Looking to buy a new car in 2025? Not sure whether you should go electric, or stick with diesel? What about hybrid power? Do you need seven seats? Or do you want to find a good home for that Christmas bonus and really treat yourself? Well, look no further – here, we present our recommendations for the motoring year 2025.
So, what to buy as a high-end executive car?
BMW i5
This is actually a trickier juggling act than it sounds. If you are, yourself, a high-end executive, then you want a car commensurate with your station, but equally in this new world of cancellation and social media public shaming, you want to project the right kind of motoring image. Which is where the i5 comes in. Specifically the i5 too, as thanks to its all-electric power, it projects exactly the right kind of modern executive image – I’m successful enough to have a big, expensive Beemer, but I care about the planet and our grandchildren’s future, so I’ve gone fully electric. Plump for the usefully practical i5 Touring to double-down on this – no one gets mad at estates. Then, sotto voce, you can mention that you’ve actually gone for the sensationally quick i5 M60, with its 600hp four-wheel drive system and hang the foreshortened range. Just remember to say the loud part quiet, if you see what we mean. Of course, you could throw all that in the bin and for only a slightly higher cost than the i5 M60, get the sensational new plug-in hybrid M5 which, with 727hp, projects many different images, none of them caring and sharing.
- Plus: Luxurious, fun to drive, fast, decent range
- Minus: Expensive, range drops on long motorway runs
- Equals: An i5 M60 Touring is one of our favourite current cars
Also try: Mercedes E-Class
The slight difficulty with the current E-Class is that it looks so much like the previous model, expect in tiny details, that many people might assume you’ve bought an approved used model. You should probably ignore such assumptions, and just get on with enjoying the comfort, refinement, technology, and in the case of the plug-in hybrid versions, the exceptional (genuine real world 100km) electric range and impressive all-round fuel economy.
Audi A5 Saloon
Technically the A5 is a smaller car than the E-Class and 5 Series, and technically it’s really just a thorough re-boot of the old A4, yet somehow it seems to rise above its station and become genuinely desirable. Smooth and easy-going to drive, it pinches the same high-tech interior as the more expensive all-electric A6 e-tron, and offers a broad range of petrol and diesel mild-hybrid models (which can do a surprising amount of stuff on just electric power) with high-performance S5 and incoming RS5 versions, and plug-ion hybrids on the way too.
Wild card: Polestar 4
This all-electric Polestar 4 is something of a oddball. It roughly splits the difference between saloon and crossover, with impressively sleek style and a genuinely lovely interior (even if the touchscreen is annoying). The lack of a rear window (there’s a camera instead) will give you something about which to small-talk ahead of board meetings, but more importantly there’s proper handling poise and excellent real-world range here.
