LUXURY CARS - The cars we would all love to own, but know 99.9% of us never will.
BENTLEY FLYING SPUR - The Spur is the middle range car from the British Luxury brand, this was chosen because it was not as brash as the Mulsanne, and is a far more achievable option, plus it looks far better than the Mulsanne in our humble opinion.
ROLLS ROYCE GHOST - The same for the Ghost, it is not as big and ugly as the Phantom, and the Wraith is not really that pretty either, but the Ghost is, it looks just spot on, with the flying lady on the front to the ultimate in luxury on the inside, whats not to like.`
MASERATI GHIBLI - With the help of FIAT's money and Ferrari's luxury know how, the Maserati brand is growing, with new saloons, and sports cars, and a new SUV on the way, the Ghibli is not overly pretty, but it has everything you need for a car in this class, but a little cheaper than the others.
ASTON MARTIN RAPIDE - Why on earth have you chosen this, I hear you all shout, well, its an Aston, and it seats four with four doors, the last Aston to have four doors was the Lagonda from 1974, until now with a new lagonda, which wont be available in Europe, fools.
MERCEDES S-CLASS - The Uber Saloon, the S-Class has always been the car that has launched new tech, which then filters down the ranges, the new S-Class, and the ultimate S-Class, the Maybach, pushes luxury one step further, but it is still a Mercedes and has not got the cache of Rolls or Bentley
RANGE ROVER - The greatest off roader ever, the biggest luxury off roader ever, what ever you want, this car can delivery it, whether it is wafting along an Autobahn at 150mph, or taking it off road, and utilising all the toys to keep it safe and free from scratches, the Rangie has been a part of UK folklore for 40+ years, and will continue to do so for as many more.
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The luxury end of the market is one that the vast majority of us will never be able to reach, well, not until some of these cars get a bit older and prices come way down, but for new cars, the sales numbers are in the 100's rather than 100's of thousands, and it is these cars that tempt people, because they know we would love to own them, the posters on the walls, magazine road tests, Internet searches and so on, the number of cars that could have been on this list is vast, and cutting them back to the few you see here was not an easy one.
But we start with the best of British, the Bentley Flying Spur, the uber large saloon, only beaten by the mega large saloon that is the Mulsanne, the Flying Spur is a master stroke, it has all the opulence and luxury you come to expect from Bentley these days, but with some serious grunt that pushes these heavy things along at some storming numbers, a near 200mph top speed in something this big can be frightening, but when your wafting along, you have no idea what speed your doing.
The exact same can be said for the Rolls Royce Ghost, out of the three Royce models available, Phantom, Ghost and Wraith, the Ghost is by far and away the best, the subjective looks of the Phantom and Wraith do little for us here, whereas the Ghost seems to have gotten it right, you get the same sort of luxury as with the Bentley.
The bespoke leather and wood treatments are unrivalled anywhere, but for us Rolls has lost the plot a little in the looks dept', and for us they don't have the same aura about them, like they did before BMW got hold it, we don't disagree they are better built, and are of a better quality that ever before, but that magic has gotten lost somewhere.
Maserati is a welcome return to the lists of award nominee's, after years if being lost in the wilderness, they have at long last been given an image and purpose, with FIAT's finances and Ferrari's know how, the Mazza is getting back up there, and the Ghibli, we chose, as we feel it is a better model than the Quattroporte, shows what can be achieved, they all have those same subjective looks, like the Royce, but does it slightly better, there is more models on the horizon, and for now at least, they have placed a shot across the bow of other high end saloon/sedan makers, and it can only get better.
By adding the Aston, it has caused more questions than answers, is it a super saloon, or a stretched sports car, for now, we will go with stretched saloon, the best of both worlds, it is not as showy as the William Towns Lagonda of the 70's or even the new Lagonda, which may or may not come to Europe, but it has that corporate look, that is on the front of all Aston's, and carries that look to the interior also, with a mild difference for the saloon, compared to the sports car, this is a difficult car for us to give an award to, as it fails to be one thing or another, it does both OK, but neither great.
NO list like this would be complete without the S-Class, the ultimate in luxury, tech and comfort, and with the Maybach name returning on a high end S-Class, there is only one way for the brand to go, and that is up, more luxury, more tech, more money, but can it win, it could, but i cant help but recall all those S-Class cars that end up as Taxi's, so the S-Class is not an all out high end luxury car, as much as it is an all rounder, the Maybach S600 version will no doubtingly be something very very special, but will it win here today.
So, what does that leave, well, the Daddy of all Off Roaders, the Range Rover, no matter how many try, no one has ever gotten close to taking the crown from the RR, it is the best 4x4xFar, as the old advert used to say, and it is still relevant today, it is the most luxurious it has ever been, has enough tech to keep anyone happy, loads of space, can rise and fall at the press of a button, and can climb mountains too, as well as ferry the rich, famous and Royals around, it is a car for all occasions, even for the drug dealer amongst us, the RR Sport is a must have, but will the big daddy win ?
THE MOTORING WORLD LUXURY CAR OF THE YEAR AWARD
Goes to...................
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Another difficult choice here, but in the end it was down to just two cars, and the choice between those two was the hardest, what tipped it, well, for a luxury brand, Bentley are happy to deal with the general public, via Facebook etc, they even have a wall of names, from a social media campaign, the majority of which will never own a Bentley, and they know that, but are still happy to have these people involved, they are not snooty or snobby, and thats why Bentley just took it.
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