RE: Vote for the best saloon of the last 25 years!

RE: Vote for the best saloon of the last 25 years!

Thursday 30th March 2023

Vote for the best saloon of the last 25 years!

We've had our fun - now it's time to get serious. Here come the big guns...


PH25 is really cooking on gas now. The best sports car and the best hot hatch since 1998 have been decided, Elise and Yaris worthy winners both. Now we’ve all got the gist of what’s going on - a lot of vigorous debate around some brilliant cars, a winner, a video filmed in appalling conditions - it’s time to up the ante somewhat. Powerfully built company directors of PistonHeads unite, it’s supersaloon time.

For some idea of what we’re dealing with here, nothing in our shortlist of more than 30 cars has an engine under 2.0-litres; those cars that do boast less than 2,000cc are helped along by ginormous turbochargers, of course. And 4WD. And Active Yaw Control. And a set of Blobeye headlights, in one instance. The least powerful car here is a Honda Type R icon, one that screams to almost 8,000rpm and is blessed with one of the finest front-drive chassis around; the most powerful saloon entirely redefined what was expected from four-door cars, from Porsches - and from electric vehicles. It’s quite the line up.

That’s just the start, too. The PH25 saloon shortlist is crammed full of the usual suspects, from the very best in AMG ‘bahnstormers to the most powerful BMW M car ever made, twin-turbo Audi sledgehammers to a slew of supercharged super Jags. What makes PH so great is that we’re here for all the interesting car, be they new or old, big or small, pricey or Shed money, but there’s a feeling the fast four-doors will prove a very hotly contested vote. They’re just very PH cars, packing performance and practicality into one typically quite unassuming package, be they curios like the Kia Stinger and Lexus GS F, or firm favourites from Holden, Alfa Romeo and Porsche.

It's not just tyre slayers, either, as it would be remiss not to acknowledge that the past quarter of a century has produced some of the very finest luxury saloons ever made as well: Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Aston Martin and Maserati are all in the running. Which makes choosing the very best four-doors since 1998 even more difficult…

There are probably a couple that need explaining, too, simply as we're not doing a dedicated fast estates or sports coupes vote. The E46 M3 is in saloons because, well, it’s a much-loved car and had to feature somewhere in the PH25 celebration, despite four doors never being offered from the factory; it felt a more natural fit here than in sports cars. Similarly, uberwagons won't get its own video, but we couldn’t do PH25 without some Audi Avant icons. They felt worth making room for. And if you like a C63 wagon, it feels like you'll be reasonably keen on the four-door version as well. No doubt there will be cars you had down as dead certs that haven’t been included, because that’s the nature of these things, but we think a lot of the bases have been covered: four, six, eight, ten and 12 cylinders, front-, rear- and four-wheel drive, featuring cars launched as far back as 1998 and as recently as 2021.

Deciding on the PH best saloon since 1998 process is a very simple process, one that’s hopefully becoming familiar now. Just two more to go after this one! Voting will be open for a week; as before, you can give the nod to three cars in the rundown. The votes will be totted up this time next week, which will give us a winner. Then it’ll just be a case of finding an example of the winning car to film a video with, and organising the rain… Then it'll be August before we know, and time for the Bicester birthday party.

Decisions, decisions then. It feels like best supersaloon is a constant hot topic of discussion on PH, so it feels fantastic to make the debate official and finally crown our winner. Much like hot hatches, it seems impossible to pick a clear winner from such an array of superb cars - you’d be very, very happy to own any of them. But only one four-door (or the E46 M3) can win. Time to decide PH’s best saloon since 1998 - get voting!


See the selection and vote for your top three here

Author
Discussion

British Beef

Original Poster:

2,191 posts

164 months

Monday 27th March 2023
quotequote all

Simple recipe: V8 NA engine, manual gearbox, rear wheel drive, with good understated but muscular looks.... has to be the E39 M5 !!

Wab1974uk

981 posts

26 months

Monday 27th March 2023
quotequote all
For me, I voted

B7 RS4 (best Audi RS product by far)

Impreza GC8 (changed a generation)

M5 E39 (manual V8. Best combo of any M5)

martin12345

591 posts

88 months

Monday 27th March 2023
quotequote all
V8 and at least some drive to the rear wheels

XJR X308, M5 E39, RS4 B7

Simples !!

Edited by martin12345 on Thursday 30th March 18:51

Mouse Rat

1,798 posts

91 months

Monday 27th March 2023
quotequote all
Its got to be a close run between the;

Giulia QV
XFR
E39 M5.

and not far behind;
C63
Quattroporte


lotus116tornado

311 posts

151 months

Monday 27th March 2023
quotequote all
Surely the M3 (E46) is not a saloon, it was only sold in coupe and convertible format and therefore is irrelevant. If it's in you would surely have to add other coupe's.

Edited by lotus116tornado on Monday 27th March 15:03

stef1808

950 posts

156 months

Monday 27th March 2023
quotequote all
E90 m3 or w204 c63 for me

bodhi

10,333 posts

228 months

Monday 27th March 2023
quotequote all
Even though I'd fully agree the best saloon would need a V8 and RWD, I went with the E60 M5 as it's the one I'd like most on the drive.

Plus V8s are only for people who don't have the stomach to run a V10 hehe

Krikkit

26,500 posts

180 months

Monday 27th March 2023
quotequote all
X308 XJR, E39 M5, W204 C63, E90 M3, GC8 WRX STI v6, Quattroporte 4.7S, Alfa Giulia Quadrifoglio, XFR, Monaro Bathurst

I mean even from that abridged list, so hard to choose.

Ray_Aber

473 posts

275 months

Monday 27th March 2023
quotequote all
I went:

Giulia QF
Audi B7 RS4
Jag XFR

I've never been a fan of the E39 BMW. I know that it's objectively a fabulous car, but its looks always left me cold. Great interior/dash though.

re33

269 posts

163 months

Monday 27th March 2023
quotequote all
lotus116tornado said:
Surely the M3 (E46) is not a saloon, it was only sold in coupe and convertible format and therefore is irrelevant. If it's in you would surely have to add other coupe's.

Edited by lotus116tornado on Monday 27th March 15:03
I apologise if this sounds rude, but did you read the article you commented on?

T1berious

2,242 posts

154 months

Monday 27th March 2023
quotequote all
Nice list!

1) Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifigolio
2) E39 M5
3) W204 C63

There's a couple of Alfa Giulia's near me and they look just about perfect!

Daniel-89u1d

57 posts

22 months

Monday 27th March 2023
quotequote all
Between the B7 RS4 and E39 M5 for me. It's got to be the M5 that wins it's almost become the poster boy for mega saloons of days gone by.

cerb4.5lee

30,184 posts

179 months

Monday 27th March 2023
quotequote all
This is so difficult only having 3 votes...because I love so many of them on the list!

cerb4.5lee

30,184 posts

179 months

Monday 27th March 2023
quotequote all
Daniel-89u1d said:
Between the B7 RS4 and E39 M5 for me. It's got to be the M5 that wins it's almost become the poster boy for mega saloons of days gone by.
I voted for both of those as well. thumbup

Ashok

597 posts

258 months

Monday 27th March 2023
quotequote all
E39 M5 - wonderful wonderful car - I loved mine smile

braddo

10,399 posts

187 months

Monday 27th March 2023
quotequote all
British Beef said:
Simple recipe: V8 NA engine, manual gearbox, rear wheel drive, with good understated but muscular looks.... has to be the E39 M5 !!
Exactly - it's an absolute icon car from the early days of PH and was head and shoulders above every other super saloon for years. thumbup


For me the next icon was the first C63, bringing fun to the AMG brand, a 6.2L V8 to a compact saloon and sales figures hitherto unheard of for AMG.

My third vote went to the Alfa Giulia as a car that finally, finally, lived up the Alfa hype and could knock the Germans off the top perch. And look fantastic while doing it!

TheAntics

38 posts

141 months

Monday 27th March 2023
quotequote all
On basis you can vote up to three cars (you don't have to pick three) and that if you do vote for three you can't rank the vote...there is only one car in that list which I find exciting. E46 M3.

cerb4.5lee

30,184 posts

179 months

Monday 27th March 2023
quotequote all
TheAntics said:
On basis you can vote up to three cars (you don't have to pick three) and that if you do vote for three you can't rank the vote...there is only one car in that list which I find exciting. E46 M3.
Have you driven one? I was a bit disappointed when I had a go in one sadly.

Leins

9,416 posts

147 months

Monday 27th March 2023
quotequote all
Bit disappointed that there’s no vote for dog buses planned, given the level of interest in the Fast Estates thread. They’re a very “PH” thing, even more so than fast/super saloons IMO

Water Fairy

5,475 posts

154 months

Monday 27th March 2023
quotequote all
E39 M5

E46 M3

Scooby GC8