The best supercars – driven, rated and ranked

Best for: Everyday driving

The Artura has a 3.0-litre V6 engine and flux electric drive motor that combine to generate 690bhp, making it capable of 0-62mph in 3.2sec. Which is impressive.

The Artura is a car that feels enhanced by the process of electrification – but not totally reinvented by it.

But the reason this big Mac features at the top of our list is because, if the moods takes you, it could do the office commute, run day-to-day errands and take in trips away.

You would want to, too, because the Artura is so easy to get into and so lovely just to drive ‘normally’. Conversely, when driven on a track that singular usability also runs parallel with a level of performance, handling precision, control feedback and all-round driver engagement that absolutely nothing else can get close to.

Best for: Straight-line speed

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

This is the quickest supercar we’ve ever road-tested, and it’s a measure of the Revuelto’s success that mad speed is only the third most laudable thing about it.

Richard Lane, Deputy road test editor

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

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: 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. 

Benign and adaptable but also wildly quick and expressive, the 296 GTB is spectacular to drive – and the V6 sounds stunning.

Richard Lane, Deputy road test editor

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 is essentially a 'mid-ranking' Ferrari.

Performance is relentlessly, savagely sensational, plus the 298 GTB will 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 is a remarkable supercar and shows that increasing levels of electrification don't necessarily mean diminishing driver rewards.

Best for: Searing hybrid performance

Lamborghini's junior sports car can only be judged as an incredible achievement for Sant’Agata’s team of engineers. 

You will want to extend this engine – the final 1000rpm or so are purely for fireworks value.

Richard Lane, Deputy road test editor

They had to ditch the intoxicating V10 that powered its predecessor, the Huracán, and instead follow in the footsteps of the Revuelto by fitting a plug-in hybrid engine. 

With a twin-turbocharged V8 combined with three electric motors, it makes a staggering 907bhp – that's 88bhp more than the Ferrari 296 GTB. It can therefore hit 60mph in a mere 2.48sec, the same time as the Revuelto, and travel from 0-190mph in 19.5sec, which is an exact match for the 296 GTB. Oh, and the engine will spin to 10,000rpm. 

It is wonderfully agile and fun on track, but its 1905kg kerb weight does hinder its capabilities. That said, it's ergonomically stronger and more luxurious than its predecessor, and it pushes the hybrid supercar genre to new heights.

Best for: Braking power 

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.

McLaren claims 30% of the 720S’s overall component count has been replaced or revised for this car.

Matt Saunders, Road test editor

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 as it does in the era of the 800bhp, 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 made wholesale changes where they weren’t needed.

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

Best for: Agility

Just when you thought the days of the naturally aspirated V12 were numbered, Ferrari delivers the goods with another spellbindingly fast supercar in the form of the 12Cilindri. 

The 12Cilindri duly marries real usability with glorious dynamics. The benchmark.

Richard Lane, Deputy road test editor

And what an engine it is: 819bhp, 500lb ft and a redline that goes all the way to 9500rpm. The theatre it brings to the 12Cilindri is enchanting, and while it lacks the rip-roaring howl of the 812 Superfast, it’s a more usable and exploitable car to drive on the fly. 

You might look at the 12Cilindri’s proportions and feel intimidated, but it handles with the agility of something much lighter. Aided by independent four-wheel steering, it is responsive and precise and rides with an unwavering sense of control and smoothness. 

It might be a super-GT, but at the helm it feels like a supercar – and a sensational one at that.  

Best for: Grand touring

While it might carry a few extra kilos compared with the Ferrari 12Cilindri, the Aston Martin Vanquish is another superfast supercar that brings a brain-out turn of pace without harming its unparalleled grand touring capabilities.

You can’t take the same liberties with the Vanq as you can with the Vantage, but when it does come together on a cross-country charge, there’s little else like it.

Richard Lane, Deputy road test editor

It’s better suited to longer, sweeping curves as opposed to the tighter, narrower B-roads on which its size and weight can feel a little cumbersome. That said, as a brawny cross-continent cruiser, few can match the Vanquish's ability – or indeed its looks. 

Its twin-turbo 5.2-litre V12 is an absolute monster, putting out 824bhp and 738lb ft for a 0-60mph time of 3.3sec. Mid-range punch is off the chart, and yet it remains refined and dignified as an Aston should. 

Inside it's as luxurious as ever, with plush leather seats and lots of tactile switchgear. 

Best for: All-round ability

With greater performance and a wide spectrum of dynamic capabilities, the Vantage has slowly moved from the sports car segment to the supercar realm. The latest generation is a brilliant machine that’s brawny and full of character. 

The 7.0sec needed to reach 100mph puts the Vantage 0.3sec up on the DBS Superleggera, if you can believe it.

Richard Lane, Deputy road test editor

The 4.0-litre AMG-supplied V8 is tuned to 656bhp and 590lb ft, helping it along to a 3.4sec 0-60mph time. The muscular V8 engine can, in certain areas, outperform the DBS Superleggera, and yet new Skyhook dampers from Bilstein have helped broaden the Vantage’s ride and handling package. 

The new dampers have upped torsional stiffness to give the car a more sure-footed feel, and yet still retains old-school front-engine, rear-drive balance. 

Factor in its much-improved cabin technology, luxurious interior and bags of GT appeal, and the Vantage is a brilliant driver’s car that’s likeable and usable.