10 Cool Cars We Wish We Could Buy In The UK

We’re rather fortunate in the UK to have a diverse car market that’s populated by manufacturers from all over the world, but that doesn’t stop us from being disappointed when we find out something particularly cool isn’t heading our way.

Below, we’ve rounded up 10 cars that are currently on sale in various parts of the world, but not here in Britain. We’ve not included cars that have been discontinued here but live on in other markets, like Hyundai’s N hot hatches or the Nissan GT-R, or cars that have debuted elsewhere first with plans for them to come here later. These are all cars that never have been on sale in the UK, and probably never will.

Nissan Z

We’ll start with the one that hurts the most. Nissan’s 370Z successor is one of our favourite kinds of cars: an old-fashioned, muscly two-door coupe with a big engine at the front, drive to the back, and a standard manual gearbox (unless it’s the faster Nismo version). You get a 3.0-litre, twin-turbo V6 making 400bhp (420 in the Nismo) and a proper mechanical limited-slip diff at the back, all in something that starts at the equivalent of about £34k in the US. Unfortunately, it’s that engine that means we’re denied it – it doesn’t meet stricter European emissions rules.

Toyota GR Corolla

The GR Corolla takes the brilliant GR Yaris’s combination of a turbocharged 1.6-litre three-cylinder, manual gearbox and four-wheel drive, and drops it into a larger, more practical five-door body. Of course, you could argue that we don’t really need it since we get the Yaris, which isn’t available in the US, but we’d love to have the Yaris’s brilliant drivetrain without its cramped rear quarters. Besides, Japan has the choice of both – why can’t we?

Ford Bronco

The revived Ford Bronco is the first proper rival the Jeep Wrangler has had for years, right down to the ability to leave your doors at home. We’re particularly fond of the dune-bashing Raptor version, which packs a 3.0-litre, 418bhp twin-turbo V6 under its bonnet, but we’d happily take the ‘regular’ 330bhp version, too. Initially only available in North America, it went on limited sale in certain European markets last year, but not the UK, where the sums clearly didn’t add up for Ford.

Copen GR Sport

Once upon a time, we could buy the diddy Daihatsu Copen kei roadster in Britain, but now that Daihatsu has left Europe entirely, any official sales of the new one are a pipe dream. Or are they? See, Daihatsu is now wholly owned by Toyota, which sells a version of the Copen jazzed up by its GR performance division. Shorn of both Daihatsu and Toyota badges and simply sold as a Copen, it still only has the 660cc engine and 63bhp mandated by kei car rules, but it certainly looks the part with Recaro seats, tiny BBS wheels and an angry little GR Yaris-aping face. Surely Toyota can sneak a few of these into its UK showrooms?

Lexus IS 500

Lexus’ rear-drive compact exec, the IS, was always a decent car, perhaps unfortunately saddled with the reputation of being Alan Partridge’s chariot of choice in the UK. It was discontinued here in 2020, but the following year it received an update in the US that saw the introduction of the IS 500. Using the same 5.0-litre V8 that had powered the old IS F, it makes 472bhp and gets Yamaha-developed rear dampers. A big engine in a reasonably small car will never not be appealing, especially when that engine is a naturally aspirated V8, an increasingly rare thing wherever you look.

Cupra Formentor VZ5

We can buy the Cupra Formentor in the UK, and a rather nice thing it is too, but we only have access to four-cylinder engines. Over in mainland Europe, there’s the Formentor VZ5, which borrows Audi’s firecracker 2.5-litre turbocharged inline-five, making 385bhp. Not long after it was unveiled, Cupra said that 10 VZ5s would in fact be imported to the UK, all in left-hand drive, but there’s no evidence of that ever happening. The Formentor’s just been facelifted, and there’s no word on the VZ5 carrying over, so it might not be around for much longer on the continent either.

Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing

The Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing is about as old-school as cars get. In fact, following the demise of the old Dodge Charger, we’re pretty sure it’s the only V8-powered manual saloon car left on sale. Said V8 is a gargantuan 6.2-litre supercharged LT4, producing 668bhp, all of which goes to the rear wheels, with a six-speed manual as the standard gearbox option. Cadillac’s tiny, crossover-centric presence in Europe means we’re denied both this and the smaller, M3-rivalling CT4-V Blackwing. Sigh.

BMW M3/M4 manual

A manual BMW M3 was once a given, but not any more. In Britain, the entry point for the BMW M3 and M4 range is the 503bhp Competition version, which is paired exclusively with an eight-speed automatic gearbox. Throughout the rest of Europe, and in North America, there’s a sub-Competition version, simply badged M3 and hooked up to an old-fashioned six-speed manual. Sure, it’s a bit down on power with 473bhp, but we’d happily take the 30bhp drop if it meant three pedals. Sadly, we’ve almost certainly seen our last three-pedal M3 in Britain, with BMW confirming that the current M2 will be the last manual M car full stop.

Hyundai Elantra N

Hyundai recently dropped its brilliant i20 and i30 N in Europe, leaving the electric Ioniq 5 N as the only current hot Hyundai here. As brilliant as the 5 N is, the end of Hyundai’s short but excellent run of petrol hot hatches saddens us. They live on in certain markets, but one car we’ve always been denied is the Elantra N, which features the i30 N’s 2.0-litre turbo motor and standard six-speed manual in a sleek saloon body. The market for small saloon cars here is simply too small these days for Hyundai to bother selling it, though.

Toyota Century

Most of this list has focused on raucous performance cars, so let’s round it out with something a little more relaxed. The Toyota Century has long been the go-to mode of transport for high-ranking Japanese execs and politicians, and is effectively Toyota’s rival to the likes of Bentley and Rolls-Royce, albeit with some unique touches like an optional wool interior. It once featured Japan’s only homegrown V12, but 2018’s third-generation model downsized (slightly) to a 5.0-litre V8 hybrid setup. There’s simply no market for this car in Britain, or really anywhere outside of Japan, but that doesn’t make us any less disappointed that we can’t find it beside Corollas and C-HRs in our local Toyota dealership.