These luxury sedans pack a serious punch. In fact, most sports car owners probably shouldn’t challenge them at the lights.
Sports cars are cool, right? The best performance in an uncompromising chassis layout for the ultimate thrill ride. But what if you could have all the performance in the world and still have room for the kids or in-laws?
Since the late '80s, when carmakers first got serious with turbocharging, premium luxury cars have gotten faster, to the stage where sports cars are no longer the ultimate speed machines. Mercedes-AMG kicked off proceedings with the AMG Hammer, Alpina following suite with various B-Spec motors knocking on the door of supercar territory. We're not going to argue a performance sedan is the best, but it's definitely a contender for the fastest every day car, a rival that can destroy most sports cars in both acceleration and top speed. The rise of fast luxury sedans gives speed junkies another option, speed and comfort in one devastatingly quick package.
Mercedes takes care of the luxury side nicely, AMG adding a potent mix of speed and handling that raise the question, why do we need sports cars anymore? The answer isn't as straight forward as the AMG GT63S hints at, yes it gets tantalizingly close to 200 mph, but for four-up thrills It's hard to beat.
Equipped with a monstrous Biturbo 4.liter V8 chucking out 630 hp, more than you get from most Porsches on the market. Still not convinced? How about 664 lbs-ft of torque helping to launch the GT63S to 60mph in 2.9-seconds stretching in to three digits in just over 6-seconds.
Around the same time AMG tweaked the GT63S above, Jaguar busied itself with a hot XE under the watchful eye of its own SVO department. The Resulting XE Project 8 smashing AMG's Nürburgring effort by 4-seconds with a larger, albeit slightly less powerful 5-liter supercharged V8.
Just three hundred of these special "Big Cats" were produced, each boasting 592 hp, proving it's not how much power you have, but how you use it. Incredibly, Jaguar engineers managed to coax enough performance out of the XE to crack 200 mph, with sixty coming up in 3.3-seconds.
It would be easy to find 10 European luxury sedans with sports car trouncing performance, however gearheads preferring something equally fast and homegrown don't have to look too far. Cadillac's CT6-V "Blackwing" specials face off against their overseas rivals with a surprisingly small by US standards 4.2-liter V8.
Twin-turbos disprove the age-old no substitute for cubic inches myth, the CT6V boasting 550 hp backed up bay an astonishing 640 lbs ft of torque can crack the double ton with ease and never feels aggressive in its delivery, peak power delivered at a lazy 3400 rpm.
Forget BMWs M series, if you're craving the need for speed, you need to pay a visit to the darker side of BMW's 7-series, a side where Alpina takes the merely quick and shoves a proverbial rocket up its tail pipe. Eschewing the 7-seris range topping 6.6-liter V12 unit for a smaller, more potent 4.4-liter V8 punching out 600 hp, Alpina delivers supercar crushing speed.
Recording a 205 mph top speed is one thing, storming to 60mph in 3.2-seconds is another, these figures would be impressive in any sports car. The Alpina B7 however is no featherweight stripped out two-seater, but rather a 4-door sedan tipping the scales at 4,940 lbs with enough wood and leather to furnish a small country estate.
One half of the former Bentley-Rolls Royce family, now under VAG control, the UK based luxury sports sedan builder has flourished. No longer simply engineered cars, but custom-built dragsters masquerading as limos you could drive yourself or simply have the chauffeur take care of. We'd recommend the former, Bentley's Flying Spur, a 5,300 lbs monster capable of 211 mph.
Naturally motivating something so big and heavy requires a titanic engine, and while Bentley does offer smaller engines, it's the 6-liter W12 twin turbo one you want with the full 626 hp on tap.
In the other Bentley/RR camp, current owners, BMW, have taken everything that made Rolls-Royce a serious luxury limo and thrown some big engineering principles behind it. At one time, Rolls representatives would never divulge anything so crude as actual power figures, merely replying "adequate", BMW, however, prefer cold, hard facts, the Ghost Black Badge boasts 591 hp.
Bigger and heavier, and no doubt limited to a maximum 155 mph, the Black Badge edition is no slouch when it comes to quick gateways, serenely wafting its occupants to 60 mph in 4.2-seconds.
Subtle, in a cool calculating way, as only Audi would dare, the S8 a modern day sleeper that on appearances wouldn't look out of place in the office car park. Only serious gearheads would suspect this four-door luxury sedan could hold its own in a drag race against all but the fastest sports cars.
Sporting a near obligatory German-sized 4-liter V8 and twin turbocharger configuration producing 563 hp, limited only by a gentlemen agreement to 155 mph. However, the fun police only restricts top speed, leaving gearheads plenty of performance to shock and awe unsuspecting sports car owners with a drag to 60 mph in 3.2-seconds.
Porsche and turbo are synonymous with power and performance, the Taycan proudly sporting turbo across its rear like a family heirloom, which in average gearheads minds would suggest a flat-six under the hood. Sadly, neither is true, Porsches most important model to date is fully electric, no flat-six engine note and no turbocharger.
Badging miscues aside, the Taycan is a tarmac shredding monster, twin electric motors drive all four wheels with a combined 670 hp and 627 ft-lb of torque. Nail the silent pedal and 3-seconds later you'll be doing sixty.
Newcomers Lucid hoping to cash in on the luxury EV market with a range of high performance luxury cars is off to a good start, the overly wordy named Air Dream Edition performance occupying top position with an insane 1111 hp. Plans are in place for lower-specced models, but why would anyone with $140,000 burning a hole in their pocket settle for less?
In its current form, the Air Dream boasts twin electric motors producing a combined 1025 lb-ft of torque, enough to see 60 mph in 2.7-secons, but Lucid aren't quite finished yet. The car's chassis has been engineered to accommodate a second motor at the rear, making three in total, hinting at greater things to come.
Love them or hate them, Tesla has transformed the way we think of EVs, once a byword slow and boring Tesla now holds the record for the fastest accelerating production car, the Model S here reaching 60 mph in 2.4-seconds.
Undeniably fast, if somewhat fragile, Tesla owners the world over rave about how good their cars are. But are they all that luxurious? If you're a fan of minimalist leather trimmed interiors and big LCD screens, then yes. Compared to the other cars on the list rundown, we're undecided.
Raised in a car-obsessed environment from an early age ensured a keen interest in anything car-related. first and foremost an F1 fan, but also an avid follower of other motorsports. Professional background working closely with a well established UK based Supercar manufacturer in recent years.
