The Porsche 718 Cayman might be the most complete sports car ever built. It’s smart looking and fantastic to drive but also easy to live with. It’s practical for what it is, feels posh inside and is available with the latest tech.

The Cayman’s driving experience is dominated by its mid-engine layout which makes it perfectly balanced in corners. On a £40,000 budget, you can choose from a punchy turbocharged four-cylinder model or go for an older car with a six-cylinder engine that brims with character. Six cylinder engines are available in later GTS and GT4 versions, however. They cost more, but they're worth it.

The Porsche blends its great drive with everyday usability. It looks brilliant inside and has the build quality to rival a posh German saloon. Okay, so it’s only a two-seater but you do get a pair of luggage areas that swallow a surprisingly large amount. 

Like the sound of the 718 Cayman, but want the wind in your hair? The 718 Boxster is every bit as good as the 718 Cayman: it just swaps a barely detectable touch of the Cayman’s handling prowess for a soft-top roof that can drop in seconds.

Unlike most open tops, you’ll not feel the Boxster twist and shudder over bumps. It feels tied down in corners with feelsome and direct steering that leaves you full of confidence. Okay, so the four-cylinder models don’t sound great but they’re punchy, and there are six-cylinder models available if you're willing to pay more.

The Mazda MX-5 is a small, affordable sports car that proves you don't need a billion horsepower, massive tyres and an inflated price tag to have fun. 

In fact, on the UK's tight, twisty and heavily speed-controlled roads, we reckon most people would have more fun in this than a lot of the high-end metal in our list. Having said that, the MX-5 does demand some compromises.

For starters, it's not exactly practical. There's a tiny 130-litre boot, while its a strict two-seater, and the very tall might find they can't actually fit inside it properly. What's more, you'll need to be braced for pub bores with hairdresser jokes...

But that's the downsides over with. What you do get is the choice of a revvy little 1.5 or willing 2.0-litre engine, rear-wheel drive, a slick manual gearbox, a convertible roof that you can retract in seconds by hand and effervescent, enjoyable handling. 

It's a car you can enjoy at low speeds and drive hard without breaking the speed limit. And it weighs less than a modern supermini, too, which makes it seriously agile and even quite economical. It's been around since 2015, and prices start from as little as £12,000. Go on, you know you want to.

The SL has spent several decades at the very pinnacle of Mercedes' illustrious range, and that's not about to change any time soon, with the release of a seventh-generation model.

The moniker 'SL' originally stood for 'Super Light', the original 1950s version being derived from a race car, but in recent decades, the SL has been much more of a large and brash grand tourer than a proper sports car. The latest SL, however, does a much better impression of a sports car than its immediate predecessors, with impressively sharp handling and involving controls, yet it still provides plush, continent-crossing ride comfort.

We'd say that the latest SL has a more purposeful look than previous efforts, too, and the interior has the quality and technology to justify the price you pay. In fact, that's one of the SL's few drawbacks: it's very expensive, more so than some very talented rivals. However, if the SL's mix of abilities floats your boat, then you'll love it.

If you want a car that can do a good impression of a sports car while immersing you in cosseting luxury, look no further than the Bentley Continental GT, a car that’s custom-built to crush continents.

It comes with a choice of V8 and W12 engines, with the latter pumping out 635PS and taking the two tonne-plus GT over 200mph. Both are charismatic and fast, although neither is exactly economical. 

It’s fair to say there's plenty of performance, but the car is also easy to drive and comfortable. Four-wheel drive comes as standard for excellent stability, and the Bentley doesn’t so much absorb bumps as steamroller them flat. It's even fun on a twisty road despite its size and weight.

Inside, it feels like an old country house – there’s so much leather and wood in there – but with some clever modern tech. There’s also just enough room for four adults to get comfortable. Factor in a large boot and this is a car that you could happily tour thousands of miles in. 

A budget of £75,000 will get you a last-generation V8 car that's about six years old. If you're looking to buy an almost new, current model Continental GT, then prices start at about £120,000.

An evolution of the popular GT86, the Toyota GR86 packs plenty of fun into a dinky, lightweight two-seater with an affordable price tag. 

The interior won’t wow you, it’s a basic fit with plenty of plastic, but that’s because Toyota focused its attention on improvements under the hood, and if you’re after a little two-seater that’s where you want the main investment to be.

Nimble around town, agile on twisty country roads and playful levels of grip keep you engaged as a driver without spinning out. In short, it’s a whole lot of fun to drive while being kind on the pocket.

A word of warning though. It's a limited-run model, so you'll only be able to pick it up second hand (from around £30,000) as the European shipment sold out within minutes of going on sale. Still, if you can find one, you'll be hard pushed to have more fun with the money.

While the BMW M4 isn't a sports car in the traditional sense (it's based on a saloon M3, for starters), it certainly delivers the kind of performance, dramatic styling and on-road thrills that you'd expect from a sports car. 

Yes, you'll either love or hate the styling - and be prepared for passers-by to make their own minds up - but if you can live with that front-end you'll be getting one the fastest and most focussed M cars ever built. 

The UK only gets the fastest and most exciting Competition version of the BMW M4, with power coming from a storming 530PS 3.0-litre straight-six. Although it's not as light as it once was, weighing in at over 1700kg, the M4 will still deliver huge pace along with plenty of thrills.

Year-old used examples start from around £55,000. You'll want nearly £90,000 for a new version. Is that a bit too rich for you? Check out the cheaper BMW M2. A thug of a car, it can also be pretty practical with space for four. 

The Aston Martin Vantage was given a total redesign 2018 (and was facelifted further in 2024) with a sharp new look and a change from a naturally aspirated engine to a turbocharged unit. The result? One of the most stunning and desirable sports cars on sale today.

You’re blown away when you see it, but to drive it is to love it. The engine (sourced from Mercedes-AMG) is keen to push you forward at a rapid rate, the noise is addictive, and the car handles superbly. It comes with a sweet eight-speed ZF automatic gearbox that’s as smooth as silk around town and hugely engaging at speed. An electric differential aids high-speed stability and allows for fun in corners, too.

Prices start at around £100,000 for a used, latest-generation Aston Martin Vantage, though for £55,000 and up can get the previous-generation Vantage. It doesn't look quite as striking at the latest car, and lacks some of the tech, but it's still and achingly pretty car that'll turn heads and put a huge smile on your face when you blip the throttle. 

The Ford Mustang is a car that favours clout over elegance. The original muscle car is a sports car done the American way.

As a result, you get a 5.0-litre V8 in a large coupe body: you'll want that version, not the disappointing 2.3-litre Ecoboost model that has since been discontinued. It's the first Mustang to get independent rear suspension so it feels more manageable in bends than Mustangs of old. That said, the dominant entity is the lazy way it delivers its performance and the bassy soundtrack it makes while doing so. 

The interior is more functional than attractive, but it's big and airy, ideal for long journeys. The back seat is pretty usable and the boot is large. 

Overall, it won't feel as at home on a twisty British B-road as a European sports car, but it has loads of character and a sense of fun, plus it's good value. Prices start from under £30,000 for a 2017 V8 GT with 15,000 miles on the clock.

The Jaguar F-Type is quite possibly the prettiest car of the 21st century. A spiritual successor to the E-Type classic, the F-Type has a long bonnet and a beautifully sculpted back-end with four exhausts and a hatchback-style boot. 

An £60,000 budget is enough to get you an almost new P450 model with a 575PS supercharged V8 engine that’ll blow away almost anything else at the price: 0-62mph takes 3.5 seconds, helped by the car’s standard four-wheel-drive system. But even the lesser versions have a good turn of pace and an exciting soundtrack.

Inside, some of the plastics feel cheap but large swathes of leather make up for this and a large grab handle between the front seats hint at the car’s performance. Tall adults get plenty of room and you’ll be impressed by how much luggage you can fit in the F-Type’s boot. It might be getting on a bit, but the F-Type still has plenty going for it.

Made by Renault, the Alpine A110 is France’s answer to the Porsche Cayman and it’s really rather good. The Alpine has an all-aluminium construction that makes it almost as light as a Mazda MX-5 (but with around twice the power) and it’s this that dominates the driving experience. 

It feels nimble and agile in corners and because the Alpine isn’t heavy, the suspension can be relatively soft, allowing it to breathe with the road and flatten out nasty bumps. Its turbocharged 2.0-litre engine gives the Alpine a serious turn of speed and has a much better soundtrack than you might think. 

Inside, you sit low and the interior has neat features like deep bucket seats, quilted leather upholstery and trims based on the tricolour French flag. Okay, so the boots are small, but you do at least get two of them, while only the cheaper Renault-sourced cabin bits let the side down. 

The car's rarity means used prices for the A110 have held firm: you'll need at least £43,000 for an early 2022 example with 10,000 miles.