Best paddock tow car

Land Rover Defender 110 D240 S

I’ve seen all kinds of unlikely tow cars over the years, none more so than a magnificent Bugatti Type 46 Sports Tourer at Silverstone with a Type 35B on the trailer behind. I should also namecheck Martin Overington, who has been seen towing a Porsche 962 through France behind his supercharged 4 1/2-litre Bentley.

But among more conventional and modern cars, the Toyota Amazon has long been the weapon of choice, the one the well-informed secretly admire, particularly if it is exceptionally dog-eared and parked amid a sea of Range Rovers with personalised plates. The Amazon is not just an exceptional tow car, and near indestructible, it’s also somehow effortlessly cool. But it does have the hindrance of no longer being on sale.

The heir apparent has to be the new Land Rover Defender. More the car the current Discovery should have been all along than a true successor to the original icon, it has both the ability and the authenticity to shape up as the new paddock queen. Just make sure you get it covered in mud first.

Price £49,880

Engine 2-litre, four-cylinder, turbocharged

Power 240bhp at 4400rpm

Torque 368lb ft at 1500rpm

Weight 2323kg

0-62mph 8.7sec

Top speed 117mph

Rivals Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, £45,315 Rough and ready relative to the Defender. Expensive, but not without charm

Toyota Land Cruiser Icon, £50,905. Not actually an icon like the old Amazon, but probably about as dependable.

Best all-purpose driver’s car

Porsche 718 Cayman GTS

A few weeks ago this category would have had a different name at its head: the Alpine A110. And as a thing simply to get in and drive, I’d say the Alpine is probably still a cigarette paper ahead of this Porsche. And given it has only four cylinders, a turbocharged engine and not even the option of a manual gearbox, that’s a mighty achievement for the A110. But it’s the presence of the qualifier ‘all-purpose’ that tips it in favour of the Cayman GTS.

For now that Porsche had seen sense and elected to replace the unlovely 2.5-litre flat-four turbo motor with a normally aspirated 4-litre flat-six (at least in GTS models), all the magic of the Cayman concept has not just been fully restored but elevated to an even higher level of performance. With six manual gears as standard and that howling engine, it actually has the feel of a car from another era, combined with the ability of one designed today by some of the best brains in the business.

Price £64,088

Engine 4-litre, six-cylinder, naturally aspirated

Power 394bhp at 7000rpm

Torque 310lb ft at 5000rpm

Weight 1405kg

0-62mph 4.5sec

Top speed 182mph

Rivals Alpine A110S, £56,810 Faster and more expensive than standard A110, but no better to drive

Toyota GR Supra 3.0L Pro, £54,000. Rapid and quite fun, but still something of a pulled punch against rivals.

Best family hack

Mercedes-Benz E220d SE Estate

The secret here is not to buy anything that tempts you to drive fast, because in the not desperately humorous world of large family transport, that way leads almost always to frustration. But nor should you abandon all hope of actually enjoying what you drive, for follow that path to its inevitable conclusion and you’ll end up behind the wheel of one of those ghastly crossover SUVs upon which so much of the world seems currently and inexplicably fixated.

There’s a reason that estate cars were popular before everyone became a fashion victim. No higher nor barely any heavier than a conventional saloon, they ride, handle, stop and steer like normal cars, yet they can also carry all the clobber you wish, whether it be for school, shopping or holidaying. True, most won’t get you far off-road but I expect most of us can live with that limitation.

A Mercedes-Benz E-class estate would remain top of my list. Of this kind of car, only a Škoda Superb Estate will carry more, but the Benz also provides a quiet, comfortable and classy interior and a driving experience that, while well short of being actually fun, is never anything less than entirely pleasant.

Price £38,880

Engine 2-litre, four-cylinder, turbocharged

Power 194bhp at 3800rpm

Torque 295lb ft at 1600rpm

Weight 1780kg

0-62mph 7.7sec

Top speed 146mph

Rivals Škoda Superb 2.0TDI Laurin & Klement, £38,085. The most capacious estate around but not as classy as rivals

BMW 520d SE Touring, £40,345. Not quite as practical as the Mercedes but probably better to drive.

Best road-legal track day car

Ariel Atom 4

Before the Atom 4, no previous Ariel would have lived in this spot. It would have been close, but their inherent on-limit trickiness would have handed something else, almost certainly a Caterham, the honours.

While the Atom 4 may look superficially similar to those other Atoms, which have now been around for nigh on 20 years, it’s actually a new car from the ground up and comes complete with a new turbocharged 2-litre Honda engine, laden with torque and packaged in a car weighing under 600kg. For the money, it’s the most astonishingly potent package.

Yet despite being faster than ever, it’s a brave person who flicks the three-position power switch over to the maximum 320bhp output, as the Atom 4 is a thoroughly developed and utterly delightful track car. The slight twitchiness on turn-in, which kept you so firmly on your toes in the Atom 3, has now been entirely eradicated, replaced by the most delightful and friendly balance.

Indeed, the biggest problem it poses is simply getting your head around the sheer speed of the thing. Turn up at a track day in one of these, and while you might drool over those Italian supercars in the paddock, out on the track, they’re more likely to be obstacles for you to negotiate your way around.

But once you’re properly dialled into it, of the cars I’ve driven there’s nothing else on sale that can match not just its raw speed, but the never-ending pleasure available to those willing and able to learn its extra ordinary ways.

Price £39,950

Engine 2-litre, four-cylinder, turbocharged

Power 320bhp at 6500rpm

Torque 310lb ft at 3000rpm

Weight 595kg

0-62mph 2.8sec

Top speed 162mph

Rivals Caterham 620S, £50,390. The original and some still say the best, especially when, like this, turned up to 11

BAC Mono, £167,940. An exquisitely engineered single-seater that makes the Atom look compromised