By Ryan Hirons
All good things must come to an end, or so the saying goes. That often holds true across the automotive world, be it the end of a long-lived model line, a type of engine, or even entire brands in some cases.
Which leads us to the list of 10 incredibly varied cars with one big thing in common. All were to be the last of their kind, in one way or another.
Dodge Viper: America’s Last Manual-Only Supercar
| 2017 Dodge Viper | |
|---|---|
| Engine | 8.4-liter V10 |
| Power | 645 hp |
| Torque | 600 lb-ft |
| 0-60 mph | 3.5 seconds |
While America’s supercar culture isn’t as rich as Europe's, the States have produced some of the all-time greats. Think the revival of the Ford GT, the Saleen S7, world-beating Hennessey Venom F5, and C6 Corvette ZR1 as some of the real standouts.
All of those cars had one thing in common: You could only have them with a manual gearbox, a trait that is dead in the modern world of American supercars.
The last to carry that stick shift flame was the Dodge Viper, a car that famously pushed back against modernity across all of its generations. Although debatably the most refined of all the Vipers, the final generation of the car remained one of the rawest in its class until its demise in 2017.
Lamborghini Huracan: The Last V10 Sports Car
| 2023 Lamborghini Huracan Evo | |
|---|---|
| Engine | 5.2-liter V10 |
| Power | 602 hp |
| Torque | 413 lb-ft |
| 0-60 mph | 2.9 seconds |
The V10 engine is one of the great configurations, producing some of the most distinct and incredible sounds in the automotive world. Just give the Lexus LFA and the Porsche Carrera GT a listen.
Sadly, though, as internal combustion is throttled by emissions regulations and a push towards electrification, the V10 is no more, and almost certainly will never return in a mainstream sports car.
It gives the Lamborghini Huracán a place in history as the final V10-powered car to have been built, outlasting the mechanically similar Audi R8 by a little over a year. Its 5.2-liter 10-cylinder engine has made way for a 10,000 rpm hybrid V8 in the Temerario, so at least its replacement offers plenty to appreciate.
993 Porsche 911: The Last Air-Cooled 911
| 1998 Porsche 911 Turbo | |
|---|---|
| Engine | 3.6-liter Flat-6 |
| Power | 408 hp |
| Torque | 398 lb-ft |
| 0-60 mph | 4.2 seconds |
From its very inception in 1964, the Porsche 911 has been a car aimed squarely at the enthusiast. Its early iterations, especially, traded on a raw, driver-focused experience with an emphasis on a pure mechanical feel.
For its first three generations, using air-cooled flat-six engines was a key component in the package, delivering a more raw sound and reduced weight.
When the fourth-generation 996 911 came in 1997, though, it marked the biggest change to the sports car yet. Along with switching to water-cooled engines, it notably grew in size and tech, arguably becoming a softer-focused car than those that came before it.
It left the 993 generation as the last wave of 911s to use air-cooled engines, driving up their desirability to hardcore Porsche fans.
Suzuki Swift Sport: Last Naturally Aspirated Hot Hatch
| 2017 Suzuki Swift Sport | |
|---|---|
| Engine | 1.6-liter Inline-4 |
| Power | 134 hp |
| Torque | 118 lb-ft |
| 0-60 mph | 8.4 seconds |
Although the hot hatch is only really a recent mainstream phenomenon in the US, the formula of a performance-focused everyday hatchback is one that gearheads in Europe and Japan have adored for decades.
Starting with the Mk1 Volkswagen Golf GTI, hot hatches traded on high-revving, naturally aspirated engines as a core part of the package for years, until turbocharging became a common way of reducing emissions and boosting power.
Every hot hatch available in the last decade has relied on turbocharging, with the final naturally aspirated one a car never sold in the US. That goes to the Suzuki Swift Sport, a small hatch with a 1.6-liter engine producing 132 hp. Sure, not a huge amount, but in a car weighing just 2,315 lbs, it made for an incredible recipe.
Ferrari California: Last Manual Ferrari
| 2012 Ferrari California | |
|---|---|
| Engine | 4.3-liter V8 |
| Power | 483 hp |
| Torque | 372 lb-ft |
| 0-60 mph | 3.8 seconds |
There’s little in life more appealing than a Ferrari with a gated manual shifter. Sadly, that’s a recipe that’s now lost to time, with the Italian supercar maker now exclusively focusing on automatic and dual-clutch gearboxes.
So, was there some incredible, limited-run, special model to honor the legacy of the Ferrari with a stick shift? Err, no. Actually, the last manual Ferrari was the cheapest one you could buy.
That honor went to the Ferrari California for the 2012 model year, the last Ferrari on sale with a traditional gated manual option. Just two were said to be equipped with the transmission that year, making them an unexpected collector’s item.
Sources: Continental Ferrari, The Guardian
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This article originally appeared on CarBuzz and is republished here with permission.
