Meet the Modern Classics: 19 Cars Built After 2000 That Are Destined to Become Collectibles

Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing

Nobody does big, supercharged V8 engines like GM, and the LT4 V8 in the Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing is arguably not only one of its best but also one of the best engines of all time. It’s brutally powerful, reasonably efficient, sounds amazing, and has shown itself to be pretty damned stout, considering. This engine alone would put the 2023 Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing on our list, but then Cadillac’s engineers went and offered it with a six-speed manual transmission and MagRide suspension, turning it into the kind of uber-E39-M5 driving experience that many of us have been lusting after.

Aside from all its performance, one of the most impressive things about the CT5-V Blackwing is just how unbelievably practical and usable it is. It’s got decent back seats and a good-sized trunk. It’s comfortable and low-key when you need it to be and light-your-hair-on-fire maniacal when you want. It’s also a helluva bargain, given all of that.

Cadillac will sell you a CT5-V Blackwing (just ignore the V6-powered non-Blackwing CT5-V) for a measly $94,890 before options. Obviously, that’s not Camry money, but nobody in Europe can beat that price for what you’re getting. The fact that you don’t have to throw a ton of options at it to get it into Goldilocks-spec is just an added bonus.

Nissan GT-R Nismo

Nissan’s R35 GT-R hit the global performance car market like the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs. Not only was it the first GT-R sold in America, but at around $70,000, it represented a staggering performance bargain. As time has passed, the GT-R has gotten older, more expensive, and less competitive, but there’s still one version that makes a strong case for itself and that’s the GT-R Nismo.

The Nismo was initially introduced back in 2013 and, in typical Nissan fashion, it’s still in production now. That isn’t to say that it hasn’t gotten a few upgrades over the last decade, though, and that’s part of what makes it interesting. For the 2024 model year, it’s got a nearly 600 hp twin-turbo V6, a mechanical limited-slip rear differential, better cooling, more downforce and it’s a teensy bit lighter at just 3,858 pounds (this is hard to type with a straight face, but it’s the world we live in).

Why, then, is this a modern classic? Simply put, it represents the last bastion of the kind of old school, overkill-is-just-enough engineering that made Nissan such a performance powerhouse in the 1990s. It’s brutally quick, looks like nothing else, and, given the rest of Nissan’s portfolio these days, we suspect it’s not long for this world. If you want one, you can pick one up for around $220,990.

Ford Mustang Shelby GT350R

A Mustang as a modern classic? Have we lost our minds?!? Well, we’ll explain if you put down your pitchfork for a second. See, the Shelby GT350 R is arguably the least “Mustang” Mustang that Ford has made since the SVO, and it’s a serious performance car with an epic engine to boot.

The heart of the GT350 is Ford’s wild 5.2-liter Voodoo flat-plane V8, which produced 526 horsepower at 7,500 rpm and went on to a sky-high redline of 8,250 rpm. The 429 pound-feet of peak torque came in at a relatively un-American 4,750 rpm. The only transmission on offer was a six-speed manual.

Even the “base” GT350 was a special car, but the R took things to a new level. For example, the R came standard with carbon fiber wheels. Do you know who else offered carbon fiber wheels on a road car in 2015? Koenigsegg and that’s pretty much it. Other unique R features included a carbon fiber rear wing, a more aggressive front spoiler and the opportunity to remove up to 130 lbs from the car by deleting the radio, air conditioning, trunk floor, carpet and rear seats.

Naturally, being a hardcore car with a (for a Mustang) hardcore price tag, the GT350R didn’t sell like hotcakes. Still, there are plenty available used with prices ranging from $55,000 to $85,000 for standard Rs and up to nearly $130,000 for the limited Heritage Edition cars.

So yeah, this is a Mustang that we’d consider a modern classic, a car that someday people will look back on and scarcely believe that Ford would go this wild on a car that niche, and by then, you’ll already regret not having bought one.

Audi R8

Way back in 2006, when Audi debuted its R8 supercar, people gave it a hard time for being too practical and for not having a special enough drivetrain, given that it debuted with the 4.2-liter FSI V8 that also saw duty in the B7 RS 4, albeit in the R8 it came with a dry sump oiling system. Now, jokes about timing chains aside, the 4.2 V8 is a rad engine that sounds amazing and produces 414 horsepower. That’s good, but not great for a mid-engine supercar, but the thing that the R8 had then that made it special was its gated manual transmission.

Fast forward to 2023, and whether it’s just nostalgia for manual transmissions in a world where they’re becoming extinct or a different level of appreciation for cars that have enough power, the lowly V8 R8 is once again in vogue. Besides the V8 roar and the tink-tink of that gated shifter, one of the biggest things the R8 V8 has going for is price. They’re still available for well under $100,000, and while you can get cars for less that offer similar performance, they lack that Goldilocks feel of the R8 with its approachable road manners and exotic looks.

Believe us when we say the R8 4.2 is a modern classic, and if you don’t buy one soon, expect to pay a lot more for the experience later.

Ram 1500 TRX

The Ram 1500 TRX is an idiotic machine. It’s a full-size pickup truck with 700 horsepower and off-road racing-style suspension. It also costs nearly $100,000 and gets bought and driven by some truly repellant people, but here’s the thing: that doesn’t matter. This is the kind of truck that is a classic already because of that absurd drivetrain and the ridiculous styling. Keep it stock and don’t thrash it to death, and you’ll likely see a healthy return on your investment once the depreciation curve bottoms out and there are no “nice ones” left. Or, don’t care about that, enjoy your single-digit fuel economy and drive it through the desert like you’re an extra from Mad Max Fury Road.

The TRX is available for the 2024 model year, but like the other 6.2-liter supercharged vehicles from Dodge, don’t expect it to hang around long.

Bentley Continental GT Speed

Wait a minute. The Bentley Continental GT Speed is a new car, so how can it be a modern classic? Easy. It’s the farewell production model for the long-lived and much-loved twin-turbo W12 engine. After this, Bentley is going with V8s, hybrids and EVs. The party is over, and the lights are on but this car is worth celebrating.

The current generation Continental GT is an incredible car. It’s huge and heavy and feels like it was made to cross whole continents in a single bound (hence the name). Putting your foot down in a Conti Speed is less dramatic than you’d think with around 650 hp. It’s more akin to a widebody jet taking off or a bullet train coming up to speed. It feels like both you and the car are really doing something.

Add in that you have almost limitless options for customization – Bentley numbers the possible combinations in the billions – and you have a truly special, truly class vehicle on your hands. Now, can you still buy one? Maybe, but you’re cutting it pretty close. However, if you have the $288,500 starting price and, let’s face it, probably another $100,000 for options, you probably have the cash to grease your dealer’s palm for an allocation. Do it, you won’t be sorry.

Dodge Challenger SRT Demon

Dodge (and SRT) has been the poster child for overpowered cheap-ish street cars for a long time now, and with the LX chassis set to go the way of the dodo bird pretty soon, the special edition Hellcat models are bound to end up as modern classics, especially once the rose-tinted glasses of nostalgia get put on.

Of all the many Hellcat derivatives, one stands out as wilder and rarer than the rest: the 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon. This 808-horsepower armchair with wheels (it’ll make 840 hp on 100-octane fuel) was available only in 2018 and was limited to 3,300 units. Oh, and in ideal conditions, it’ll pull off a 9.65-second quarter mile which is enough to get it kicked out of most tracks for being too quick.

This car was developed by FCA’s SRT division to do just one thing: annihilate a drag strip as quickly as possible. To that end, the cars were offered with an optional “Demon Box,” which contained special narrow, lightweight drag racing front wheels. It also came with tools like an electric impact wrench, torque wrench, hydraulic jack and parts to allow it to run on high-octane race fuel.

Demons, while rare, come up for sale not infrequently and typically sell for between $110,000 and $150,000, depending on mileage and condition. Those figures are well above its initial $86,090 MSRP, though it’s hard to believe anyone actually paid just that at the time.

Porsche 911 Carrera GTS

The 997 generation of Porsche 911, built from 2005 to 2012, has become a touchstone for 911 enthusiasts as modern cars have gotten bigger, heavier and more complex. Purists love the 997 for its hydraulic steering and limited electronic nannies, as well as for its still-DIY-friendly design, and the result of this adoration has been rapidly increasing prices, especially for the hardcore GT cars.

While the ship has sailed on the GT3 and GT2 for ordinary people, there is another car that is still somewhat attainable and which, if anything, is better for regular street use. It’s the 997.2 2010-2011 Carrera GTS, and like the GTS models of today, it’s a sort of greatest hits version of the 997 with all the right options ticked by the factory and with an average sale price hovering fairly consistently in the $80,000 to $90,000 range, it’s a bargain compared to a GT3.

Ferrari 458 Speciale

Ferrari built its brand on racing, as everyone knows, and that led to the company selling high-revving, screaming, naturally aspirated sports cars for decades. The ship has mostly sailed on atmospheric engines for the company, with the folks in Modena now offering predominantly turbocharged and gas-electric hybrids. While these cars are no doubt hellaciously fast and full of all the most bleeding-edge technology, there are still people who pine for the old days. It could be argued that when it comes to mid-engine production, Ferraris, the 458 Speciale, aka the lighter, quicker, and sharper version of the already incredible 458 Italia, was the top of the mountain.

The Speciale was, uh, special for a bunch of reasons. It was limited production, around 200 pounds lighter than its Italia cousins, it had more power, a quicker-shifting transmission, and was the second car (the other being the LaFerrari) to get Side Slip Control and an electronic diff. The 4.5-liter flat-plane V8 in the Speciale produced a deeply impressive 597 hp at 9,000 rpm while emitting a sound that would make the angels weep. Ferrari knew it was the end of an era, so it swung for the fences.

Modena only built around 1,300 Speciale coupes (and less than 500 of the Aperta convertibles), which means that in addition to prestige and performance, the Speciale has a third ingredient to make it a certified modern classic: rarity. Prices reflect this with coupes changing hands for around half a million dollars and the rarer Apertas going for between $650,000 and $800,000. For comparison, a “regular” 458 Italia typically sells for under $200,000. Is the Speciale worth the premium? Yep.

BMW 1M Coupe

When BMW debuted its 1M Coupe back in 2011, a lot of enthusiasts were bummed because, unlike an M3 or an M5, the 1M wasn’t a full-fat M car owing to its non-M engine. Of course, now, in the fullness of time, we learned that it wasn’t the motor that mattered, and the 1M has become revered among Bimmer enthusiasts as maybe the greatest M car ever.

The 1M’s secret – other than its shockingly reasonable MSRP – was that it used the suspension, brakes and differential from the also excellent but bigger and heavier M3. This gave the comparatively teensy 1-series its now-famous aggressive wide-fendered bulldog stance and its epic on-track performance. Add in that it was only available with a manual transmission and in three colors, and you’ve got a certified legend in the making.

BMW initially planned to make less than 3,000 examples of the 1M but instead ended up making just over 6,000 of them. Prices stayed fairly steady at around the $50,000 mark for years, but those numbers have crept up in the last couple of years, along with the 1 M’s cachet. Today, you can expect to pay between $70,000 and $80,000 for a nice one, and even then, it’s not a bad deal.

BMW XM

Everyone jokes about how ugly the current crop of BMWs is, and they’re not wrong. The XM might even be one of the ugliest out of them all, but that is part of what makes it a modern classic. Well, that and a 738-horsepower plug-in hybrid drivetrain.

The XM is extreme. It’s extreme looking, for sure. It has a wild interior and extreme performance – it’s the most powerful production BMW ever – and it’s extremely expensive (for a BMW) with a starting price of $159,000 or, if you want to go for the top-tier XM Label, expect to pay $185,000.

This thing isn’t exactly meant to fly off of dealer lots. It’s not a car for everyone, and its polarizing nature, coupled with that headline power figure, means that, at some point, someone is going to obsess over it and kick off a trend. We’ve seen it happen time after time. Hell, even the Lamborghini Espada and the Alfa SZ have developed cult followings, so it’s not out of the realm of possibility here. Plus, it’s still better looking than the Urus.

McLaren P1

Along with the Porsche 918 Spyder and LaFerrari, McLaren’s P1 hybrid hypercar brought in a new era of electrified performance vehicles. Like most McLarens, it’s based on a fairly standard formula, this being carbon tub plus carbon body plus twin-turbo old Nissan race car motor equals speed. Being a hybrid, the P1 adds and electric starter/generator motor and lightweight battery pack to the equation which provides both electric-only drive modes as well as cool stuff like torque fill for when the engine isn’t in its powerband.

The P1 produces a whopping 903 hp combined while weighing just 3,280 pounds. For context, the 918 tips the scales at 3,602 pounds and the LaFerrari 3,495 pounds. It’s also rear-wheel drive, unlike the 918. Sure, it looks mostly like every other pre-720S McLaren from most angles, but it’s a truly special car that set the tone for models like the wicked fast McLaren Artura.

P1s don’t tend to change hands often, and when they do, it’s for the $1.5 million to $2.0 million range unless you’re a certain YouTuber who bought a flood-totaled P1 for considerably less. Don’t be like that YouTuber.

Acura NSX Type S

The original Acura NSX is a legendary car developed by Ayrton Senna and beloved by car enthusiasts of all stripes. When Acura debuted its successor in 2016, it had a lot to live up to, and unfortunately, in many ways, it just couldn’t match up. Where the original car was a lightweight scalpel of a car with a revvy naturally aspirated V6, the modern NSX is a twin-turbo V6-powered gas/electric hybrid with all-wheel drive and a nearly 4,000-pound curb weight.

While the new NSX initially felt a bit underwhelming, Acura quietly went about tweaking it, making it sharper, meaner and more capable. This culminated in 2022’s limited edition NSX Type S, and friends, let me tell you, this is what the nu-NSX should have been all along.

First, power is up to 602, and thanks to the electric motors, torque is up to 492 pound-feet as well. Those electric motors also had their gear ratios lowered, so the Type S feels much quicker off the line and much more direct and alive in general. The nine-speed dual-clutch transmission was also reprogrammed, allowing for much higher rpms when downshifting, and it shifts quicker overall. Add in more downforce, retuned suspension and a spicier exhaust note, and you’ve got a winner.

Acura only made 350 Types S for the whole world, with 300 of those coming to the US. Finding one today is possible, if not simple, and prices are pretty robust. Recent auction sales see them changing hands for between $215,000 and $270,000, which isn’t bad considering that when new — if you could get one — you’d expect to pay around $170,000 MSRP.

Lexus LFA

Lexus doesn’t make sports cars. It barely makes performance cars most of the time, but once, for reasons that still don’t totally seem clear, Lexus made one of the best looking and certainly best sounding sports cars ever conceived of by mankind. It was called the LFA, and even though it wasn’t all that impressive on paper, it’s a car that lives absolutely rent-free in many enthusiast’s brains and will continue to do so forever.

The 2012 Lexus LFA is powered by the totally bespoke and utterly bonkers-sounding 4.8-liter 1LR-GUE V10 engine, McLaren P1which revs to 9,000 rpm and produces a decent but not-world-beating 553 hp and 354 pound-feet of torque. The engine was designed in concert with Yamaha, and Lexus claimed when the car debuted that it revved so quickly that it had to put a digital tachometer in the car, rather than an analog one. In its upper registers, the engine didn’t so much roar as it did shriek. It’s unreal.

Lexus didn’t stop at making the engine cool, though. In the classic Toyota/Lexus sense of “If something’s worth doing, it’s worth doing to a degree that makes us all look incredibly pedantic and weird,” the LFA’s chassis and body are made from carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic. The shapes that Lexus’ engineers designed into the body and chassis weren’t possible with then-current tech, so Lexus invented a special circular carbon fiber loom to make it.

Lexus only made 500 LFAs for the whole world during its two-year run. Initially, buyers couldn’t even buy one – they had to lease it for two years before they could own it. Surprisingly, while crazy expensive by normal person standards, the LFA can be had consistently for less than a million bucks. Standard cars trade for $700,000 to $800,000, but the even more rare, special and fast Nurburgring Edition cars go for around twice as much.

Lamborghini Huracán Performante

Lamborghini’s Huracán has lived a long and fruitful life. Introduced back in 2014, we’ve seen it go from all-wheel drive to rear-wheel drive. We’ve seen convertible versions and even an off-road version in the Sterrato. Arguably though, the high point of the Huracan’s bell curve was 2019’s Huracan Performante.

The Performante had it all. It was intense looking, but not as over the top as the later Huracan STO. It had Lamborghini’s wild ALA active aero system which channeled air through the body and adjusted how and where it came out, rather than relying on complicated moving wings and splitters. It was light, loud and impossibly rapid thanks to its tweaked 631-hp naturally aspirated V10 engine. It’s a high water mark for Lamborghini making driver’s cars and now that the Huracan is going away, we’ll miss it more than ever.

If you have the means and you’re interested in putting one in your garage (you should be), you can expect to pay between $270,000 and $320,000 for one in good shape with low-ish miles.

Bugatti Chiron

A 1,600 horsepower quad-turbocharged W16 engine. Multi-million dollar price tag. A zillion special editions. We’re, of course, talking about the Bugatti Chiron, which, in the scope of history, gets less credit than its predecessor, the Veyron, mostly because while the Chiron is a better car in almost every measurable way, the Veyron did it first. Here’s the thing, though: the Chiron is going to be the one to own, and we’ll tell you why.

The Veyron was an almost unbelievable technological achievement from the VW group at the peak of its Piech power period, but as with many cars from that time, it ended up being a little like Icarus and his wax wings. The Chiron takes most of the same bits and pieces as the Veyron and makes them work better, easier to service and longer-lived than its predecessor. It’s also about 20 times prettier than the Veyron.

Us telling you that the Chiron is a future classic may seem silly because it’s a Bugatti, after all, but you’d be surprised how overshadowed it tends to be. Of course, again, it’s a Bugatti, so overshadowed or not, you’ll still have to pay for the privilege of owning one. Prices for a non-special edition Chiron start at the $3.8 million mark, and things go way up from there. The Veyron is going to be a bunch cheaper to buy, but owning them and keeping them on the road is cataclysmically expensive, so save yourself the headache and spend up front.

Lucid Air Sapphire

Lucid’s Air is one hell of an EV. It’s one of the prettiest cars on sale now and even in its more normal guises, it’s not a bad performance sedan. Then there’s the Sapphire. It’s got a claimed 1,234 horsepower, but Lucid’s engineers claim it does more than that and that number was chosen because it looks good. It’ll rip off consistent 9-second quarter mile times with a launch so aggressive that it’s scientifically impossible not to swear loudly while it’s happening.Lucid Air Sapphire

Lucid is a company full of engineers and enthusiasts, and the Sapphire is them flexing their muscles to show that EVs deserve a shot at the performance sedan crown and have a good chance at claiming it.

The Lucid Air Sapphire is not cheap, with an asking price of $249,000, but it’s the kind of car we’re likely to see less of as electric car manufacturers become more established and have less to prove. It feels like a high watermark and like a modern classic.

Porsche 918 Spyder

Before 2015, super and even hypercars were based on a reasonably standard formula. Make it light, put as much power into it as possible, make it out of lots of very exotic and very expensive materials and sell it for the GDP of a small country. Then something happened. 

Porsche debuted the 918 Spyder with a mid-mounted naturally aspirated V8 that produced 599 horsepower based on the engine from the RS Spyder Le Mans prototype. Oh, and to that, Porsche added a hybrid system to it bringing the total combined output up to 875 hp. On its own, the 918 Spyder would have been groundbreaking, but then Ferrari and McLaren made hybrid halo hypercars around the same time, ushering in a new era in the way people think about speed.

Of the three – 918 Spyder, LaFerrari and P1 – the 918 is probably the best looking and most usable, as befits Porsche’s ethos when designing sports cars. If you want to buy and use one, be prepared to hurt a little because Porsche only made 1,000 of them. When they come up for sale, they tend to change hands for between $1.5 million and $2 million. Weissach pack cars go for more.

Audi RS 6 Avant Performance

What kind of a modern classics list would this be if we didn’t include a fast wagon? To that end, and to maintain our legitimacy, we give you Audi’s current all-conquering uber-wagon, the RS 6 Avant Performance. With 621 horsepower and 627 pound-feet of torque in a chassis that manages to be both super comfy and sharp enough to party, adding a long roof and rear hatch feels like cheating.

Seriously, the RS 6 Avant Performance is a nigh-perfect daily and will get you more thumbs up and weird gas station conversations with strange dudes than you’ll know what to do with. As we’ve seen with Cadillac and Mercedes-AMG, the fast wagon can’t last forever, so get while the getting is good. Prices start at $125,800, and unlike with many other German cars, you don’t need to hit the options list hard to party.