The eight best sportscars to buy in 2024

Aston Martin Vantage 

It’s not often we care about infotainment screens, but in the case of the Aston Martin Vantage, we’re willing to buck the trend. Aston had been chancing its arm, palming us off with hand-me-down Mercedes infotainment (Merc didn’t even fit it to its cars) for, frankly, far too long. So, the new in-house system, with its glassy black screens and sharp graphics, is a vast improvement. And now we’ve said it, we need never mention it again.

What you really want to know is about the new car’s huge dynamic improvements. It now has steering that doesn’t make you feel like you’re turning into corners with your hands outstretched, fumbling for some/any information. The result is a car you can confidently hurl into corners at breakneck speed, which is handy because the new Vantage is even faster than the old one, with a ludicrous 665PS (489kW) to call your own. It does 0-62mph in 3.5 seconds and skips past 200mph. Better than a Porsche 911? What do you think? It’s getting closer than ever before. 

Renault Alpine A110R

The Renault Alpine A110R is the car that says: No, you do not need a Porsche. A French fleet of fancy that swapped the Porsche Teutonic engineering and sense of unshakable stability for firefly-like responses and ride quality that breathed over the road rather than battered it into submission. 

This makes the A110R an interesting proposition because you could call it an A110 that’s more Porsche-like. The breezy nature of the stock setup is gone, and in its place, you’ll find suspension that’s 10mm lower and quite a lot stiffer than the standard setup. In other ways, the R’s more A110, though. At 1,082kg, it slashes 34kg from the standard A110 thanks to a carbon fibre engine cover, carbon fibre seats and – highlight – carbon fibre wheels. The result? A top speed of 177mph and 0-62mph in 3.9 seconds. Sadly, though, some of the standard cars' effervescence has been lost.

Analogue Automotive Supersport

To build its Lotus Elise-based Supersport, Analogue Automotive goes over a doner with a fine-tooth comb, starting with a bare chassis that's been treated for corrosion. From there, you pick from your choice of a 160PS or 210PS tuned Rover K-Series engine. Analogue Automotive then adds its own wishbones and hubs, which means the Supersport is lighter than a standard Elise. All cars also come with Nitron dampers, a Quaife LSD and a short-shift gear change. Finally, you can customise your car in its unique paint job using the company's online configurator. The result isn't cheap – a Supersport costs north of £100,000 – but builds on all the aspects that make the Elise so great in the first place.

BMW M2 

In a perfect world where no one needs back seats or boots, the BMW M2 wouldn't get a look next to a Porsche Cayman, but then, we don't live in a perfect world. The BMW's added practicality means it can deal with family life while its performance is as breathtaking as its looks are polarising. More analogue than the M4, it shares many of its parts, including its engine and platform, with its larger sibling. The M2's rear-wheel drive only and can be had with a manual gearbox, but it's not the lairy pocket rocket you might expect, displaying a mechanical grip the old model couldn't replicate. The posh interior and excellent infotainment seal the deal for this being one of our list's most usable performance cars.

Lotus Emira

Goodbye Elise, so long Exige, aurevoir Evora. All three of the stallwarts of the Lotus range have now departed for the home for ageing sportscars. In their place comes one single car, trying to span the range from sportscar to supercar. There's just a little pressure. Thankfully its debut at the Festival of Speed presented by Mastercard in 2021 was a storm, and it looks absolutely fantastic. We've not driven the Emira yet, but first impressions seem to be universally positive, so it may well be time to get a deposit down – espeically considering they sold over four figures worth in the week after it was revealed. 

Porsche 718 Cayman

The standard Cayman is pretty much a benchmark on which all other sportscars could be judged. The GT4 RS just elevates everything to another level. Now with the proper 4.0-litre flat-six derived from the 911 GT3 Cup car, tweaked suspension, more aero and less weight, the GT4 RS can match the performance of the 911 GT3 to 60mph. But it isn't a stripped back track star, this is a more forgiving and enjoyable machine for the road, all soundtracked by that astonishing engine fed by a brand new intake rasp. It's impossible to ignore, if you have £108,000... you might even prefer it to the GT3.

Mazda MX-5 1.5

On paper there’s very little to impress anyone with an MX-5, especially the basic 1.5-litre version. Sure, it’s light. But with the base model the power to weight ratio hasn’t improved significantly in the 30 years and four generations it’s been on sale. The suspension is pretty soft out of the box too and macho types still (mistakenly) write it off as too girly, whatever that means. But in driving terms the latest MX-5 is as close to the Caterham as you can get in a car you’d conceivably drive every day. Mazda didn’t chase the numbers with this car. It sweated the details, like a thin steering wheel rim to encourage neat steering inputs and a close-ratio gearbox so sweet you can shift with your fingertips. You can get more powerful ones but that basic 1.5 is a revvy, naturally aspirated delight too. All you really need.

Toyota GR86

Okay, can't have is strong given that cars are for sale and you can indeed buy them. You can't order one new, though, because they're all sold out. Very shortly after its reveal it was confirmed the GR86 would only be coming to the UK for two short years, meaning allocations quickly dried up. As such, this is a sportscar in high demand and if you want one, you'll need to pay over the odds. Happily, it's purported to be worth it. 

The new 2.4-litre engine has a far-superior power band to the GT86, the looks have been refined, as has the cabin. This is a handsome, gutsy-enough, delectably-balanced car designed to deliver thrills at any speed. We bloody love it and so should you.