Future classic cars in 2025

You could argue that a fast-Ford is a safe bet – and you’d be right. But just because it’s got an RS badge, doesn’t mean it’s any good. After all, it should stand for the fastest, most insane, most brilliant handling lairy Essex car you can think of, but the Mk2 Focus RS flushed that straight down toilet.

Luckily, Ford knocked it out the park with this Mk3 generation. It was sexy and it knew it. Supercar performance for £30k when new and sold in limited numbers. If you were lucky enough to get one, hang on to it and you’ll be able to retire in a few years. Maybe, if you can afford the £24,000 minimum to buy a good one now.

It could be argued the BMW i8 is already a classic, although it's barely a decade old. In an era where so many car manufacturers played it safe, BMW threw caution to the wind and built a radical sports car unlike anything we'd seen before.

The chassis is carbonfibre, the powertrain is a plug-in hybrid and the styling looks like a concept car. But it wasn't. It was a car you could go out and buy. And still can as a used choice.

The result wasn't perfect. The driving experience isn't as good as the looks – quick, but not scintillatingly so, and the handling isn't the best we've seen from BMW, let alone the competition (hello Porsche!). But neither is it terrible, and so much was so revolutionary about it that we could easily forgive it for not reaching its lofty goals.

You can get an i8 in both coupe and convertible forms. While it's not practical, it's impressively efficient, promising 128.4mpg according to official (albeit wildly optimistic) figures. Even 10 years after it was introduced, it'll turn heads wherever you go. And you can buy one for as little as £40,000.

The humble Toyota Yaris city car was never a machine that people got particularly excited about. But then Toyota engineers imbued it with the spirit of its World Rally Championship programme, and suddenly this reliable but anonymous city car turned into one of the most entertaining drives of the 2020s.

When it comes to future classic criteria, this ticks  all the boxes. It's fun to drive, with all-wheel drive and a propensity to drift. And it's got genuine motorsport pedigree, being basically a road-going version of Toyota's proper rally car – what's referred to as a homolgation special. Find an open stretch of road and there aren't many cars that provide this much entertainment.

If the Toyota GR Yaris isn't revered by motoring enthusiasts for decades to come, then we'll eat our hats.

There’s a special place in classic car heaven reserved for BMW M cars, so we really could’ve picked any. But we went with the BMW M2 for a variety of reasons. At under £50k new, it was the most affordable way into M ownership. But it also stands out from the crowd.

While rivals like the Audi RS3 or the Mercedes AMG A45 use a four-cylinder, the turbocharged six-pot under the M2 offers a slightly different level of joyousness. Yes, it’ll do 0-62mph in 4.5 seconds, but it’s the sweet, sweet sound of six-cylinders that’ll make you want to do it over, and over, and over again.

Could this be more nostalgic? After giving us the mighty E-Type, Jaguar finally stepped up and delivered its spiritual successor – the F-Type. And while the ball-breaking SVR gets to waltz straight down the classic hall of fame thanks to its £115k price tag and great-sounding engine, the coupe and convertible might have to wait a bit longer. But not much in our mind.

There’s a lot of different variants to choose from, but honestly we’d be happy with a V6, which offers a neat blend of grand tourer charm but on-road weapon as and when required. It’s fast, gorgeous and worth every penny. Oh, and it sounds epic.

Volkswagen hated all the hype around fast Fords. After all, here was a company that created the hot-hatch but threw it all away by devaluing the hallowed GTI badge with some clunkers.

Luckily, someone at Wolfsburg had the pride (and the balls) to come up with the Volkswagen Golf R, shoehorning a massive engine under the hood of their super popular family car. All it needed after that was a four-wheel drive system and it was good to go.

With 300PS and a 0-62mph time of 5.1 seconds here is a car that is plenty fast enough – but also one that loves nothing more than a trip to the shops. Buy one, use it, and fall in love with it.

For years, Polestar was the badge attached to moderately sporty Volvos. They were fine, but nothing special. Then Polestar struck out on its own, with a new standalone company. Sure, it was decidedly Volvo influenced, but no matter.

The Polestar 2 is (surprise) the firm's second car, and doesn't it look brilliant? It's taken the Scandi cool vibe that Volvo is so good at, but sportified it to create a brilliant premium family car with a sporty edge. The electric powertrain will take you the best part of 300 miles on a charge and it's got loads of space.

But what makes it a future classic in our eyes, aside from the very handsome looks, is the Polestar handles superbly, feeling much better in the corners than a Tesla Model 3. We're putting it out there right now – these will age very well.

Back in the day, the original Alpine A110 was a bit of a legend. It spent much of the 1960s hoofing around various rally stages and won the World Rally Championship. So it stands to reason that Renault’s reboot of this great looker should have a smooth passage to the land of rust. Sorry, ‘classics’.

Fast-forward 50 years though and the A110 finds itself up against some pretty sharp competition like the Audi TT, Porsche Cayman, and Alfa 4C.

Luckily, the A110 hit the bullseye. Here was – and still is – one of the finest driver’s cars ever made. That alone makes it a future classic in our book.

When it was new, the Audi TT RS cost more than £50k – a clear sign that it was aiming to attract drivers who might be thinking about a Porsche 718 Cayman or Boxster S. But surely Audi couldn’t hold a candle to the mighty Porsche? Well, no. But also, yes.

With 400PS, it’s more powerful than a Porsche. And while it doesn't have the 718's edge or that scalpel-sharp sense of agility, it's got plenty of drama and fun. Where it shines is when you take the roof off the Roadster version. Go for a model with the sports exhaust, and you'll get all the aural treats you could ever want short of a ludicrous V8.

The sound of its 2.5-litre five-cylinder is everything you’d ever want from a sports car, and with the wind in your hair and that cylindrical music in your ears, you'll forget about the extra communicative steering you get in the Boxster.

While most of our picks as future classics have a sporting edge, the Jaguar XJ that arrived in 2010 majored on luxury, refinement, and a big dose of Jaguar's traditional wood and leather appeal.

With the British firm spearing off in an all-electric future direction, luxury limos like the 2010 XJ hold considerable appeal. It was always a brilliant car to drive, giving a Maserati Quattroporte a bloody nose in supercharged XJR form. Yet the XJ can also waft with the best of them to cover huge journeys with almost disdainful ease. It says "a trans-European road trip? Is that the best you've got?"

Diesel engines are the most common, and very refined, but seek out the V8 petrol for the full Jaguar grace, space and pace experience. And you can have all of this from around £6000 for a minty one that's been properly looked after.