I recently asked the Jalopnik audience to tell me about their favorite French cars, because all of the best cars are French cars, and y’all delivered with some awesome answers. For today’s question of the day I decided to repeat the experiment, but this time asking you about your favorite Italian cars, inspired by going to the Macchinissima show in Los Angeles over the weekend. There are countless Italian cars that are, if not absolutely beautiful as is the accurate stereotype, at least a lot more interesting than the average car — just not quite as interesting as French ones.
When people talk about their favorite Italian cars, you’ll hear about everything from the Ferrari F40 and Lamborghini Countach to the Fiat Panda 4×4 and Alfa Romeo SZ Zagato. Italy has made some of the greatest affordable small cars the world has ever seen, and some of the greatest sports and supercars the world has ever seen. There’s all sorts of excellent obscure Italian cars that I’m sure Jalopnik readers are raring to talk about, too. So, head to the comments to tell me what your favorite Italian car is and why, with bonus points if it’s something you’ve actually owned or driven. I’ll round up the best ones later this week. But first, I’ll tell you my favorite.
My favorite
When I talked about French cars my easy immediate answer was the Citroën DS, my favorite car of all time, but when it came to picking one Italian car to highlight in this QOTD I had a much tougher time. I could have said things like the Lamborghini Miura or Alfa Romeo Brera, or maybe the Ferrari FF. But I think I’ve got to go with the Lancia Delta S4, a mid-engine version of the brand’s hatchback developed for Group B rallying and homologated for road use. Only 28 of the race car were made, and while Lancia was supposed to produce 200 of the Stradale, fewer than 100 may actually have been made. It was based on a custom space frame and used a turbocharged and supercharged 1.8-liter four-cylinder sending 247 horsepower and 215 pound-feet of torque to all four wheels. The race version made double that, but I think the road car is even cooler because, well, you can drive it on the road. There were a lot of cool Group B machines, but I think the Lancia is the coolest, especially in production form. If I hadn’t picked the Delta, I probably would’ve chosen the Stratos or 037, two of Lancia’s iconic rallying efforts. But to me it represents everything that I love about Italian cars, even if it’s not the prettiest.
What about you, Jalops? What’s your favorite Italian car? Start arguing down below.
Lancia
