World Champs at football & cars, here’s our top 10 German cars!

Congratulations to Germany on winning the 2014 World Cup, and as tribute here’s the top ten best ever German cars

By Shahzad Sheikh

Top 10 best German cars ever

Germany just claimed its fourth football World Cup, so well done and congratulations to them. But we don’t know much about football here at MME. We do however know about cars. And we do recognise that it’s not just football the Germans are rather good at, but cars too.

So with that in mind, I thought I’d pay tribute to the new champs by doing a bit of fantasy shopping of my favourite ever German cars. Here’s my personal Top Ten.

BMW Art Car Book competition

1. BMW M1

When it comes to good ideas, this was quite possibly the goodest of all when it came to cars. Italians know how to style beautiful cars, but BMW have got the engineering expertise. A failed collaboration between BeeEm and Lamborghini nonetheless gave birth to the only mid-engine mass-produced BMW – the sensational M1. It was styled by Giorgetto Giugiaro (Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint, Alfasud, Lotus Esprit, DMC DeLorean and Golf Mk1).

To my eyes it’s low, sleek and spectacular, yet still very much a BMW. It was powered by a 3.5-litre silky-sweet straight six and weighing only 1300kg the 270bhp was good for 260kph. Only 453 were built (20 of which were race cars) between 1978-81 and they’re highly sought after and collectible now.

BMW E30 M3

2. BMW E30 M3

To many, and me, this remains the ultimate M3 or M-car even. Based on the 1986 BMW E30 3-series, road-going M3s put out 195bhp and the Evolution version amped it up to 220bhp with later versions managing as much as 240. But it was all about the drive, the handling and the accessibility that cemented this car’s iconic status. Good ones are hard to come by, as those that own them don’t let them go, but bankable if you find one.

Audi Ur Quattro

3. Audi Ur Quattro

The gorgeous Michele Mouton nearly winning the 1982 World Rally Championship (she was robbed I tell ya!) in an Audi Ur Quattro. Need I say more? Yes, I’d better actually, because this Audi did more than nearly make a French woman the first female WRC champion, it revolutionised rallying and changed gravel-bashing’s face forever with its trademark quattro four-wheel drive leaving rivals scrambling in confusion. The road car was brutishly handsome and fast with grip beyond anything else in the segment. Highly sought-after and well worth the investment.

Mercedes 560 SEC

4. Mercedes 560SEC

The long-running W126 (saloons 1979-1993, coupe 1981-1991) deserved its longevity, because it was quite simply the best Mercedes S-Class there has ever been – well at least I think so. Growing up in Saudi in the 80s, it was the must-have premium car. I admired and respected it, but did not necessarily lust after it. Until that is, the 560 SEC arrived in 1985 with more luxury than a posh palace, more gadgets than the Space Shuttle, and more power than the superpowers combined… well actually it was only 275bhp, but at the time, that was a LOT, plus it was simply cool.

1976-1983 Volkswagen Golf GTI MkI

5. Volkswagen Golf GTI Mk1

To do the Beetle once was amazing enough for any manufacturer to rest forever on its best-selling laurels, but to do it again with the Golf was phenomenal. But this time Volkswagen thought it would chuck in a sporty edition and almost by accident created an enduring legend that arguably dawned the era of the ‘hot hatch’. It was one of the first small cars to get fuel injection – remember when ‘injection’ was such a big deal? The 1.8-litre engine produced about 110bhp giving the practical little box a 0-100kph time of just over 9 seconds – hey don’t mock, it could beat the pants off most rivals, and corner like nothing else.

Porsche 964

6. Porsche 911

It is the archetypal sportscar – even though it’s all wrong. Yes, yes, engine slung way over the back, this repurposed Beetle should have been laughed off the pricelists as soon as it was launched in 1963. Instead it is an enduring legend of the automotive industry still going strong at 50, still with an engine in the ‘wrong’ place, still defying the laws of physics, and still an evocative drivers car that challenges the boldest of wheelmen to bring it if you’re hard enough! I’d take any example upto the 964 series – for me the last real and correct-looking 911.

Mercedes 300SL Gullwing

7. Mercedes 300SL Gullwing

Utterly gorgeous, 1400 were made in coupe guise with the spectacular ‘gull-wing’ doors that meant every kid with a model could pretend the Mercedes 300SL was capable of flight the moment it opened its doors. These are worth a fortune now, and rightly so. Built between 1954-63 it was the first to offer mass-produced fuel-injection, was the world’s fastest car at the time thanks 220bhp from its 3.0-litre straight six, hitting 260kph. It was essentially a tarted-up race car, and the gull-wing doors were not a gimmick, but necessary for a decent opening as the tubular chassis passed through what would have been the lower part of a standard door.

BMW M635CSI

8. BMW M635CSI

Built between 1976-89 this shark-nosed sleek and sexy beast defined BMW for me – thrusting, purposeful, elegant, classy, cool. I almost bought one back in the late 90s but common rust issues scared me off (I’d just lost a Toyota Supra to rust and the wound was still raw!). The 635CSi of 78 offered more power with 218bhp and the numbers just rolled off the tongue. It’s the one to have. That’s if you can’t get the M635CSi – now that is the boss with 280bhp and a (then-rare) 5-speed manual! It got the M1’s engine and a limited slip differential with leather seats and front and rear A/C, plus 255kph and 0-100kph in about 6.5seconds – what’s not to like?

Porsche 928

9. Porsche 928

To a generation growing up on a diet of Star Wars and Star Trek, the beautiful, bulbous and curvy 928 of 1977 was like a shuttle pod from the future, complete with unique plastic bumpers that would ping back into shape after a minor knock – groovy! This was space-age, but it wasn’t quite the 911 replacement Porsche thought it would be, it was a little more GT than sportscar. And this had a front-mounted V8. I badly wanted one.

Classic Volkswagen Beetle Herbie

10. Volkswagen Beetle

Well it has to be on the list doesn’t it? And I do mean the original Beetle from – staggeringly – 1938 right up to well, 2003 actually, selling over 21.5 million examples! It’s the ultimate people’s car, the ultimate all-purpose car, the ultimate customisable/convertible/rebuildable car, the ultimate car that could be fixed with a sledge hammer and keep going forever. It’s a phenomenon, a marker in the encyclopaedia of automotive history, the most significant automobile ever after the Ford Model T I’d wager. Plus there are tons of these about and they’re easy to run, fix and modify.

Okay what about the newbies?

Okay so you’re wondering why no new cars featured on the list – well simply because these are more worthy for a top ten. But just for you, here’s my Top Five contemporary German goals!

Mercedes SLS

1. Mercedes SLS – yeah I know it was just discontinued, but I’m going to cling onto it for a bit, because it was proper old-skool German muscle with GULLWING doors, need I remind you!

2014 Audi RS6 Avant, fastest family wagon on the planet

2. Audi RS6 – baddest estate on the planet right now.

2015 BMW M3 & M4 first drive global press launch

3. BMW M4 – a return to form for the M cars.

BMW M6 Grand Coupe

4. BMW M6 Grand Coupe – sleekest and sexiest saloon (yes it’s a saloon, so sue me) you can buy, and bloody fast!

2013 Audi R8 V8

5. Audi R8 – the most practical, daily-driveable, easily-accessible mid-engined exotic car of the moment with some Lamborghini DNA embedded within. It makes chumps look like champions, which is a fitting way to end this piece isn’t it?

Now tell us which are YOUR favourite Top 10 German cars below?

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