ENRIGHT: Just get that dream car; it might be your last chance

This is, on the face of it, a truly great time to be a car enthusiast

Compiling the list of cars that we’re most looking forward to seeing in 2024 has only served to remind me that not only are we seeing peak internal combustion engine, but we’re seeing technology move apace in other areas.

The Ferrari 296 GTB showed that a hybrid V6 can be better than an atmo V8. The Tesla Cybertruck has demonstrated that 48v electricals and 4680 battery cells are a formidable technical combination.

Hyundai has proved beyond any measure of doubt with its Ioniq 5 N that an electric car can be involving and exciting to drive.

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New car sales in Australia last year broke all records, recovering from the one-two combo of pandemic and semiconductor shortages.

The cars for sale in 2024 are faster, smarter, cleaner, safer and more packed with features than ever before. I remember goggling at the performance of the Ferrari F40 back in 1987. If you’d have told me that, at some point in my professional life, a cheapish Chinese hatchback could leave Maranello’s finest for dead to 100km/h I’d have thought you’d need sectioning. Yet here we are.

Because the ICE gloves have come off, be in no doubt that some of the cars on sale now will be worth a fortune in a few years’ time. We’ll look back at cars like the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS and wonder why we didn’t squirrel one away in a dehumidified garage and retire on the proceeds.

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In fact, any of the cars in the sports car comparison in this issue ought to stand their owners in pretty good stead in years to come. They just won’t make them like that any more.

That doesn’t deter some online commenters though, with one visitor to the Wheels site claiming that the EV ‘fad’ had already passed. That ignores the fact that manufacturers like Hyundai, the Stellantis Group, Volvo and Nissan are cutting research and development budgets to zero on passenger vehicle internal combustion engines.

Very soon, there will be no more new engines being unveiled. The payback period on such projects is already becoming too short.

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Enjoy this brief window while it exists

If you’ve always wanted a brand new Ford Mustang V8 with a manual gearbox, go out and treat yourself. You’re not going to have the opportunity for very much longer.

I can’t get bent out of shape in any way about the minimal poofteenth of pollution that this last fling of enthusiast ICE cars will emit from their tailpipes. In the overall scheme of things, it’ll prove little but the most insignificant of rounding errors.

For those of you that are rusted-on petrolheads, we understand if the electric cars to date haven’t done much to get you excited. That will change.

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Companies like Porsche, Ferrari and Lamborghini will die if it doesn’t and that’s not going to happen.

I was recently speaking to some Porsche engineers who were working on EV projects and asked them whether they miss working on more traditional Porsche cars. Not one of them would go back. They all maintained that we are only just beginning to see the mind-bending things the next generation of all-electric powertrains and chassis are capable of.

So happy New Year to one and all. It could well be a cracker.