Difficult poll. I voted for the '89 car, cause it is just beautiful looking. Huge, dark, sleek, and sexy, it starts out sensible with the front-loaded turbine and gets more outrageous as it heads towards the fins. And the Returns model is superior, what with the steampunkish Batmissle and its locomotive wheels!
However, as many have pointed out, the Tumbler is a more technically impressive construct. The making-of Begins featurettes document a fantastic moment while test-driving an early build without the armor plating, providing proof that the rear jet is indeed an actual afterburner. To have a stunt-driver actually sing the praises of such a vehicle is probably the highest compliment (compare to the testimonies of those that had to pilot the 60's and '89 cars)
HOWEVER . . . My favorite celluloid Batmobile is hands-down the Animated Series. It really is the angriest of the bunch, with strong, confident lines and an engine that sounds like it was born in Hell. Even its idle is so strong that it vibrates the frame. It's like a giant, seething beast, a stretch limo darkened by witchcraft with the troubled soul of the most bad-ass muscle car ever built - then had its guts transplanted with James Bond's arsenal. I absolutely love it.
