We put on our sensible hats to bring you the 10 best luxury cars out there. From the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Ultra 1.4 football boot to the Daimler's super-luxury brand Maybach S650, we have compiled a comprehensive guide to the best luxury cars available. The precision feel and perfect weight of the car's large-rim steering wheel are remarkable, as well as the ease with which you can place such an enormous car on the road; the tolerance it has for any pace of progress that suits your ride; the supreme refinement and flexibility of its V12 engine; and the accelerator pedal progressivity on takeoff. Of course, there is the same 6.0-liter twin-turbo W12 business card, which generates 626 bhp more bottomless torque and shoots the car at 100 km/h in comfortably less than four seconds and at a top speed of more than 200 mph.
There are also versions of the Spur equipped with Bentley's lighter, freer-turning V8 and a six-cylinder hybrid powertrain. The richest and most special car in what could be the most respected and admired limousine range in the world, the S650 is the modern standard-bearer of Daimler's super-luxury brand Maybach. Judging by appearances, one would say it was at least as much S-Class as Maybach, and that is the result of Daimler's strategic decision, taken a few years ago, to expand the reach of the Maybach brand by creating 'halo' Maybach models in some of its most normal ranges of Mercedes passenger cars. The ultra-rare 57 and 62 limousines, with Simon Cowell specifications, Maybach alone, were consigned to history at the same time. The S650's 621 bhp, 737 lb-ft twin-turbocharged petrol V12 is barely audible, and its dedication to comfort and good manners is outstanding. Deliberately more modest and discreet in appearance than a certain key British limousine rival, the Mulsanne is a high-end four-door luxury.
It feels less formal than the Rolls-Royce Phantom, and its interior ambiance is more like that of the paneled smoking room of an old gentlemen's club than the Phantom's chandelier-lamp ballroom. The quality of the material, the luster and natural appeal of its wood veneers and the tactile appeal of many of its accessories are second to none. The high-end, long-wheelbase Range Rover has come a long way as a luxury car since the genesis days of the famous SUV on which it is based. The modern SVAutobiography, hand-finished like Land Rover does at its special operations base near Coventry, is a car that now measures 5.2 meters in length and 2.6 tons in weight at its heaviest point. It was conceived to take full advantage of the embryonic market for superexpensive SUVs and the high esteem that some hold for the Range Rover brand, and it does so quite effectively.
The mechanical composition of the high-performance version of the Mercedes S-Class luxury limousine has not changed much in more than a decade. Since this car has a leviathan of a twin-turbocharged gasoline V12 that produces 621 bhp and 738 lb-ft of torque, you could argue that it hasn't needed. It's an engine capable of sending a limousine of two and a quarter ton, 5.3 meters long and rear-wheel drive from 0 to 100 km/h in just 4.2 seconds, and that's before it has really calmed down, finds its legs and sets off, don't forget. And yet, the S65 is still a true luxury car, with uncompromising driving comfort and refinement, so it receives a mention at the foot of our super-luxury class rating. It offers onboard comfort unknown to anything else with the same level of performance, and its huge torque reserves make it so powerful to drive effortlessly that it's hard to believe how little it takes to make something so big travel so fast.
However, the S65 is not a supersaloon, and its chassis prefers wide, smooth roads to testing narrower ones, which gives it a lot to think about in its air suspension and stability control. Even so, when in their element, very few cars in existence manage to look both as mischievous and as wonderfully pleasant as this Volvo Cars starts the first over-the-air software update on the XC40 Recharge. That it is a luxury car first and 4x4 second is not to exhaust its offroad capacity one iota, however. The spacious interior radiates quality and luxury, the seats are excellent, and the driving position is top notch, making it easy to drive a car of its size. The heavy body provides excellent insulation from rough surfaces and, while it doesn't offer the driving compromise of a Porsche Cayenne, it's easy to make quick progress pleasant if the need arises; because almost any pace of progress feels special in a Range Rover. The S-Class remains one of the most comfortable, enveloping and elegant cars in the world.
But its new in-car technologies, while numerous and impressive in some respects (including an infotainment screen large enough to fit in the cabin of an A380), are not all easy to operate; not all of them integrate seamlessly into the driving experience of the car; and some of them seem to be affectations rather than improvements. While Mercedes-Maybach's more expensive S-Class customers can choose between V8 and V12 power plants, the regular limousine can be used as a -350d or -400d diesel, or as a -500 gasoline; the latter also receives mild hybrid assistance. Diesel engines are pleasantly frugal and smooth in the real world, and they provide plenty of power for most applications. At this point you should have enough information to make an informed decision about which luxury car best suits your needs. Whether you're looking for speed or comfort or something else entirely – there's sure to be something here for you!.
