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

[LankyMcTally]

I’m literally just home from taking an intentionally long and entertaining school run through almost deserted country roads prior to picking up my daughter ‘just because’, before being sensible and supremely comfortable for the return journey. Discrete and well damped cruiser, comfortable and luxurious family car and occasional lunatic; the E39 M5 does it all.

It’s also the car that I can’t resist just stopping to look at from time to time, as I did in the middle of nowhere this afternoon. Joji Nagashima and his BMW design colleagues of the time nailed it with this one:

[Iamnotkloot]

BMW e39 M5
Audi B7 RS4
Alfa Romeo Giulia QF

The last of those I’d really like to try someday.

[chris116]

E39 M5 (bit biased with that one)
X308 XJR
Guila QF

[TheOctaneAddict]

E39 M5
B7 RS4
C63 W204

Seems i'm very V8 lead!

[ChocolateFrog]

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 !!

Yep.

We could have closed the thread there.

[Matt Bird]

ajap1979 said:

lotus116tornado said:

re33 said:

I apologise if this sounds rude, but did you read the article you commented on?

I did and it suggests they will not do a coupe from the last 25 years, thus excluding a lot of other metal. The E46 is a completely different animal to a big useable saloon for the family. I had to sell my E46 years ago because of the lack of doors and bought a saloon.

Yeah, "it had to feature somewhere" is a pretty lame reason to include it in this list IMO.

The difficulty we had with BMWs (see the M2 Comp in sports cars) is that they're probably more two-door saloons than dedicated sports cars. But the cars are great, and we know that PH loves an M car, so this was the imperfect solution. This category probably more than most has taken in the strays! We've really tried to keep everyone happy, but it's a next-to-impossible task.

Similarly, estates was nearly a vote on its own, but we didn't have enough to stand alone that couldn't be included here somehow. Again, imperfect solution that hopefully fits in the important stuff!

Matt

[RJH777]

Definitely the hardest so far for me - went C63 204 (because it's the peak of the truly bonkers early 2000s super saloon arms race in my mind), Alfa QV (the one on the list I'm most tempted to actually buy and beat the Germans at the own game, at least for a bit) and GC8 Impreza (because it's best representative of the Rally Saloon Turbo monsters)

[virtualm]

Giulia QF - without a shadow of a doubt.

I bought one late '17 while working abroad without a test drive, saw the videos, read the reviews and just knew I had to have one. An amazing hero feeling of a car, chuck some PS4S on it and what a machine. Cold start valves open proper naughty in the winter, 3rd gear pull was immense, pops and bangs yes please. Standard seats to die for in terms of comfort and looks. And just look at it, even now it still looks flippin amazing. Let's not forget in 2017 the price was circa £63k, yet now 6 years later an M3 is close to £100k.... the world has gone mad.

Yup the dealers are rubbish, they'll never learn. But seeing how many awards the QF has won just says it all.

I miss is so much, but would have probably lost my license if I still had it.

For sure this will be a future classic.

Link here to my only Youtube cold start video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUEB6NEjhE8

[Hereward]

KPB1973 said:

I think there's an argument that the mainstream E39 models made more of a seismic impact on the saloon market than the M5 ever did.

I had a 530d SE with a manual box and it was lightyears ahead of its competitors. It was winning awards and group tests right until it went out of production.

But, if the choice has to be a sports/super saloon then the E39 M5 would be my choice.

Thoughtful post. I agree with you. I was going to mention the E39 528i then realised it came out 28 years ago (1995 if I recall correctly). Crazy how time flies.

[Baldchap]

It's the current Alpina B5, but very few people have ever experienced them.

My list is B5, B3, ISF.

It's just a shame that in green that particular B3 looks like a Rover.

Edited by Baldchap on Monday 27th March 17:38

[GreatScott2016]

Wab1974uk said:

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)

Me too save for the Audi, substituted that for the Evo 6

[TheMilkyBarKid]

cerb4.5lee said:

This is so difficult only having 3 votes...because I love so many of them on the list!

I found this list easily the hardest one to call so far too - I could have picked at least 10 off that list and given good reasons for doing so!

[swisstoni]

One year too late for the Jaguar SIII XJ12.
Would have walked it.

[Gad-Westy]

E39 M5, B7 RS4 then E46 for me. Was tempted to pick an Impreza instead of the M3 though. Sort of seemed like a more important car but went with the ones I’d most want to own.

[herebebeasties]

Prediction: The E39 M5 is going to absolutely walk this, with > 30% of the vote.

[Maxus]

Going to be interesting to see what comes second and third

[Paul_Riordan]

Seems to be a car missing from the list....

[trevalvole]

It does seem to be, with an exception or two, entirely performance saloons or estates. There's an argument to say that something like a 320d that is quick, economical and reasonably affordable, is more of an achievement than an M3.

[ToTheBrapMobile]

I hope this vote doesn’t get messed up like hot hatch one…

[Robertb]

Paul_Riordan said:

Seems to be a car missing from the list....

I think 1998 is the 25 yr cutoff. I agree it should be let in on a technicality as it is a definitive super-saloon!