Ultimate boy's toy

The world's coolest cars, as well as some of the most unloved, are revealed in a survey today. The Lamborghini Miura - a stunning open-top Italian sportscar with a top speed of 175mph, a pricetag of £300,000 and a devoted following including Jamiroquai's Jay Kay - tops the list.

It "marks you out as one of the elite" say the survey's authors, adding: "Not everyone will know what it is - but it doesn't matter. Just look at its lines."

Second coolest car of all time is the rare Lancia Stratos, which - if you could find one on the used market - could cost up to £70,000. Top Gear magazine, which compiled the list in this month's edition, rounded off its top five with: the Ford GT (£110,000 new); the Maserati MC12 (£400,000 new); and the Maserati Quattroporte (£70,000 new).

But the list is not just for millionaires. The original British-built Mini Cooper makes the cool list (in seventh place) and can be picked up on the second-hand market for around £5,000.

And the Fiat Panda 4x4 (£1,000 second-hand) comes in at number 11 because it "can be driven up ski slopes - to the bar".

The magazine also lists the cars worth avoiding at all costs. The Bugatti Veyron - costing from around £500,000 new - tops the "uncool" list because it apparently "tries too hard".

The Austin Allegro is such "a rubbish car" that "scrap dealers will pay you to take it away".

Other uncool cars include: the Fiat Doblo Diesel (£9,000 new); the Mercedes Vaneo (£15,000, new); and the Suzuki X-90 (£1,000 second-hand), dubbed a "pram on wheels".

Tom Ford, Top Gear deputy editor, said: "Being cool is not about price or even exclusivity. It's about the way a car looks and drives.

"It's about the way it makes you feel about yourself; that's why in our list we have the Mini Cooper right up there with exotic Italian machinery costing 10 times as much."