I really hated the Codemasters version, the one right after EA. The gameplay was just terrible...I'd have to test this one out before buying it.
I suggest 2012 or 2011 since both games are in a way, the same.
I found 2011 to be a lot worse in terms of handling, to be honest.
I don't know if I'm going to buy this year's game, as the only thing I'd be getting it for is the classic content. What I would like to see from Codemasters is a departure from the standard seasonal sports game model, where you buy one game a year to get updated teams, players/drivers/whatever, venues and so on, instead moving to more of a rolling release model. The one I'd like to see is where players buy the core game, then add content to it as each season passes. This (in theory, at least) has the advantage of maintaining a stable platform to build on top of, but also means that players with older content won't suddenly be forgotten about as the company starts working on the next year's stuff and left with tons of unpatched bugs, as the game engine itself will still be completely relevent in the next edition. Of course, eventually there will come a time when this needs to be re-written for next-generation systems, but I think it would provide a far better solution over the lifetime of a generation of consoles, since that is what it would likely be dictated by.