What were your favourite cars of 2011?

Welcome, Christmas; that time of year to ponder on the complexities and nuances of the past 12 months and its relevance to society's universal timeline while gorging mercilessly on cheese and port.

We may ponder on our actions towards our fellow man, but it's much more fun to ponder on the beauty of internal combustion. Specifically, the kind of combustion that occurs inside a bright orange, wide-bodied and faintly ludicrous Lamborghini Aventador, or indeed, the barely-contained fury of a Mercedes SLS roadster wound up to 11. Or a V12 Aston Martin Virage.

You see, wishing goodwill to all men is fine and dandy, but goodwill doesn't go sideways in a plume of tyre smoke around a corner, nor bellow out a metallic roar that singes your inner synapses. So yes, be good to your neighbour, but while you're doing so, remind yourself of the very best cars to come from 2011.

More cheese?

"Thank God there are Lamborghini owners in the world, bringing these absurdist performance artworks, this automotive pageantry, out onto the streets for the rest of us to enjoy. Lambos are the perfect riposte to po-faced Ferraris and overpowered German executive saloons..."

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"The epic 571bhp, naturally-aspirated V8 is as timewarp fast as it is in the Gullwing. It's an extraordinary canon of sound to go with the power. A belly-shaking, sabre-rattling roar that hilariously multiplies the sensation of speed..."

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"The 911 used to be as much defined by its quirks and foibles as it was by its genius. Well, the foibles have gone. The genius is now more ingenious than ever..."

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"In Track mode, with all the driver aids turned down to a minimum, it absolutely flies. In a straight line, and round the corners, I would say that it is faster than the 458. And with the optional ceramic brakes, and that big wing on the back, I would guess it stops faster too..."

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"...the noise doesn't so much filter its way in through the medium of your ears, but explode bomb-like in the centre of your head, splashing white-hot sonic shrapnel against the back of your eyes. It's so loud and penetrating it stings..."

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"...the Rangey has scrambled its way up a mountain, bashed its way across the world's biggest dunes, clambered over hideous rock fields and even made a fair fist of skiing a glacier. Unless you spec your Evoque with the dubious aluminium-flower-pattern trim of our Iceland test car, there's nothing hairdresser-ish about it. On a pluck-per-pound basis, the Evoque is the ballsiest car in the world..."

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"Push the middle button again, and a heavy-duty starter motor thrums behind your right ear and the percussive bark of a 5.0-litre V8 bangs through the cabin like a sawn-off at close range. Oh my. First impressions are that despite the calming post-modern whiteness of the interior, the Koenigsegg Agera R is no sanitised supercar. It sounds more like a racer. One of the angry ones..."

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"...as for the handling, it's sharper than a DB9 - surprise surprise - but not as sharp as a DBS..."

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"...then you remember that the redline doesn't cut in until 7200rpm, so you really ought to check out the upper reaches. A wise idea. Once past 4500rpm, the M5 is downright astonishing. It hits supercar hard - so hard that orange lights start to flicker and power is cut when travelling in a straight line. That'll be the wheels trying to unhook themselves from the tarmac's tenuous hold then..."

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"...this still drives like a Ferrari. You can still do glorious power slides, and the chassis doesn't feel numbed by the four-wheel drive set-up. This car is still full of feel. And yet it's also the first Ferrari that can do everything..."

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