Top Cars to Arrive In:

Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe

The one that really says you’ve already arrived. Arguably no car on the road has more presence than the big, drophead Phantom. No car has more self-confident individuality, more conspicuous material quality, comfort or refinement. It lets you enjoy almost everything the Phantom sedan offers, and let’s you be seen enjoying it. Not so much a car, more of a statement, brash, but somehow retaining just a hint of old-money sophistication.

Fiat 500

Trying to recreate an icon doesn’t always work, but in the case of the new generation Fiat 500 it has proved to be a triumph. The compact package looks absolutely superb and the chic and cheeky character is just what the 500 was always about. No wonder they can’t build them fast enough to keep up with spectacular sales demand. Definitely one of the big hits of the year.

MINI Clubman

Another icon with a new lease of life, the Clubman is the Mini estate re-invented. And thanks to the way today’s MINI designers so clearly understand yesterday’s Mini personality, it can only be another car to be seen in. A bit more practical than a MINI sedan, but that’s only half the appeal — the rest is in the pure attitude of imaginative detail designs, and great drivability just like any other member of the growing MINI family.

Mercedes-Benz F700

They describe it as “The Touring Sedan of the Future,” and it could be one of Mercedes’ great leaps. It’s a car that thinks for itself, with PreScan technology that helps its suspension iron out the roughest of roads — but even more important, the F700 introduces Mercedes-Benz’s revolutionary (and potentially brilliant) DiesOtto engine technology that combines the best of petrol and diesel characteristics in one engine. This really could be the future.

Citroen C5 Airscape

It’s a concept for the moment, but according to those who know, it’s very close to production. And if the looks survive in anything like the form they take here, it will be a very elegant way to turn up anywhere at all. Like the Rolls-Royce, it will make the biggest statement with the top down. Best of all, though, when it comes to big car design (an area where the French traditionally struggle), it shows Citroen can still punch way above their weight.

Top Cars to Leave at Home:

Brilliance BS6

We are as certain as anyone that sooner or later, Chinese auto manufacturers will have just as big an impact on the western vehicle market as the Japanese did several decades ago. But the impact the Brilliance has to worry about first is the one in the Euro NCAP safety tests — initial results shows that it has a long way to go to meet the standards we now demand. (new Brilliance BS2 pictured)

Toyota Prius

In certain circles, the Prius is a green icon that can do no wrong; in others there is deep suspicion that it isn’t quite so green or clever as it seems to be – especially when it comes to whole-life issues including building it, running it in the real world, and disposing of it at the end of its life. But the best reason not to arrive in a Prius is simply not to look as smug and holier-than-thou as many of those who do, as a sort of celebrity badge of concern for the planet.

Hummer

If you really need to be told why the Hummer is not an especially fluffy way to arrive, you may already not be living on the same planet as the rest of us. Indisputably it has its strengths, but they are surely better employed by the military in extreme terrain than the urban warrior making the big arrival at the nightclub door. The “civilian” H2 pretends to be a bit more street-friendly than the fighting H1, but really it’s all a matter of definition. However it’s still a monster.

Citroen C.Cactus

The flip-side of the Citroen design coin, the point where quirky becomes bizarre, and different becomes disturbing. It looks like the kind of car contestants build in Scrapheap Challenge-type TV programs, or the car Dr. Frankenstein might have made if he’d been interested in automobile body parts rather than human ones. Maybe we’re doing it an injustice by not seeing the beauty behind the mask, but it’s just hard to get beyond the ugliness.

Segway

The Segway is that clever two-wheel, one axle scooter that’s powered by electricity, stabilised by gyroscopes, and controlled by the handlebars on top of the long column going down to the little platform that you stand on. They’re very fashionable for swishing around exhibition halls and race circuit paddocks, but it’s hard to figure out why GM built space for two of them under the tail of their otherwise very sensible and handsome Opel Flextreme concept. Would you really park the Flextreme and arrive on one of these? No, maybe not. . .