The best supercars: driven and ranked

Best for: distance driving

A few Ferrari fans fretted over the demise of the old F8 Tributo, the last pure-petrol mid-engined car to bear the prancing horse badge. Many thought a plug-in hybrid Ferrari would be a soulless shadow of its predecessor. 

They were wrong. The Ferrari 296 GTB is sensationally well executed.

At the heart of the car is a new twin-turbocharged 3.0-litre V6 engine mated to a 164bhp electric motor to deliver a staggering combined total of 819bhp - in what's essentially a 'mid-ranking' Ferrari.

Performance is relentlessly, savagely sensational, plus the 298 GTB will also crack a claimed 15.5 miles of electric-only range.

What's more remarkable is that Ferrari has managed to make a car with this much power and performance potential feel so approachable and engaging.

It's a remarkable supercar and shows that increasing levels of electrification don't necessarily mean diminishing driver rewards.

Best for: V12 thrills

Lamborghini finally confronted the age of electrified supercars with the Revuelto – the latest in a fabled line that includes the Miura, Countach and Diablo.

While rivals shrink and turbocharge their engines to suit their new purposes, somehow the boffins at Sant’Agata kept a wonderful, free-revving, atmospheric V12 engine as part of the Revuelto’s mechanical recipe. Because, well… would a big Lambo be a big Lambo without one?

The Revuelto features the most innovative, rigid, lightweight carbonfibre spaceframe-cum-monocoque chassis that Lamborghini has designed, using it to help offset the weight of three electric motors and a lithium ion drive battery.

In total, it produces 1001bhp at 9250rpm, enabling the car to hit 62mph from rest in just 2.5sec and run to 217mph. 

At 1800kg, it's a heavy supercar, but its handling is enhanced by the technology behind its electric motors. The car simply goes right where you’re pointing it, as it screams away at real pace and stratospheric revs. Overall, the Revuelto is a deeply impressive feat of engineering.

Best for: handling

A lot is resting on the success of the McLaren Artura, which is arguably the brand's first clean-sheet design in more than a decade.

Immediately from its launch, it was clear the Artura meant business. It shares almost nothing with its myriad of predecessors, all of which were related in one way or another.

It uses a completely new carbonfibre structure and electrical architecture, plus a new twin-turbocharged 3.5-litre V6 engine, which is mated to a 95bhp electric motor.

The Artura's set-up has been designed to be as light as possible, with motor and battery weighing just 130kg. As a result, the car dips under 1500kg all in. It is also capable of a claimed 19 miles of pure-EV running. 

Overall, the powertrain produces 671bhp, which allows the Artura to sprint from 0-62mph in 3.2sec and from 0-100mph in 6.3sec. 

Meanwhile, its chassis delivers plenty in the way of driver engagement and dynamic excellence.

The brand has persisted with its hydraulic steering set-up, which means few rivals are able to deliver such crisp communication to your fingertips. The car corners flat and fast with superb body control too.

Best for: versatility

The Lamborghini Huracán Sterrato is the last and perhaps most entertaining variant of the company’s staple supercar – and that's no mean feat.

It's based on a regular four-wheel-drive Huracán coupé but has been raised by 44mm and given 25%-softer springs and an additional 35%  suspension travel at the front and 25% more at the rear. The front track is 30mm wider, the rear track is extended by 34mm and the wheelbase is 9mm longer. 

The car is clad in rugged plastic exterior trim, which you'll need when you take this stunning supercar off road. It's certainly not the most subtle car in the world, and that naturally aspirated 5.2-litre V10 – Lamborghini’s last – is as sweet as ever.

On its off-road tyres, the Sterrato has a relaxed, easy and absorbent gait to its ride that’s slightly at odds with the sharpness of the 602bhp engine and quick-shifting seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission. 

If it wasn't so loud, the Sterrato would definitely be the Huracán of choice if you were to choose one as a daily driver. Its ride is immaculate, and it's well isolated, despite its uncarpeted floors and unupholstered door cards. 

As for the Sterrato's off-road ability, it feels incredibly natural on loose surfaces. Driving this supercar on dirt and gravel is as easy as driving it on road, and frankly, intoxicating. It's no wonder we voted it 2024's Best Driver's Car.

Best for: all-round ability

McLaren hit spectacular form when it launched the 720S in 2017. It showed that class-leading results could come from an unrelenting focus on stunning performance made usable.

Be in no doubt: this was the best and most accomplished supercar on the planet for some considerable time. Not the most exciting, perhaps; not the most outrageous, either. Just the best.

This car spent years in a league of one for its neat cornering balance and taut body control twinned with a fluent, road-appropriate ride; for its superlative ergonomics and visibility; and for its outstanding tactile control feedback and linear responses, rather than class-typical hyped-up steering.

But if the 720S was the supercar of the 2010s perfected, and sweated for every detail, the 750S is… well, it’s broadly the same thing. Wonderful in all the same ways, but existing in the era of the 800-horsepower, electrified plug-in hybrid supercar, something of a particular prospect with a whiff of antiquatedness about it.

When McLaren revised this car last year, it tweaked the exterior styling. Engineering-wise, it quickened the steering rack a little here, stiffened some engine mountings there, fitted new dampers and wheels, and installed a new braking system. But it updated details, rather than making wholesale changes where they weren’t needed.

And the 750S is still sensational to drive – though perhaps not as technically alluring as its predecessor once was.

Best for: agility

There was a point not that long ago when many felt Maserati was ready to be read the last rites. The Italian brand had become a shadow of its former self, with the lacklustre Ghibli and Quattroporte saloons propped up by the characterful but aging GT models.

Then, out of nowhere, it launched the sensational MC20, a supercar straight out of the top drawer. Rumoured to have started its development as an Alfa Romeo before Maserati took the reins, it ticks all the mid-engined exotic boxes.

For starters, there's a carbonfibre tub, double-wishbone suspension all round and an all-new twin-turbocharged 3.0-litre V6 engine that musters 621bhp. It's good for 0-62mph in 2.9sec and will top out at 202mph, even if it can't match the aural theatrics of a Lamborghini V10.

Yet while the performance is on point in this company, it's the way the MC20 deals with the bits between the straights that marks it out as something a bit special.

It weighs the right side of 1500kg for starters, which in combination with the quick steering delivers the sort of agility usually reserved for fleeing gazelles.

It's perhaps not as communicative as a McLaren or quite as quick-witted as the Ferrari 296 GTB, but it's not far off, and it combines this cornering dynamism with a ride quality that makes it genuinely easy to live with.

Best for: track days

We thought the regular Porsche 911 GT3 was excellent, and then came the new Porsche 911 GT3 RS. 

With 518bhp and 343lb ft, the GT3 RS is a stunning technical achievement with blistering pace that includes sprinting from 0-62mph in 3.2sec. 

That huge swan-neck wing, which measures 6ft wide, provides three times more downforce than the regular GT3. It's the key to the GT3 RS's ferocious performance, along with new damper and differential controls. 

To rein in its pace, the GT3 RS also features exceptional brakes, which allow it to come to a standstill from 70mph in just 38.8m. That almost matches lighter, more aero-focused cars like the Dallara Stradale and the McLaren Senna. 

Make no mistake: this is a five-star car for track-day fans, and almost perfect for everyone else.

Best for: devastating performance

This successor of sorts to the LaFerrari hypercar is the most powerful road car in Ferrari's history – or, at least, it was until the even more powerful XX version came along in 2023, which has now set the quickest lap time for a production car around the firm's Fiorano test track.

It's also a plug-in hybrid that can travel for up to 15 miles on electricity alone. 

The SF90 Stradale is a very different kind of Ferrari, then. It makes use of a heavily reworked version of the 488 Pista's twin-turbocharged 3.9-litre V8 engine, which is complemented by a trio of electric motors that raise the Ferrari's total power output to a staggering 986bhp, allowing for a 0-62mph time of 2.5sec.

Despite the additional weight that the powertrain brings, the car is still just as grippy and devastatingly quick as you would expect a mid-engined Ferrari to be.

That said, the SF90 Stradale demands respect and concentration when exploring the area between grip and slip.