The most underrated cars rarely make the highlight reel. Ask any storage facility which cars turn heads, and the answer writes itself: the Ferraris, the Astons, the cars with queues of admirers whenever the doors go up. Ask our team instead which cars in the bunker they rate most highly, and you get a different list entirely – the ones that earn quiet respect from everyone who works around them without ever stealing the spotlight. We asked five members of the London team to pick one client car each and make the case for it.
What makes a car underrated?
Underrated rarely means unloved. More often it means overlooked – a car doing something exceptionally well without shouting about it, sitting in the shadow of a more famous stablemate, or simply out of fashion at the moment collectors happen to be looking. The five below were picked for exactly that reason: each one rewards a longer look.
Why does the BMW 320d deserve more credit?
[Image Credit: BMW]
Ollie’s pick needs the least justification and the most: why not? Set against a bunker of six- and seven-figure metal, a well-specified 320d might seem an unlikely favourite. But judged purely as an exercise in engineering discipline – light, precise, and built to standards that make a thirty-year service life unremarkable – it holds its own against cars costing many multiples of its price. Sometimes underrated simply means doing the ordinary job brilliantly.
Why does Matt call the 2011 BMW M5 a wolf in sheep's clothing?
[Image credit: BMW]
The 2011 M5 marked a genuine turning point for the model: the first to swap a naturally aspirated engine for a twin-turbocharged V8, wrapped in bodywork that gives almost nothing away. That, for Matt, is exactly the appeal. It reads as a practical four-door saloon and drives like something considerably more serious – a car built to be underestimated, right up until it isn’t.
Why is the Ferrari GTC4 Lusso overlooked among Ferraris?
[Image credit: Ferrari]
Pedro is candid about this one: it isn’t the prettiest car to wear the badge. Four seats, four-wheel drive, and a shooting-brake silhouette make it an unusual proposition in a marque built on two-seat theatre, and that unfamiliarity is part of why it divides opinion. But underneath is a V12 GT car that Pedro rates as one of the best driving and most comfortable Ferraris there is – proof that the badge’s most complete cars aren’t always its most photographed.
Why does James rate the 1994 Lotus Elan S2?
[Image credit: Historics Auctioneers]
Small, turbocharged, and finished in the green that Lotus built its reputation on, the Series 2 update to the front-wheel-drive M100 Elan is James’s choice – and an unusual one, given how often the M100 gets overlooked next to its more famous forebear. Its turbocharged 1.6-litre engine and typically Lotus focus on lightness mean it is tiny by today’s standards: modest power, modest weight, and a driving experience that depends on neither. The result, in James’s words, handles surprisingly well: proof that outright numbers were never really the point.
Why does Alastair rate the Ferrari 456 GT as still flying under the radar?
[Image credit: Ferrari]
Alastair’s pick rarely gets mentioned in the same breath as Ferrari’s more celebrated V12 grand tourers, yet it was the car that reintroduced a genuine four-seat GT to the range after years without one. Elegant Pininfarina lines, a naturally aspirated V12, and a driving experience built for covering ground rather than lapping a circuit – the 456 GT does everything asked of a proper Ferrari GT, quietly and without fuss.
One standard of car care for all cars
