6 New Cars That Seem Destined to Become Collectible

Cars that end up becoming collector favourites in the future aren’t always the ones that were super beloved when they were new. It’s basic supply and demand: if a vehicle is truly popular in its heyday, there’s a ceiling on how rare and collectible they become when they’re old.

That’s why for this list, we’re (mostly) skipping the usual, obvious suspects — no Mustangs allowed, no Miatas, and definitely no Porsches — and will instead highlight six new cars available in 2025 that even the most seasoned of car enthusiasts perhaps haven’t thought about in a minute but have a good chance of becoming unlikely cult classics in the future.

Acura TLX Type S

As the very car that inspired this list, the Acura TLX Type S was first introduced in 2021 as a high-performance version of the TLX sedan, and it quietly has all the makings of a future cult classic.

Style-wise, it looks great in a way that’s balanced, relatively subtle, and will likely age well — a key ingredient of any classic. It’s powered by a 3.0-litre turbocharged V6 making 355 hp and is only found under the hood of this and the MDX Type S SUV. Collectors love a good exclusive. What’s more, Acura never sold a lot of them, and the supply is ending, as Acura recently announced the TLX’s discontinuation. The company sold just 840 TLXs in Canada in 2024, and only a subset of those were the Type S. A slow seller today, however, is a rare find tomorrow.

There’s also historical precedent within this car’s ancestry. Only offered from 2007 to 2008, the Acura TL Type-S, like the TLX Type S, also flew under the radar for being a segment underdog and having questionable tech. Today, the hotter TL may not have risen to 50-grand-on-Bring-a-Trailer (or, rather, AutoTrader) level, but bring it up around enthusiasts and it’s generally recognized fondly as a cool, offbeat, underrated sports sedan. And that’s very likely where the TLX Type S will land in 2035. 

BMW Z4 M40i MT

A little while ago, BMW made a bit of noise about no longer offering a manual transmission. But then it turned around and gave us the 382-hp Z4 M40i roadster with the option of a stick.

It’ll still very likely be one of the last factory manual Bimmers to ever be made, but what’s even likelier is that these things will be rare as heck once it goes out of production. A BMW Canada spokesperson says the company only sells about 100 Z4s every year, although he also notes that since the manual became available, it has outsold the automatic.

The Z4 also occupies a weird position in the automotive cultural landscape. It’s a small, two-seat roadster by a brand arguably best known for heavy, dignified sports sedans. And in terms of enthusiast mindshare, it’s eclipsed by its own Toyota GR Supra platform sibling, which got all the hype, all the mods, all the Snapchat memes, and all the annual updates. (That Toyota is also lowkey better to drive, but you didn’t hear that from me.)

All of this, however, gives the manual Z4 big future classic potential. A slightly quirky, often forgotten, but technically well-conceived luxury sports car that rocks a six-speed manual and Apple CarPlay? Good luck finding one for reasonable money in 20 years. 

Maserati MC20

Pegging a mid-engined Italian supercar as an unexpected future classic may feel like a borderline copout, but hear me out. The Maserati MC20 first came on the scene in 2020 as Maserati’s first proper mid-engined supercar in years. There was the MC12 in the mid-2000s, but that was a rebodied Ferrari Enzo and therefore pure unobtanium. Before that, you’d have to go back to the Merak from the 1970s to find another midship Maserati.

This makes the MC20 an interesting, rare commodity not just as an item, but inherently as a premise. But measured against its contemporaries, it follows almost every other car on this list for being not nearly as appreciated or well-known in the moment, warranted or not. In city centres, Ferraris and Lamborghinis are inevitable albeit occasional sights, but unless you spend every day hanging around fancy neighbourhoods, when’s the last time you saw an MC20? Probably never.

And while it spurred excitement among car reviewers when it first launched, it never became a widespread critical darling. Praise often came with the asterisks of it not being quite as sharp or exciting to drive as the comparable Ferrari or even a GT Porsche — something I can personally take partial responsibility for after having the privilege of testing the track-ready GT2 Stradale version earlier this year — as well as the inevitable consolation of, “Well, it’s different and beautiful!” And in fairness to the MC20, it is indeed gorgeous, further lending to its likely status as a future classic.

Underappreciated when new, hard to find as a result, a brand-history landmark, and objectively great to look at, the Maserati MC20 (and the upcoming, updated MCPura) is almost destined to be one of those cars people mention with forlorn, bated breaths many years from now.

Hyundai Ioniq 5 N

I recently decided to fill a childhood void and pick up a Game Boy Advance SP from a retro video game store. Despite being a little scratched up and sans original box, it cost $200, and the Internet says a sealed unit can go for about $1,000 nowadays, if you can even find one — or a lot more if it’s a rare or limited edition model. In other words, this 20-year-old handheld game console that you could once buy at any Future Shop (RIP) for $150 back in 2004 is now a bona fide collector’s item.

Like a GBA back in the early naughts, the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N will, like all EVs of the era, feel technologically dated within a couple of years. But also like a Game Boy, the Ioniq 5 N will eventually become a fun time capsule, simultaneously reminding us of both where we came from and what we could’ve had.

As the 641-hp performance version of the Ioniq 5 electric crossover, the N is hardly the first go-fast EV, but it is the first to feature powertrain programming, artificial noises, and even instrument graphics that eerily, convincingly emulate the experience of driving a performance gas car, gears and all. It is endearingly silly, wholly unnecessary, and about as real as Pikachu, but the feature is coming to the updated Kia EV6 GT, and Honda has shown off prototypes of similar tech set to release in its future, in-house EVs.

Give it enough time, and I suspect the Ioniq 5 N will age one of two ways. It’ll either be remembered as the father of fast, analogue-mimicking EVs as future generations will know them, or as a quirky, hilarious anomaly – a proverbial Ford Model T engineered to buck and make noises like a horse, designed to soothe and placate those who just weren’t ready to move on yet. 

Either way, it’s set to be a fascinating, red-lipped chapter on our collective journey toward electrification, and exactly the sort of vehicle certain collectors will covet once we get there.

Lexus LC 500

Among those in the know, declaring the Lexus LC 500 a future classic isn’t even speculation anymore; it’s a borderline confirmed fact. Powered by a symphonic 5.0-litre V8 making 471 hp, it looks like it could win Pebble Beach in 2080, sounds even better, and sells like whatever the opposite of hotcakes is (coldcakes?).

No, it’s not the left-field pick the other cars on this list are, but as a staunch LC stan, leaving it out of a list of future classics simply felt wrong, so here it is. 

Lexus RX 500h

As for a potential classic, performance-leaning Lexus that’s less top of mind, there’s the RX 500h. When Lexus redesigned its bread-and-butter midsize crossover for 2023, it brought with it a new, flagship 500h variant. 

Available exclusively in the F Sport Performance aesthetic, it’s powered by a 2.4-litre turbo-four paired with two electric motors to deliver 367 total hp. It hits 100 km/h in 6.2 seconds. There’s even a Black Line Special Edition that gets orange brake calipers, surely boosting stopping power by the obligatory five per cent.

The result is the sportiest, most powerful RX ever, and by a good margin. Far from a volume model, the RX 500h still isn’t really a true, Porsche Cayenne-rivalling high-performance SUV, but it’s probably the closest thing we’ll ever get. Lexus taking a common, pedestrian luxury crossover and creating a version this powerful and sporty screams “future fun fact” on wheels — think V12 BMW X5 prototype, but showroom-real and slightly less cool.

It may never gain true underground enthusiast cred, but expect the Lexus RX 500h to appear in lists titled “I Can’t Believe They Used to Make This” by around 2040.