McLaren 12C

The story

The 12C was engineered from the inside out. At its core sits a carbon-fiber passenger cell, behind it a 3.8-liter twin-turbo V8 driving the rear wheels through a 7-speed dual-clutch gearbox, and beneath it a suspension that skips conventional anti-roll bars altogether, using hydraulically linked dampers to keep the body flat in corners and supple over broken pavement. Testers were amazed that something this fast could ride so gently over broken highway seams. For 2013 McLaren raised output to 616 hp (625 PS) and gave the upgrade free to earlier owners, so the paperwork tells you more than the registration year.

Its critics said all that polish left too little drama, and they had a point: this is a car that makes outrageous speed feel orderly. That composure is exactly why it has aged so gracefully. The doors still swing up and out to an audience, the cabin still feels purpose-built, and depreciation has pulled its price down to the neighborhood of a new Corvette. It gave way to the 650S in 2014, but the original remains the clearest statement of what McLaren set out to build.