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Our Two Cents: 8 of Our Favorite Sedans
Whether it was due to early exposure or the fact that they’ve just had good taste from the get-go (looking at you, Sajeev), some of my colleagues have appreciated sedans for a long time. Others, like yours truly, took a while to come around to them. It’s likely, too, that our affinity has been amplified given the ever-rising beltlines and mass that comes with the onslaught of SUVs.
For no other reason than “it’s fun, let’s talk about it,” I asked my esteemed colleagues to sound off on their favorite four-door cars. Our picks covered a lot of ground—from the ’50s to today, concepts to high-volume units, fierce and sporting to slow and smooth, big to small—but there are dozens we didn’t mention. Let us know which sedan you’d take home or which one you’ve been lovingly caring for in the comments.
Kyle Goes Olds
While I’ve never been a more-door owner, I’ve never been against them. Just never needed one. But with some cash in hand and a purchase order requiring four doors, I would shop for a 1955 Oldsmobile Super 88 hardtop. No pillar in between to interfere with the styling and interior view, plus a 324-cubic-inch V-8 making over 200 hp under the hood. The two-tone paint is classic to me, and the whole package seems like a car that would be really fun to put miles on with regular use. — Kyle Smith
Relentless Pursuits
It was, is, and always will be the Lexus LS400 for me. I haven’t owned that many cars in my life, but of the few that I have, I only miss one of them: My 1997 LS400. That thing was an absolute beast—solid as an anvil, comfy as a well-loved couch, reliable as the day was long. You could click off whole states without a hint of discomfort, plugging along at serious speed the whole time. I bought mine with 196K on it and sold it just north of 200K. All it ever asked for beyond regular oil changes was a new idle air control valve and one lower ball joint.
I do a fair amount of driving from Traverse City to various downstate locations, and while the current fleet holds two good solutions (my wife’s 2013 Highlander and a little 2008 Hyundai Elantra that sips fuel like a push mower), neither of them can match the LS400 for sheer over-the-road prowess. I keep telling myself that if the right one comes up for sale, I’m jumping back into it without a second thought. — Nathan Petroelje
(Immediately after Nate posted this, executive editor Eric Weiner shared that someone we know is selling their LS400. No pressure, Nate. — Ed.)
“Two kidneys seems a bit redundant, don’t you think?” — Nate
Big Caddy
I have an affection for the 1989 Cadillac Brougham. These are not what you’d call “peak” Cadillacs by any measurement, but in one measurement that matters—swagger—they were top-shelf. These are big, boxy, full-frame Caddies that, by the late ’80s and early ’90s, were anachronisms of an earlier time. The outside was all angles and girth, complete with big vertical taillights, wire wheels, and a landau top. Inside was a trove of crushed velour and wood. Gold keys that came in a black leather pouch. An enormous column shifter. Tufted cushions so deep you could lose a whole roll of quarters in them. I was 15 when my close friend got the keys to his grandmother’s Caddy as a hand-me-down, and we cruised all over Philadelphia and South Jersey with it. (You can fit about seven high-school nerds in a Brougham, not including the trunk.) A land yacht in our friend group was an absolute vibe. — Eric Weiner
A Different Kind of Big Caddy
Like I mentioned up top, I didn’t always appreciate sedans. That changed in 1999, the summer between my sophomore and junior years of college, when I had an internship at USA Today working for the photography team. Between loading digital photos onto the computer, I’d go bug James Healey, who covered cars for the paper for decades, about letting me tag along with him on a car test. My last week there, he let me join him at Summit Point Raceway in West Virginia to drive the whole Mercedes AMG fleet. The E55 and a day full of hot laps with pro drivers, along with a few efforts behind the wheel myself, opened my eyes to the fact that sedans could, in fact, be cool.
Today, a sedan sits at the top of my must-have car list. A brawler of a personality, ridiculously capable, but comfortable enough to haul around my 99-year-old grandmother: The Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing. (No, I haven’t taken Grandma Bea for a spin in one, but I know she’d love it.) Aside from its mouthful of a name, the 5VBW is utterly brilliant—an emotional, visceral blend of American muscle and luxury—and it merits a spot on any enthusiast’s list, regardless of door count. I’ll take a manual Precision Package in Radiant Red, please. — Eddy Eckart
Cam Goes Continental
1961 Lincoln Continental, with the suicide doors. If you’re gonna rock four doors, you’d better do it with class, and nothing is more sophisticated than suicide doors. These fourth-gen Contis are way cool. I don’t know much about them beyond their curb appeal, but that’s just one of the countless reasons why I’m friends with Sajeev. — Cameron Neveu
Sajeev Doesn’t Pick a Lincoln?
The Mehta family once had a ’61, so I approve of Cam’s recommendation. It also makes me want to shout out to my 1989 Continental for being the best-driving Conti ever made for bumpy and/or twisty roads, but that’s obviously not my choice for this article.
Instead, I will go with the Porsche Taycan. I have driven a couple, and they both left me gobsmacked. While the ones I drove couldn’t run with a Tesla Model S Plaid (apparently, there is the Turbo GT for that), and no sedan is likely to stomp on the Lucid Air Sapphire anytime soon, the Porsche Taycan has a level of refinement neither of the Tech Company-based automakers can touch. Porsche created the trifecta of finesse, quality, and mind-altering performance in a sedan.
Make mine paint-to-sample Turbo GT in Butterscotch with a cocoa interior and every option. Hmm, what’s the lottery jackpot up to these days? — Sajeev Mehta
Not All Good Sedans Are Big
There was a time when I wouldn’t even consider a four-door because all the cool cars just had two. With age and better styling from the manufacturers, I bought one. But just one.
When I worked for Car and Driver, I was assigned a 1998 Dodge Neon R/T with the 150-horsepower engine and a manual transmission. I had friends at Dodge breathe on it a little—adjustable Koni shocks, some software work, and I bought some sticky tires from Tire Rack—because I was doing a story on owning an economical daily driver that you could autocross on weekends. When it came time to give the car back to Dodge, I ended up buying it, and years later passed it on to my son. It eventually succumbed to Michigan salt-rust cancer, but it was fun while it lasted. (PS: Eddy was quicker on the trigger to claim the Cadillac Blackwing, my favorite current four-door.) — Steven Cole Smith
Four Twenty Seven
I’m a child of the mid-’90s, so many concepts from the early 2000s passed me by—among them, the Ford 427 from 2003. I hadn’t heard of it until I saw it in a parking garage at Ford’s global headquarters during a tour of its newly established U.S.-based heritage fleet, and it drew me to it like a magnet. Wide, low, and long, the monolithic sedan looks like a big-bore version of the 2005–2012 Fusion, which was only two years away from market. The 427 is 2000s design at its minimalist best, powered by an engine that, rather than displacing 427 cubic inches, makes 427 horsepower … from ten cylinders. It has the presence not of a Ford but of a Bentley, if a Bentley were milled from a single piece of aluminum and shot from a cannon on the Fourth of July. America!
If I had the budget to commission some hot-rod shop to create a never-realized concept, the 427 would be near the top of my list, though maybe with a more proven powertrain. — Grace Jarvis
1983-1989 Pontiac 6000STE, one of my all time favorite sedans. I can still envision the Car & Driver photo from their road test, with about a foot of clear sky under each tire patch. Awesome!
Y’All forgot about 1968(mid year) to 1971
Ford Thunderbirds 4 door suicide style
I think some of the most stylish 4 doors evermade
Four door hardtops always look like a bespoke custom show car to my eye. Perhaps the most well balanced 4 door hardtop is the plebeian 1965-67 Chevy Corvair Monza. Wish it was made as a Corsa, but few appreciated a four door sports sedan at the time.
That Four Twenty Seven: Cut a Cadillac DTS and a Chrysler 300C in 1/2; weld the front end of the DTS to the back half of the 300 and walla! you got yourself a 427 clone. Both of the above mentioned are my favorite 4 door sedans.
I don’t see how you can do any better than the Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing Precision Package in Radiant Red selected by Eddy Eckart. Even down to the color, he has everything covered. I have a 66 442 which I purchased new in October of 1965 in Autumn Bronze that would be difficult to say good bye to but I think the Cadillac CT5-V may actually win the contest.
Wow! You listed a concept car that no one recalls, and even fewer got to see, and less got to drive? Ok, well I guess its ok to dream.
As a certified “gearhead” my opinion has been that 4-doors may be useful, but aesthetically, they were inherently ugly due to the additional doors, B-pillar, length, etc. From a design viewpoint, stylistically, most of the 4-door sedans produced during the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s were ungainly (too long), and awkward looking (again opinion). They seemed to be design afterthoughts to the more “stylistically pure” 2-door sedans and coupes.
I grew up in the late 60’s, 70s and early 80s, and my opinion was likely influenced by my father, who always purchased full size 2-door vehicles (Delta 88s, Starfires, a couple Toranados) as the primary family car. In our family of four, my brother and I always had plenty of room as rear seat passengers and the trunks were large.
Then in 1986, he purchased a MBZ 300-SD turbo diesel, which started to shape a change of opinion. Though the performance was lacking, I thought the W126 platform was a handsome car. I also noticed that BMW 5 series E28 cars were very handsome also. And when the original Lexus LS 400 in 1989, I actually decided that when I got older, more established, and started a family, that car was the automotive goal. Due to its the benchmark setting style, status, speed, and reliability. So, my opinion changed regarding whether 4-door sedans could be good lookin. But, I feel the cars I mentioned were designed to be 4-door sedans from inception, so the proportions were more aesthetically pleasing.
That thought process of style and performance dictates my choices for actual cars that a real life performers, and actually obtainable to the masses.
I would have the following vehicles on my list:
1. Any V-Series Caddy from the 1st-gen until the present Blackwings.
2. Ford SHO Taurus
3. Any 7th-gen Dodge Charger R/T, SRT8, 392, and Hellcat variant.
4. Any BMW M-5 series
5. Any MBZ AMG series with 4-doors.