KINGS OF THE ROAD

With Scottish staycations and road trips more popular than ever, Neil Lyndon rounds up his favourite cars of 2020, from robust off-roaders to luxury speedsters

Petrolhead Neil Lyndon rounds up his top cars of 2020, from outrageously flashy Bentleys to sleek city cars

A host of digital devices drive this Golf into the third decade of the century

SMALLER FAMILY CARS VOLKSWAGEN GOLF

Price range £23,070 - £29,905

The eighth generation of the hatchback that revolutionised the world is the best ever and categorically the best compact family car money can buy at present. A host of digital devices drive this Golf into the third decade of the century. Two lateral 10” screens make the driver feel like a stock operator watching his shares while dynamic chassis control allows the whole car’s set-up and feel to be altered by fingertip. Might still feel modern in 2030.

PERFORMANCE CARS PORSCHE TAYCAN

Price range £84,189 - £139,648

Fully electric supercar that eclipses Tesla S both for performance and build quality. Accelerates from standstill as fast as an F1 car would have done not so long ago and with comparable power output around 700bhp yet utterly irreproachable for its environmental credentials, this is the Porsche with which to silence potential in-laws into amazed awe.

Accelerates from standstill as fast as an F1 car would have done not so long ago

PICK-UP FORD RANGER

Price from £22,995 plus VAT

From loggers to beach bums, from farmers to city swankers, there’s a version of the Ranger to suit all requirements and tastes, even including a high-performance adaptation in the Raptor. All the comforts of an SUV are combined with the load capacity of a skip and the towing powers of a Clydesdale. This pick-up advances the genre into a new dimension.

4X4 UNDER £30K SKODA KODIAQ

Price range £26,810 - £45,740

Excellent value, good to drive, comfortable, practical, durable, available as a seven-seater – the latest Skoda SUV ticks rows of car-buyer’s boxes. If you can live with owning a car called Skoda, you probably won’t mind this model’s even sillier moniker (apparently derived from the Inuit language though there are said to be fewer roads than trees in Greenland).

Rough and tough yet stylish and sophisticated, regal yet agricultural

4X4 OVER £30K LAND ROVER DEFENDER

Price range £40,330 - £76,325

Long anticipated and now even further delayed by coronavirus, the sixseater replacement for the heroically antiquated original Land Rover from the 1940s is expected to live up to a host of inflated ideals. Rough and tough yet stylish and sophisticated, regal yet agricultural, we expect it to be the best ever Land Rover off-road and a match for Range Rover standards onroad. We should discover before the end of 2020 whether these impossible demands can be fulfilled. The omens look promising.

LARGER FAMILY CARS FORD S-MAX

Price range £31,150 - £42,920

Slimmed, trimmed, tightened and tautened, the stylish new S-Max is a vastly more appealing proposition than its undistinguished, lumbering predecessors. A seven-seat people carrier that drives almost like a proper car, this is a family bus that is as much fun for the driver as it is comfortable for the passengers.

As much fun for the driver as it is comfortable for the passengers

ESTATES BMW 5 SERIES TOURING

Price range £39,680 - £58,580

Load-lugger, luxury conveyance, high-performance road rocket – the

5 Series Touring has always been the all-in-all of cars, especially if you opt for the four-wheel drive version which will deal with most hazards of a Scottish winter. The new model also offers options with fuel consumption nearly 70mpg while its C02 emissions will meet nearly all city limits. Sees off Mercedes and Audi as if they barely come into the picture.

Sees off Mercedes and Audi as if they barely come into the picture

SMALL/CITY CARS RENAULT CLIO

Price range £15,295 - £23,245

The best-selling supermini in Europe and the winner of stacks of awards, this Clio takes on the wonderful Ford Fiesta and brilliant VW Polo in this highly competitive category and puts them firmly in their place. Cleverly designed to be trimmer on the outside and larger inside, it combines big car comforts with small car practicalities. Ignore, if you can, the irritatingly PC television advertising for the Clio, and appreciate the superb quality.

It combines big car comforts with small car practicalities

HYBRID/ELECTRIC TESLA MODEL 3

Price range £43,545 - £56,545

Unquestionably the most important advance in electric cars so far. A real-world range of 250-350 miles – with fast-charging points now widely available – makes the Model 3 usable for most purposes. Excellent dynamics and innovative design make it fun to drive and ride in, though build quality and reliability remain worryingly hit-and-miss.

LUXURY CARS BENTLEY FLYING SPUR

Price range £132,855 - £169,855

Absurd. Indefensible. A grotesque insult to social justice. Outside the ranks of the Premier League and the Spotify top 10, not many people in the UK would have the chutzpah to carry off the ownership of the Flying Spur without blushing. Shame that enjoying this miracle of power, luxury and refinement is reserved for so few. Everybody deserves a day in a Bentley before they die. Nothing on earth is better.