1 FERRARI 458 ITALIA
On sale in May for £170,000, first reports from those who’ve driven it have only added to the allure of gorgeous Enzostyle Pininfarina bodywork. Lighter and more powerful than the 430 coupé it replaces, the 458’s naturally aspirated 4.5-litre V8 yields a shattering 562 horsepower and revs to a ludicrous 9,000rpm. I love the sci-fi details: two air ducts in the front that change shape to reduce drag, controls set into the steering wheel, LCD screens instead of gauges. McLaren’s new MP4-12C supercar is its only real competition this year and it’ll have to be stupidly good to beat this. I hope to drive both very soon – and at least one is going on my shopping list. Sorry, missus.
2 PEUGEOT RC-Z
Constant digs from the Top Gear boys and a run of good form by Citroen and Renault might have had Peugeot feeling like the ugly sister, but winning Le Mans for the first time since 1993 seems to have given them a massive shot in the arm. The 'SR1' supercar concept by new design chief Gilles Vidal is amazing, but I can't wait to drive this new RC-Z sports coupé, a curvaceous French take on the Audi TT that - at least in its most powerful, 200-horsepower guise - should be the most exciting Pug for decades. It may just be a 308 in fancy clothes, but the wide stance, low centre of gravity and sports seats mark a definite shift back towards fun and aggression for the French firm. It's out in May from around £20,000.
3 FORD FOCUS
It seems only last week I reviewed the current Focus (in fact it was last month - a blistering RS variant) but the year end will see a whole new model, the Mark 3, from about £17,000. Presented as a 'world car', to be sold unchanged in every country, the one seen at January's Detroit Motor Show had a new 2.0-litre direct-injection engine and five doors, but there'll be more versions of this than probably any Ford before, from ECOnetic diesels to plug-in electrics and who knows what else. Anyone after a car near Christmas will want a look at this.
4 NISSAN JUKE
It won't look exactly like the picture below - that's the Qazana concept on which it's based - but when the Juke hits showrooms in October (from around £11,000), this little brother to the Qashqai will give the new Focus a better run for its money than anything else released this year. As I write, not a great deal is known about it - the official launch is this week. But the compact crossover will probably come in 2WD and 4WD versions and it will definitely have the flared wheel arches and weird bonnet-mounted light slits you see below. More importantly, it will be built at the Nissan plant in Sunderland - keeping plenty of Mackems gainfully employed.
5 HONDA CR-Z
Sadly not being built in Honda's Swindon factory (but in Japan) is the new CR-Z 'sports hybrid'. Until now I've grudgingly accepted hybrids on the basis that they'll end up being the saviour of the car, like the car was the saviour of the horse: when the oil's nearly run out, we'll use them to get around while our expensive petrol-burners wait in stables to be taken out for track-day fun. But the CR-Z wants to overturn that assumption by pitching itself as a nimble 1.5-litre sports coupé; that just happens to have a backup electric motor stretching its mpg to near 60. It's a six-speed manual, which bodes well, and due to be launched in June it should cost around £18,000. I'll test-drive it soon.
6 ROLLS-ROYCE GHOST
This is a great year for British cars, from the McLaren to the two Astons to Bentley’s new Mulsanne flagship. But nothing says ‘British’ quite like Rolls-Royce, and this is the best-looking Roller seen in years. Smaller, faster and – on sale next month at a trifling £195,000 – cheaper than the Phantom, the Ghost shares some bits with German parent-company BMW’s 7-series, but who cares when its 6.6-litre twin-turbo V12 can grind out the torque to fling its 2.4-tonnes from 0-60 in 4.7 seconds, all in total silence (from the inside) and of course with that classic Rolls-Royce glide? This could instantly become the best luxury car on the market.
7 CITROEN DS3
Having seen the success of BMW’s reborn Mini and the Fiat 500, Citroën have now decided to resurrect their very own design classic, the DS. Except that what they’ve come up with looks less like the boat-like, long-nosed Sixties original than… well, a Mini. And you know what? I actually love it. The toy-like rounded edges, big headlights and distinctive ‘floating’ roofline (the B-pillar stops halfway up the window) all help to give it plenty of cute appeal, while the air vents add some aggro. OK, it’s got the same uninspiring engine range as the C3 on which it’s based, it should do a lot to brighten up our streets. It comes out tomorrow, with prices starting at just under £12,000.
8 BMW 5-SERIES
We’re only five weeks away from the new 5-series (on sale from about £27,000) and no one’s too overexcited about it – but that’ll be fine by BMW, who’ve moved away from their controversial ‘flame surfacing’ towards conservative designs and an emphasis on technology. In those terms, the new 5 is a slam-dunk: it gets cutting-edge kit from the bigger 7-series like ‘black panel’ readouts, regenerative braking, engine stop/start and optional park assist. This more intelligent, more e fficient motor sort of sums up where cars are at in 2010.
9 JAGUAR XJ
Jaguars have come on in leaps and bounds over the last few models, and I’m really looking forward to this ‘executive sports saloon’. It’s another brilliant Ian Callum design, and from the 3-litre V6 to
Jag’s supercharged 5-litre V8, the whole range will be even nimbler than they look thanks to an aluminium structure, active di fferential and variable damping. Inside are the glowing displays we saw in the XF and the magic ‘dualview’ screen from the Range Rover. It’s already in showrooms with prices starting at £52,000.
10 MERCEDES E-CLASS ESTATE
This one’s actually already on sale (from about £30,000) but I’ve included it because a new E-class estate is the standard to which other estate cars aspire. They’ll have to go some to match the mammoth 1,950 litres of load space, the smooth ride from the self-levelling suspension, the mileage from the 2.2-litre diesel and the high-tech standard features like drowsiness detection. Fully specced these can be very pricey but me being me I’ll want to test the £74,000 E63 AMG version that comes out in March.
