Best luxury cars – cars to relax you and make a high-speed statement
The luxury car genre has expanded beyond the old three-box wood’n’leather stereotypes. These are the best currently on sale
Like almost every other genre of car over the years, what we understand to be the luxury car has evolved beyond what for many decades was considered typical. No longer simply the largest flavour of German executive saloon, no longer the preserve of Bentley and Rolls-Royce, the luxury car is a genre contributed to by all nationalities of carmakers, old and new and now with many different form factors and indeed, with many different powertrains. Luxury cars can now be everything from saloons to SUVs, Land Rovers to Lucids, powered by petrol, electricity or a combination of both. These are the best luxury cars in the world right now.
Mercedes-Benz S-class
- Prices from £103,450
- Pros – Varied powertrains; sleek exterior design; refinement
- Cons – Patchy build quality; new dash displays look cheap
- Evo rating: 4 stars
The Mercedes-Benz S-class is a luxury car of the old guard, its lineage dating back to the early 1950s and the S-class badge going back to 1972. It’s a symbol of status, an object of opulence and certainly over the last few decades, a car that’s been a pillar of innovation. From airbags to ABS, radar and active suspension, it’s an extraordinary copybook. In 2026 however, it’s what’s traditional about the S-class that is most appealing. It retains its handsome three-box form and, in the mid-life update for the W223, a reborn twin-turbo V8 for a less electrified immediate future. All the old hallmarks remain. It’s cosetting, relaxing, refined, isolating its occupants from the stresses and pace of the world outside. It makes every car journey an escape from life and at the end of the day, what could be more luxurious than that?
Rolls-Royce Spectre Series II
- Prices from c£280k (Black Badge from c£325k)
- Pros – Style, refinement, quality
- Cons – Expensive, the charging infrastructure you may have to interact with
- evo rating: TBC
Far from pivoting away from electrification, Rolls-Royce seem to be the only company actually doing well out of it. Its bold, pricey coupe, the Spectre, has been a sales success. When you think about it, that makes sense. Ultimately, Rolls-Royce’s mission has been ultimate refinement, isolating the driver as much as possible from its engines. You don’t get any quieter than electric power. The Spectre Series II isn’t the biggest departure – it’s got more range and it’s more powerful – and as such, continues to trade on what made the original great. It’s perhaps one of the most serene, relaxing driving experiences there is. It rides as if it’s simply moving every imperfection out of the way, cutting through the world, bending obstructions around it like a faster-than-light spaceship bending space. You never feel like you’re in a hurry in a Spectre, though if you are, the two motors delivering 671bhp and 811lb ft (in the Black Badge) will get you on your way.
Bentley Flying Spur
- Prices from £190,365
- Pros – Shocking performance; duality; class-leading luxury
- Cons – Brake feel; invasive assistance systems
- evo rating: 4.5 stars
The Bentley Flying Spur however, is much more our sort of luxury car. In that it will soothe your fevered brow very nearly as well as the Rolls and S-class for 99 per cent of the time, then set your hair on fire when you wind it up. We’ve probably not driven another limousine that marries such opulence and refinement, with such ability to thrill when asked. It pairs a 4-litre twin-turbo V8 (familiar from Porsche and Lamborghini products) with an electric motor for over 770bhp, so it’s properly fast. But also, its 48-volt active anti-roll, rear-wheel steering, air springs and adaptive dampers coalesce to make it nimble and engaging. It really comes as no surprise that these cars – the Spur and the Continental two-doors – share more than a little with Porsche in terms of underpinnings.
Range Rover
- Prices from £107,530
- Pros – Capable, versatile, luxurious
- Cons – Heavy and expensive
- evo rating 4 stars
The Range Rover is almost as much of an institution as the S-class, yet it has undergone enormous change over the years. Starting life as a slightly more opulent farm hack that you could still hose out if your livestock muddied its rubber floor, the Range Rover is now little short of a limousine on stilts. It’s developed, priced and positioned to battle conventional saloons – the S-class, Flying Spur and so on – but also the barrage of luxury SUVs that have risen to fight it – the Bentayga and Rolls-Royce’s garish Cullinan. An electric version is coming but Land Rover has also been careful to keep its powertrains varied, with petrol, diesel and hybrid variants, as well as high-performance petrol options. The cabin is a modern minimalist take on luxury, but the material quality and the serenity of the driving experience makes it one of the best luxury cars there is.
Rolls-Royce Phantom
- Prices from £433,745
- Pros – Mind-boggling refinement, unmatched presence, no-costs spares quality
- Cons – Hilariously poor fuel economy, ageing interior tech
- evo rating 5 stars
If the Range Rover, Bentley and Spectre buck with tradition somewhat, the Phantom is very much the traditional luxury barge. That’s not hyperbole, either. This thing would struggle in a three-point turn on the way down the Suez Canal. It’s not electric or a hybrid, retaining instead a large twin-turbocharged V12 with an automatic gearbox. There is zero concession or reference to performance or dynamism in its technical makeup and perhaps more-so than in any other luxury car, we find that entirely appropriate. So wholeheartedly does it embrace the job of putting its occupants as far away from the world through which it’s travelling as is technically possible. The job of status hasn’t had much mention and while all previous entries make a statement very nicely indeed, they all (even perhaps the Spectre) look a little timid next to a Phantom. Everyone sees you arrive in a Phantom.
Lucid Air Sapphire
- Prices from: N/A
- Pros – Ambitious, innovative, embraces true torque-vectoring
- Cons – Heavy, brake feel, will probably make your family vomit
- evo rating: 4.5 stars
The Lucid Air Sapphire is the opposite of the Rolls-Royce Phantom. It’s a brand new name by comparison (less than ten years old compared to well over a century), it hails from California and its form is svelte and acquiescent to how the air wants to flow around it. It’s also, obviously, all electric. It’s a car born out of an era of change, designed to disrupt and it’s largely succeeded in that endeavour, in terms of the quality of product if not profitability and market share. Because while its founders hail from Tesla, this is an altogether more rounded, developed-feeling product than most Teslas. There’s genuine texture to the steering, deftness to the damping and balance in the chassis. That the BMW M5 CS was used as a development benchmark comes as no surprise after you’ve driven it. And that’s all ignoring the hypercar-humbling performance from its 1200bhp+ tri-motor powertrain. Indeed, performance in hand that makes you swifter than almost anything else on the road is a luxury all of its own. Then when your hair isn’t on fire, it’s a supremely refined, beautifully appointed cruiser. In these senses, the Air is more an alternative to the Bentley Flying Spur than a Phantom and a sublime luxury car and hyper saloon all rolled into one.
Bentley Bentayga
- Prices from £179,900
- Pros – Impressive chassis; hugely fast for its size; luxurious cabin
- Cons – Not the most dynamic performance SUV of its kind; it's starting to feel a little old
- evo rating 4 stars
If the L405 Range Rover of 2012 was a tentative push upwards into luxury car status for SUVs, Bentley’s Bentayga was a hammerblow confirmation that SUVs could absolutely play in this space. Arriving in 2015 with a W12 engine and bearing all the performance, craftsmanship and refinement hallmarks of a proper Bentley. Granted, the veneer of Bentleyness hung a little thinly over what was a Volkswagen Touareg/Porsche Cayenne underpinning in places, but in the 11 years the car’s been on sale, Crewe’s worked hard to up its game. Today, the W12 is gone – a twin-turbo V8 taking its place – and a significant facelift inside and out, plus major changes to the way the car feels have brought it up to snuff. It’s getting a little old but it absolutely remains one of the best luxury cars money can buy right now. Just don’t option the Akrapovic exhaust if it’s cosetting luxury you’re after…
Porsche Panamera
- Prices from £89,400
- Pros – Fascinating active suspension and hybrid tech
- Cons – Expensive, heavy
- evo rating 4.5 stars
Ask Porsche GB which rivals the Panamera should be compared to and it won’t be Mercedes-Benz’s E-class, or the AMG GT four-door. It’ll be the S-class, because nowadays, in Porsche’s view, the Taycan is its sports saloon and the Panamera is its luxury saloon. Happily, luxury and refinement is well within the current Panamera’s sphere of competency. It rides beautifully (whether on its standard air springs or the optional Active Ride system), is nicely refined, well-stocked for power and performance, nicely trimmed inside, well-equipped and even reasonably spacious. It’s also, obviously being a Porsche, about as dynamic as cars on this list get, alongside the Lucid and Bentley. It’s not shot through with 911 levels of agility or tactility, but it’s got that Porsche feeling of tautness and response when you want it.
BMW 7-series
- Prices from £104,230
- Pros – Stunning, beautifully finished interior; distinctly BMW feel
- Cons – We'd opt for the cheaper 750e
- evo rating 4 stars
The 7-series has always been BMW’s foil for the Mercedes-Benz S-class, yet they’ve always done slightly different jobs. If the Merc pays very little mind to driving enjoyment or involvement, rather than refinement, the BMW does. Because, well, it’s in BMW’s DNA. As such the 7-series has always been the German luxo-barge of choice if you’re looking to drive yourself more often than be driven in. It’s a great thing to ride in the back of all the same, especially given the current car has a Dolby Atmos cinema in the back. Engine-wise, you can no longer get the V12 or even a V8 in the 7-series, which is a shame. Only straight-six hybrids will serve in the range alongside the all-electric i7 for now. The elephant in the room for Rolls-Royce of course is that the i7 is mechanically a Spectre, shorn of all its Rolls-Royce style and interior opulence.
