The best & worst used luxury cars

The trouble with most of them is that they cost an awful lot of money, but, if you wait for them to age a little, like a fine wine maybe, the very best of them can come within your reach for the price of a new SUV.

Here we’ve found ten of the very best luxury cars, and you can buy a good used example of each for a mere £25,000. Take a look at the cars we’ve picked and see if one of them tempts you into a life of luxury.

If you’re after a premium badge, and if you’re spending this sort of money on a used luxury car there’s a good chance that you will be, then you can do no better than a Maserati.

As if this striking four-door saloon wasn’t rakish enough, there’s that famous trident badge and that name so redolent of racing success. Inside, all is wonderful wood and leather interior, and it’s packed with all the kit you’ll ever want.

It sounds nice, too, and if it’s not quite as good to drive or as comfortable to be in as it looks, consider the fact that you can buy a clean 2012 example of this Italian thoroughbred, with a mere 30,000 miles on the clock, from a specialist dealer for the price of a new Nissan Qashqai. Buy a diesel and you can even afford a 2015 model.

We found: 2012 4.7 S, 30,000 miles, £24,450

Another luxury limo stuffed with tech, the 7 Series has always been one of the best of the breed to drive. You can punt it down a winding road with surprising confidence, or cruise down a motorway from its beginning to its end.

It’s impressively clean and frugal, too, for a car of this size, with the chosen 730d version boasting a six-cylinder diesel engine of unusual refinement.

Inside is a spacious and luxurious interior fit for any captain of industry, with plenty of up-to-the-minute kit. There's a newer, higher-tech 7 Series now on the new and used car forecourts, so this could well be the time to pick up this model. BMW quality is assured, too.

We found: 2015 730d M Sport, 25,000 miles, £23,500

There are few cars more iconic than the imperious Range Rover. Its very name is now synonymous with on-road luxury and unparalleled off-road ability, a 4x4 as likely to be found on a school run in a posh part of London as it is on a hillside in Wales, and a car you can guarantee will be magnificently and uniquely competent at both.

You sit high, in comfortable seats with room for five, surrounded by wood and leather.

It’ll cruise quietly down a motorway all day long and the ride is relaxing. The only question mark lies over its build quality, or shortage of it, but if you do end up spending a lot of time on the hard shoulder there’s no finer place in which to do it.

We found: 2012 4.4 TDV8 Vogue SE, 40,000 miles, £24,995

When it comes to British luxury cars the badge to be seen behind is definitely the Bentley one. Not as louche as a Roller, or as common as an Aston, the Flying Spur is a sporting limo that takes all the elegance and luxury for which the brand is known and then adds its own special sprinkle of high performance.

Performance? The 552bhp 6.0-litre twin-turbo W12 engine under its bonnet can push this heavyweight Bentley up to nearly 200mph, and it corners, despite its bulk, with reasonable ability if not true agility.

It rides pretty well, too, and it’s all wonderfully hushed. It’s comfortable, desirable, and the interior is of course traditionally decked out in acres of wood and leather. Expect immense fun, and even more enormous running costs.

We found: 2005 Flying Spur W12, 60,000 miles, £24,995

Think Porsche and some fast and possibly fractious rear-engined supercar might spring to mind. What probably won’t is the Panamera which, when all's said and done, is merely a very fast and very large hatchback.

Worse, though the Panamera has always been billed as the four-door 911, its looks have never quite lived up to that handle. However, think again. The Panamera is jolly quick, handles well and has a luxurious and sporting interior.

In fact, inside it is the best place to be, because it drives beautifully, and from the inside you can’t see the outside. Now, good used ones seem relatively cheap. It might cost a lot to maintain a Panamera, but it’ll probably be worth it.

We found: 2012 Panamera 3.0 TD V6, 89,000 miles, £25,000

The XJ has always been the creamiest cat in the Jag range, from the 1968 Series One with its grace, space and pace right up to this all-new 2009 and onwards version.

Strikingly different in its styling, it equalled previous Jaguar standards in ride quality and refinement and shattered them in terms of driving pleasure.

Here is a car with muscular performance and supremely agile handling wrapped up in the body of a luxury limo. Inside the XJ brings a touch of modernity to the trad wood and leather look, and there’s plenty of kit for your money. You might be concerned by the trad Jag build quality, too, but so far there are no reports of any major issues.

We found: 2016 XJ 3.0d Portfolio, 27,000 miles, £24,995

The original CLS was one of the first of the new breed of four-door coupés, designed to blend desirability with practicality, and it did so well that it was followed in 2010 by this arguably even better-looking second-generation version.

Underneath is well-proven E-Class running gear, and as a result the CLS rides and handles rather better than you’d think it would.

It’s also quick and surprisingly refined, in either petrol or diesel forms, and it adds to that a well-equipped, four-seater interior of immense plushness. Despite such smartness, the CLS was always reasonably good value to buy new and is now a bit of a bargain used. On top of that it’s not extortionate in its running costs, either.

We found: 2017 220d AMG Line, 26,100 miles, £24,995

Fancy all the familiar solid qualities to be found in everyday Audis but wrapped up in a luxury limo bodyshell, with added space, greater luxury and even more tech?

The A8 has always been a tour de force, making extensive use of aluminium in its makeup in order to keep its weight down, and this third-generation model takes the fight to BMW and Mercedes with a range of engines that offer an enticing blend of performance and efficiency.

Underneath is the four-wheel drive option you’d expect from Audi, and inside is a classy looking dash, smart infotainment system and a wonderfully opulent interior, with a long-wheelbase option for business types to lounge around in.

It now makes an excellent used car purchase, especially with the heavy sting of initial depreciation removed. Parts are pricey, though, so check everything carefully.

We found: 2015 A8 3.0 TDI Quattro SE Exec, 54,000 miles, £24,500

You’d be hard pushed to find a car at any price that has as broad a range of talents as the BMW 5 Series. With an updated version launched in late 2016, you should just find examples of that generation for our budget.

It comes with a range of punchy yet efficient engines, neat styling and a wonderful ride and handling balance.

It’s a marvellous driver’s car, especially when equipped with the adjustable suspension that we always recommend, and it’s comfortable for passengers.

Add to that its luscious and spacious interior, excellent ergonomics and class-leading iDrive infotainment controller and it’s no wonder we rate this car so highly as a used buy.

We found: 2018 520d EffDyn SE, 25,300 miles, £24,995

Even in a class full of such serious contenders, the S-Class stands out. It is, of course, almost the go-to choice in this category when new, and the same values translate to the car used.

It offers an outstanding level of quality, refinement and driver appeal, and, in our chosen spec S350 diesel form, even has reasonable running costs. It’s comfortable, too, with a cosseting ride, and the interior is a classy delight.

There’s plenty of tech on board, as you'd expect, but it’s all easy to access and use. That you can have all this quality in a barely four-year-old car with a below average mileage for such a modest price even makes it a bit of a luxury car bargain.

We found: 2015 S350 AMG Line Exec, 35,000 miles, £24,995

So that's the best cars - what about one to avoid?

The Q70 is large, has a smart interior and is well built. £25,000 would just about buy you an immaculate 2018 car with an 18 registration plate and only 4000 miles on the clock. We wouldn’t bother, though.