Forza Horizon 4 car of the year awards

The 2019 Horizon Festival has been a good one, packed with lights, music and most importantly, cars. Over 500 of them altogether, counting DLCs and seasonal exclusives. Almost all of them are great in some regard, but there are a few which stand above the others. This is a celebration of those greatest of the greats, representing the pinnacle of the automotive sector. Welcome to the Forza Horizon 4 Cars of the Year 2019.

All of the opinions in this post are mine and so will likely vary. Please don’t shout at me if my choices differ to yours. Thanks!

Hot Hatch of the year - 2016 Abarth 595 Biposto

When you say hot hatch, what do you think of? A Focus RS maybe, or perhaps a Civic Type-R. Maybe something old and French, like the legendary 205 GTI. So do I. But then I drove the Abarth. And it blew all the others out of the water. Here is a car that knows how to have fun. It doesn’t have massive power (186 bhp from a 1.3 litre, 4 cylinder) and it doesn’t have huge speed or technology. Instead, it focuses on driver fun. This little pocket rocket is just generally excitable - revvy and enthusiastic, with enough oomph to spin the wheels slightly and excite the driver, but not too much that it becomes undrivable. There is barely any understeer, instead the nose tucks in and sticks as you desperately try to maintain momentum. The short wheelbase means great agility and being so light, it’s simply old school, cheeky and chuckable fun.

Sports Car of the year - 1999 Lotus Elise Series 1 Sport 190

It may have been worn thin with overuse, but there is really only one word to describe the Elise - pure. There’s nothing to distract from the joy of driving it, no gimmicky features that draw your attention away from what really matters - threading this car down a good road relatively quickly. You know you’re driving something special from the first corner you take - I don’t remember the last time I drove such a grippy and responsive car that doesn’t have massive wings and things glued all over it. The Elise takes basically any road, any corner and dissects it into its bare components; braking - which is excellent but often unnecessary thanks to the massive grip reserves, the actual cornering - which I’m pretty sure defies physics and then the exit - basically, keep the throttle pinned and you’ll be fine. It is so easy to drive this car fast because it is so friendly and on your side while your doing 100mph plus through faster corners and barely lifting for anything slower. With the whole car working together you just get involved in the act of driving - braking, steering, accelerating, shifting gears. It’s proper, feelgood and fast fun that feels sorted by people who care both about lap times and entertainment and not much else. Pure indeed.

Supercar of the year - 2015 Mclaren 650s

When I first came up with this idea, there were certain cars that had to make the list. The Mclaren was one of them. This car holds happy memories of my first few “Forzathon lives”. I remembered it as fast but friendly and fun. My memory served me well. Unlike its 12c predecessor, this is a car which isn’t too bothered about going the fastest round a track (although obviously it is hair-raisingly fast), instead it is about making 650ish bhp as accessible and entertaining as possible. You can push this car to the very limits of grip with full confidence, knowing that even if you overstep the mark you can come out the other side sideways, smoking and very much alive. And for me, that’s the mark of a good supercar - one that can excite without the risk of instant death, one that you can really hustle when you want to and then back off and enter cruise mode if the mood takes you. It’s a jack of all trades which I’m sure will be remembered for a long time as the car that got Mclaren where they are today.

Family Car of the year - 2015 Audi RS6 Avant

Need to transport a family of four and all of their stuff somewhere? Need to do that really, really quickly? Get the RS6 Avant. Simple as that. Nothing else can touch this car for its combination of immense cross-country pace and practicality. But this isn’t just a devastatingly fast but un-engaging 4WD teleportation capsule like I was expecting. Too heavy, I thought. Too understeery. How wrong I was. This is an estate that thinks it’s a rally car. It simply grips and grips and grips, with only a tad of understeer on turn in which can easily be dealt with by lifting or tapping the brakes. After that? 4-wheel-drifts if that’s your sort of thing, otherwise just awesome punch out of tighter corners. At the highest of speeds understeer does creep in, but then you can’t break the laws of physics. 552 bhp and AWD does help bend them though…

Off Roader of the year - 2016 Ariel Nomad

This car is a remote control buggy in real life. Whatever those men in sheds in Somerset were on when they dreamt up the Nomad I don’t know, but I want some! Even just as a road car it is fabulous - lightweight and decent power guarantee that, and then there’s the rolly suspenion and soft tires which just make the car even more fun as it leans like a cruise liner but stays glued to the line, the back end occasionally shimmying wide. And then you take it offroad. Here the car becomes almost balletic, sliding around on the throttle and behaving like a RWD rally car while making a sound like a can of angry bees got stuck in the engine. The thing that I love about the Nomad is how excited it seems - a bit like a lovable puppy, trying to be fierce but just making everyone laugh. It creates a real sense of adventure, encouraging you to just point it in a direction and lob it at the scenery, whether that be a mountain, forest, river, whatever. The Nomad doesn’t care. It just wants to have fun.

Classic Car of the year - 1974 AMC Hornet X Hatchback

Weren’t expecting that one, were you? But for me, the AMC Hornet is really what classic cars are all about - great noise, lots of roll, a massive steering wheel and a surprising sense of speed, even when you’re going slowly. This is the sort of car where momentum is king, where slowing down makes you slow for the next few corners. All of which makes it sound hard to drive, which this car isn’t. Because it has just 175 bhp, you’re basically flat everywhere, as the engine grumbles and the tires screech. Every. Single. Corner. You’re always pushing the levels of grip, feeling the car roll about beneath you as you will it to go faster and faster. Proper, old fashioned fun. Totally unexpected.

Hypercar of the year - 2018 Mclaren Senna

I don’t usually drive hypercars. Anything in S2 class is just too fast and scary for me. Other than the Mclaren Senna. It is literally the nicest hypercar to drive in this game. Why? Downforce. As you go faster, the car gets grippier, gluing itself to the road until you feel invincible, despite being close to 200mph on a narrow British B-road. It may not be the fastest hypercar in a straight line, but for sheer speed round a track or down a road, nothing comes close. Watching the air brake do its thing is nothing short of theatre either, as the car stops as if it’s driven into a brick wall, evaporating off speed so effectively that you have to mentally readjust to just how late you can leave the brakes. The answer? Very. You want a theatrical, easy to drive and ultimately, devastatingly fast hypercar? The name says it all. Senna.

Underrated Car of the year - 2003 Ferrari 360 Challenge Stradale

Think of a Ferrari, and it’s likely you’ll have come up with something mid engined and red. Maybe a 488 or 458. An Enzo or LaFerrari. Perhaps even an F430 Scud. But probably not a 360. Which is a shame, because this car is just nice. That’s the best way to describe it. Light, focused, exotic. There’s huge grip from both ends of the car, and very well communicated oversteer if you go too far. Unlike many modern Ferraris, this car isn’t going to murder you if you apply just a tiny bit too much throttle at the wrong moment, instead it’ll howl like a banshee and then shimmy a step wide, before carrying on without drama. This isn’t an instant adrenalin hit brought on by massive power and technology, instead a more analogue and entertaining experience as you work with the car to bring it up to its limits. It’s very subtle, the 360 and very, very fun. Remember that next time you think of a Ferrari.

The Forza Horizon 4 Car of the year - 2018 Aston Martin Vantage

When this car came out on the car pass, I didn’t drive anything else for a week. That tells you all you need to know about this car. It demands to be driven, and hard. Lets start with the engine. It’s a 4 litre V8 nicked from Mercedes, but retuned by Aston to fit this car perfectly. It rumbles and roars, pops and crackles with the best of them, and makes this car seem like a big hearted and slightly old-fashioned sports car. It revs up brilliantly, and asks you to rev all the way to the rev line. Next, the chassis. It is just friendly and approachable, doing what you want, when you want. No sudden snap into over-or-under-steer, no annoying inability to go in a straight line. Instead, just simple, brilliant driving. You want to attack the road as fast as possible? Keep your inputs clean and the car responds by being massively agile and enthusiastic. Want to cut it more loose? Be rougher with the throttle and steering and discover a rare talent - the ability to flick from calm supercar to mad drift machine at the poke of the throttle mid-corner. The rears ignite, you throw on some opposite lock and there you go - instant sideways and localised fog. For me, this car is so good because it can do everything while still having a sense of humour and being fun. It’s not a clinical track destroyer, or a lairy muscle car. No. Here we have a properly well sorted, fun and adaptable sports car for everyone. A worthy Car of the Year.

Thankyou so much for reading if you’ve made it this far. I hope you enjoyed it! What would your cars of the year be?

Until next time,
CobraRS