'best' is such a vague word. best performance would have to be the maclaren F1, or even F1 LM, no question about that.
'best' workmanship could be something like a benz or more probably a rolls royce, i personally think the silver shadow II was the best ever rolls royce (in the looks department).
'best' looker in my opinion would be a porsche carrera GT, or a 996 GT3. maybe an F40 too, but i've really developed at taste for porsches recently.
whereas 'best' overall would be something that made a difference to people's lives, something that made cars affordable and accessible to all. maybe the model T ford would fit in well here. though a small car like the ford fiesta was also a smashing success, i've driven several and i love them, they are practical for a city environment and the interior is very well layed out, if you're not looking for performance what more do you need in a car?
i don't think there is a car that can satisfy all those categories, the mclaren F1 is beautiful, performs well and has a certain element of practicality (it has space for 2 passengers and your golf clubs!
) but is horrendously over priced and even if you had the money you may be hard pushed to find one.
to me the most important thing about a car is that it should have excellent performance but not at the expense of reliability. the car should also look good and be practical when u need it to be (i.e. carrying a few suitcases and a couple of ur friends). although i've never driven one, taking into account the above and basing it on many other people's opinions i'd say the BMW M5 fits this description perfectly. in terms of looks i'd have to go for the e39 but im sure they are all superb in their own right, so that would be my choice as the 'best' car. though i don't think top gear even has that on their list!!! heh
The new series is the best ever. I nearly died when they didn't show it last week. But it's on again this week 
It's just so funny, Clarkson is fantastic. Oh and the cool board is perfect because it is so obviously just what JC thinks and not what most others think 
