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We all know the way it goes, all too nicely. You’re scrolling via automobile opinions at 2 AM, dreaming about that excellent weekend machine whereas your smart sedan sits within the driveway, staring into your window. The excellent news? Enjoyable automobiles aren’t extinct: they’re simply hiding between the 47 completely different SUV variants clogging up supplier heaps lately.
After diving deep into street checks, monitor occasions, and manner too many YouTube movies of individuals arguing about rev-hang, I’ve discovered 5 automobiles that show driving pleasure isn’t useless in 2025. These aren’t the quickest automobiles cash can purchase (your Tesla Mannequin S Plaid can hold its bragging rights), however they’re those that’ll make you’re taking the great distance residence. Each. Single. Time.
Toyota GR86 (2022-Current)
Beginning Value: Round $30,000
Engine: 2.4L naturally aspirated flat-four
Energy: 228 hp / 184 lb-ft
0-60: 5.8 seconds (handbook)
Weight: 2,811 lbs
The GR86 is what occurs when Toyota remembers it constructed the AE86 and decides to channel that spirit with out the rust and questionable electrical techniques. Nostalgia performs a component, positive, nevertheless it’s a real sports activities automobile that occurs to price lower than your neighbor’s loaded Camry.
That naturally aspirated 2.4-liter boxer engine may not win any dyno contests, nevertheless it’s bought one thing most trendy motors lack: character. It likes to rev, makes all the fitting noises, and responds to your throttle inputs like an enthusiastic golden retriever. No turbo lag, no ready for increase, simply pure, linear energy supply that builds superbly to its 7,000 RPM redline.
The actual magic occurs within the corners. With 53% of its weight over the entrance wheels and 47% over the rear, the GR86 feels balanced like a gymnast on espresso. The Torsen limited-slip differential means you possibly can truly use that rear-wheel-drive format with out instantly changing into a YouTube cautionary story. Michelin Primacy HP tires present simply sufficient grip to be enjoyable with out being so sticky that you simply want a race monitor to discover the boundaries.
The six-speed handbook is the star of the present: brief throws, excellent gate spacing, and a clutch that’s mild sufficient for site visitors however partaking sufficient for heel-toe downshifts. Toyota clearly frolicked ensuring this transmission doesn’t really feel like stirring pudding with a ship paddle, not like sure German opponents we gained’t identify (however rhymes with “Shmolkswagen”).
Mazda MX-5 Miata (ND, 2016-Current, Refreshed 2025)
Beginning Value: Mid-$30,000s
Engine: 2.0L naturally aspirated four-cylinder
Energy: 181 hp / 151 lb-ft
0-60: 5.7 seconds (handbook)
Weight: 2,341 lbs
I’m not saying this as a result of I’ve a Miata. I’m saying this as a result of it’s true: Miata is all the time the reply. After almost 35 years and 4 generations, Mazda has refined the roadster components to near-perfection. The newest ND technology, refreshed for 2025, proves that typically one of the best reply to “What automobile ought to I purchase?” continues to be “Miata.”
At 2,341 kilos, the Miata weighs lower than most bikes with sidecars. This isn’t simply lightness for lightness’ sake – each pound saved interprets on to steering response, braking really feel, and that magical sensation of the automobile rotating round you somewhat than dragging you alongside for the journey. The facility-to-weight ratio may not impress your Tesla-owning brother-in-law, nevertheless it’s completely calibrated for real-world enjoyable.
The two.0-liter Skyactiv-G engine produces 181 horsepower, which sounds modest till you keep in mind that the unique Miata made do with 116 horsepower and nonetheless managed to be legendary. This motor likes to rev, pulls cleanly from 2,000 RPM, and produces a surprisingly candy exhaust notice that gained’t wake the neighbors at 6 AM. Nicely, don’t wake them up offended, anyway.
Mazda’s six-speed handbook transmission deserves its personal museum exhibit. The throws are brief sufficient to shift with simply your fingertips, the gates are completely outlined, and the clutch engagement level is strictly the place your muscle reminiscence expects it to be. It’s the type of transmission that makes you downshift only for the enjoyment of listening to the rev-match, even if you don’t must decelerate.
Honda Civic Sort R (2023-Current, FL5)
Beginning Value: Slightly below $45,000
Engine: 2.0L turbocharged four-cylinder
Energy: 315 hp / 310 lb-ft
0-60: 5.3 seconds (handbook solely)
Weight: 3,125 lbs
The Civic Sort R is what occurs when Honda’s engineers get informed to construct the last word scorching hatch and no one stops them from going fully overboard. The FL5 technology (that’s automobile nerd converse for “the present one”) represents Honda at its most unhinged, and we’re completely right here for it.
That turbocharged K20C1 engine is a masterpiece of recent engineering wrapped in a package deal that appears prefer it escaped from a online game. Making 315 horsepower from simply 2.0 liters, it’s extra power-dense than engines twice its dimension. The turbo kicks in early and pulls exhausting all the way in which to its 7,000 RPM redline, delivering the type of pressing acceleration that makes merging onto highways genuinely entertaining.
However right here’s the place Honda actually earned their hold: they made this monster front-wheel-drive automobile deal with prefer it defies physics. The helical limited-slip differential truly works ( you, each different FWD efficiency automobile), the adaptive dampers hold physique roll in test, and the Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires present grip ranges that border on supernatural. Torque steer? What torque steer? Honda’s engineers apparently solved an issue that’s plagued scorching hatches for the reason that starting of time.
The six-speed handbook is obligatory – Honda doesn’t even supply an computerized, which is both refreshingly old-school or fully insane relying in your perspective. The shifter motion is crisp, the clutch is completely weighted, and the rev-match system will be turned off if you wish to showcase your heel-toe expertise (or turned on if you’re drained and simply need the automobile to sound good).
Porsche 718 Cayman GTS 4.0 (2021-Current)
Beginning Value: Mid-$90,000s
Engine: 4.0L naturally aspirated flat-six
Energy: 394 hp / 309 lb-ft
0-60: 4.3 seconds (handbook) / 3.8 seconds (PDK)
Weight: 3,131 lbs
Let’s tackle the elephant within the room: ninety grand for a Porsche is definitely cheap lately, which says extra about Porsche pricing than about my grasp on actuality. However right here’s the factor: the 718 Cayman GTS 4.0 may be one of the best sports activities automobile Porsche makes, full cease. Sure, even higher than the 911, and sure, I’m ready to defend that assertion.
The 4.0-liter naturally aspirated flat-six is lifted straight from the 911 GT3, simply barely detuned so the Cayman doesn’t fully embarrass its dearer sibling. This engine is a murals that occurs to make 394 horsepower and has one of the vital intoxicating soundtracks within the automotive world. It revs to 7,800 RPM prefer it’s making an attempt to realize orbit, and the throttle response is so rapid you’d suppose it was telepathically linked to your proper foot.
The handbook transmission deserves particular point out. Porsche spent severe cash growing a seven-speed handbook (sure, seven speeds, as a result of apparently six wasn’t sufficient) that shifts with the precision of a bolt-action rifle. Every gear change feels mechanical and satisfying in a manner that makes you wish to shift only for the enjoyment of it. The clutch is completely weighted, the gates are superbly outlined, and rev-matching occurs so easily you’ll suppose you’re higher at driving than you truly are.
Sure, $90,000 is severe cash. However think about this: it’s the value of a loaded pickup truck lately, besides this truck occurs to be one of many best driver’s automobiles ever made and can most likely recognize in worth whereas that F-150 depreciates sooner than your religion in humanity.
BMW M2 (G87, 2025)
Beginning Value: Slightly below $65,000
Engine: 3.0L twin-turbo inline-six (S58)
Energy: 473 hp / 406 lb-ft
0-60: 4.1 seconds (handbook) / 3.9 seconds (computerized)
Weight: 3,814 lbs
The brand new M2 is BMW’s try and show they haven’t fully misplaced the plot of their quest to make each automobile appear to be it’s perpetually stunned. Spoiler alert: they succeeded, and the G87 M2 may be essentially the most compelling M automobile within the present lineup.
Beneath the hood lives the S58 engine – the identical twin-turbo 3.0-liter inline-six that powers the M3 and M4, besides right here it makes 473 horsepower as a substitute of 503. BMW claims this “detuning” maintains hierarchy of their lineup, however let’s be trustworthy: 473 horsepower in a automobile this dimension is like bringing a bazooka to a pillow combat. The torque curve is flatter than a pancake, delivering 406 lb-ft from simply 2,650 RPM and holding it till 6,130 RPM. Translation: it pulls like a freight practice from actually wherever within the rev vary.
The six-speed handbook transmission (sure, BMW nonetheless provides three pedals!) options auto-blip on downshifts that’s so easy your passengers will suppose you’ve been training at Skip Barber racing college. The clutch is surprisingly mild for a automobile making this a lot energy, although the lengthy throws take some getting used to when you’re coming from a Miata or BRZ.
At $65,000, the M2 slots completely between “attainable dream” and “divorce papers.” It’s costly sufficient to really feel particular however not so dear that you simply’ll want to clarify to your partner why you’re consuming generic cereal for the subsequent 5 years. Plus, BMW’s guarantee covers the inevitable “spirited driving” classes, which is greater than you possibly can say for that changed WRX you had in faculty.
Enjoyable Isn’t Lifeless, It’s Simply Extra Costly
These automobiles show that driving enthusiasm isn’t simply surviving in our electrical, autonomous future: it’s thriving. The GR86 and Miata remind us that light-weight simplicity by no means goes out of favor, whereas the Civic Sort R reveals that practicality and efficiency can completely coexist (who knew?). The Porsche brings unique automobile thrills with on a regular basis usability, and the BMW M2 delivers trendy muscle with simply sufficient old-school appeal to maintain issues attention-grabbing.
Certain, they’re all dearer than automobiles was once, however then once more, so is all the pieces else. At the least these will make you smile in your manner to purchase $6 espresso and $4 gasoline. And in a world stuffed with beige crossovers and automobiles that drive themselves, isn’t a real grin price paying for?
The very best half? Each considered one of these automobiles will educate you one thing about driving, whether or not it’s trail-braking into corners, managing energy supply, or just remembering why you fell in love with automobiles within the first place. These automobiles are remedy classes with horsepower, and doubtless cheaper than precise remedy in the long term.
