric car again.