Life hack: for a sudden overload of endorphins, get behind the wheel of a good sports car. For sheer driving pleasure, you can’t beat something low-down, two-door and preferably rear-driven despite ever-more capable hot hatches, fast saloons and SUVs, and even a more engaging breed of EVs available todat.
With the rise of electric cars and SUVs in particular, though, the traditional sports car is a dying breed in this day and age. Yet, those manufacturers still backing them are arguably making them better than ever. These are our favourite sports cars on sale in 2025.
10. Mercedes-AMG SL
Mercedes SL, front
In years gone by, putting a Mercedes SL on a list of best sports cars would’ve been a stretch, but the latest version merits a place on this occasion.
It’s now wholly developed by AMG, and it shows, bringing the sportiest-feeling SL of all since the very original. As an absolute minimum, you’ll get 415bhp from it with the four-cylinder 43, although we’d want the V8 SL63 personally if your budget allows.
That said, there are compromises which prevent it from placing higher in our rankings. It’s pretty heavy, with even 43 weighing 1.8 tonnes, and doesn’t entirely shake off its grand tourer roots.
9. BMW Z4
BMW Z4
The current-gen BMW Z4 arguably spent a lot of time living in the shadow of the mechanically identical but conceptually a little different Toyota GR Supra. Now, though, the Supra has been retired in the UK, leaving the Z4 as your only choice if you want two seats and a straight-six driving the rear wheels.
It may be getting on a bit, but last year it was given a transformative option in the guise of the Handschalter pack. That may sound like a German word for something dirty, but it actually brought a long-awaited manual gearbox and a bespoke chassis setup. All the versions of the Z4 are quite nice, but it’s absolutely the one to get, as long as you like green over tan, because that’s the only combo it comes in.
8. Ford Mustang
Ford Mustang Dark Horse
While still a muscle car at heart, the Ford Mustang is arguably as close as it’s ever been to an out-and-out sports car. Here in the UK, our only engine choice is a stonking naturally-aspirated 5.0-litre V8, which is hooked up as standard to a manual gearbox – the only mass-produced car in the world to still offer such a combo.
The Mustang really shouldn’t just be passed off as an, ahem, one-trick pony only fit for the drag strip, either. The performance-biased 453bhp Dark Horse version gets standard adaptive suspension, bigger brakes, improved cooling and a beefed-up manual ’box.
It’s starting to get pricey, and passersby will assume you’re the kind of person who wears cowboy boots and has a vintage jukebox in your garage, even though you’re from Nuneaton, but ignore them because there’s nothing else like the Mustang on sale right now.
7. Chevrolet Corvette Stingray
Chevrolet Corvette Stingray
Also hailing from across the other side of the pond is the first mid-engined Chevrolet Corvette, now available in right-hand drive. Thankfully, none of its brash, American appeal is lost for the C8, thanks to its mighty 6.2-litre, naturally-aspirated V8.
Euro-spec cars get a detuned version of that with 475bhp, but it’s still good for 0-62mph in 3.5 seconds and a 184mph top speed. It’s also considered the sweetest-handling one yet – perhaps no shock with its V8 in its new location. If you want more from your C8 though, hold on until 2026 for the UK arrival of the E-Ray.
6. Lotus Emira
Lotus Emira
We are a little sad the world no longer has a Lotus Elise or an Exige, but the car that replaces those two (and the Evora) is, fortunately, pretty good in its own right.
The Lotus Emira feels like a proper Lotus should – with lots of grip and brilliant balance – even if it’s not quite as intense, direct or scary as a hardcore Exige.
Track fiends might be tempted by the lighter and just as quick DCT-only version with the Mercedes-AMG four-cylinder, but don’t bother – we’ll have the one with the big Toyota-sourced supercharged V6 and a manual gearbox while we still can, please and thank you.
5. BMW M2
BMW M2
There’s only one rear-driven, manual car built by BMW M today (unless it suddenly decides to do a hardcore version of the Z4). No, it’s not an M3 or M4, or an M5. Rather, it’s the baby of the lot, the BMW M2.
Every version of the M2 and its instant-classic 1M predecessor has been a wonderful thing; boosty, angry little Staffordshire bull terriers on wheels, and even if it’s grown up a bit, that’s still the case with the G87.
If you can get around the slightly challenging looks, you’ve got a fantastic chassis, a straight-six sending 467bhp to the rear wheels, and a manual ’box, all as it should be in an M car.
4. Porsche 911 Carrera
Porsche 911 Carrera
With the Porsche 911 Carrera growing bigger, heavier and becoming more refined, some have accused it of straying into grand tourer territory. But drive one hard, and you’ll soon discover it’s still a pure sports car. Not only that, but it’s one that can dice with supercars quite nicely.
A switch to turbo power for the 991.2-generation car may have irked the purists, but Porsche has made the 9A2 3.0-litre engine even better for the 992. The unit is incredibly responsive for a turbo engine, more so for the 992.2 with its new snails, and it sounds brilliant in its upper reaches.
Whichever version of the 992 you go for, you’re unlikely to be disappointed, even if it’s the new hybrid GTS.
3. Mazda MX-5
2025 Mazda MX-5, front
We were already big fans of the ND Mazda MX-5 when it was facelifted in 2018. What the Japanese company did to the car, however, went beyond the usual nip and tuck – instead, it went down the route of good old-fashioned N/A tuning for the 2.0-litre SkyActiv-G engine.
New pistons, con-rods, valve springs and more raised the rev limit to 7500rpm – 700rpm higher than before – and the power from 168 to 181bhp.
Even with the extra grunt, the MX-5 remains a low-powered, lightweight riposte to the class, and although the cheapest variants have been discontinued, it is still very affordable.
2. Porsche 718
Porsche 718 Boxster
The Porsche Cayman and Boxster twins – prefaced with 718 since the current generation’s introduction – finally seem to have been allowed to step out from the 911’s shadow… just in time for them to be discontinued.
Any version of the 718 is a corker with a gorgeous chassis, but the basic ones are a bit let down by their slightly uninspiring turbo four-pot engines. There’s no such concern if your budget can extend to the GTS 4.0, whose free-breathing flat-six is one of the very best engines in any car on sale today – supercars included. Then there’s the small matter of the very hardcore but, in the right circumstances, transcendentally brilliant GT4 and Spyder RS versions.
You can still order one, but production is set to end in October, so act fast. Like, really fast.
1. Alpine A110
Alpine A110
With Alpine A110 production set to end in 2026, we can’t stress enough how much you need to experience one before it goes away.
It may not be the fastest car on here, nor necessarily the most capable. Or the cheapest. However, it disrupts the trend of ever-more powerful, heavier and over-tyred coupes. It gives you just what you need and no more. As a consequence, it’s a seriously light and joyous thing to throw around.
It’s like a very modern, more cosseting Lotus Elise. And if you really must have more power, there’s the A110 GTS, which adds more power and ability without completely screwing up the recipe.
A more hardcore R exists as well, and though it’s impressively capable, we still think the standard car does it best. We suspect the same will be the case for the even more serious Ultime if you’ve managed to get your hands on one of those.
What about the rest?
‘What about the Toyota GR86?’ we hear you, an American, cry. Sadly, we can no longer have it in the UK (or Europe, for that matter) because of crash regulations. Boo and hiss. See also the Subaru BRZ, not that we ever got the second-gen car on our shores.
Toyota GR86, Pearl white, rear 3/4
The Jaguar F-Type is no longer in production following the brand’s, err, polarising switch to an electric-only brand. Speaking of which, you can get the MG Cyberster, but we weren’t wholly convinced by it when we got behind the wheel in 2024.
Cars like the BMW M4 and Mercedes-AMG CLE 53 occupy a strange place. They’re undoubtedly sporty, especially the BMW, but share more with everyday saloon cars than proper sports cars, so we’re hesitant to put them on the list.
Morgan Plus Four
Then there’s the question of the kind of low-volume, ultra-light stuff handmade in British sheds – Caterhams, Morgans and the like. We love them, but unlike everything else on this list, they’re not exactly viable daily drivers unless you live somewhere where it’s always sunny and only do about five miles a day, so they probably belong on another type of list.
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