Best coupés 2023

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.

This five-door 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.

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.

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.

The 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.

The 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.

One of the most attractive features of the 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.

The 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.

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

The 4 Series is a coupé version of the BMW 3 Series and has a wider rear end, a stiffer structure and a lower centre of gravity. All that helps to make it far more rewarding to drive than similarly priced rivals. 

If you go for the M Sport Pro Package, it's also a comfortable choice because you get adaptive suspension, which allows you to adjust the suspension at the touch of a button to suit the road you're on. You also get a comfortable high-quality interior and two surprisingly spacious back seats.

Topping things off is the fact that our recommended 420i version feels faster and is more efficient than similar engines in the rival Audi A5 Coupé and Mercedes C-Class Coupé.

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