The Best performance cars in 2025: the thrillers to buy – and the one to avoid
The best performance cars combine sports car-rivalling acceleration and engaging handling with impressive everyday usability, but which should you consider – and which are best avoided?...
The ideal performance car needs to have a curious blend of talents. For one thing, it should be absolutely thrilling to drive, offering the kind of pace and agility which will have you grinning from ear to ear every time you get behind the wheel. It needs to not just impress on the track, though – it should be equally capable of raising a smile on a winding country road as it would be clipping the apex of some far-flung racing paradise. And crucially, it can't just be good to drive – because performance cars also need to fit into family life.
That means the best performance cars need to have space for your family to come along for the journey, and bring anything with them that they might want to. The best in this class will also be festooned with the latest technology, helping to keep everyone safe, comfortable and connected wherever your journey is taking you. And while we're willing to overlook a higher-than-average list price, nobody wants a performance car that's going to be ruinous to run.
It's a tall order by any measure, but these days there are more performance cars to choose from than ever before. Increasingly, too, they're not just petrol-powered machines either, with some electric models now counting among our favourites. Speaking of which, our experienced road test team has spent thousands of hours reviewing every performance car you can buy. They've assessed them in every area that matters, from performance to practicality, and refinement to running costs, to create the top 10 order you see here.
In this story, then, we're naming the best performance cars you can buy. If any of the cars here take your fancy, then you can click the links through to our in-depth reviews to learn more about them. Or you can see the latest discounts through our free New Car Deals service. We've also named the performance car which we think you should avoid, and answered some of the most burning questions around performance car ownership at the bottom of this page.
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