Used Car Hunter: six-cylinder luxury cars for £35,000
Our Car Hunter has £35,000 to track down an upmarket car with a decent bit of shove
“Dear Auto Express, I want an ultra-comfortable saloon or SUV with a six-cylinder engine and 40k miles or less for between £25k and £35k.” - David Wainwright, E-mail
If you want supreme comfort, plenty of space and aren’t too fussed about running costs, a luxury car could be the perfect choice. There’s plenty of these fancy behemoths on the new and used car markets, so picking the best buy can be a challenge.
For a budget of £35,000, you can find some truly prestigious motors. While models within this price range can be a bit on the older side, they still provide plenty of useful features, good looks and, perhaps most importantly of all, huge levels of comfort. Naturally you’ll want an example that’s been looked after, keep an eye out for a full service history.
Here are our Car Hunter’s three favourite used luxury cars for a budget of £35,000. Each one has its own unique pros and cons, but all of them are a great buy in their own right. We’ve also included links to buy one via our Find a Car service…
Audi Q7 - the practical choice
- For: Seven seats, strong build quality, impressive tech
- Against: Air suspension not standard, conservative style
The Audi Q7 may lack the ultimate cachet of the Range Rover, but it’s a hugely appealing car nonetheless. With seven seats over its rivals’ five, and a cabin than blends minimalism with technological cool, it’s an impressive beast. It’s also very comfortable, especially if you can find a model with air suspension. It feels stable and planted on a cruise, while offering decent agility for a car of its size on B-roads. We found a 45,000-miles, 18-plate Q7 3.0-litre TDI in S Line trim with a Tiptronic automatic gearbox for just shy of £32,000.
THE Audi Q7 is the only one of these three cars to come with seven seats, which gives it an immediate advantage in practicality over the similarly sized Range Rover. And although you don’t get a fancy split-folding tailgate, you do get an impressive 770 litres of cargo space up to the parcel shelf with five seats in place. The Q7’s cabin looks smart, clean and modern, with Audi’s keen eye for excellent material choice and pleasing aesthetics shining through. Another plus point for this SUV here is the intuitive, feature-rich infotainment system, and its excellent Virtual Cockpit digital dash.
Mercedes S-Class - the luxury choice
- For: Quick and economical, impeccable ride quality
- Against: Lacks SUV practicality, recently replaced
While the new Mercedes S-Class is a seriously tempting limo, its predecessor remains something of a go-to choice for those after a luxury car. With standard-fit air suspension, it offers better ride quality than anything else at this price, while models with the optional ‘Magic Body Control’ system scan the road for bumps, adjusting the suspension to suit. Every version of the S-Class is swift, while its handling is assured. We found an 18-plate S 350 d L in AMG Line trim with 51,000 miles for under £32,000.
In terms of practicality, comparing a saloon to a pair of SUVs is slightly unfair, but the S-Class puts up a good fight nonetheless. This luxury limo has heaps of headroom and legroom in its rear seats, and even more if you opt for a long-wheelbase example. The 510-litre boot isn’t exactly small either, even if it lacks the practicality inherent in a model with an SUV bodystyle. The Mercedes’ interior is both luxurious and crammed with technology, while at motorway speeds you’ll struggle to hear any wind or engine noise at all, something that is aided by it having a profile lower than the Range Rover’s and Q7’s.
Range Rover - the classic choice
- For: Strong image, practical tailgate, smooth ride
- Against: Less choice on used market, so-so infotainment
Land Rover arguably invented the luxury SUV when it launched the original Range Rover, and the current model carries that legacy well. This may be a car that can tackle any terrain you throw it at, but its standard adaptive damping and air suspension make it extremely smooth on the road. It’s at its best on the motorway, but still handles well despite its massive scale. We discovered an 18-plate 4.4-litre SDV8 in Vogue SE trim and with 49,000 miles for £34,500.
The Range Rover is down two seats on what the Audi Q7 can offer, but the split-folding rear tailgate means you can pop open the rear screen when you want to chuck smaller items in the boot, or sit on the lower section when changing muddy boots, for example. And, even though the 909-litre capacity Land Rover lists assumes you’ll be loading to the roofline, be under no illusions that this is anything other than a very practical car. The Range Rover’s cabin is another highlight, with an imperious driving position and top-quality wood, leather and carpets fitted throughout. It’s just a shame the infotainment isn’t as impressive, especially if you’re looking at these earlier examples of the Range Rover.
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