The phrase “modern classic” feels like a joke. Maybe even an insult to the purists. And let’s be honest. To the uninitiated? It just looks like a piece of street furniture. A slightly cleaner version of the trash you see in driveways.
But Penguin Books uses the term for novels that are basically twenty years old. So it works. We are stealing the title from them.
Old timers used to drive MGBs. They headed to the Dog and Duck autojumbles with maps drawn on napkins. They kept “modern” cars at arm’s length. Modern mags didn’t touch classics. Why would they? And classic car mags? They ignored newish cars, too. Didn’t want readers thinking their prized possessions belonged in a McDonald’s parking lot.
The lines blurred. They had to. Electric cars came first. Then clean air zones. Speed cameras got faster and meaner. Enthusiasts on both sides of the Venn diagram got battered until they collided in the middle.
Welcome to the modern classic.
What Is One Anyway?
Age is relative here. Purposely vague, really. Ed Callow runs Collecting Cars, an auction platform, and he puts it this way. Modern classics are the “democratised” part of the collector market. He admits start and end dates are messy. Usually means cars from the eighties, nineties, early two thousands. The era where car design and construction actually shifted gears.
For this list though, we are drawing the line after the year 2000. Nothing before that.
“I think at their core, modern Classics are the ‘democratised’ part of the collector car market.”
— Ed Callow
Mercedes-Benz CLS (2003-20 Mechanic Check)
Price: £2,500 – £10,000
A four-door coupe. That’s an oxymoron right there. The Mk1 CLS took the E-Class underpinnings and slapped a body on it that looked like it arrived from the future. Nothing else on the road had that stance. But underneath it kept the Mercedes values. Prestige. Quality.
Rear-wheel drive is standard across the board. You get a seven-speed automatic. Air suspension? Optional, but good. Part-leather trim comes as standard. Electric front seats, climate control, even adaptive cruise control back then. It felt premium.
It feels cheap now. Mostly. Like many ageing luxobarges, prices have cratered. You can pick one up for a few grand. But don’t high-five yet. Early petrol engines hate balancer shafts. One dedicated owner told us he’d steer clear of those early models entirely. Gearbox speed sensors fail too. Diesels have issues with inlet port shut-off motors. You look for trouble because you find it.
Porsche Cayman (2005-21)
Price: £7,500 – £30,000
The 987 generation. It’s on the wishlists for a reason. This is a Porsche with the flat-six in the middle. A sensible place. Means you can drive it hard without worrying about the fuel tank in the trunk getting ripped out of your hands like it might in a 911.
The six-speed manual is the real star here. Analog driving. Physical. Pedals weighted just right. There is a PDK automatic if you prefer tapping steering wheel buttons for lightning-fast shifts. Sure it works. It unlocks performance. But buttons lack soul. You lose the fight when you don’t have to clutch-bite it yourself.
The gap between a five grand Mercedes and a thirty grand Porsche is where the argument starts. Can you really argue over price when both need your attention now?
