Cars that are dying in 2024
A new year brings new models galore, but sadly, we also have to bid a fond farewell to old friends. Be they motoring legends confined to the history books like the Audi TT and R8 or merely superseded by newer models cars like the Mercedes C-Class Coupe, these are all the cars going off sale in 2024.
Audi R8
Bored of the Porsche 911 hogging the usable-sports-car limelight, Audi went out to one-up its rival by building a supercar you could use every day with spectacular results. With stunning looks, rear-biassed four-wheel drive and your choice of high-revving V8 or V10 engines, the Audi R8 was an even more engaging alternative to the Porsche. Yet it had all the qualities you’d expect of an Audi like a beautifully built cabin and stout reliability.
Sadly, with its electric power steering, the outgoing second-generation car lost some of the original's tactility. Still, it's a sign of the times when what used to be one of the most high-tech supercars became one of the most analogue, sensible Audi cars, resisting turbos and hybridisation long after even Ferrari caved in. The R8 was supposed to end fully in 2023 but got a production extension that has in 2024 now ended.
Ferrari Portofino M
The Ferrari Portofino M is another car destined for the great scrap heap in the sky in 2024. For people who would usually buy a Mercedes SL, the Ferrari featured a folding metal roof and turbocharged engine that limited its torque in low gears to make it feel more natural. The Portofino’s front-engine layout meant its performance was easily accessible, but sling the motor far behind the front axle meant it had a weight balance comparable to one of the company’s mid-engined supercars.
An SL wouldn't see where the Ferrari went on a twisty (or indeed a straight) road, but as a genuine sports car, the Portofino fell wide of the mark compared to the more involving Porsche 911 convertible. The Portofino makes way for the better-looking, better-driving Roma Spider in 2024 but is sure to be a bargain second-hand buy thanks in part to its so-so image.
Hyundai i20N
Our move to electric cars claims its first direct scalp on this list in the form of the Hyundai i20N, a wonderfully analogue hot hatch taken from us too soon, less than four years after its launch as the company refocuses on performance-minded EVs.
Instead of trying to beat the Ford Fiesta ST at its own playful-hot-hatch game, the i20N was an all together harder edged hot hatch with a tied down rear end and a limited-slip differential up front that gave you plenty of grip to power out of corners. The Hyundai’s brakes felt mighty and it had a slick six-speed gearbox. Like the best hot hatches, the i20N combined serious speed with useful practicality but in the days of expensive hot hatch EVs, the thing we’ll miss most is the i20 N’s near £25,000 price.
Hyundai i30N
The Hyundai i30N was Hyundai’s first crack at a proper hot hatch and it was a fine effort. Tasked with building a car that could compete with royalty like the Golf GTI and Renaultsport Megane, Hyundai did what any self-respecting manufacturer would do – nicked some of its rivals best talent from its rivals, chief among them BMW’s Albert Beirman.
He set about going over the standard i30N with a fine tooth comb, adding chassis bracing, stiffening the suspension, bolting on an LSD and dropping a 2.0-litre turbocharged engine under the bonnet plumbed into a sports exhaust that resembled gunfire in its most aggressive setting. Straight out the block, the i30N was a class-leading hot hatch and one the Ioniq 5N EV struggles to match in terms of raw emotion, tactility and, of course, price.
Jaguar XE
It's a sad year for Jaguar as it puts three leading models out to pasture, making way for a slew of new EVs, starting with its 3 Series rival, the XE. The XE launched to much fanfare in 2014, offering sharp looks and a driving experience that was – are you sitting down – better than a BMW's thanks to quick steering and sharp body control.
But unlike the BMW, the XE had some axe-sized chinks in its armour, like its horribly plasticky interior and new generation Ingenium engines that had a frightening knack for going bang. Sadly, the XE's close-but-no-cigar performance is a metaphor for Jaguar.
Jaguar XF
The Jaguar XF suffered from many of the problems of the XE, giving off the pungent odour of a car desperate for fresh investment. Outside, it looked smart (if a little dated), but inside, it felt a world away from a BMW 5 Series with stoneage infotainment and questionable interior fittings. It also lacked back seat space, an omission in a car aimed at older families.
That's a shame because what the XF lacked on paper, it made up for in the feel of a ride/handling balance that could cream over terrible road surfaces while simultaneously offering agile handling. Even the XF's relative simplicity was refreshing; it was a car you could get in and drive rather than getting bogged down in settings.
Jaguar F-Type
Many have tried and failed to knock the Porsche 911 off its sports car perch, and the F-Type is just another casualty in this respect. It's easy to forget how jaw-droppingly-good-looking the F-Type was; combining acres of bonnet with a pert rear end when it first went on sale in 2013 made a 911 look ordinary. There was much to like in the driving department, too, the Jaguar swapping the scalpel-like precision of a Porsche for lairy handling and the thuggish power of a supercharged V8 motor.
Sadly, the F-Type got worse rather than better with time. Four-wheel drive took some of the car's character away, and a midlife facelift made it look fussier while doing little to improve on an original failing, its plasticky old-fashioned interior.
Lexus LC500
Lexus had a chequered history of building coupes, the original SC forever tarnished as a rebadged Toyota Soarer while its replacement, the SC430, had a retired-dentist image it never shook off. The newer RC was a bit of a miss, too. It’s fair to say, expectations were low when rumours of a new Lexus coupe circulated ahead of 2016's Detroit motor show. Until we laid eyes on it and realised it was one of the prettiest coupes ever built, one that looked quite unlike anything else. That went for the inside, too, which was fabulous looking and beautifully built.
And the news just got better when you drove the Lexus. Underneath its space age looks lurked a familiarly old-school front-engined, rear-wheel drive V8. And what a V8. Revving to well over 7,000rpm it sounded like it belongs in a NASCAR and gives the Lexus just the right amount of performance for the road. Factor in rear-wheel steering and the LC in many ways feels like a supersized GR86. Safe to say, it is one 2024’s saddest losses.
Lexus RC F
The Lexus RC F never quite escaped the shadow of its prettier, faster, sharper-handling and newer LC stablemate but, on the plus side, it is more attainable on the secondhand market. And it came with the same wonderful 5.0-litre V8 which was a naturally aspirated aurally excellent repost to the muffled mid-range thump of turbocharged alternatives.
The F’s engine was delightful old school, but the rest of the car felt plain old long before its 2024 culling. Unlike the LC which feels like a sports GT with a muscle car engine, the RC F feels pure muscle car with a chassis that is relatively inert and uncommunicative. Inside, it lacked the high-end swagger of the LC, which made the unintuitive infotainment system that bit harder to live with. Nevertheless, we’ll certainly not toast the RC’s passing.
Mercedes C-Class Coupe and Convertible
The C-Class Coupe and Convertible died in 2024, making way for the new CLE Coupe and Convertible, which replaced two-door versions of both the C-Class and the E-Class. The basic C-Class was a decent enough car with neat handling and a beautiful interior. C43 versions gave you a silky smooth six-cylinder engine and serious performance thanks, in no small part, to the traction of their four-wheel drive system.
But the passing of the C-Class is unfortunate because it means the C63 is also dead, taking your last chance to have Merc's absurdly good twin-turbocharged 4.0-litre V8 in a lairy rear-wheel-drive package. Mercedes replaced the V8 with a hybridised four-cylinder in the saloon; fingers and toes crossed, the same won't happen in the CLE.
Mercedes E-Class Coupe and Convertible
According to Mercedes product people, customers found the C-Class Coupe/Convertible too small and its E-Class equivalents too big; the answer? Replace them with CLE, which splits the two in terms of size. We'll mourn the demise of the old E-Class, a car that felt like an old-school Merc thanks to its lavish interior, pampering air suspension and fabulous pillarless interior.
Mercedes didn't bother offering an AMG-fettled E-Class Coupe; your only option was the E53, which offered a similar pace but with the security of four-wheel drive that, in some ways, better suited the car's grown-up personality.
Mercedes CLS
The Mercedes CLS – a four-door coupe based on the E-Class – must have seemed like a niche model back when it went on sale in 2004, but its combination of sleek looks and near-conventional-saloon practicality meant it endured for nigh on 20 years. The CLS' sleek looks and frameless windows gave the car a glamorous appeal that was entirely consistent with its three-pointed star badge and came backed up by a driving experience that was just a little bit sharper than one of the firm's saloons.
The outgoing model is arguably the best-looking, with a lavish interior that perfectly matches the exterior. The most powerful model is the E53, but we'd argue that the torquey six-cylinder diesel's long-legged range matches the car's GT personality even better.
Mini Clubman
The Mini Clubman's demise will become an evermore familiar tail as it steps aside to make way for the new all-new mini Aceman – a pure electric crossover that combines a relatively small size with decent practicality. The Clubman is the complete opposite of the Aceman; aside from being only available as a petrol or diesel, it was almost unique in that it was an estate car that wasn't actually that practical. That said, it was much more practical than the Mini three-door, displaying a similar eagerness to corner.
Cooper S and JCW models offered tempting levels of performance and ALL4 four-wheel drive, but the three-cylinder Cooper's lightweight engine's frugality and punchy performance matched the Mini best.
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