Luxury Reviews

The Lexus LC500 is superb, and we absolutely recommend you run out and buy one. But there are a couple of things you should know first...

Remember the bad old days, back when buying an eco-friendly car meant you'd be forced to wave goodbye to any hope of driving excitement - not to mention your social life - the moment you picked up the keys?

Lexus is late to the small SUV party, but can it offer a compelling enough alternative to the big Euro players to capture the attention of younger buyers?

The $272,900 BMW 8 Series Coupe is one of those rare occasions where it pays to pay less. The Coupe is a whole $9000 cheaper than the only other 8 Series variant, the Convertible, but it’s not only faster - at 3.7 seconds for the 0 to 100km/h sprint, as opposed to 3.9 for the drop-top variant - it’s much more beautiful to look at as well.If you think 3.7 seconds sounds fast for a car as classy and ostentatiously expensive at the 850i, then you’re absolutely correct. The big Beemer’s brawny 4.4-litre, V8 twin-turbocharged engine makes a whopping 390kW and 750Nm, but those performance times are still staggering for vehicles that weigh more than 1.8 tonnes. This is a properly luxurious luxury car, with a merino-leather interior, beautifully shiny glass highlights on its controls and laser lights to help you see 500m down the road, in pure white light, at night. The 850i xDrive might have super-car-like power figures - so much so that it needs to be all-wheel drive (or xDrive) to get all its power to the ground, rather than in the traditional, rear-drive BMW fashion, but It is not a snapping sports car unless you want it to be. Its default setting is very much as a classic grand tourer, capable of crossing vast distances in VIP comfort. The standard inclusion list is as long as Lebron’s arm and includes 20-inch M-branded light-alloy wheels, a tyre-pressure indicator, M Sport Brakes, M Sport Differential, Adaptive M Suspension Professional with Integral Active Steering, Active anti-roll stabilisation, Comfort Access including a kick-open tailgate, wireless phone charging, Soft Close Doors, BMW Crafted Clarity Glass Application, Driving Assistant Professional, Parking Assistant Plus, including 3D View and Reverse Assistant, Laserlights, a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster and a 10.25-inch Control Display, metallics, paint, merino leather upholstery, heated steering wheel and arm rests, and seats, a 16-speaker harmon.kardon sound system, a Head-Up Display and the hugely pointless Gesture Control.

Can a car company show off? It seems absurd; the kind of embarrassing, unedifying behaviour that only ego-driven, status-obsessed human beings engage in.

It’s a rare treat when the convertible version of a beautiful car is actually more attractive than the Coupe or sedan it’s based on, and this is not one of those occasions. While the M850i is a scintillatingly sharp thing to look at, the Convertible is slightly softer, as is the way it drives.But it does allow you the option of letting the sun in on a warm day, with the roof dropping - or raising - in an impressively quiet 15 seconds.Your $9000 extra spend - at $281,900 - over the Coupe does get you the very lovely Air Collar Neck Warmer.The big Beemer’s brawny 4.4-litre, V8 twin-turbocharged engine makes a whopping 390kW and 750Nm, which is enough to fire the Convertible to 100km/h in 3.9 seconds. Which is hugely fast for a rag top, and particularly one as luxurious as this.The 850i xDrive might have super-car-like power figures - so much so that it needs to be all-wheel drive (or xDrive) to get all its power to the ground, rather than in the traditional, rear-drive BMW fashion, but It is not a snapping sports car unless you want it to be. Its default setting is very much as a classic grand tourer, capable of crossing vast distances in VIP comfort. The standard inclusion list is as long as Lebron’s arm and includes the BMW Air Collar, to keep your neck warm when it’s cold, and then everything you get in the Coupe - 20-inch M-branded light-alloy wheels, a tyre-pressure indicator, M Sport Brakes, M Sport Differential, Adaptive M Suspension Professional with Integral Active Steering, Active anti-roll stabilisation, Comfort Access including a kick-open tailgate, wireless phone charging, Soft Close Doors, BMW Crafted Clarity Glass Application, Driving Assistant Professional, Parking Assistant Plus, including 3D View and Reverse Assistant, Laserlights, a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster and a 10.25-inch Control Display, metallics, paint, merino leather upholstery, heated steering wheel and arm rests, and seats, a 16-speaker harmon.kardon sound system, a Head-Up Display and the hugely pointless Gesture Control. 

Buying a sports car is a bit like getting a tattoo - it’s not a sensible, practical or necessary choice, it’s an emotional one, and, if we’re honest, the most important factor is that it looks good, and makes us look good. At least in our own eyes.

Move beyond the middle child in the Z4 range, and you hit the wild-child variant, the range-topping M40i, which scores the more traditional, straight-six-cylinder engine, albeit a very modern, turbocharged version.

It might sound cruel, but there’s a reasonable chance that the sDrive20i will be referred to by BMW dealers as “showroom bait”.

Alfa Romeo has produced its Stelvio SUV, because that's how it goes in 2019. But the Italian maker is hard-wired for driving fun and the Quadrifoglio version turns up the wick on speed and dynamics. It's brilliant but far from perfect.