BRITAIN'’S BEST _ AFFORDABLE DRIVER’S CAR

Welcome to Junior Handling Day' 2022, where this year we're celebrating not the latest everyman heroes but the greatest of the past decade.

- Richard Lane

Just how much joy is it possible to squeeze into one Welsh lay-by? I’m not talking about acute, concentrated joy, because if that were the case, you would simply park a Caterham Seven in there, dust off your hands and say this much”. I’m talking about gross joy joy cumulatively experienced by as many people as possible as frequently as possible. Looking down from the vantage point of Luc Lacey’s camera lens, I think we might have the answer.

Our annual contest to identify the finest sub-£40,000 performance car has taken an unexpected turn this year, mainly because the car to beat couldn’t make it. Rather than host an event hollowed by the Toyota GR86’s absence, we decided to put on a past masters showdown the best of the best. This involved making a list of every fabled winner of Britain’s Best Affordable Driver’s Car from the past decade, followed by the difficult task of whittling it down to five standout combatants.

 And what combatants they are. The Ferraris and Porsches that invade Anglesey for our senior Best Driver’s Car shootout may deliver amore powerful hit of adrenaline, but they’re bought in the hundreds, ifnot the tens. Few get to know their charms and fewer still have the constitution to drive them often. In the Ford Fiesta ST, Honda Civic Type R, Mazda MX-5, Toyota GR Yaris and Toyota GT86, we have five performance cars that sell in the thousands, if not the tens of thousands, and are driven daily.

Their attainability and usability make them the very lifeblood of our passion for performance cars. They’re just so important, and the winner of today’s test can therefore be considered both legend and icon.