What’s Top Gear’s Car of 2014?

It's here at last: Top Gear magazine's massive, shiny Awards issue, in which we crown the very best cars of 2014.

And there have been some crackers from which to choose. From the ludicrous LaFerrari and revolutionary BMW i8 changing the face of hybrid, through Merc's AMG GT S and Lamborghini Huracan pushing fast in a whole new direction, to the new Renault Twingo and Citroen Cactus proving budget doesn't have to be boring, 2014 will go down as one of the epics in automotive history.

But what was its very finest car? Click through the following gallery to discover our Awards winners in each category - and find out what we crowned our overall Car of 2014. And then, for the full story on every car - and of course lots, lots more from Jeremy, James and Richard - pick up Top Gear magazine's Awards issue in print or digital form...

"They've skimped on the trim to keep the costs down - Amstrad would have rejected the head-up display graphics for being too old-fashioned. In 1985. But they've gone the extra mile with the bits that matter. So we get a properly fast car that's lovely to drive, for about half what we were expecting to pay."

Want the full verdict? Pick up Top Gear magazine's Awards issue in print or digital form...

"I've driven the LaFerrari very hard around Fiorano, twice, and even I can handle it. That alone makes it my Car of the Year. It's also an artwork. It's a massive indulgement, so it really has a duty to be beautiful, as a courtesy to other people who are forced to watch it go by."

Want the full verdict? Pick up Top Gear magazine's Awards issue in print or digital form...

"The 918 is a direct product of racing experience and outstanding technological development and application. It melds electric and petrol power perfectly to move the supercar into entirely new possibilities. It feels, and is, unlike anything else before or now. It is my Car of the Year, no doubt."

Want the full verdict? Pick up Top Gear magazine's Awards issue in print or digital form...

"Right out of the box, everything about the driving of the AMG is pretty well spot-on. Its bark is fierce and its actions sharp, but it's on your side. It's got the racing spirit of AMG, and the thoroughness of a Mercedes. It's got looks and soul, and is duly our Sports Car of the Year."

Want the full verdict? Pick up Top Gear magazine's Awards issue in print or digital form...

"It is the car that can do everything - 40mpg cruiser, upmarket business chariot, winter weapon, genuine thrill provider. Volkswagen has taken the already excellent GTI and left no stone unturned in its pursuit of improvement."

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"It's the most rounded, coherent car Lamborghini currently makes - and that means it's very good indeed. It contains the visceral thrill a Lambo should, but rounds off the raw edges to give us a car that doesn't feel like a hardship."

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"This is a masterwork of packaging, that knotty art of carving a large amount of space from within a very small wheelbase. The Twingo should be celebrated for what it is: a car that does the business of being a city car better than anything else out there."

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"It's Top Gear's favourite hatchback of 2014, but also the slowest, weirdest, friendliest and most thoughtful of our Cars of the Year. It's been honed to a very exacting principle and not a millimetre past it, fought hard for a new direction, and popped out the other side having beaten other manufacturers to the punch."

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"The interior works logically and brilliantly. Almost everything can be controlled by your thumbs on the wheel, it's intuitive and attractive and really rather, well, wonderful. The 2.0-litre in the TDI ultra is smooth, quiet and punchy, drives cleanly and is, maybe surprisingly, the version that impressed us more. It doesn't try hard to be great and so strikes a happy balance. Well done, Audi - this one's a corker."

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"The S-Class Coupe isn't about need. It's about want. This is the most profligate, unnecessary, gadget-filled monster currently on sale from Merc, and it is nothing short of glorious. It's both a technical highlight, and a beautiful thing to boot. And for those reasons, it is also Top Gear magazine's Luxury Car of the Year."

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"It's singular and superb and utterly magnificent. To drive this car in the blazing sun - the smells of the countryside whipping into the cabin and the Speciale's engine bouncing merrily around the hills above Maranello - is nothing short of magical."

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"Go to the outer edge of your personal comfort zone, and the Z06 will meet you there. It'll trade blows with the best that AMG, BMW, Ferrari or Porsche has to offer, on the trickiest tracks in the world. It'll make you feel like a million dollars, but costs a fraction of that. America has a new hero."

Want the full verdict? Pick up Top Gear magazine's Awards issue in print or digital form...

The BMW i8!

"The i8 is a milestone in the annals of automotive history and a glorious statement for an exciting and positive future. The i8 delivers - and then some.

It's the kind of car we should celebrate, a beautiful vision of the future, delivered now. A car that tells us the future will be different, but still exciting. The i8 never places its technology in the way of simple enjoyment, and, despite the complexity of that mixed-media drivetrain, it's all so easy to use, so natural, so right. And it has flip-up doors. Nothing says excitement like a set of beetle-wing portals.

We could have named the i8 Green Car of the Year, but it's so much more than that. It's Top Gear magazine's Car of the Year. It's the BMW i8."

Want the full verdict? Pick up Top Gear magazine's Awards issue in print or digital form...