6. 2004 MERCEDES-BENZ C55AMG
The next three cars on this list gained automatic entry into Cars in Action's Ten Best. - our trio of Performance cars of the year, that is. That annual contest joined our ever-popular holiday season Power Edition in 2005 and the first car to wear our illustrious Pcoty crown was Merc's fine C55 AMG. We're big AMG fans — we love that lunatic fringe. But C55 AMG did the business without being overly bezerk producing brilliant performance despite being some way down on power and torque on its supercharged siblings. Now all AMGs are aspirated and C55's even higher in our estimations. And being an all-round more sedate solution than its more pointed rivals, it sooner satisfies the more discerning driver, too...

Car: 2004 Mercedes C55 AMG
Engine: 5439cc DOHC 24-valve V8
Power: 270kW @ 5750rpm
Torque: 510Nm @ 4000rpm
Specific Power: 66kW per litre
Power to Weight: 179kW per tonne
0-100km/h: 5.4 seconds
¼-mile (g): 13.6 seconds @ 174km/h
Maximum Speed: 250km/h

7. 2007 AUDI RS4 CONVERTIBLE
Cars in Action's most recent Performance Car of the Year Audi RS4 represents a quantum shift from just another performance pretender to a genuine contender for that super salöon king's crown. Balanced, poised, super-driveable and oh-so desirable, RS4 is already available in sedan and convertible, while a wagon is imminent and RS5 will represent the coupe soon, so you have a broad choice of how to have yours, too. The cabrio's the one we got for our pictures, but either way, RS4 is the latest in a glorious long line of S and RS quattros and in our opinion the greatest. There is no way this car could escape the Cars in Action Ten Best...

Car: 2007 Audi RS4 Cabriolet
Engine: 4198cc QOHC 32-valve V8
Power: 309kW @ 7800rpm
Torque: 430Nm @ 5500rpm
Specific Power: 74kW per litre
Power to Weight: 167kW per tonne
0-100km/h: 4.9 seconds
¼-mile (g): 14.7 seconds @ 165km/h
Maximum Speed: 250km/h

8. 2005 BMW M5
Still our favourite car of all, BMW M5 is a sublime blend of supreme supercar and extreme limousine. Yes, that's certainly a hard-fought niche these days, but Munich is still best at it and M5 its ultimate weapon. There's a long line of Munich M-cars that deserved to be here, so this pretty much makes 5 the best of M, too. A technological tour de force, M5 pulls it off with subliminal ease, not only making the 507bhp 520Nm V10 masterstroke Cars in Action's 2006 Performance Car of the Year, but also establishing it as the ultimate uber saloon benchmark. Take it from us, the best of M was a natural choice, whatever composition of its company nere...

Car: 2005 BMW M5
Engine: 4998cc QOHC 40-valve V10
Power: 373kW @ 7750rpm
Torque: 520Nm @ 6100rpm
Specific Power: 75kW per litre
Power to Weight: 204kW per tonne
0-100km/h: 4.7 seconds
¼-mile (g): 13.5 secs @ 179km/h
Maximum Speed: 250km/h

9. 2007 PORSCHE 911 CARRERA GT3 RS
Like the M5, selecting just one Porsche from the past ten years was our biggest test. But then the Carrera GT3 RS saw to it that it wasn't such a big deal after all. Perhaps the single car that best epitomises what the magazine is all about — a sublime, uncompromised driver's dream that's so perfectly pointed and capable in that promise that those who do not fully appreciate it cannot understand it. I mean who in their right mind would drop two bar on a fully-loaded RS with its rear accommodation blocked off by roll cage pipes and tyres unlikely to last 5000km? We're pretty sure every single person who reads Cars in Action regularly would, or at least wants to. But then we all understand it, don't we? And our constitution protects minorities like us...

Car: 2007 Porsche 911 Carrera GT3 RS
Engine: 3600cc QOHC 24-valve Boxer-6
Power: 305kW @ 7600rpm
Torque: 405Nm @ 5500rpm
Specific Power: 85kW per litre
Power to Weight: 222kW per tonne
0-100km/h: 4.2 seconds
¼-mile (c): 12.2 seconds @ 189km/h
Maximum Speed: 310km/h

10. 2007 FERRARI F599 FIORANO
Without ultimates — or ultimate dreams at least — would life be worth living? Somehow I doubt it. And as an absolute car nut, like most others, a big red Ferrari has to be that absolute goal and today that wonderful device simply has to be the brand new F599 Fiorano, the Ferrari that serenely sets itself apart from the teeming brawl of modern super saloons and myriad other pretenders to its supreme throne thanks to a magical blend of a 600 horsepower V12 (what else?) and a power and pleasure package most others can still only dream about. The quickest and fastest car here, Fiorano has direct rivals for sure, but nothing else carry it off quite as well as the ultimate Cavallino does. And it shouldn't be any different any way, even if we may occasionally be a little biased!

Car: 2007 Ferrari F599 Fiorano
Engine: 5999cc QOHC 48-valve V12
Power: 456kW @ 7600rpm
Torque: 608Nm @ 5600rpm
Specific Power: 76kW per litre
Power to Weight: 270kW per tonne
0-100km/h: 3.7 seconds
¼-mile (c): 11.5 seconds @ 203km/h
Maximum Speed: 330km/h

So there you have it — ten awesome cars to celebrate ten brilliant years of Cars in Action. The game marches relentlessly on too and one can only contemplate what machinery we'll be considering in ten years time?

Clearly these ten cars — or at least their even more refined descendants — will all still be on such a list, but what will they look like, how fast will they be and ever more importantly, how green will they be?

So let's make a date then, to meet here again to check that all out in May 2017.