The Best Sports Cars Of The Decade (So Far…)

It’s hard to believe we’re halfway through the 2020s, but time flies when the first half of your decade is dominated by a worldwide pandemic. We’ve come a long way since 2020, and so has the automotive industry as a whole, as the supply lines have recovered and companies have made massive moves toward electrification. It’s the most tumultuous era in automotive history, but automakers have continued to bless us enthusiasts with sports cars we crave and don’t deserve. And Toyota has said it has a plan to keep the GR Supra alive, despite BMW soon discontinuing the Z4 Roadster with which it shares a platform and powertrain.

2025 Porsche 911 GT3

Base Trim Engine

4.0-liter flat-6 gas

Base Trim Transmission

6-Speed Manual

Base Trim Horsepower

502 hp

Base Trim Torque

331 lb-ft

0-60 MPH

3.2 seconds (PDK)

Top Speed

195 mph (Manual)

Base MSRP

$225,000

Expand

As vehicles created for pure enjoyment, sports cars can be very suprisingly practical too, and have always had an outsize influence on automotive culture, despite selling in small numbers. It’s a miracle they’re often made at all and, since 2020, there have been incredible entrants into the segment that span everything from nimble, entry-level weekend cruisers to high-performance track weapons. These are the 10 best sports cars of the decade so far, and we can’t wait to see how the list changes by 2030.

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10

Toyota GR86/Subaru BRZ

Price: $30,000/$32,210

First on the list are the second-generation Toyota/Subaru sports-car twins, and very few cars on this list are more deserving of a place. Our society already has very few sports cars available, but truly affordable sports cars? There is just a handful, and the GR86 and BRZ take up two spots.

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Regardless of which you pick, you receive an attractive, tiny sports car with a naturally aspirated boxer engine sending 228 horsepower to the rear wheels through either a six-speed manual or automatic. While they look the same, both brands took time to ensure that each has its own distinct character and wonderful performance additions have elevated them even further. If you’re thinking about pulling the trigger on either, this is your sign to do it.

9

Toyota GR Supra

Price: Starting At $56,250

It’s crazy to think the GR Supra may be leaving us once again before long, because it only feels like yesterday we spotted the revival of the famous nameplate on the road for the first time. First arriving for the 2020 model year, the model was divisive given the lack of a manual transmission and the fact it was essentially a BMW underneath, but the former was soon rectified, and the latter turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

The B58 under the hood makes a healthy 382 horsepower and, connected to the six-speed manual, it’s a focused and genuinely fun performance car that is worthy of the Supra name. We’d love to see Toyota and BMW give us a final sendoff of the model like the rest of the world is getting, but at this point, we’re just grateful for every new day the Supra is still on sale.

8

Ford Mustang Dark Horse

Price: Starting at $64,380

The seventh generation Mustang is the last V8 muscle car you can buy, and the best performance you’ll find outside the Mustang GTD supercar is in the moody Dark Horse version. This all-new nameplate takes the best parts of the S650 Mustang and makes them better, including coaxing 500 horses out of the Coyote V8 engine, adding a short-ratio limited-slip differential, more bracing, incredible brakes, and MagenRide adaptive dampers.

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Controlled by a six-speed manual (or ten-speed auto if that’s your thing…), it’s the perfect track-focused Mustang right out of the box, and it looks the part too, thanks to exaggerated front and rear fascias, a big wing, unique wheels, and the gorgeous optional Blue Ember Metallic paint. Starting at $64,380, it certainly isn’t cheap, but it provides a sublime American sports-car experience that will put Japanese and European competitors to shame.

7

BMW M2

Price: Starting at $65,500

The M2 has grown up over the years, and despite gaining horsepower and inches, it still offers the purest BMW driving experience you can find. The current generation is the best yet, with a perfectly tuned chassis that will play the calm and composed daily driver one second, and the next second it will transform into a carefully balanced track weapon.

This is thanks to ten different driving modes that transform the driving experience and make the most of the 453 horsepower, twin-turbo inline-six. This makes it the most powerful M2 ever made, and to handle all of it, it had to become more composed. Of course, we miss the rawness of previous M2 models (and the looks), but perhaps the upcoming M2 CS will bring some of its finest nature back.

6

Lotus Emira

Price: Starting at $99,900

The Lotus Emira is a farewell to internal combustion engines for the British brand, and it’s about as fantastic as we could have ever hoped. Perfectly proportioned, it looks aggressive, modern, and agile while retaining the classic Lotus beauty you expect. On top of this, the chassis and suspension have been superbly tuned whether you choose the Touring or Sport setup, but the real star of the show is the steering, which offers the perfect amount of feedback whether you’re driving around town or thrashing around a track.

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Two engines are available, and there have been some interesting developments. The supercharged Toyota-sourced V6 has been around for a while, and it’s always been a great option in Lotus products. It was the one we believed you’d want, thanks to its power and the option of a six-speed manual, but the Mercedes four-cylinder has been unveiled for the US market, and it’s more powerful than previously expected. Lotus claims it will coax even better performance out of the Emira, and we can’t wait to try it out in person.

5

Mercedes-AMG GT Coupe

Price: Starting at $105,900

The Mercedes-AMG GT Coupe has been one of the best new models introduced in the past decade, as it combines the best of Mercedes’ performance with Mercedes’s luxury. The newest generation has recently arrived, and it’s built upon the success of the previous models with upgrades to looks, the addition of more seats, and a revamped interior experience. New powertrains now join the previous 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8, and while we welcome the bonkers PHEV version, we would like to forget about the base four-cylinder option.

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So let’s focus on the V8, which is a carryover from before. It comes in two non-electrified flavors – GT 55 and GT 63 – with the former making 469 hp and the latter making 577 hp. Performance is respectable in both, hitting 60 mph in a little over 3.0 seconds, but the real showstopper is the GT 63 S E Performance, and its absurd 805 hp and 1,047 lb-ft of torque. It’s like bringing a bazooka to a knife fight, but if you want something a little more precise, the GT 63 Pro is on the way to lay down some killer lap times.

4

Chevrolet Corvette Z06

Price: Starting at $112,100

The Chevrolet Corvette Z06 is a revelation. It tests the limits of what a sports car can be, with the most powerful naturally aspirated V8 engine ever fitted to a production car, and the chassis and transmission to make the most of it. 670 horsepower is an exceptional amount, especially when paired with a lightning-quick DCT, and it allows the car to hit 60 mph in just 2.6 seconds on the way to a 195 mph top speed.

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Then, when you consider the car has a mid-engined layout and exotic looks to match, you really can see how Chevrolet has pushed it into supercar territory. Fortunately, the bar for supercars has been raised mightily these past few years, and while the upcoming ZR1 firmly enters that category, the Z06 still sits just below, continuing to make genre-bending performance a little more accessible.

3

Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS/Boxster Spyder RS

Price: Starting At $164,200

The Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS and Boxster Spyder RS take mid-engine precision to new heights. They’re the swansongs of the combustion 718 generation, and thus they have more performance and a higher price tag than ever before. At their heart is the naturally aspirated 4.0-liter flat-six used in the 911 GT3, capable of revving up to 9,000 rpm and powering these models to record-setting numbers.

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Whether you opt for a fixed top or not, the driving experience is equally excellent. Each chassis delivers wonderful feedback at the limit, offering a responsive driving experience that inspires the utmost confidence. It’s the car we always dreamed Porsche would turn the Cayman/Boxster into, and the only way to make it even better is to let Manthey get involved.

2

Aston Martin Vantage

Price: Starting at $194,500

Aston Martin’s return to greatness has been a welcome one. The iconic British brand stumbled there for a few years, but over the past decade, it’s found its footing with the rest of the front-runners, delivering the exceptional designs, driving experiences, and luxury you expect from a marque of this caliber. The Vantage has only gotten better over time, and although it doesn’t offer a brawny V12 like it used to, the new, upgraded Mercedes-AMG V8 is the perfect consolation prize.

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The new unit produces a blistering 665 horsepower and 590 lb-ft of torque, capable of rocketing the sports car to 60 mph in just 3.5 seconds on the way to a 202 mph top speed. An 8-speed automatic is your only option, but this makes daily driving much easier, as you’ll likely want to do, given how striking the Vantage now looks and how much of a better place the interior is to spend some time.

1

Porsche 992 911 GT3/GT3 RS

Price: Starting at $222,500/$241,300

If you ask an auto enthusiast what their dream car is, at least half of the time you’ll hear “the 911 GT3”. It’s practically the default answer, and we don’t blame them, because it’s about as perfect a sports car as there’s ever been. Not as harsh as its RS sibling, but incredibly buttoned up, and ready to be unleashed at a moment’s notice. If you want one car to do it all, this is the one.

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The RS, on the other hand, has a singular focus: demolish lap times. You can easily tell it apart from its GT3 sibling thanks to the extra bits of aero hanging off of it, and every bit of it has been expertly placed to extract as much performance from the 992 generation 911 chassis as possible. On a racetrack, it has no equal. Some supercars and hypercars may outpace it, but nothing feels like the GT3 RS does behind the wheel, and this is why it’s so difficult to get your hands on one. We imagine the refreshed 992.2 GT3 RS is only going to be more popular, so if you even have a dream of getting an allocation, we’d start cozying up to your local dealer ASAP.

Sources: Mercedes-AMG, Porsche, Aston Martin, Chevrolet, Lotus, BMW, Ford, Toyota, Subaru.