I suppose we should firm up what a perfect car is before attempting to determine what cars come closest to achieving perfection, but I’ll leave the firmification process entirely to you. Does the perfect car balance comfort, power, and handling in equal and high measure? Or does it embody perfection in design and proportion, with other considerations scoring lower? Or is the perfect car the one best-built with precision tolerances and clever engineering to perform impeccably and reliably?
Probably all of the above, with different amounts of each ingredient, and I look forward to reading your criteria and most-perfect selections in the comments. As for me, my choice is a car that I suspect few would choose as the “perfect car” (spoiler alert: it’s the one in the topshot), but hear me out.
Spacer
My Dad was a big Beetle guy, and regularly extolled what he liked about them: they were cheap to purchase and operate, mechanically simple, and thus easy to fix and maintain. “There’s no cooling system to worry about, and you can set the points by the side of the road with a matchbook cover,” he would say. I don’t recall Dad ever actually performing the matchbook trick in the driveway or garage let alone by the side of the road, but I trust that it could be done. My Dad saw the Beetle was the platonic ideal of a car as basic transportation, and that vision stuck with me as well.
Certainly, many – most, even – cars could handily outperform the Beetle even when new examples were rolling off VW assembly lines, and today, a Beetle of any vintage is positively bronze-age compared to the technological miracles we take for granted as we go along our merry ways. But in it’s own way, to me, the Beetle is still very much a perfect car.
Top graphic image: DepositPhotos.com
2020 BMW 340i touring
2004 Forester XT – Sleeper, Good in snow, lots of space… 5.3 Seconds to 60
10-15 years old, near mint condition, private local seller, asking 1/4 or less of OPP, under 75k miles., best year of model (do research,know what to look for).
MO
Honda Fit/Jazz (Gen1)
I will also accept the Honda Element.
No explanations required.
The Element is an incredible piece of machinery.
My pick is the Ford Ranger Super Duty. Strong enough for hard work and nimble.
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No one said Miata yet? Wow!
E39 M5. In Lemans Blue with a Caramel interior, of course.
All cars are a compromise. Durability vs efficiency, and efficiency can be taken as power of economy which are themselves at cross purposes. No car is more efficient than a race car but in the words of Colin Chapman the perfect race car falls apart as it crosses the finish line. Good looks and comfort engament etc. can conflict.
I’m kind of fond of Mercedes Benz W123s but I’d also be happy with a Lamborghini Espada.
Lotus 7s, Unimogs, and Checker Cabs were all perfect for their purpose.
The Toyota T-100 was, in my opinion, the best vehicle ever made. It was rugged, practical, comfortable, spacious, easy to work on, fun, and above all else: gorgeous. It had clean lines, excellent proportions and a face that looked like a truck and not like an angry fish.
Look upon the Toyota T-100, and weep at what they’ve taken from you.
Volvo wagons back in the brick-on-wheels era (200/700/900).
Odd choice I know, but Porsche 911.
Perhaps not as much now as it once was, but it was probably the best all-around attempt (that mostly succeeded) at offering near supercar performance in an everyday package you can live with. That’s the (original) reason why you’d see a ton on the road.
Even its liabilities speak to that – the unusual engine placement was done to help it be able to operate on snowy roads.
There is no substitute.
The cheaper something is the more it can get away with. Or something that owns it’s utilitarian roots. Any generation of jimney or Daihatsu rocky might be at that intersection. Just about any kei truck and vans too. They do what you ask for a low price.
Something with too much tech might be close to perfect at the time for won’t last as tech develops. Gen 2 Prius is up there but so many people wish it had a bigger battery with charging now they wish it had a different chem battery. So many bev have been described as best or perfect only to be not to be a few years later.
I could see something like a diesel excursion be considered perfect because there isn’t anything else like it. It does what it does well and no one has bothered to challenge it.