A big chunk of the magic over the years has been the sheer variety of machinery that we’ve pedalled around the UK’s most testing roads and circuits. You might think that the finest performance exotica of the past 35 years are out of your price bracket, but there is some salvation. Thanks to the forces of time and depreciation, plus the aforementioned diversity of machinery, there are plenty of fantastic yet properly attainable options out there.

So read on for our guide to the best-handling bargains we’ve driven over the past three and a half decades. Let's begin with the cheap as chips cars...