See all Motoring AdviceBarn finds, investment pieces, collectible rarities – we’ve all heard tales of people who have cars which are suddenly worth hundreds of thousands of Euro on the second-hand market, the lucky so-and-sos. But what if you want to buy something now, enjoy it… and then hopefully protect your funds as its value soars as it gets older, rather than depreciating?
Well, it’s not an exact science and there are no guarantees of success, but here are some of our choices for what might, one day, be future automotive classics. But a word of warning: if you want something that will be sought-after in years to come, you’re not going to be able to buy an everyday, run-of-the-mill car – because supply and demand will ensure their values stay low.
To that end, many of the cars on here are either sports or performance vehicles, but we’ve tried to keep it as real as we can by not just choosing supercars (Lamborghinis and Ferraris and so on) or ultra-prestige stuff (Bentleys and Rolls-Royces etc) – although there are still some fairly premium cars on the list.
ALFA ROMEO GIULIA QUADRIFOGLIO - €134,000
If you were born after, ooh, the middle of the 1970s, Alfa Romeo – for all the romance that marque conjures up in the minds of petrolheads – hadn’t made a truly excellent, world-beating car in your lifetime. Until the Giulia Quadrifoglio came along. Powered by a Ferrari-derived 2.9-litre biturbo V6 and blessed with one of the all-time great chassis, the Giulia Q was a supersaloon masterpiece. The best news is that the current model, with a mechanical limited-slip differential, is the finest version yet, although it’s expensive at €134,000. But it will not be replaced by anything remotely similar, it’s vanishingly rare on the second-hand market and it’s a genuine 21st-century icon from the last era of internal combustion; values for it should only go one way.
BMW M2 - €116,755
For a long, long time, the absolute heartland of BMW’s performance game was the M3. It was a brawny, six-cylinder coupe with a manual gearbox option and rear-wheel drive. And then, over the years, things changed, the badge for the coupe became the M4, and the car just got bigger and bigger, and heavier and heavier, and more and more powerful, and then automatic only. Thankfully, the historic M3’s spiritual successor is the M2, which is still rear-wheel drive, still purely internal combustion and still offered with a manual gearbox. Prices for the new one are high, although the first-generation M2 is a decent bargain second-hand and should protect its values well too. And as it’s almost guaranteed that any future successors to the M2, M3 or M4 will be either hybrids or fully electrified, this could be your last chance to get a six-cylinder BMW M Coupe in the classic mould. Grab it before it’s gone.
FORD RANGER RAPTOR - €65,190
There are 4x4s and off-roaders that are good in the rough stuff, and then there’s the Ford Ranger Raptor – a V6-powered pick-up truck that enjoys headbutting the horizon across all terrain. It has trick suspension that permits it to perform jumps without damaging its own undersides and the blistered bodywork gives it the dimensions of an oversized Tonka Truck. It’s not even outrageously expensive to buy, going by the standards of this list, but if it does seem a bit chunky financially, you could look for a used example of the previous-generation Ranger Raptor on the second-hand market – it was just as developed in the chassis and looks departments, although it was fitted with a rather more modest 2.0-litre turbodiesel. Either way, few pickup trucks or SUVs have ever been as dedicated to their craft as the Ranger Raptor is, so it’s got a good chance of being a future classic of its type.
HONDA CIVIC TYPE R - €85,000
As technological tour de forces go, the latest Honda Civic Type R is right up there. It might look like nothing more than a hot hatchback, but the mechanicals beneath the skin are incredibly focused and inspired by Honda’s legendary motorsport know-how. Yet, if you’re spotting a theme here with many of these cars, what makes the latest CTR something with future classic potential is that it is very, very likely to be the last of a line of Civic Type Rs stretching back to the 1990s; it’s not realistic to expect that Honda will develop another petrol-powered hot hatch for 2027 or 2028 onwards. And as Type R Hondas have huge followings in the world of the car enthusiast, then a ‘final-edition’ CTR could be a solid investment now. The issue is, the car is ridiculously expensive for what it is, although on the flipside that means it will be super-rare here – further enhancing its future values.
HYUNDAI IONIQ 5N - €79,995
The car that changed all the rules. EVs are often remarkably fast but they’re rarely exciting to drive. The Hyundai Ioniq 5N, though, is a thoroughly thrilling and semi-affordable performance EV, and as it resets industry parameters then it can be considered as genuine future-classic material. With up to 650hp and a 3.4-second 0-100km/h time, this is a seriously rapid vehicle in a straight line, but it is wonderfully just as talented and gobsmacking in the corners. This is most gratifying, because the Hyundai weighs a not-inconsiderable 2.2 tonnes, yet it never feels heavy or cumbersome. Instead, it’s as good to drive – if not better than – some of the best petrol-powered hot hatches of recent decades, which is a towering achievement from the Korean company. Sure, it’s eighty grand… but as an EV, at least it should be cheap to run while you wait for it to appreciate over the years.
MAZDA MX-5 - €39,890
The Mazda MX-5’s ubiquity is the one thing holding it back from potential money-making classic status – there are so many of them out there that it’s unlikely you’ll ever make your fortune from selling one in 15 to 20 years’ time. But there’s no doubting it’s a stone-cold classic of the modern era. It’s one of best-selling sports cars of all time and offers a back-to-basics set of open-top driving thrills that few rivals can match these days. The current, fourth-generation car is arguably the best of the lot as it’s lightweight like the original, but blessed with up-to-date interior technology and cabin finishing, as well as advanced chassis development. Buy the zingy, rev-happy 1.5 as a manual for the purest MX-5 experience, drive the wheels off it for a glorious decade and more, and you’ll still have a brilliant, desirable machine at the end of it all.
MINI COOPER S 3DR - €44,038
We almost don’t need to extol the virtues of a MINI Cooper, and once again the appeal here is that this is going to be the last petrol-powered version of the fabled Cooper S in history. So, if you can bag one of the 204hp models now as a new car, you can one day revel in it as a ‘last-of-the-line’ example of one of the most famous vehicles that has ever made production. That the Cooper S is also great fun to drive and super-funky to look at only helps sweeten the deal further.
PORSCHE 718 CAYMAN - €101,563
Any Porsche throughout history has the touch of future classic about it, but we think the 718 Cayman is a model that will be even better appreciated in years to come than it is now. At the moment, it must stand in the shadow of the longer-serving 911, but the 718 is the superior layout of car – engine in the middle, rather than slung out the back. Ideally, you want a six-cylinder 718, which means considerably more outlay than the opening €101,563 ticket, but even the regular four-cylinder turbo cars are bound to be worth plenty in the future.
TOYOTA GR YARIS - €85,295
The magic H-word ‘homologation’ always assures any car it is appended to with long-term desirability, and the GR Yaris is possibly the last of the homologation specials. The irony is, the GR Yaris WRC never competed, so the road-going version is a homologation car with no real purpose. Apart from, it’s one of the all-time great performance cars. Stumpy, brutish looks hide a phenomenally talented chassis, all of which is powered by a deeply charismatic 1.5-litre three-cylinder turbocharged engine. Expensive and limited in production numbers, and with an interesting back story to boot, no car on this list has a more clearly assured future-classic status than the GR Yaris.
VOLKSWAGEN GOLF GTI - €57,750
Once more, we’re at the ‘end of the road’ for a legendary line with the current Volkswagen Golf GTI. This is the eighth in a dynasty stretching all the way back to the 1970s, when the German company was said to have popularised the idea of a hot hatchback with the seminal Mk1 Golf GTI. The new one is light years apart from the original, considering its onboard tech and the powerful 2.0-litre turbocharged engine, but the premise of driving thrills and everyday practicality blended into one compact package remains true with the Mk8. It’s still the heavyweight badge in its own family, too, despite the arrival in later years of the more powerful and all-wheel-drive R.