Ariel Atom, Ford GT, Bugatti Veyron, Lamborghini Gallardo, VW Golf R32

Supercars, pocket rockets and the outright weird are among the machines that have earned a Clarkson five-star rating.

Ford GT. You can’t run a car such as this without a few problems, but this car has soul.

Supercars, pocket rockets and the outright weird are among the machines from 2004 to 2006 that have earned a Clarkson five-star rating.

Ariel Atom 2,1998cc, 4 cylinders: What we have here is the world’s first exoskeletal car. A sort of beetle-cum-Pompidou Centre. From the driver’s seat you can see the steering system, the brakes, the inside of the wheels and the double-wishbone suspension. What you cannot see are the wasps and the bees, until you smash into them at 150km/h. After only a few minutes my normally florid complexion had begun to resemble Florida. And you know what? I didn’t care because this car — if you can call it that — is motoring nirvana. Because there is no bodywork it weighs less than 500kg, which means you’re getting 328kW per tonne, more than you get from a Lamborghini Murcielago. Obviously it has lousy aerodynamics, so the top speed is about 215km/h, but acceleration in this is mind-boggling: 0-100km/h, for instance, in just 3.5 seconds. I think the best thing about this car, though, is the way it looks. And I doubt you’d ever be bored with what it can do. - September 19, 2004.

Ford GT, 5409cc, V8, supercharged: Thirty-five years ago I promised myself that one day I’d own a Ford GT40. But 25 years ago my dreams were dashed as I grew too tall to fit inside. Happily, in 2002 Ford announced it would build a modern-day version of the old racer. It would, the company said, cost less than £100,000 and do more than 320km/h. Ford also said it would be much bigger than the original, so people like me would be able to drive it. And so, two years ago, having tested a prototype in America, I placed an order for one of the 28 coming to Britain. When it arrived at my house it looked gorgeous — a mass of bulging muscle struggling to contain that 5.4-litre supercharged heart. It doesn’t look like a GT40 but it looks how a GT40 looks in your head. Which is why, on its first run, to London, it was like a blue and white Pied Piper, trailing a stream of ratty hatches in its wake. Everyone was taking pictures, waving, giving me the thumbs-up. Never, not once in my 15 years of road-testing cars, had anything drawn such a crowd. Of course, you can’t run a car such as this without a few problems rearing their heads from time to time. But this car has soul. - July 3, 2005

Volkswagen Golf R32, 3200cc, V6: Why has this Golf got a 186kW V6 engine? Why does it go from 0-100km/h in 6.5 seconds? Why, if Volkswagen is so bothered about the world, does it keep on going all the way to 250km/h. Why? Because it’s great, that’s why. Apart from a bit of jewellery at the front and some blue brake callipers it looks like a normal Golf. You really have to stare at it for quite some time to notice it’s riding a little lower than usual and that the tyres are suspiciously wide. It’s much the same story on the inside. The chunky, flat-bottomed steering wheel hints at something that really doesn’t seem to be there. It just feels Golf-ish. And it keeps on feeling Golf-ish when you turn the key and set off. The ride is comfortable, there’s no unnecessary noise and everyone has lots of space. Then you put your foot down and suddenly the world starts to go backwards. Not harshly or sportily. It’s not like the GTI, this. It’s a big, refined power, more like gravity than internal combustion. It is exceptional value for money. It’s more than that, in fact. It’s every car you could ever reasonably need. Fast, well made, practical, surprisingly economical and, above all, discreet. Nobody’s ever going to mistake you for a footballer. We don’t know what the future holds, so we can’t plan for it. We only know what’s in the here and now, and this Golf R32 is as good as it gets. - November 20, 2005

Bugatti Veyron 16.4, 7993cc, 16 cylinders in a W: The Bugatti Veyron can do 408km/h. And that’s just mad. In straight and level flight this car is nearly as fast as a Hawker Hurricane. The McLaren F1 could top 385km/h, but at that speed it was pretty much out of control. And anyway it really isn’t in the same league as the Bugatti. The Bugatti is way, way faster than anything else the roads have seen. From behind the wheel of a Veyron, France is the size of a small coconut. I cannot tell you how fast I crossed it the other day. You simply wouldn’t believe me. I also cannot tell you how good this car is. I don’t have the vocabulary. I just end up stammering and dribbling and talking wide-eyed nonsense. This car cannot be judged in the same way as we judge other cars. It meets drive-by noise and emissions regulations and it can be driven by someone whose only qualification is an ability to reverse round corners and do an emergency stop. So technically it is a car. And yet it just isn’t. Other cars are small guesthouses on the front at Brighton and the Bugatti is the Burj Al Arab. It makes even the Ferrari Enzo and the Porsche Carrera GT feel slow and pointless. - November 27, 2005

Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder, 4961cc, V10: In the whole of human history it has been impossible to buy a Lamborghini unless you are Rod Stewart. They’ve always been just too silly, strutting around in their leopard-skin underpants, asking all and sundry if we thought they were sexy. But then, one sad day a few years ago, Lamborghini was bought by Audi. All of a sudden the Lambo boys were coming to work with plans to make a car that had space rockets and torpedo tubes, only to find their fierce new headmaster was saying: “No, boys. No more flying before you can walk. You can’t fit gamma-ray rear lights until you’ve made the clutch work properly.” The result was the Gallardo. It looked like a Lamborghini with all the mad bits sanded off. But it went like no Lamborghini before. Plainly the fierce new headmaster was pleased because now he’s let his boys go a bit mad again, cutting the Gallardo’s roof off, squeezing a bit more power from the engine, and fitting orange seats. And I won’t beat about the bush. It’s my new favourite supercar. I’ll tell you why. Because it is so pretty. And because when you go above 3500rpm it makes a noise like a punctured sumo wrestler. And because you sit so far forwards, which makes it feel like you’re on the nose of some giant, snarling power-crazed animal. For the first time, then, you can buy a Lamborghini. And I think I might. - August 20, 2006