Best coupés 2024 – the sleekest models reviewed and rated
Tempted by the idea of a stylish coupé? Then check out our comprehensive rundown of the top 10 best models on the market – and find out which one we'd avoid...
When you picture a coupé, you probably think of something sleek and quick that doesn't have much room for shopping. But while style is an important factor, the best modern coupés offer a lot more besides.
They blend strong performance and sharp handling with good ride comfort, and offer enough practicality to make them easy enough to live with every day. And while some models are expensive (especially if they're from premium car brands), that doesn't necessarily mean they’re not good value.
We've driven every coupé on the market over hundreds of miles, both at our private test track, where we assess their performance, but also on public roads, where we pit them back-to-back against their closest rivals. We also assess the areas which our research tells us buyers are most interested in – in the coupé market, for example, most buyers are interested in interior quality, performance and reliability.
After all that testing, our team of expert reviewers reckon that the BMW 4 Series is the finest coupé you can buy – but to find out which version we recommend and why, you'll need to keep reading.
We've also rounded up the nine other coupés that ought to be on your shortlist – and named the coupé you should avoid. You can read the full reviews, or search for the best coupé deals to potentially save thousands on a new car, by clicking the relevant links below.
Our pick: 420i M Sport 2dr Step Auto
Strengths
- More fun to drive than direct rivals
- Range-topping M440i is seriously rapid
- Back seats are more usable than you might imagine
Weaknesses
- Divisive looks
- Rivals have more versatile folding rear seats
- Some wind and tyre noise
No one buys a coupé solely for its practicality; the way it drives and how plush it feels inside are usually much more important. But with the BMW 4 Series, you can be assured it will have you covered in all of those areas.
You see, the 4 Series is one of few coupés that can carry rear passengers in reasonable comfort. Two six-footers will be comfy enough in the back seats for short journeys, and there’s even enough room in the boot for their luggage.
Then there’s the way it drives. It’s more agile and capable through the corners than the Mercedes CLE. And, if you add the optional adaptive suspension (which allows you to adjust the set-up to suit the road surface you’re on), it's more comfortable than those cars, too.
The entry-level 420i variant gets a 181bhp petrol engine; it's got plenty of low-end shove, making it great for everyday driving, and has an eagerness to rev which suits the car’s sporty character. It's our pick of the engine line-up.
Interior build quality is top-notch, bar a few bits of hard plastic you wouldn't find in an A5, while the 4 Series' iDrive rotary controller means its infotainment system is easier to use on the move than the Audi's touchscreen-only arrangement.
All in, then, the 4 Series truly is a brilliant all-rounder – and that’s rarely said about a coupé.
“The 4 Series’ seats are more heavily bolstered than those of some rivals, so they hold you in place better through corners. For keen drivers like me, that's a big bonus.” – Will Nightingale, Reviews Editor
Read our in-depth BMW 4 Series review
Our pick: 420i M Sport 5dr Step Auto
Strengths
- Great ride
- Hatchback boot makes loading easy
- Better to drive than rivals
Weaknesses
- No adjustable lumbar support as standard
- Head room slightly tight in the rear
- Some wind and tyre noise
Don't worry, you're not seeing double – this is the BMW 4 Series Gran Coupé, the slightly more practical, slightly more expensive four-door version of our class leader, the BMW 4 Series. However, its back doors mean that its pool of direct rivals is somewhat smaller.
Indeed, similar models from Audi, Kia and Volkswagen have all been discontinued, leaving the Mercedes CLA as the only real opponent; an opponent which the BMW defeats across the board. That's not to say the CLA can't hold its own – you'll find it a bit further down this list – but the 4 Series Gran Coupé is that bit more exciting to drive, as well as being a touch more practical, and more polished inside.
If you like the sound of this 4 Series, but you want an electric car, you're in luck – the BMW i4 is very closely related to the 4 Series Gran Coupé, and it too gets our maximum five-star rating.
"While the four-door 4 Series isn't quite as sleek as the two-door, I'd take the former because the extra rear space it offers means it's better suited to occasional family outings." – Stuart Milne, Digital Editor
Read our in-depth BMW 4 Series Gran Coupé review
Strengths
- A quiet and relaxing cruiser
- CLE 300 is a punchy performer
- More room in the back than you might imagine
Weaknesses
- More expensive than its closest rivals
- Not as sharp to drive as a BMW 4 Series
- Rival coupés have bigger boots
The Mercedes CLE replaced both the Mercedes C-Class Coupé and Mercedes E-Class Coupé in the brand’s two-door line-up. That’s landed it in a coupé sweet spot which has in turn helped it rise all the way to third place on this list.
Whereas the 4 Series’ main attraction is its sharp handling, it’s best to think of the CLE as a long-distance cruiser; it’s impressively quiet inside, and non-performance variants are a cut above rivals in terms of ride comfort while still feeling stable and precise on a twisty road.
Compared with the 4 Series, the CLE is actually slightly roomier in the rear, although tall passengers still won’t thank you for leaving them back there for long periods.
“The double-spoked sports steering wheel in the CLE has touch-sensitive controls, which I've found can be fiddly to use. What happened to proper buttons in modern cars?” – Lawrence Cheung, New Cars Editor
Read our in-depth Mercedes CLE review
Our pick: 4.0 V8 2dr Auto [City Spec]
Strengths
- Luxurious interior
- Huge performance
- Enjoyable to drive
Weaknesses
- Range-topping W12 sounds flat
- Not as involving as an Aston Martin DB12 or Ferrari Roma
- Missing some safety kit
The Bentley Continental GT conjures up rose-tinted images of what driving used to be like, when the super-rich would blast across Europe to get to their second home on the Riviera. And yet, it's a thoroughly modern car that gets the balance between sports car and luxury car just about spot on.
Our favourite version is the ‘entry-level’ V8, and it’s a joy to drive with its revvy nature and bassy exhaust note. It almost matches the range-topping W12-engined Speed version for performance, and feels slightly more nimble because there’s less weight over the front end.
Inside the GT, you get polished woods, soft leather and some very high quality fixtures and fittings. It's expensive, but feels worth every penny of its list price.
“The Continental GT’s interior looks like it should come with a butler, with slabs of polished wood and soft leather. I love that no matter which surface I'm touching, it feels worthy of the price.” – Darren Moss, Deputy Digital Editor
Read our in-depth Bentley Continental GT review
Our pick: 220i M Sport 2dr Step Auto
Strengths
- Brilliant engine in M240i
- Great infotainment system
- Sharp handling
Weaknesses
- Firm ride without optional adaptive suspension
- Road noise
- Not as practical as the 4 Series
Rather than being based on the contemporary BMW 1 Series hatchback, as its predecessor was, the current BMW 2 Series actually shares its underpinnings with its bigger brother, the 4 Series. This is clearly a recipe for success, but how does the 2 Series stack up against direct rivals from other brands? Well, as it happens, there aren't any.
Its closest rival is the Mercedes CLA, but this has four doors and front-wheel drive (as opposed to two doors and rear-wheel drive). That makes the CLA by far the more practical of the pair, but the 2 Series counters with a classier interior and sharper handling.
Step up to the 4 Series if you can, but this 2 Series is still a cracking coupé.
"The 2 Series condenses many of its 4 Series sibling's strengths into a smaller, more affordable package. I particularly like its user-friendly infotainment system." – Lawrence Cheung, New Cars Editor
Read our in-depth BMW 2 Series review
Strengths
- Massive performance
- Beautifully crafted interior
- More fun to drive than most of its GT rivals
Weaknesses
- Limited rear-seat space
- Boot could be bigger
- As a cruiser, there are softer-riding alternatives
Underneath, the Aston Martin DB12 is closely related to its predecessor (the Aston Martin DB11), but it’s been updated in several key areas to keep it looking fresh next to the latest high-end, high-performance coupés.
The 4.0-litre twin-turbocharged V8 engine is more powerful than before – meaning a 0-62mph sprint takes just 3.6 seconds – and feels as capable in ordinary driving as it does rewarding when you push it to its limits.
The DB12 has also ditched the Mercedes-sourced infotainment system of its forebear in favour of an in-house system with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, which looks sharp and has a range of shortcut keys for key functions. The Bentley Continental GT does feel more solid inside, though. Plus, there's no ignoring the fact that the DB12 is an expensive choice.
“While much of the tech is new, a few Mercedes bits can still be found inside the DB12 – I don't mind these per se, but you can imagine Aston Martin purists turning their noses up.” – Chris Haining, Sub-Editor
Read our in-depth Aston Martin DB12 review
Strengths
- Balances long-distance comfort with agile handling
- Useful rear-seat and boot space
- Huge performance
Weaknesses
- Disappointing engine noise
- Interior could be more plush for the price
- Heavier Folgore version compromises on ride comfort and handling
The current Maserati GranTurismo may look a lot like its predecessor, but it's based on all-new underpinnings, and is a far more polished and usable package than that car. You can get it with one of two 3.0-litre, six-cylinder engines (or a trio of electric motors in the GranTurismo Folgore), the more powerful of which can help the GranTurismo rocket from 0-62mph in just 3.5 seconds.
Like the DB12, the GranTurismo is outclassed by the Bentley Continental GT when it comes to interior quality, but the Maserati does at least undercut the Bentley by a significant margin on price.
"Although I preferred the sound of the old GranTurismo's V8 engine, the 3.0-litre V6 in the current car is far from disappointing when it comes to performance." – Neil Winn, Deputy Reviews Editor
Read our in-depth Maserati GranTurismo review
Strengths
- Top-notch infotainment
- Fine balance between ride and handling
- Excellent driving position
Weaknesses
- More expensive than some rivals
- Panamera is more fun to drive
- A7 is more practical
If you can't decide whether to buy something sporty or something comfy, the 8 Series Gran Coupé can end your dilemma, because it strikes a good balance between the two.
Inside, it has a beautifully built interior that features BMW's intuitive iDrive infotainment system, which is controlled using a slick rotary controller, rather than through touch alone. Everything you touch feels solid, but the Bentley Continental GT makes a better choice if you want a coupé that’s truly luxurious.
As for engines, the 8 Series Gran Coupé has a choice of two: a silky-smooth 3.0-litre six-cylinder petrol engine or a throaty 4.4-litre V8. They both offer strong performance, but it's the cheaper 840i option we recommend.
“The Gran Coupé’s extra length has been put towards increasing rear space; a welcome decision considering how cramped the regular BMW 8 Series is in the back. Even I wouldn't want to be in the back seats of that car for long trips, and I'm not very tall.” – Dan Jones, Reviewer
Read our in-depth BMW 8 Series Gran Coupé review
Strengths
- Higher resale values than rivals
- Strong on safety
- Lots of kit for your money
Weaknesses
- Tight rear head room
- Small boot aperture
- Not as fun as the best coupés
One of the most attractive features of the Mercedes CLA is its interior: it looks lavish, with great tech and lots of visual pizzazz.
That style is backed up by real substance, too – the 215bhp plug-in hybrid setup in the 250e version delivers impressive performance, and the keen pricing and rock-solid resale values ensure it appeals to your head as well as your heart.
It's a four-door coupé so it's fairly practical, but like most of the cars on this list, those sleek looks do come at the cost of rear head room. To counter that, the boot is a good size – the CLA actually offers more luggage space than the regular Mercedes A-Class hatchback.
“I found the extra handles in the CLA's boot for releasing the rear seatbacks particularly convenient when loading some flat-pack furniture.” – Claire Evans, Consumer Editor
Read our in-depth Mercedes CLA review
Strengths
- Strong engines
- High-quality interior
- Generous standard equipment
Weaknesses
- Sluggish automatic gearboxes
- Fiddly infotainment system
- Dependable handling but hardly exciting
The five-door Audi A7 coupé is a beautifully made and comfortable cruiser with a surprising amount of space inside for front and rear occupants.
That space continues when it comes to the A7 Sportback's boot. With a 535-litre capacity, it's bigger than that of the rival BMW 8 Series Gran Coupé; the A7 also has a wide hatchback tailgate, making it easier to load in larger items.
Behind the wheel, the A7 is competent rather than great fun to drive – not helped by the fact that every engine is paired with a frustratingly slow automatic gearbox – and its infotainment system can be distracting to use while driving.
“I think it's annoying that you have to use a touchscreen to control the air-con in the Audi A7, but at least it gets its own dedicated display.” – Will Nightingale, Reviews Editor
Read our in-depth Audi A7 review
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And the coupé to avoid...
It’s one of few coupés still available with a manual gearbox, and its retro charm helps it stand out from the crowd, but the Ford Mustang is thirsty, feels cheap inside and far from the sharpest coupé to drive. Read our review
How we choose the best coupés
Our road testers and reviewers are some of the finest drivers around, and that means they’re capable of putting every coupé through its paces, both on public roads and at our private test track, so we can tell you with certainty which will thrill you the most – and which models can’t back up their style with substance.
We don’t stop there, because we use data from real coupé owners to inform our verdicts. As part of our annual reader survey, they tell us the areas which matter most to them. For coupé car buyers, that means:
While coupés need to look good from the outside, they also need to appeal inside. We test for all-important perceived quality, as well as that everything feels built to last – and mark down cars which have switches, knobs or buttons that feel like they’ll break. We look for the types of materials used. Coupés can be expensive, so we deduct marks for scratchy hard plastics, and award them for soft-touch alternatives and leather, whether it be genuine or artificial.
We test each coupé’s performance at our dedicated test track to see whether the 0-62mph time, top speed and in-gear speeds match the manufacturer’s official figures. We also assess what the engine feels like, how noisy it is, and how it works with the car’s gearbox. A great coupé should offer accessible performance which thrills without being daunting.
More than 20,000 car owners take part in our annual What Car? Reliability Survey to tell us how reliable their cars are – in turn allowing us to score each coupé on its real reliability record. We can also see which areas in each car are most likely to go wrong, as well as how likely it is that any repair will be costly, and how helpful your local dealer is likely to be in putting it right.
Our tests don’t end there, and you can see all the detail on every exhaustive area we assess in our dedicated how we test cars feature.
FAQs
A coupé is most typically defined by its bodystyle, because most have only two doors and a sleek roofline. The BMW 4 Series, for example, is a coupé version of the BMW 3 Series saloon. Other notable definitions include a sporty driving experience to go with the sleek looks, with some offering sharp steering and suspension set-ups, as well as powerful engines. In short, a coupé is a car you buy for style and fun rather than practicality.
If you've got big money, you could put a Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+ on your driveway. This will top out at 304.7mph. If you're content to limit yourself to the 10 great cars we've got here (and we think you should) then the Bentley Continental GT V8 will get you up to 198mph, plus it will go from 0-62mph in just 4.0sec.
On many occasions they are, yes, because buyers are prepared to spend more on the extra style of a two-door coupé. However, don't forget you can now buy four-door coupés, such as the Audi A7 Sportback and the BMW 4 Series Gran Coupé, which have all the style of a two-door car but the added practicality of two rear doors.
While plenty of the four-door coupés have four or five seats, and some have the comfort of a five-door saloon with the added practicality of a hatchback’s wide-opening tailgate, they are not what you'd immediately think of recommending to a family with young children. However, older children will be able to climb in and out of most of them with ease, and in combination with often sizeable boots, some coupés make very good family transport.
