The best luxury cars - driven, rated and ranked

Best for: Being chauffered

BMW may have knocked it out of the park with the latest 7 Series, but the Mercedes-Benz S-Class is in hot pursuit of that top spot, despite being on sale in its current form since 2020. 

Something so long and heavy has little right to handle as tidily as the S-Class does.

Richard Lane, Deputy road test editor

The S-Class's interior is still one of the most luxurious on the market and one of the materially comfortable places to sit while on the move by some distance. Ambient lighting and connectivity are very well executed and the many digital screens are practical rather than jarring to the eye. 

There’s also very little wrong with the S-Class’s range of petrol, diesel and hybrid powertrains, which offer between 317bhp for the entry-level S350d and 620bhp for the blisteringly quick AMG S63 E Performance. 

If you want your big Merc with a big battery instead of a big engine, you need to look towards the Mercedes EQS. It matches the S-Class for luxury and driving competence and a 2024 update means it's now capable of up to 480 miles of range on a charge. 

Best for: Seat comfort

When the BMW iX was launched in 2021, we labelled the big electric SUV "a BMW like no other". 

The iX has compelling fitness for purpose and a real completeness of appeal as a near-£100,000 luxury car.

Richard Lane, Deputy road test editor

Some critics have used other, less polite words to make their feelings plain about the way this car looks and the departure from BMW's design ethos. However, an update in 2025 to the iX's exterior means it's now actually reasonably handsome. 

It also gained a host of powertrain and battery upgrades. An 80bhp power boost means the entry-level iX xDrive45 now produces 402bhp and 516lb ft, while a larger 94.8kWh battery produces a range of 374 miles.

The iX xDrive60 comes with 536bhp and 564lb ft and an even mightier range of 426 miles, but it's the M70 which boasts the headline figures, offering 659bhp and 811lb ft for a 0-62mph sprint time of just 3.8sec. 

We remain unconvinced that anyone needs their internal organs rearranged any more violently than the mid-range model is already capable of, though. 

Choose an iX and you will have a relaxing and understated luxury ambience, with world-class rolling refinement and drivability, instant and effortless performance and creditable real-world range that's unmatched by other electric SUVs.

Best for: Driving dynamics

The Cayenne is near the top end of the luxury car rankings, thanks to its seriously impressive blend of sports car-like driving dynamics, high-quality finish and ergonomic excellence. 

If you have been waiting for an uncomplicated, relatively traditional but really enjoyable luxury SUV to go all in on and keep forever, this may be it.

Richard Lane, Deputy road test editor

While other cars in the segment might boast a slightly more settled ride than Porsche's flagship SUV, few can match its effective V8 and its overall dynamic edge. 

The Cayenne's interior is one of breath-taking quality, its ride refinement gives away almost nothing to the most comfortable in the class and its performance is as strong as ever, backed by a range of engines that may no longer include a diesel but does include an impressive pair of plug-in hybrids, a turbo V6 and a turbo V8 petrol. 

There's now even the more rakish Cayenne Coupé, should the (already pretty decidedly unboxy) regular Cayenne somehow not seem desirable or special enough.

Then there's the wild GT, which infuses the big SUV with some genuine 911 GT3 driver appeal and holds bragging rights as the fastest SUV around the Nürburgring.

Best for: Off-road ability

The latest, fifth-generation Range Rover is a very long way from the mildly gentrified farm truck that it once was. 

In cabin isolation and ride composure, it’s unrivalled by anything in this class and, we would wager, a few classes either side of it.

Matt Prior, Editor-at-large

Under the skin, it's all-new, featuring Land Rovers MLA-Flex architecture, which has an 80% aluminium construction for lightness and strength (torsional rigidity is up 50% over the old car).

In combination with finely honed air suspension, 48V active anti-roll bars and the availability of four-wheel steering, this Range Rover handles with assured precision and surprising agility. It's also whisper-quiet on the move.

A mix of petrol, diesel and hybrid engines means there's a Range Rover for everyone, and there's an EV on the way too. 

For fleet operators looking to keep their CEOs happy, the PHEV P440e and P510e models offer up to 70 miles of electric-only range, making for 5% benefit-in-kind tax.

A 523bhp 4.4-litre petrol V8 (bought from BMW) tops the range. 

Whichever model you choose, you will benefit from the same interior that effortlessly melds traditional club-class quality and comfort with all the latest tech. There's also more than enough space to lounge around, although that hasn't stopped Land Rover from offering an extended-wheelbase version too.

Ultimately, whatever you need and want from a luxury car, the brilliantly executed Range Rover has it covered. The price of entry these days has risen to just shy of £100,000, which is rather a lot, but it's a mark of the car's abilities that it easily justifies this figure and more besides.

Best for: Electric range

Mercedes-Benz is taking a rather different approach to its flagship EV saloon from BMW: whereas the 7 Series and i7 share a platform, the S-Class and the EQS are entirely different cars.

The EQS also delivers everything worthy of the S-Class name. It really is a wonderful, luxurious way to travel.

Matt Saunders, Road test editor

The quiet running of an EV undoubtedly suits a luxury car, and the EQS is quite the engineering achievement. With a drag coefficient of just 0.20Cd, it uses the lack of air vents to good effect and, in combination with a massive 120kWh battery, that helps it to achieve a real-world range of close to 400 miles in 450+ guise.

It’s roomy and quiet and it rides reasonably well, too. However, some of the materials in the interior aren’t up to the standards you would expect of a car that starts at more than £105,000.

The EQSs we’ve driven in the UK have also come on very big wheels and so couldn’t quite match the best-riding cars here.

Best for: Performance

The last Range Rover wasn’t a small car, but the new one is truly gargantuan on European roads. Four-wheel steering and straight sides make it manageable, but you might just want the Range Rover experience in a slightly smaller package. And the Range Rover Sport shares much with its full-sized sibling, not least its outstanding mechanical refinement and luxury appeal.

The Range Rover Sport does everything we expect of a luxury SUV, a proper off-roader and a big, enveloping driver’s car.

Matt Saunders, Road test editor

Where the Sport really distinguishes itself is its capacity to control its considerable mass, to sharpen the precision of its responses and to distinguish itself as something of a driver’s car. While it's still an undemanding vehicle to drive, it's also tactile and at least a little communicative.

So if the Sport is a slightly more Europe-appropriate Range Rover, isn’t it also simply a better Range Rover? Not really, because some of the perceived quality of its interior materials doesn’t quite stack up. And when comparing it with the best luxury cars, that does knock it down a few places.

Best for: Classiness

The Audi A8 is one of the older cars on this list. The current generation was always a bit behind its peers for refinement, and although its quality interior feels like it was built to outlast civilisation itself, it lacks the sense of occasion of the latest BMW 7 Series or Range Rover.

Overall, the A8 lacks the detached elegance of the S-Class on the move, and neither does it trouble the 7 Series for driver appeal.

Richard Lane, Deputy road test editor

A facelift in 2022 has allowed Audi to throw a box of technology at its flagship limousine, though.

While all A8s have adaptive air suspension, the sportier, V8-powered S8 features what Audi calls Predictive Active Suspension, which mixes forward-facing cameras with a height-adjustable air suspension set-up that incorporates fast-acting electromechanical actuators at each wheel.

The A8 really works, thanks to its air springs and 48V active anti-roll bars. Bumps and sleeping policemen pass by uncannily smoothly.

Noise and vibration isolation can't match the big hitters on this list, however, and the suspension can’t smother shorter, sharper inputs as effectively as bigger ones. 

There's a choice of turbocharged engines - a 282bhp diesel or 335bhp petrol - with four-wheel drive as standard and a 48V electrical system that boosts efficiency.

Best for: Practicality

Don't think of the X7 as an enlarged X5, says BMW, but rather a jacked-up 7 Series that has been readied for limited off-roading work.

This BMW doesn’t reward like the Cayenne, but there is satisfaction to be had from behind the wheel and probably to a greater degree than in any other full-size SUV able to muster so much in the way of rolling refinement.

Matt Saunders, Road test editor

That description doesn't much account for the fact that the X7 is a seven-seat, two-box car with an extended roofline, of course, but it does tell you about the priorities that BMW's designers and engineers had when it came to refining and tuning the car, which has now been facelifted to bring in line with the lower-slung 7 Series.

On the road, the X7 handles its size and bulk well, feeling surprisingly precise and athletic when cornering, while its ride is comfortable without running out of control. 

The X7 offers a strong powertrain line-up including mild-hybrid-assisted straight-six petrol and diesel engines. We've driven the former in smooth and eager 375bhp xDrive40i guise, but we suspect the torquey and efficient 347bhp xDrive40d will be the best foil to the high-riding X7.

For those wanting the ultimate in conspicuous consumption, there's always the M60i, complete with a new M-fettled 523bhp twin-turbocharged 4.4-litre V8 that helps it sprint from 0-62mph in just 4.7sec – numbers you would have needed an M5 for not too long ago.