Give a little respect: Cars that deserve more love

Mazda 323F - Lawrence Allan

When was the last time you saw one of these? The humble 323F, in my view, is the only mid-1990s family hatchback that still looks good – and there was substance to the style. It was marketed as a four-door coupé way before Mercedes kicked off the modern trend, and it even came with pillarless doors. Novel, too, was the super-smooth 2.0-litre V6 that top versions were offered with – showing Mazda’s left-field engineering to be alive and well. With a limited range and Mazda’s small dealer presence back then, it never sold strongly in the UK, sadly.

Vauxhall Insignia - Matt Saunders

I’ve got plenty of friends who want a big, second-hand family car to use and abuse – and who know they really don’t want an oversized box-on-wheels SUV or MPV. It’s always interesting to discover if they’re still friends after I tell them to buy an Insignia. This is one of the most underrated cars of the past two decades. Not dynamically, granted, but in terms of how much space, usability and mechanical spec it afforded. You want a ‘normal’ family car with three Isofix points across the back seats and 60:40 second-row seats split to best facilitate right-hand-drive, two-up, front-seat-folded tip runs and flat-pack missions? Then trust me: you want an Insignia.

The car had a platform engineered for both Saab and Alfa Romeo, don’t forget. Towards the end of its life, it gained torque-vectored four-wheel drive, adaptive dampers and a 192bhp 2.0-litre turbodiesel motor that would allow close to 50mpg on a run and approaching 8.0sec 0-60mph sprints. A 2014 or 2015 Country Tourer wagon in the aforementioned mechanical trim (which also had a bit extra suspension travel for boosted ride comfort) would be my pick.

Citroen C1 - Steve Cropley

It’s always been a wonder to me that the world doesn’t love the C1 more. We keep telling anyone who’ll listen that cheap, 3.6-metre-long, do-it-all cars are on the point of extinction, yet here’s a car with a track record of faithful service in earlier iterations that shows no signs of going away.

The fact that the C1 isn’t rushed in showrooms might just be because it shares nearly everything with the Peugeot 108 and Toyota Aygo, and its appeal is thus divided by three. But in my opinion, Citroën has done well with the C1’s looks. And because the mechanicals and build procedures are Toyota-standard, it’s a really good proposition.

Volkswagen Golf V5 - Felix Page

Golf GTI fans were vocal in their disappointment of the fourth generation of the hallowed hot hatch. But there was a punchy alternative that, today, is no more than a footnote on the fast Golf tapestry: the V5.

Its 2.3-litre motor, the only narrow-angle five-cylinder under the bonnet of a production car, sounds like nothing else on the road and, with top-spec cars packing 170bhp, is capable of up to 139mph. It’s extremely thirsty, but the V5 is one of the last true Q-cars, and rapidly rising prices show that enthusiasts are finally wising up.

Citroen C4 Cactus - Jim Holder

For everyone else there was bigger, faster and better. For Citroën, there was an existential moment of realisation that the brand’s heritage didn’t just give it licence to be different – it demanded it was. The resulting car was a shocking shift away from what nigh-on everyone else was offering, from its wacky Airbump external styling to the deep and comfy ‘lounge seats’ in the front. Its makers declared it a car to love or hate. To be first on your shortlist or last. In that regard, it succeeded. The pity was that it sat last in too many buyers’ minds. Citroën is still different today, and in that regard the C4 Cactus fulfilled a role, but the resultant rowing back on some of the more extreme aspects of its purpose to deliver wider appeal still feels like a loss.

Honda Jazz - James Attwood

Clearly, Jazz owners don’t overlook this Japanese hatchback: they love it. They’ll buy one, look after it and then buy another, with nary a furtive glance at other models. The trouble is that, well, they’re Jazz owners: somewhat elderly and more concerned with practicality, reliability and value than driving dynamics, style and so on. But give Honda its due: it’s not easy to build such a loyal customer base, and it has done that by listening to them. While other firms aim to go upmarket, the Jazz delivers exactly what its buyers want and nothing more. For that, if nothing else, it should be appreciated more.