Last week we asked you to share your favorite flagship vehicle with the class, inspired by my review of the facelifted 2027 Mercedes-Benz S-Class. I said the S-Class is your favorite flagship’s favorite flagship — since it’s one of the longest-running, and most easily recognizable players in the full-sized luxury sedan segment — but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s your favorite flagship. Or mine, even.
In order for a car to be considered a flagship, it tends to be the largest, most technologically advanced, and most expensive car in an automaker’s lineup, but it’s a relatively amorphous term. I said my favorite flagship vehicle is the Genesis G90 because of how perfectly it sits atop Genesis’s model lineup with its massive shield-shaped grille and split headlights shining like the star car it is.
The G90 dared to be a large luxury sedan with bold, striking styling before the Germans scrambled to zhuzh up their square-jawed, clean-cut sedans that used to pride themselves on flying under the radar, but now feature larger, even illuminated grilles and hood ornaments. I also love that it’s less common than its competitors. Enough about me, though, this is about you and your answers. These are your favorite flagship vehicles.
Lexus LS430
LS430. The best flagship sedan Lexus ever made. Low maintenance, good acceleration, glides like a luxury jet at cruise altitude, and so quiet you can hear a watch tick.
Drag coefficient is .25, so wind noise is nonexistent. Plus some of the best HID projectors ever put on a vehicle, with cornering gimbals and auto-level. Everything is just RIGHT.
Submitted by: Winter Cat
Aston Martin One-77
The Aston Martin One-77. Flagship during Aston’s VH platform era. V-12, 6-speed manual, carbon fiber body, concept-car looks.
The best Aston could make, in an era when they were making great things
Submitted by: Commentariat
Volkswagen Phaeton
Probably the short lived Phaeton. Built to a standard that not many others were, with a list of design requirements that bordered on impossible. I just wish we’d gotten the V10 TDI verson in the US.
Had to be able to maintain 186mph all day, with an outside temperature of 122 degrees, while keeping an interior temperature of 72 degrees. The ability to keep the windows from ever fogging, radiant heat instead of blowing hot air on the occupants like the peasants are used to in their normal cars. Ferdinand really made them work for this one.
Submitted by: Jay
Audi S8
Today it would probably be the A8 / S8. The S-class (and all other Benz products) look like suppositories, I had a less-than-positive experience with an E38 750iL, and while I love Volvos (2 in the garage) the S90 just doesn’t offer the features to be a flagship any longer. That’s ignoring the ultra-marques because every Bentley and Rolls is a flagship…
Submitted by: OuttaHere
BMW 850i
Mid-’90s BMW 850i V12. Sure it was famously unreliable. But its presence on the road was unmistakable.
Submitted by: JohnnyWasASchoolBoy
Ford Thunderbird Sports Roadster
The 1960s Ford Thunderbird Sports Roadster. Not the Mustang or even the original T-Bird , but this jet-age bird was the very top of the Ford heap
Submitted by: Jimboy II, The Sequel
Lincoln Continental
The slab sided Lincoln Continentals of the 60s. Powerful, quiet, AC like a meat locker, and the su*cide doors! When I had mine, merging onto the highway was effortless, and all the compact cars would scatter like bait fish fleeing a shark.
Submitted by: Stillnotatony
Honda Prelude
Does the third gen Honda Prelude count? It went a long way towards making Honda cool. Also it outperformed like every other car in the slalom 1987 (according to Car and Driver), including Ferarris, Porsches and Corvettes.
The styling was so cool- definitely the era of Japan knowing it could produce really cool things and that their styling was better than everyone elses.
Submitted by: Buckfiddious
Lexus LC500
LC500. I would say the LS but it feel like it took a few steps down recently.
Submitted by: TheDuke
