Today, even basic trim levels are downright loaded compared to what counted as standard equipment for the cars of twenty years ago, and the comparison only becomes more dramatic the farther back in time you go. Features that once defined luxury are simply expected today; air conditioning certainly comes to mind, and power windows.
And if you’re shopping for a bonafide luxury car in 2025, the scope of technological luxuries as well as paints and coverings and conveniences is truly staggering. Multi-mode massaging seats, custom interior lighting, ergonomic memory settings, voice-activated features … the list goes on and on.
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But what defines luxury to you? Certainly we can agree those massaging seats are nice, not to mention the ability to warm one’s hams via electrical filaments beneath the leather (real or animal-friendly), or come summertime, blast said hams with cooled air. But as Autopians, I’m confident we all have some unique takes on what constitutes luxury beyond the usual niceties.
As a serial shitbox owner for many years, I still count “starts every time” and “is safe” as highly valued luxuries. I’ve also suffered many a crap stereo – factory and aftermarket – so a nice sound system is clutch. And a power rear hatch? Absolutely delightful.
Your turn: What is luxury for you?
Top image: Doug DeMuro/YouTube
More than anything, it’s how the car feels.
Example: I own a BMW 3-Series, my wife owns an Audi A6. My BMW has better performance, handling, and road feel. I love it. My wife will choose her Audi every single time, whether as a driver or passenger, and I can’t blame her. The Audi is much more comfortable (bigger and more comfortable seating), is quieter, has much less of a reaction to the road (sounds and bumps), and is more aesthetically pleasing on the interior, while still having lovely performance (if muted in how you sense it). Her Audi is clearly the luxury vehicle.
I agree with the comments about NVH, high quality materials, durability.
I also think one of the most important aspects of a luxury brand is how they interact with their customers. I don’t stay at the Ritz just because the physical aspects are nicer than they are at the Holiday Inn, it’s also because the staff are very well trained and will bend over backwards for the guests. Similarly, spend a little bit of time at a Kia dealership, and then contrast that with the experience at a Lexus dealership.
For everyone who wants to call that snobby or elitist or whatever, 90% of customer service interactions at this point are with bots. It sucks. If I need to pay extra to interact with real humans who treat me with a reasonable level of respect, I am going to do so.
This. All of this. This 100%.
Cruise control. A nice stereo system would be nice, but in an age of decent earbuds a stereo is almost not necessary in a DD. For a vehicle intended for two or more occupants, then a good stereo is necessary.
A useable HVAC system is nice.
I’ve driven some pretty bare-bones vehicles so luxury for me is a low bar.
This is the first I’ve heard about people driving with earbuds in. Now I’m considering it. My stereo sucks. But how distracting and dangerous is it?
Inability to hear outside noises is a danger with that approach and some states have made it illegal to drive with headphones in.
https://1800lionlaw.com/is-it-illegal-to-drive-with-headphones/
Agreed, not hearing the outside world is a bad thing. but what’s the difference between cranking a stereo and having earbuds? is there a difference? are their earbuds built for driving? ( that allows the outside world in ? )
Not being the one who created the laws, but looking at it from a logical point of view, earbuds or headphones will plug or cover the ears, blocking outside sound. I presume the argument for making loud music not illegal but earbuds/headphones illegal is because with loud music outside noises are fighting for your attention, but it’s potentially blocked with earbuds/headphones.
There are headphones and earplugs that are designed for allowing outside noise in, usually called “ambient mode” or something if the headphones have noise cancelling otherwise. It wouldn’t make them legal in the states where it’s illegal, but it would be a more prudent method of using earbuds while driving if that is your desire.
My DD is so loud — there’s no insulation anywhere — playing the feeble stereo at 10/10 to hear my podcasts is not comfortable or healthy. Earbuds that block ~50% of the ambient noise and setting the podcast at low volume is a better choice for my hearing and allows me to hear sirens and car horns.
To me, real luxury is something that is a pleasure to use, has aspects that “surprise and delight”, has had every little detail of its function worked out so it works properly and works consistently like a finely tuned expensive Swiss watch.
A product with FEWER features (but everything it has works really well) can be a better example of luxury than something with more features.
For example, my Ford C-Max Energi Titanium is a luxurious vehicle. But in reality, it’s a mix of luxury and non-luxury.
In terms bells and whistles, it has the glass roof, automatic climate control, a fancy (for its time) sat-nav system, “leather” heated seats, a very good stereo and a bunch of other shit. Most of it is stuff I don’t need or want Of those things, only the stereo has real value to me.
Now some of the “luxury” features it has are just annoying and are a net negative.
I find the power liftgate to be annoying as half of the time, I would rather just have a regular rear liftgate that I can open faster on my own. And the rain sensing wipers? They work in an erratic/inconsistent fashion. I’m looking at disconnecting the stupid rain sensor which should cause the intermittent function to revert to just regular intermittent wipers of the lower trims.
And the fancy sat-nav system? It sucks compared to the Nav I can get from google maps or the maps on any modern-ish iPhone. I would rather have a cell phone mount with a USB power plug than that stupid built-in sat-nav system.
And the heated seats? Only the base is heated, not the back. So turning it on means my nuts and ass get roasted while my upper body remains cold. I would rather have a heated steering wheel than heated seats as it’s my fingers that get more cold, not my ass.
And one area I find that is glaringly worse with my C-Max compared to my old, much cheaper Honda Fit… the suspension. When hitting bumps that only one side of the wheels go over, it causes an unpleasant side-to-side motion. Essentially my old Honda Fit had better suspension feel and control.
This is the biggest anti-luxury aspect of the C-Max. It shows its humble Ford Focus roots in the most glaring way in this area.
It seems the marketing people at a lot of companies like Ford decide it’s better that the product has the feature even if the implementation of that feature is half-assed and leads to a negative user experience.
So overall, my C-max isn’t true luxury. It’s a regular car with “luxury features” grafted on… and the implementation of some of those features is half-assed.
Can I just chime in to agree on how annoying the rain sensing wipers are? Mine are ALWAYS going too fast and squeaking.
Same – I loathe them in my MDX. They are NEVER at the speed I want.
VAG’s of a certain vintage (about 15 years ago) had a little control on the top of the wiper stalk, which lets you set the delay of the intermittent wipers. Not luxury perhaps, but I love it.
My version of “pure luxury” is probably how Rolls would argue it: soft suspension that effortlessly soaks up road imperfections, thick paneling and glass to remove the din of life, great material selection (Rich Corinthian Leather especially) and seat comfort to lull your passengers asleep in minutes. Whatever technology gets you to that point is arbitrary but also necessary. Screens aren’t inherently luxurious(or not) but implementation of controls certainly can be a make-or-break.
I’ve actually been looking at modern cars that fit this recently and I can’t think of better values that come to mind more than Lincolns Continental and even Toyota Century my beloved.
We did a round of test drives recently with Luxury as a focus arend were really blown away by both the Crown Signia and, oddly, the Mazda 3. No road noise in the slightest and mostly great use of materials. The Integra shocked me on how loud it was on bumps and the Stop/Start felt barbaric.
A roof
One of the first criteria for luxury in my opinion is NVH; it’s not gonna feel luxurious if the interior trim is thin and rattly and you get tossed around with every little bump you run over. Fit and finish pretty much goes hand in hand with NVH too.
I came here to post same.
How many of the following boxes can you check?
⬜︎ The stuff that looks like wood is actually wood.
⬜︎ The stuff that looks like metal is actually metal.
⬜︎ The stuff that looks like leather is actually leather.
0: Basic. 1: Slightly luxurious. 2: Somewhat luxurious. 3: Very luxurious.
OK, but do the snozzberries taste like snozzberries?
Luxury is driving the vehicle i want to drive… not one i settled for.
But in terms of luxuries: 1) leather or suede steering wheels. It’s the thing we touch the most in a car and I just want it to feel nice in my hands. Shitty vinyl reminds me i am in something designed for wear and tear.
Second is a good stereo… it doesn’t need to be 80 speakers with a subwoofer up my ass but it can’t distort if I turn up the volume.
Third are button blanks though these are less of a problem these days as auto manufacturers have done a much better job of concealing them.
Its a constant reminder of feature you didn’t buy.
I always appreciated that 1990s and 2000s BMW would make multiple versions of interior trim pieces, depending on the options. They just didn’t do block-off plates. That is luxury.
I get that it’s more money from any development standard but it shows they cared how their products looked across the board, not just at the top end.
I’m still a runs and drives safe kinda person, but as I push into my later 60s a nice comfy ride seems quite luxurious to me.
Owning a new luxury car should have a feeling of exclusivity to it. One of the things the luxury brands push their dealers the hardest over is making the ownership experience better than what you get with a non-luxury marque. They can still upsell and try to tempt you to replace an aging but fully functional vehicle with the latest model, but they’d better be nice about it! That’s the criticism I’ve heard time and again when a brand tries to go upmarket when they weren’t before: Customers expect a lot of the bullshit to go away as part of the price tag increase.
I’m old enough to remember when luxury was a passenger side mirror. I want a backup camera, alerts if I’m close to something backing up, a heated steering wheel and heated seats, Bluetooth connectivity, a built-in NAV screen even if it’s just google android auto, and Air conditioning. I don’t need leather anything I don’t need anything super fancy just keep me warm, dry, and let me know where I need to go.
Total luxury for me is any awesome comfy land yacht…cruise in comfort and style w/ a huge V8 (a real engine, not puny 3-cyl trash on some new cars) Even though it’s a FoMoCo product, I love and want a 79 Lincoln Mark V…or a Chrysler New Yorker w/ a huge hood and trunk. See also, Uncle Buck’s car backfiring and smoking like a chimney. It would be fun! Gasoline forever!
My old-age driving fantasy is absolutely that Lincoln is making proper sedans again, and I’m cruising down the road in a dark Continental mark e or whatever. I’m fine with it being hybrid or electric, but it needs to have that wonderfully American combination of being cushy and overpowered.
I agree with you. It seems that modern powertrain and production methods should enable the Big Three to dust off the old schematics for classic land yachts and TASTEFULLY update them. I would gladly pay for an updated version of a ‘49 Cadillac, a ‘60’s Lincoln or a ‘70’ Chrysler over another derivative CUV.
How smoothly does it turn? How much can I feel a speedbump? How quickly does it warm me up/cool me down? Is my entire body warm/cool, or just a broad section of my chest? Is it quiet inside? Can I do everything in simple single step gestures? Is interfacing with the controls intrusive? Can I fully stretch out without contorting any part of my body to fit? Can I sit for more than an hour without it hurting anywhere? Is getting up to speed a slam the pedal moment or a gentle groove?
Anything else doesn’t matter. Luxury is about how little conflict there is with whatever it is and how tiring it is to use it. It’s not about the materials, or excesses, or prestige. This is why a Rolex Submariner watch is considered a luxury item and a much more expensive to make and feature rich Apple Watch 10 isn’t — there’s little or no conflict, maintenance, or cognitive load in using it.
I’ll show my age, but…leather seats.
I’ve mostly ridden in/owned vinyl and cloth seated cars, and I’m old enough to remember when many cars didn’t even offer them as an option.
I know it’s fairly passé now, but for me, that’s the one thing that screams luxury.
I’d counter that the soft velour seats I had in an old Lincoln of mine were more comfortable than any leather seats I’ve ever owned. It was almost a safety hazard, if maybe you were a bit tired and the heat was running full blast, your brain could be easily tricked into thinking you were at home in bed or something
This is not a bad answer at all. Funny how velour seats in specific cars can easily influence the overall character of those cars.
This is very much the truth. I had a Brougham like the one Doug’s talking about in the video, but with the velour seats. They were heaven.
I’ve never been a fan of leather. Burn your ass in the summer, freeze it in the winter. I’ll take heated cloth seats any day. Unfortunately the trim level of my current truck had no other option but leather..
When I got my Mustang, I really liked the Bullitt/Torque Thrust D style wheels, but the only way to get them was with the uplevel trim and leather package. So I stuck with the cloth I really wanted, and learned to live with the base alloys. Which I now kinda prefer.
I’m gonna flip this prompt on its head a bit and answer more generally speaking when it comes to luxury since I certainly have some fondness for more than a few luxury goods. To me and in a more traditional sense luxury is synonymous with craftsmanship. A luxury good should look good, it should feel good, and it should last. It should be better made and there should be an attention to detail that goes above and beyond because that’s what you’re paying a premium for.
Buying a luxury good should actually be a worthy investment, because it should last longer than buying something cheaper and give you a little hit of serotonin when you interact with it. As I’ve mentioned here a few times, I collect watches…and if you blindfolded me and handed me watches from reputable brands that were $50, $500, and $1,000+ I’d like to think I could feel which is which.
There are some other nice things I own too. I’m a guitarist as well, and when you pay more for a luxury good in that world you should be getting better QC, better craftsmanship, more often than not something prettier, and it should last forever and sound good. I have a Barbour jacket and I would absolutely recommend one to anyone asking because of how well they’re made, how pretty every little detail on them is, and the fact that the company stands by them for the life of the product.
Every Barbour store you go in has a section where they have people refurbishing older jackets to keep them waxed and up to snuff. How cool is that? THAT’S worth the extra money. Anyway all of this is to say that that’s what luxury is to me…and in the context of cars/end stage turbo capitalism/social media/conspicuous consumption, etc. that plot has been lost.
I think if a car falls apart once the warranty is up and costs a fortune to keep running then it’s a shitty luxury product. I think most of Ze Germans are in this place now because their model is so reliant on leasing to vapid people. The cars look good, and look even better on Instagram, they have all the latest tech, etc…but once they hit 50,000 miles? Good fuckin luck.
That’s not a luxury good to me. That’s a vanity purchase. And the market agrees because you can get a $100,000 Mercedes or BMW for like 30 grand once the warranty is up. But it didn’t used to be this way. Back in the day those cars were bombproof. I also think Porsches are kind of an exception, because while they get caught up in the conspicuous consumption BS and are also a bitch to maintain there’s so much extra engineering, craftsmanship, customization, etc. that I do think they’re worth it, and the secondhand market agrees.
IN CONCLUSION…luxury is Lexus. They get it and they always have. You can go buy one and keep it for 20+ years. They’re still desirable even when they have six figure mileage. The interiors are still gorgeous and filled with excellent touch points several owners down the line. Any old mechanic can keep one running, and for cheap. There’s a good chance you’ll never have to do anything maintenance wise other than oil, fluids, and other consumables.
If I’m paying a premium for a luxury product that’s what I want. Give me something that every little detail has intention behind. Give me something that I can keep forever. Give me something that I interact with and go “hey, that’s pretty neat” even years down the line. At the end of the day…is it even a splurge? I don’t think so, because financially that extra money up front evaporates when compared to what you’d spend on having several more disposable products instead.
This is what makes a (relatively) spartan 40 year old Mercedes w123 a luxury car in a way that a fully-optioned 2024 Nissan Rogue will never be. It’s not about gizmos or backup cameras or big screens, it’s about knowing that the car was once the best-engineered car in the world, built to the highest quality.
You get it. Cheers!
Built to a standard, not a cost point.
I’ll take a clapped out W123 over just about anything tbh
I am with you (I think).
Make the ‘function’ bulletproof. Then make it pretty and have it invoke feelings.
Then, 10 years later, have it still invoke those feelings.
I had to go into my MIL’s SO’s ’06? ’08? Range Rover for a thing. When I closed the door, it evoked imagery of a tank, but lithe and fit for service. When that door shut, I could feel the clunk, not the clang. I could feel the air pressure building just a hair as I approached the end of the push.
Give me the high-carbon damascus steel knife; I know how to take care of it and how to use it. But, make it beautiful.
Give me a Benelli side by side. They are already beautiful, in a way that the most reliable Ruger Red Label could never be.
I think we are vehemently agreeing with each other…
> I had to go into my MIL’s SO’s ’06? ’08? Range Rover for a thing. When I closed the door, it evoked imagery of a tank, but lithe and fit for service.
… Until you tried to start it :p
Yeah, why can Lexus sell a luxury sedan that will run reliably for 200,000+ miles without requiring any more maintenance and upkeep than a Corolla, and other brands think it’s perfectly fine if luxury cars nickle and dime you endlessly once the warranty runs out and that if you complain about it than you must be the problem? Why can’t an older A6 be as hassle free as an older ES?
> Why can’t an older A6 be as hassle free as an older ES?
For the same reason a newer A6 isn’t as hassle free as a newer ES. VAG products, by and large, aren’t good automobiles.
Luxury is AC and Power Windows.
Bliss is AC, PW, and a Bluetooth equipped radio…
I grew up in the era of crank windows, and while I kinda miss ’em for their bulletproof nature, it’s true that when power windows came on the scene, they felt impossibly high end. “Wait, I don’t have to get out of the car to roll the ones in the back down?!”
Jack, you and me both.
I remember in 1980, we got the Olds Custom Cruiser Diesel wagon. We had AC before in some other cars, but POWER FREAKIN’ WINDOWS? Holy cow! And to be really decadent, it had Cloth seats. None of this Vinal stuff…
People don’t really remember how luxurious good cloth was in the ’80s. We were used to vinyl on lower-end stuff, velour on higher-end, but Ford in particular’s increasing use of Euro/VW style cloth was a real eye opener back then.
Near-zero Noise, Vibration, & Harshness (NVH); this includes wind and road noise
Long legs: the vehicle is not working hard (or at all) to maintain a solid pace
Extremely comfortable cabin: NVH but also seat materials and seating/controls layout
And I’ll own this part: the brand. Chevrolet might make something good but I won’t see it as a luxury car.
Yup to all this. It’s why I still consider my LS400 a luxury car today.
Came here for the NVH and comfort. I’m finding I don’t really mind the brand if everything else adds up to expectations.
Paid for, or at least well above water with an easily managed payment. Stressing about a monthly sucks and is decidedly not lux.
Solid. Soft. Quiet. Effortless. I veer pretty traditional in my luxury car tastes. My Volt has leather, is quiet, and gadgets galore, but I would never consider it a luxury car. My Mercury? Aw yeah.
I was just typing a list very similar to yours.
It’s one of those “I know it when I see it” type feelings. I think even modern minded people subconsciously feel it too, lot’s of my friends and family will tease me about my big ol’ boat, but they typically stop once they are riding in it!
Yeah the only word I would (perhaps controversially) add is “spacious”, I don’t really believe it’s possible to make a small luxury car.
I think it’s certainly possible to make a “luxurious small car”, but that isn’t exactly the same thing as a “small luxury car”, semantics maybe, but I think there’s a difference
I think small cars can be “nice” but I wouldn’t consider them a luxury car. Kind of like my Volt. My favorite example of this would be a Vanden Plas Allegro. Coach built interior, sumptuous leather and wood, but you just KNOW an Allegro isn’t a luxury car.
Or Riley Elf/Wolseley Hornet, or the later Rover Mini Mayfair
Or a Cygnet!
An engine/motor of adequate power that is smooth and pleasing. A quiet smooth cabin. Premium materials covering everything, and I mean everything. No skimping on the bottom of the door trim with hard plastics just because it is below sightline. Also piano black is not premium. Switch gear that has a satisfying feel and sound when used. Window switches and turn signal stalk are a good indication if the company sweated the small stuff. Highly adjustable seats and steering column so I can get my perfect position.
It’s comfortable to sit in is the most important car luxury I think for cars. Ventilated seats a close second.
I’ll paraphrase an old Jellopicnic alum loosely here: “If the car seems effortless and comfortable, if it removes stress rather than adding to it.”
I still like that. It transcends the old definition, which was build quality and longevity; and it flies in the face of the new definition, which is how much crap they can cram into the car to distract you.
High quality finish materials, very comfortable seats, no outside noise intrusion, a soft, compliant ride, lots of space to stretch out, and enough power to merge and pass confidently without feeling like the car is straining.
Tasteful styling doesn’t hurt.
You can retrofit a bunch of electronic features into a Yugo and it doesn’t make it a luxury car, I don’t care how many LCD screens you glue to the dash
Heated steering wheel. Now that I own a vehicle with that option, I don’t think I could have a DD without it.
I never quite got on board…seat heaters, yes — cold seats transcend the best coat. But gloves solve the wheel problem instantly. Seat ventilators? Be still, my beating heart! This needs to be a standard feature by now.
I was in your camp until my first heated steering wheel. Now it’s a must-have. There’s just something about that heat soaking into your joints that’s just so much better than gloves.
Yup. After using a new rig with a heated wheel, I knew we could never buy a car again without it… but not all of them are equal. The wheel in my 2 series has 360, uniform heat while the wheel in our Rogue has some cold spots. Some cold spots is better than no heater.
The other odd feature “I have to have” now is Heads Up Display. Both our current cars have that and I rarely ever have to take my eyes off of the road. I don’t think I’ll buy a car without that again. It would feel like a huge step back.
I also love a 360 camera. It’s hard to go back to just a backup camera / mirrors after using one.
Ooo, forgot about a HUD. My Camaro had that option and it was great.