What’s the Best Car Ever Made?

There are many candidates for the greatest of all time. My winner is controversial.

What’s the greatest automobile of all time? And how do you measure greatness? This has been an argument going on for generations, and in answering this question, there will be as many possible answers as there are experts. Jim Anderton is asked this question often and having observed the automotive industry from inside and out for several decades, he has a unique choice for greatest automobile of all time. 

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What’s the best car ever made?  

I’m asked this question all the time, and I never cease to surprise people with my answer. There are plenty of worthy candidates, but before I work my way through that list, I need to narrow down a set of basic parameters for determining the greatest of all time.  

For me, the first essential is that the vehicle be a mass production model. Hand-built supercars are remarkable pieces of engineering, but it’s more difficult and more significant to engineer a car for production in the tens of thousands to millions. Plus production models are economically and culturally more significant.  

A second parameter is that the vehicles be widely available. If not available for sale globally, the vehicle should still be recognized globally.  

And my third parameter is that the vehicle should not represent a technological dead-end. Several manufacturers made excellent steam-powered vehicles, but that mode of propulsion was never going to dominate the industry.  

What are the major candidates? The first one is obvious. The Ford Model T created the modern mass production auto industry, and although it wasn’t the first to use an assembly line, it was the first vehicle to be widely affordable for the working class, and it was made in the millions for two decades.  

A worthy candidate, but not my number one, mainly because the car was technologically obsolete from the beginning, and from an engineering standpoint was seriously compromised to facilitate mass production. Engine, transmission and chassis were antiquated, especially for the latter half of the production run, when volumes were extremely high due to an incredibly low price. Very highly placed, but not greatest of all time.  

What about this? The Volkswagen Beetle, which was sold under various model names for over 40 years, is certainly iconic and was driven globally. It put Germany on wheels the way the Model T Ford put America on wheels, and it introduced pioneering technologies ideal for mass production, from air cooling to torsion bar suspension. With 21,000,000 made, it’s the most-produced car in history.  

But it, too, was a technological dead end, with both air cooling and rear engine design proving impractical for mass production cars in the long run.  

And how about this. The General Motors B-body was built from 1926 to 1996, and from 1965 to 1970 almost 13,000,000 units were built, making it the fourth best-selling automobile platform in history. Big, powerful, durable and affordable, but like the Model T and the Beetle, the cast-iron V8, rear-drive design proved obsolete.  

Then of course there is this. The Mini, built by the British Motor Corporation, later British Leyland, pioneered the modern transverse engine front wheel drive design which dominates the automotive industry today. And it was innovative, with rubber and later hydrolastic suspension and excellent space efficiency. Over 5,000,000 were built over 40 years, and although technologically very advanced, it isn’t my number one for the simple reason that it wasn’t a profitable product, and a mass production consumer good that doesn’t make money defeats the purpose of the product in the first place.  

Or how about this? The Tesla Model S is the world’s first successful modern mass production electric vehicle. But it’s too early to tell if it will represent the standard for EV engineering.  

So, what’s left? In my opinion, this: the Citroen DS, built in multiple iterations for 20 years for a total of one half million units, is my number one to date.  

The DS, a clever play on words that is pronounced the same as the French word for “goddess,” was the first mass production car to feature hydropneumatic suspension and disc brakes. The body was aerodynamic decades before this became standard for production cars, with features such as adjustable ride height and self-levelling that are still not common in production cars today.  

The DS was an executive level four-door sedan, a big car by European standards, but it had speed and road holding that allowed the car to achieve multiple victories in international rallying during its entire 20-year production run. Thanks to the innovative suspension, the ride quality was excellent, despite handling that rivalled sports cars of the day, and the interior was spacious. The vehicle was front-wheel-drive, and was filled with innovations, from the single spoke steering wheel to directional headlights in later models.  

How forward-looking was this car? In the 1989 film Back to the Future Part II, a DS was depicted as a typical taxi of the then-future world set in 2015. But most importantly, the DS became an iconic representation of French high-technology and style, a unique vehicle recognized instantly as French, everywhere in the world.  

Movie stars and dignitaries either drove a DS or were driven in one. In North America, indifferent dealer service and parts availability doomed the car in the Buick/Chrysler market it was designed for, but even today this machine is a French icon as recognizable as the Eiffel Tower. If you could take the DNA of Voltaire and Catherine Deneuve and use it to create a car, this is the vehicle you would create.  

Would I own one myself? Not a chance. It takes a hardcore enthusiast to keep one of these on the road, but I wish everyone who loves cars would drive one of these once, or at least ride in one. The DS is truly the goddess of automobiles.  

Written by

James Anderton

Jim Anderton is the Director of Content for ENGINEERING.com. Mr. Anderton was formerly editor of Canadian Metalworking Magazine and has contributed to a wide range of print and on-line publications, including Design Engineering, Canadian Plastics, Service Station and Garage Management, Autovision, and the National Post. He also brings prior industry experience in quality and part design for a Tier One automotive supplier.