Attainable cars with supercar-style thrills that you can lease

We’ve all dreamed of owning a supercar, but for most of us it’s just a National Lottery pipe dream. However, there are plenty of 'regular'(ish) cars that serve up supercar-style thrills. They might not have quite the time warp acceleration or visual bombast – the scissor-doored, door wedge looks of a Lamborghini or a McLaren. But they do have some character traits that make them... super.
And anyways, supercars are totally overrated. Way too fast to be any good on public roads, horribly impractical, ridiculously expensive, embarrassingly ostentatious…. ah, who are we kidding, they’re awesome. Still, if you want to lease something that’s reasonably attainable (less than £1,000 per month) but with a hint of supercar, here are five picks we think you’ll love.

Ford could have killed off the Mustang last year, and if they had, most people would have been like, “oh, that’s sad, but we get it…CO2 emissions and all that.” But nope, in 2024 Ford gave us a brand new one, still powered by a 5.0-litre V8 engine, still louder than Mr Motivator’s jumpsuit, and available with a manual gearbox if you want it. It’s a proper old school, rear-wheel drive, 18mpg-if-you’re-lucky muscle car sticking eight cylinders up at electrification. If any non-supercar is a supercar in spirit, this is it.
Find a Ford Mustang GT with Auto Trader Leasing here.

What? A Toyota Yaris? Surely not? But this is the GR Yaris – as in, the ‘Gazoo Racing’ Yaris – and if you know, you know. This is basically a race car hidden underneath a kebab shop delivery vehicle. The GR Yaris is effectively a World Rally Championship (WRC) car for the road, put on sale to satisfy a rule that states WRC teams must compete with a ‘production’ car. The body shares virtually nothing with a standard Yaris – just the wing mirrors and taillights, really – and all the mechanical bits are designed for one thing: cornering speed. The result is a car that’s absolutely sublime to drive, up in the supercar category for pure thrills. It’s almost weird, like seeing a 98-year-old win Gladiators. Imagine Barney Walsh's happy face.
Find a Toyota GR Yaris with Auto Trader Leasing here.

We’re stretching the rules here, because you can only just get an Eletre for less than £1,000 per month – at the moment you’ll need a 12-month deposit, four-year term, and only 6k miles per year. And that won’t get you into the most mental Eletre either, the one with 905 horsepower, which Lotus claims is the “world’s fastest dual-motor pure electric SUV”. It does 0-62mph in 2.9 seconds. Yikes. Anyways, the 603-horsepower version is quick enough (4.5 seconds), has the same ‘super-SUV’ styling, and the same screen-laden tech-fest of an interior. Only the (ageing) Lamborghini Urus and the (aesthetically challenged) Ferrari purosangue surpass the Eletre for SUV-based exotica, which tells you everything you need to know.
Find a Lotus Eletre with Auto Trader Leasing here.

The latest Civic Type R really does feel like a supercar boiled down to a practical hatchback. It’s beautifully raw and visceral to drive, yet fundamentally a very flexible and spacious family runabout. Sacrifices are made though, mainly through your tailbone and eardrums; the Civic Type R rides so hard, and drones so loudly at 70mph, that being on a motorway in one feels like being strapped to an industrial jetwash. Totally worth it, though. Just one corner taken in a Type R, and one gearchange made using the laser-precise manual gearbox, and you’ll realise that you’re driving the Justin Fletcher of hot hatchbacks. (It’s Something Special. Sorry. That was awful.)
Find a Honda Civic Type R with Auto Trader Leasing here.

Two words: Ferrari engine. That’s the Giulia Quadrifoglio’s headline. It’s only partly true – literally, because the Giulia Quadri-unpronounceable’s engine is “derived from” the eight-cylinder engine in the softest Ferrari, the California. But with two of those cylinders chopped off. Still… Ferrari engine! And it’s a peach, producing 512 horsepower and propelling the Giulia to 62mph in just 3.9 seconds. But more than that, the Quadrifoglio is a wonderful thing all round. Mesmerising to drive and awesome to look at and listen to, it’s every bit as exotic as you want an Italian thing to be. But it’s also practical and surprisingly well-built. A sensational saloon.
Find an Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio with Auto Trader Leasing here.