Our favourite 80s coupes

The 1980s were a decade for conspicuous consumption – 'greed is good' and all that – and, as such, were a fruitful time for brash, lavishly styled, rapid (and thirsty) sports cars. Yes, the 1980s were a good era for the coupé. Here are just a few of our favourites – all of which should now be protected with some specialist classic car insurance.

Ford Capri Mk3

First onto many people's team sheets when it comes to iconic 1980s coupes, the Ford Capri achieved the noteworthy feat of making an elegant, stylish coupe affordable to the masses.
It may have boasted head-turning looks, but the Capri was within the budget of most British households. And that was why, in the late 1970s and early '80s, you'd find a vehicle that looked like something from a car designer's daydream, parked on suburban roads from Skipton to Surbiton. That, in turn, means that a decent Capri is not all that hard to find on the used market today. Indeed, it's one of the cars for which we receive a lot of classic vehicle insurance queries here at Lancaster.

The Capri was a fine thing to drive, too, with its live rear axle and leaf spring suspension. Better still, you can probably find an engine to suit your budget and driving style, from the frankly underpowered 1.3 to the hairy-chested 2.8 Cologne V6.

Volvo 480

You may not have been expecting a Volvo on our list of favourite 80s coupes. After all, weren't Volvo busy turning out generations of super-safe, super-sturdy estates at the time?
Well, yes – but they also had time to produce this sleek beast, their first front-wheel drive car. We're not even exactly sure whether it qualifies as a coupe – is that rear windscreen sufficiently steeply raked? Maybe it's technically a lift back.

Whatever it is, the striking 480 beamed itself down onto Britain's late-1980s roads like something from another planet, with that sleek front bonnet and frameless, all-glass tailgate.

If it recalled anything at all, the 480 reminded us of the last elegant car Volvo had built, the legendarily beautiful P1800 – in particular its shooting brake variant, which, like this car, got the frameless tailgate treatment.

Volvo 480s weren't all that common on Britain's roads, meaning you'll have a job to find one now.

VW Scirocco

Confession: we have a definite soft spot for the slightly more delicate, 1970s-wedge looks of the first-generation Scirocco. However, if we're reaching for 1980s icons – and, let's be honest, if you want just that little bit more reliability and rust protection – we'd steer you towards the almost equally elegant second generation, available in the UK from 1981 onwards.

The Mk2 Scirocco came in 1.6 and (turbocharged) 1.8 variants – if we're honest, the former doesn't deliver the performance that the looks seem to promise, so unless you just want the thing for looks alone, go for a 1.8, bearing either the GTi or Scala imprint.

Incidentally, 'scirocco' is the name of a hot, dusty wind in the Libyan desert. Seems that VW got into a cycle of naming cars after winds – see also their Bora and Passat ranges.

Opel Manta GTE

We always had a soft spot for the Opel Manta – perhaps partly because Opel, as opposed to its British twin Vauxhall, was a fairly unfamiliar marque on Britain's roads in the 1980s. But there were also those looks – like a Chevette or Cavalier given a dose of steroids.

You could get the Manta in either hatchback or 'notchback' style – the former was the more practical, the latter arguably the more stylish (and rarer on Britain's roads as we remember, lending it that extra cachet).

Both forms won themselves quite the cult following in this brash, bold decade – and beyond, meaning that neither will be especially cheap today. You may also have a task finding one that's not been messed about with, as they were popular with the boy racer brigade. That's why we'd recommend pairing any Opel Manta GTE with some specialist classic car insurance in case you have to do a little restoration of your own.

Opel Monza

Another Opel. The coupe version of the Vauxhall / Opel Senator executive saloon, the Monza aimed for that difficult balance of good looks and practicality. And, by our reckoning at least, its aim was true.

Four adults could sit comfortably in this large coupe (it had been spun off Vauxhall / Opel's largest saloon, after all) and the boot was easily big enough for all your weekend getaway paraphernalia.

The Monza also drove well, blessed as it was with a MacPherson strut suspension system (beloved by Lotus) for the front wheels, and independent suspension at the rear. If you can find a Monza with the sports package (branded 'S'), meanwhile, you'll get 15-inch alloys and a limited slip differential.

Mitsubishi Starion

A worthy successor to 1970s wedges such as the Lotus Esprit and Fiat X1/9, the Starion looks pretty purposeful – and had the grunt to match its good looks. The car also has the unusual distinction of featuring one of the largest four-cylinder engines ever brought into production – a whopping 2.6 litre, no less. That gives it a certain rarity value all of its own.

Performance-wise, the Starion was a good match for the Porsche 944, which gives you an idea of the kind of sporting credentials we're talking about. Both cars could reach a top speed of 137mph (22km/h), though the Japanese car would be your pick in a drag race, being able to sprint from 0-60 in 7.6 seconds compared to the 944's 8.4 seconds.

Depending on what sort of statement you want to make (or not), you might opt for either an earlier Starion, with its narrow wheel arches and 2.0-litre engine, or a later model with its flared wings and that beefy 2.6-litre unit.

BMW 6-Series (E24)

A few models seem to epitomise the classic BMW look – the twin round front headlamps are essential here – and, for our money, most of them come from the 1980s. If you want sleek coupe looks and your wallet won't baulk at some fairly hefty fuel bills, you simply can't ignore the coupe curves of the original 6-Series.

It may be around 40 years old now, but the 6 Series' cabin still manages to feel luxurious, with plenty of leather and soft fabrics, a dashboard full of instruments and kit, and general top-notch German build quality everywhere you look. The driving position is nicely low to the ground, and you'll find it a very pleasant car to punt around in.

Lotus Excel

We've said it before on this blog: Lotus was at its futuristic, wedge-shaped best in the 1970s, with the Eclat, Elite and early iterations of the Esprit all showing the Norfolk manufacturers at their boldest and most angular.

The 1980s evolutions of these cars – the Eclat becoming the Excel, the Esprit softening its lines a little with each new generation, and the Elite disappearing altogether – didn't quite hit those heights. However, they're still arresting cars to look at and, this being Lotus, utterly engaging to drive.

More of a grand tourer with sporting pretensions (as distinct from the out-and-out sports car that was the Esprit), the Excel benefited from 50/50 weight distribution, typically fine Lotus handling, and the 912 engine that also graced the Esprit.

Toyota Celica Supra (A60)

The first two generations (including this A60) of the Toyota Supra were still branded as part of the larger Celica range. It wasn't until its successor, the A70, that the Supra would split off as its own sporting subsection.

The A60 Celica Supra was a good-looking beast, with its pop-up headlights and low bonnet line. It was also starting to reach for the performance car status that it would achieve, with such crushing brilliance, in the Mk4 Supra.

The 2.8-litre straight-six engine gave you a 0-60 mph time of 8.8 seconds. As you'd expect from a company enjoying strong links with Lotus at the time, the car got MacPherson struts for its front suspension.
You can get a MkII Supra in either L-Series or Performance trims – the extras added on for the latter are mostly cosmetic, such as flared wheel arches, wider wheels and a sportier cabin.

VW Corrado

Yes, it's a second entry in our list for Volkswagen, who had a rather good decade when it came to coupes.

The second-gen Scirocco we mentioned above was a good car: the Corrado was better. Indeed, it's not too fanciful to call it one of the very best cars of the late 1980s and early 1990s. The Corrado harked back, in some ways, to the Mk1 Scirocco's styling, with its folder-paper creases: in fact, it was a close relation of the Mk2 Golf, but got a Passat dashboard to take it that little bit upmarket.

Clever touches abounded, including a rear spoiler that remained hidden much of the time, whirring smoothly upwards once you reached motorway speeds.

Porsche 924

Yes, you probably want a 911, but if the budget doesn't stretch that far – or maybe, just maybe, you prefer the wedgier, pop-up-headlights futurism of the 924 – you can do a whole lot worse than Porsche's entry-level car for the 1980s.

Going against what you might expect from the German marque, the 924 is not actually all that quick – and don't even think about carrying anyone in the back. These two minor reservations aside, the 924 will make a pretty rewarding ownership experience, with those space-age looks complemented by a VW Group engine that should prove easy to maintain.

There's also, as with many of the cars we're mentioning here, an excellent UK owners' club. We'd always recommend joining clubs to meet like-minded owners, share some knowledge and maybe even pick up a discount on your collector car insurance.

Alfa Romeo GTV6

The GTV bears the hand of those illustrious coachbuilders Bertone and is, like so many Alfas, a very fine thing to look at. Launched as the Alfetta GT in 1974, the GTV 2000 joined the range in 1977, with its two-litre engine and a typically fruity, burbling soundtrack we'd come to expect from Alfa twin-cam units.

By 1981, the GTV had been given the V6 engine from Alfa Romeo's flagship Alfa 6 executive saloon, and was renamed the GTV6. The addition of a Bosch fuel injection system hiked the car's power up to 160bhp: this was now a powerful as well as a stylish and beautiful-sounding Italian coupe.

Being an Alfa, it also handles rather well: take a GTV6 down your favourite twisting B-road and you'll be grinning for days afterwards.

Alfa Romeos tend to be well looked after, so most of the GTVs you'll come across in the classifieds should be in good condition. As ever with this marque, we have to issue a warning about rust, but even that problem won't be insuperable if you get to it in good time.

Saab 900

Coupé? Hatchback? Notchback? Saloon? Let's just skip the small matter of classification, and content ourselves with stating the obvious: the Saab 900 is one of those cars, like an Audi Quattro or E30 3 Series, that just exudes 1980s cool from every pore.

It should be cheaper to get hold of than either of those German cars, as well. That assumes, of course, that you go for a bog-standard non-turbocharged version – and we think you'll do just fine with one of those, as you get that distinctive fighter-plane cockpit and those unmistakable looks whatever engine you go for.

If you want real thrills and spills, though (and have relatively deep pockets), you can look out for the faster Turbo variants.

Classic car insurance from Lancaster

Any one of these cars would make a very exciting ownership prospect. They'll all be of a certain age by now and may – being sporting coupes – have been driven hard back in their 1980s heyday. You may want to undertake a little restoration – and you'll certainly want to protect these beautiful period pieces for as long as possible.

That’s where classic car insurance comes in. Contact us today to find out more.

Policy benefits, features and discounts offered may very between insurance schemes or cover selected and are subject to underwriting criteria. Information contained within this article is accurate at the time of publishing but may be subject to change.