Choosing the single best car from the past 25 years is no easy feat. That period has seen an explosion in automotive innovation, with iconic models pushing boundaries and reshaping the industry. To tackle this monumental task, Caffeine & Machine brought together automotive experts James Attwood and Steve Cropley along with Illya Verpraet for a lively debate.
Their discussion began by zeroing in on the impact of the 2001 Mini, a model Illya Verpraet sees as truly significant. The revival wasn’t just about bringing back a classic design; it sparked the creation of an entire brand around the Mini name, a strategy that proved incredibly successful.
While other retro-inspired cars like the Volkswagen Beetle and Chrysler PT Cruiser emerged at the same time, only the Mini has endured. This is partly because BMW built the car from the ground up on a dedicated platform rather than repurposing existing models.
“The designers had freedom to style it and give it characteristics that linked it to the original Mini,” Verpraet explained. That attention to detail allowed the revived Mini to stand on its own two wheels, forging a distinct identity rather than simply echoing nostalgia. Steve Cropley went further, arguing that the original 2001 model was more visually compelling than even its modern iterations. This, he suggested, is because the first generation wasn’t burdened with needing to share its platform with BMW models as newer Minis have been forced to do.
The debate around the Mini highlights a key challenge in identifying the “best” car: defining what that word truly means. Is it about commercial success, design innovation, technological advancement, or perhaps a combination of these factors? As the experts delve deeper into other contenders from the past 25 years, these very questions will undoubtedly come to the forefront.
