Can you spot the future classic?

THE debate about future classics has existed in the motoring media for decades, as writers of all colours and creeds would attempt to, effectively, predict the future by spotting future favourites.

Yet these days more cars are being designed, built, and sold as mere appliances. Buyers often ignore driving dynamics and timeless design when choosing a car, focussing more on smartphone connectivity and an endless list of nannying safety features.

It makes selecting a post-millennium list of future classics that bit harder to narrow down. But that won’t stop me from giving it a go, so here are my top picks.

Mitsubishi Evolution X

Here is what’s arguably Mitsubishi’s crowning moment as a car manufacturer, dragged through an incredibly long and monotonous manufacturing cycle from 2007 until just this past March.

For myself and many others, the nine or so years of the Evo 10 have been torture. A brilliant car in 2007 has had to deal with continually evolving rivals over that time, making do with the humble tools it had. Some have crowned it as the poster child of the end of Mitsubishi’s strong focus on performance, as its long-term sparring partner the Subaru Impreza fights on alone.

Its depressing demise will only add to its allure and history years from now, potentially making well-maintained examples a desirable commodity.

Tesla Model S

Many will remember Tesla’s Model S as the first example of an electric car to truly transcend car buffs, tech geeks, and those in the mainstream.

Capable of incredible acceleration, and looking a million bucks next to every other “green” rival, the Model S will also be the car people forever associate with the way apps can reshape the way we look at motoring; the overnight introduction of autopilot functionality being a great example of this.

It’s not particularly cheap, but the number of them in Australia is growing. While I won’t be buying one – classic or not – their role in Tesla’s history, and the history of the electric car, cannot be discounted.

2017 Holden VF Commodore SS / Ford Falcon FG-X XR8

These two cars were the first two to pop into the old think tank, for obvious reasons. Like the Mitsi Evo it’s a case of “end of an era”, and, just like the Evo, they’ve much else to offer.

The Aussie-built Falcon and Commodore are two of the last performance platforms to stick to their guns. Porsche and Honda have broken their own conventions in whacking turbos on their performance platforms, and BMW, Audi and co have drowned their cars in technology.

But the Falcon and Commodore stubbornly held true to the end – something which probably helped seal their demise as they failed to shrink in dimensions and capacity like many of their rivals. In some ways, they remain just as poetically linked to the Australian psyche; in there, true to themselves, until the very end.

Toyota 86

In Toyota’s sea of French vanilla, the 86 stands out as a solitary nugget of pure wackiness.

There are plenty of cheap thrills out there today such as Mazda’s MX-5 and hot hatches galore, but the 86 is the darling of the modification market.

That means original unmolested ones will be desirable rarities in years to come. Try to buy a tidy, original Nissan Silvia S15 or Toyota Supra these days: they’ve become a mission to find cheaply because of the quantity of examples swallowed up by car modifiers, and spat out with Rota wheels, Supercheap Auto pod filters and ludicrous rear wings.

The 86 is the next car of our current crop that will encounter the phenomenon.