Best coupés 2024 – the sleekest models reviewed and rated

Tempted by the idea of a stylish coupé car? Then check out our comprehensive rundown of the top 10 best models on the market – and find out which one we'd avoid...

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by
George Hill
Updated22 January 2024

When you picture a coupé, you probably think of something sleek and quick that doesn't have much room for shopping. But while style is an important factor, the best modern coupés offer a lot more besides.

They blend strong performance and sharp handling with good ride comfort, and offer enough practicality to make them easy enough to live with every day. And while some models are expensive (especially if they're from premium car brands), that doesn't necessarily mean they’re not good value.

Best coupe

But if you’re looking for a coupé that does it all, our team of experienced road testers reckon the BMW 4 Series is the best coupé money can buy right now. After driving thousands of miles in every coupé on the market, we can confidently say that it's the best car in the class. To find out more about why it’s so good, you can read on below.

Of course, you might be looking for something a little bigger, smaller or have particular needs, so we’ve rounded up the ten coupés that ought to be on your shortlist. You can read the full reviews, or search for the best coupé deals to potentially save thousands on a new car.

Our pick: 420i M Sport 2dr Step Auto

0-62mph: 7.5 sec
MPG/range: 44.8mpg
CO2 emissions: 144g/km
Seats: 4
Boot: 440 litres
Insurance group: 30E
Driving
Interior
Practicality
Buying & Owning

Strengths

  • More fun to drive than direct rivals
  • Range-topping M440i is seriously rapid
  • Back seats are more usable than you might imagine

Weaknesses

  • Divisive looks
  • Rivals have more versatile folding rear seats
  • Some wind and tyre noise

No one buys a coupé for its practicality, but instead for the way it drives or the way it looks. But with the BMW 4 Series, you can be assured it will have you covered in each of those areas. 

You see, the 4 Series is one of the few coupés that can carry rear passengers in reasonable comfort. Two six-footers will be comfortable enough in the back seats for short journeys, and there’s even enough room in the boot for their luggage.

Then there’s the way it drives. It’s more agile and capable through the corners than both the Audi A5 Coupé and Mercedes CLE. And if you go for the M Sport Pro Package, it's also more comfortable than those cars thanks to the adaptive suspension, which allows you to adjust the set-up to suit the road surface you’re on. 

What’s also great is that you don’t need to buy the most expensive version of the 4 Series to get the best out of it. The 181bhp petrol engine in the 320i is great for everyday driving; it has plenty of low end shove, yet also an eagerness to rev. 

The looks? These are subjective, of course. But one thing you can be certain of is that the 4 Series is a brilliant all-rounder – and that’s rarely said about a coupé.

Read our in-depth BMW 4 Series review

Reliability
Safety
Costs
Quality
Performance

Strengths

  • Great to drive
  • Fabulous interior design and quality
  • Surprisingly practical boot – for a coupe

Weaknesses

  • Rear seats are seriously cramped
  • Misses crucial safety kit
  • You'll want to add options

If you want a coupé that’s easy and affordable to live with, yet enjoyable to drive and filled with premium lustre, the Audi TT strikes the perfect balance. 

Even the entry-level 40 TFSI version has serious gusto and delivers masses of handling poise. The boot has a hatchback opening, which allows you to load in larger items, so it's quite practical for a coupé.

Plus, the interior is one of the best in the class. It has a minimalist design, yet retains physical dials for the climate controls and a rotary controller for the infotainment system, making it very easy to operate while driving.

What's also reassuring is that the TT should be very reliable; it achieved an impressive rating of 98.4% in our 2023 Reliability Survey and finished in first place out of 15 models.

Read our in-depth Audi TT review

Our pick: 4.0 V8 2dr Auto [City Spec]

0-62mph: 4 sec
MPG/range: 23.3mpg
CO2 emissions: 275g/km
Seats: 4
Boot: 358 litres
Insurance group: N
Driving
Interior
Practicality
Buying & Owning

Strengths

  • Luxurious interior
  • Huge performance
  • Enjoyable to drive

Weaknesses

  • Range-topping W12 sounds flat
  • Not quite as involving as a DB11
  • Missing some safety kit

The Bentley Continental GT conjures up rose-tinted images of what driving used to be like, when the super-rich would blast across Europe to get to their second home on the Riviera. And yet, it's a thoroughly modern car that gets the balance between sports car and luxury car just about spot on.

Our favourite version is the ‘entry-level’ V8, and it’s a joy to drive with its revvy nature and bassy exhaust note. It almost matches the range-topping W12-engined Speed version for performance, and feels slightly more nimble because of its lighter weight over the front end.

Inside the GT, you get polished woods, soft leather and some very high quality fixtures and fittings. It's expensive, but feels worth every penny of its list price.

Read our in-depth Bentley Continental GT review

Driving
Interior
Practicality
Buying & Owning

Strengths

  • Higher resale values than rivals
  • Strong on safety
  • Lots of kit for your money

Weaknesses

  • Tight rear head room
  • Small boot aperture
  • Not as fun as the best coupés

One of the most attractive features of the Mercedes CLA is the interior: it looks lavish, with great tech and lots of pizzazz.

Meanwhile, the 221bhp turbo petrol engine in the 250 version delivers impressive performance, and the keen pricing and rock-solid resale values ensure it appeals to your head as well as your heart.

It's a four-door coupé so it's fairly practical, but like most of the cars on this list, those sleek looks do come at the cost of rear head room. To counter that, the boot is a good size at 460 litres, which is more than you’ll find in the regular Mercedes A-Class.

Read our in-depth Mercedes CLA review

Driving
Interior
Practicality
Buying & Owning

Strengths

  • Plush interior
  • Strong and smooth engines
  • Practical by coupe standards

Weaknesses

  • Steering could be more feelsome
  • You’ll want to add a few options
  • Very expensive Vorsprung trim

The Audi A5 is to the Audi A4 what the BMW 4 Series is to the BMW 3 Series – a coupé that has the same underpinnings a saloon stablemate. 

As with the A4, the A5's standout qualities include a plush interior and a strong line-up of engines. It's not as much fun to drive as the 4 Series though, and if rapid performance is your thing, we’d point you in the direction of the Audi S5 and Audi RS5 variants.

The A5 is surprisingly practical for a two-door coupé, with good rear space and a usefully large boot.

Read our in-depth Audi A5 review

Driving
Interior
Practicality
Buying & Owning

Strengths

  • Entertaining handling
  • Brilliant build quality inside
  • Class-leading infotainment system

Weaknesses

  • Limited rear head room
  • Mediocre boot
  • Automatic gearbox can be a bit hesitant

The BMW 2 Series Gran Coupé delivers a similarly fantastic blend of driver appeal and ride comfort to the BMW 1 Series family car, along with a great interior and a brilliant infotainment system.

It doesn’t cost much more than the 1 Series, and many people love its swoopy coupé looks. As you might expect, though, they come at the cost of rear head room.

No matter which version or engine you choose, the 2 Series Gran Coupé is great to drive, with handling that makes it feels wonderfully agile. It's even sharper than the rival Mercedes CLA.

Read our in-depth BMW 2 Series Gran Coupé review

Driving
Interior
Practicality
Buying & Owning

Strengths

  • Massive performance
  • Beautifully crafted interior
  • More fun to drive than most of its GT rivals

Weaknesses

  • V12’s spiky to drive in the wet
  • Limited rear-seat and boot space
  • There are softer-riding alternatives

As luxury brands go, Aston Martin is as emotive as it gets. However, that naturally brings sky-high expectations, so it says a lot that the DB11 delivers most of what you'd hope for from a big modern Aston.

Most notable is the way it drives: the 4.0-litre V8 petrol engine offers instantaneous responses from the accelerator pedal, and bags of torque. The steering is very well judged, enabling you to build confidence in the corners, and the suspension is beautifully damped.

The only main let-down is the infotainment system, which is starting to feel its age compared with the likes of the Bentley Continental GT. The high-quality materials throughout more than make up for that, though.

Read our in-depth Aston Martin DB11 review

Driving
Interior
Practicality
Buying & Owning

Strengths

  • Top-notch infotainment
  • Fine balance between ride and handling
  • Excellent driving position

Weaknesses

  • More expensive than some rivals
  • Panamera is more fun to drive
  • A7 is more practical

If you can't decide whether to buy something sporty or something comfy, the 8 Series Gran Coupé can end your dilemma because it strikes a good balance between the two.

Inside, it has a beautifully built interior that features BMW's intuitive iDrive infotainment system, which is controlled using a slick rotary controller, rather than through touch alone. Everything you touch feels solid, but it's only marginally more premium than the BMW 5 Series. The Bentley Continental GT makes a better choice if you want a coupé that’s truly luxurious.

As for engines, the 8 Series Gran Coupé has a choice of two – a silky-smooth 3.0-litre six-cylinder petrol engine or a throaty 4.4-litre V8. They both offer strong performance.

Read our in-depth BMW 8 Series Gran Coupé review

Driving
Interior
Practicality
Buying & Owning

Strengths

  • Strong engines
  • High-quality interior
  • Generous standard equipment

Weaknesses

  • Sluggish automatic gearboxes
  • Fiddly infotainment system
  • Dependable handling but hardly exciting

This five-door Audi A7 coupé is a beautifully made and comfortable cruiser with a surprising amount of space inside for front and rear passengers.

That space continues when it comes to the A7 Sportback's boot. With a 535-litre capacity, it's bigger than the one in the rival Mercedes CLS and has a wide hatchback opening, so it’s easy to load in larger items.

Behind the wheel, the A7 is competent rather than great fun to drive – which isn’t helped by the frustratingly slow gearbox choices – and its infotainment system can be distracting to use while driving.

Read our in-depth Audi A7 review

Driving
Interior
Practicality
Buying & Owning

Strengths

  • Strong resale values
  • Punchy six-cylinder diesel engine
  • Generous equipment list
  • Enjoyable handling

Weaknesses

  • Cramped rear head room
  • Firm ride on standard suspension
  • Fewer engine options that some rivals

One of the strengths of the CLS is that it has a great range of engines to choose from. Specifically, we think the smooth and punchy 3.0-litre straight-six diesel suits it best.

Compared with its closest rivals – including the Audi A7 Sportback and the BMW 8 Series – the CLS has the most cocooning, low and sporty driving position.

Its sporty nature does come at the cost of ride comfort, though, and the suspension is on the firm side, whether you have the standard set-up or optional air suspension. And although the CLS has four doors, it can't match the best coupés for practicality.

Read our in-depth Mercedes CLS review

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And the Coupé to avoid...

Lexus RC

The RC is a distinctive coupé that comes very well equipped, but it's expensive to buy and run, plus rivals are more agile and fun to drive. Read our review