Top 10 Best Luxury Cars in 2022. Luxury cars aren’t just defined by their cosseting ride, extensive levels of technology and refinement, but also the level of prestige they bring. Which one has the most class to top our best 10 lists?
1. Range Rove
This is number 1 in the top 10 best luxury cars in 2022. The latest, fifth-generation Range Rover continues where its imperious predecessor left off: at the top of the class. At a glance, the latest version doesn’t look much different to its stately forebear, but it’s packed with fresh design details that mean it’s much more modern but still unmistakably a Range Rover. It also retains the model’s unique blend of talents that sees it blend luxury, comfort and exclusivity with unrivalled usability and, of course, unmatched off-road ability.
2. Mercedes-Benz S-Class
When Mercedes-Benz sets out to make a new S-Class, the brief is to make the best car in the world – simple as that. It has done on every single occasion that this defining ‘big Benz’ has been redesigned over the decades; and the last time that happened, in 2020, in a more challenging and fast-changing luxury car market than the car has ever faced, Stuttgart very likely did just the same. This is number 2 in the top 10 best luxury cars in 2022.
This time, however, Mercedes didn’t quite hit its target right in the bullseye. What could be considered the 10th-generation S-Class risked much in a bid to level up with the digital technology of a Tesla, but to keep its recognizable high-quality feel, its opulent luxury and cabin quality, and its uncompromising comfort and refinement.
3. Audi E-Tron
We’re now entering reasonably well-established times for the premium electric car. There have been fast ones, very fast ones, big ones, small ones, expensive ones and cheap ones, and some that even attempt a bit of four-wheel-drive versatility. This is number 3 in the top 10 best luxury cars in 2022.
But never has an electric car come along and done onboard luxury better than Audi’s first stab at the zero-emissions template: the E-Tron. This car combines four-wheel drive and a commanding outright performance level with SUV-typical space, convenience and usability, and also with Audi-brand desirability. But what really makes it stand out is how superbly hushed, comfortable and refined it is. When we road-tested one, our decibel placed its cabin noise level closer, at a 70mph cruise, to that of the Rolls-Royce Phantom than the Tesla Model X.
4. Audi A8
The recently facelifted Audi A8 features some of the most advanced chassis, powertrain and in-car technology in the luxury class – including, when it’s finally switched on, what promises to be the greatest capability for autonomous driving of any production car in the world. The car represents Audi doing classic Vorsprung Durch Technik in a properly committed way.
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 gives it mild-hybrid status. Higher up the model range, you will find the tax-saving six-cylinder petrol 60 TFSIe, whose refinement and effortless responsiveness really boost the appeal of the car’s driving experience – as well as the range-topping V8-powered S8 executive express.
5. Mercedes CLS
Whether Mercedes invented the modern hybrid vehicle Bodystyle that, for a while, was amusingly dubbed the ‘coupon’ (a four-door saloon crossbred with a more tapered silhouette and a swooping coupé-like roofline) or whether it was Maserati with the fifth-generation Quattroporte is a matter of contention. Either way, it’s fair to record that the original Mercedes-Benz CLS of 2004 was one of the originators of what still seems a fairly new vehicle type. Also, that vehicle type has become an important part of the modern luxury car landscape and Mercedes has probably done more than any other car maker to popularise it.
6. BMW 7 Series
Ever since its launch in 1977, the BMW 7 Series has been in the shadow of the Mercedes S-Class, but this latest version is BMW’s most committed attempt yet to fully crack the luxury saloon market. The car combines optional adaptive air suspension with pioneering infotainment and convenience features, plus it offers a choice of two-wheelbase lengths and rear or four-wheel-drive.
The interior trim conjures a sense of space, integrity and usability, although the fascia is perhaps a bit too similar to that of lesser BMW saloons and lacking in lavish material flourish. The engines are quiet, powerful and efficient, the range opening up with the familiar six-cylinder diesel, but also taking in the most BIK-tax-friendly plug-in hybrid option in the limo class in the shape of the 745e and culminating with one of only a handful of remaining 12-cylinder limo options in the M760Li, and both are impressive works of engineering. The handling is more poised and precise than rivals’, although the ride isn’t quite as well isolated.
The 7 Series is an unexpectedly appealing driver’s car, then, even if it falls behind its very best rivals in ways more core to the mission and identity of the luxury car. There’s an all-new model on the way at the end of the year, complete with an all-electric option for the first time.