What Car? Car of the Year awards 2011 - Luxury car contenders

What Car? Awards 2012 website

Best buy less than £65,000
Mercedes-Benz S-Class S350 CDI Blu’tec
List price £58,440
Target Price £54,702

This price point is where the luxury car battle is at its hottest. The Audi A8 came along this year, offering top-notch build quality, loads of kit and strong, refined performance. However, it was hampered by having less room than its rivals and being fairly underwhelming to drive.

That’s not an accusation you can level at the Jaguar XJ. It is undoubtedly the luxury car to choose if you like to give the chauffeur the day off. It steers and handles like a car half its size, and is genuinely entertaining on any road.

It’s also comfortable, with a stunning interior. However, the excellent handling comes at the expense of the ride, which is too firm.

The Jag is a touch snug in the rear seats, too.

The Mercedes S-Class has ruled the roost since it was launched in 2006, and the latest improvements make it an even better proposition.

The S350 CDI Bluetec model is smoother, more powerful and more efficient than ever, and that’s all backed up by a fantastically well-crafted and roomy interior, plus sublime ride quality.

Mercedes S-Class review


Best buy £65,000-£100,000
Range Rover 4.4 TDV8 Vogue
List price £68,945
Target Price £64,942

New engine, same stunning ownership experience.

The Range Rover now comes with one of the best big diesel engines you can buy. It’s strong, no matter how much you ask it to do, it’s smooth at all times and it’ll achieve an average of 30.1mpg – not bad in a car with the aerodynamics of a house.

The interior is stunning, too, being beautifully built and subtly stylish. It’s
the sort of place you go just to spend time in. It also has more toys than even the most committed tech fan could wish for.

Of course, gadgets aren’t exactly in short supply in another contender, the Lexus LS600h. It includes a gadget-fest that would make even NASA blanch.

For a start, it has a hybrid powertrain that marries a 5.0-litre V8 engine to an electric motor to stunning effect: performance is punchy, and it’s virtually silent no matter what you ask of it.

It’s just a pity that the interior isn’t special enough and that the comfort brings soft, stodgy handling – the big Lexus is one luxury car that doesn’t like to be hustled.

Range Rover review


Best buy more than £100,000
Rolls-Royce Phantom
List price £275,990
Target Price £275,990

The best choice in this price range has to be the Rolls-Royce Phantom. It personifies everything that luxury car motoring is about: it’s stunningly well built and there isn’t a more comfortable way to travel on the road. It’s also wonderfully refined, and even relatively nimble.

The new Ghost is billed as the Rolls-Royce for the owner-driver and, with 563bhp to call on from its 6.6-litre twin-turbo V12 engine, it’s certainly a rapid way to cross the country.

It even handles pretty well, although the car’ sheer size makes low-speed manoeuvring a faintly daunting affair.

The problem is that the low-speed ride is too firm, while at high speed there’s a bit too much wind noise from the huge door mirrors.

So what about the new Bentley Mulsanne? People who buy Bentleys want performance, and the Mulsanne delivers – it’ll hit 60mph from rest in a ridiculous 5.1 seconds.

It handles well, too, and matches that with decent ride quality at all speeds, but it’s let down by a small boot and some controls that look worryingly similar to those in common-or-garden Audis.

Rolls-Royce Phantom review