Audi
Depending on who you ask, the idea of a four-door sports car might be anathema to the spirit of sports cars as a whole, or it could be the best thing since they started putting silica in tires. The idea, of course, is to try and be the best of both worlds, or at least increase the amount of good from both worlds. On one hand, sports cars are best when they are merely trying to be sports cars and not tools for grocery runs or rearing children; on the other hand, the vast majority of two-door sports cars are rarely driven to the limit and often end up being tools of a practical existence anyway.
In short: We’re definitely fans of the concept, and the good news is that right now there are loads of options to choose from, be it the perennially good BMW M3, the Porsche Panamera, or something newer like the Lucid Air Sapphire.
And a four-door sports car is still a sports car, and more than just quick off the line or fast down a long straight. It’s got to engage the driver in the corners and in general offer a more special experience than your average quick commuter or luxo-barge. What follows is a list of our favorite four-door sports cars; any one of them would be welcome in our garages.
Our Best 4-Door Sports Car Picks
—Best Overall: BMW M3
—Best Ride: Audi RS 7
—Best for AMG Fans: Mercedes-AMG GT 53 4-Door Coupé
—Best Entry-Level: Acura Integra Type S
—Best for Raw Power: Lucid Air Sapphire
—Best Electric: Porsche Taycan
—Best for Comfort: Porsche Panamera
—Best for Behaving Badly: Subaru WRX
—Best Performance Package: Polestar 2 Dual Motor
—Best Looking: Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio
—Best M3 Upgrade: BMW M5
—Best American: Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing
—Most Underrated: Audi RS E-Tron GT
—Best Compact: Mercedes-AMG C 63 S E Performance
—Best for Overkill: BMW M8 Gran Coupe
—Best Charging Network: Tesla Model S Plaid
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Best Overall: BMW M3
Image Credit: ENES KUCEVIC BMW’s M3 has been offered as a four-door sedan for almost its entire history, even before its two-door kin split off into the M4 model. In that time, it’s always been special, and frequently the four-door variant has driven just that little bit sweeter than the coupe. The current M3, chassis G80 for the BMW fans, is far from the brand’s prettiest, but it might be the hardest-edged variant since the original E30. The car’s turbocharged inline-six puts out up to 542 horsepower with an almost unbelievably savage character and now that you can have your M3 with all-wheel drive, you can control all of that power in less-than-ideal weather. The M3 remains the king of the genre and we say long live the king.
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Best Ride: Audi RS 7
Image Credit: Audi The Audi RS 7 is often overshadowed by its somewhat oddball wagon sibling, the RS 6 Avant, and while the four-door coupe thing is a little less niche these days than a full-on long roof, the fact that they share a chassis and drivetrain means that either way you go, you’re sure to have an excellent time. As with all RS products, the centerpiece is the RS 7’s 4.0-liter turbocharged V8. This is because, unlike much of the competition, it’s just a V8. There’s no super complicated hybrid system and that means there’s nothing between you and the guttural roar of that 621-horsepower engine. The chassis isn’t half-bad either, something that’s not always a guarantee with an Audi RS product, and it would serve well as a combination grocery getter and canyon carver.
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Best for AMG Fans: Mercedes-AMG GT 53 4-Door Coupé
Image Credit: Daimler AG – Global Communications Mercedes-Benz Cars The AMG GT 4-Door Coupe is an interesting car for a few reasons. First, it’s an AMG-only model, like its two-door cousin the AMG GT. It shares a platform with cars like the 2016-2023 E-Class and the 2014-2021 C-Class but with AMG’s own subframes and chassis calibration. It’s like a less practical version of an E63 wagon, much like Audi’s RS 6 Avant and RS 7, and is principally in charge of taking a bite out of the latter’s market share. Like some other modern AMG products, the GT 4-Door Coupe is available with the 4.0-liter twin-turbo hybrid 63 S E Performance drivetrain, which in this instance is producing 831 horsepower and 1,033 pound-feet of torque. That exceeds the S63 S E Performance rather handily if you’re keeping score at home.
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Best Entry-Level: Acura Integra Type S
Image Credit: Chris Tedesco If Honda’s Civic Type R is a track-shredding front-wheel drive monster, the Acura Integra Type S is its more sophisticated, comfortable, and generally erudite cousin. They’re based on the same chassis and make the same 320 horsepower, but while the Type R retains a hard edge, the Type S is better suited for daily duties. It’s got a more luxe interior, a killer stereo, available heated seats, and interior colors that aren’t red. If driven by a dab hand, it’s also all but guaranteed to be the fastest thing on a given canyon road until you get comfortably into the six-figure price region. Put simply, the Integra Type S is awesome.
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Best for Power: Lucid Air Sapphire
Image Credit: Lucid Lucid markets its upper-echelon Air sedan as having 1,234 horsepower. This is, frankly, a lie. It actually makes more power than that and for a heavy, long-wheelbase electric sedan that rips off nine-second quarter miles like it’s nothing, it handles all that power extremely well. This is partly down to the Air’s excellent base chassis. It’s clear that the people who designed it knew their way around a racetrack because every trim of Air is way sportier than it needs to be. Add real sticky tires, recalibrated suspension, and uprated brakes to that equation and things get very fun, very quickly.
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Best Electric: Porsche Taycan
Image Credit: Porsche When the Porsche Taycan came out, it seemed like all people could focus on was its less-than-stellar EPA range estimates. While that’s fair (they were pretty crappy), what got talked about much less was how the Taycan was and remains one of the best-driving, most engaging electric vehicles on the market. Porsche wanted to make an electric Porsche and not just an EV with a Porsche badge. Fast forward and there’s a new Taycan coming and we could not be more excited.
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Best for Comfort: Porsche Panamera
Image Credit: koslowskiphoto_2023 Porsche’s Panamera is now in its third generation and not only is it still a very comfortable, low-key, and fast grand tourer, with major updates to its air suspension and drivetrain options, but it’s a serious sporting option for someone who wants to let their hair down on a winding road. With a long wheelbase, a killer PDK transmission and up to 771 horsepower (in the forthcoming Turbo S E-Hybrid model), there’s not a lot that can keep up with Porsche’s land-based missile, nor keep as big a smile on your face.
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Best for Behaving Badly: Subaru WRX
Image Credit: Subaru If cars had a religious pantheon, the WRX would be the patron saint of behaving badly and having fun on imperfect surfaces. The WRX’s formula hasn’t changed much since it came to the US in the early aughts: powerful turbocharged flat-four, available manual transmission, all-wheel drive, and a very accessible price point. The potent-enough powertrain and all-wheel drive make you look and feel like a hero when the road gets slick and it’s practical enough to schlep a family around in safety and relative comfort. In fact, why aren’t we shopping for WRXs right now?
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Best Performance Package: Polestar 2 Dual Motor
Image Credit: Polestar Polestar isn’t a company that should be all that fun. I mean, its offerings are largely Volvo-based and built in China. It doesn’t have crazy power figures like some EVs, either, but what it does have (if you pony up the dough) is one hell of a performance package that includes adjustable suspension by the best in the business: Ohlins. You also get better brakes and gold seatbelts, etc. but it’s that suspension that takes the Polestar 2 from mundane grocery getter to serious sporting potential. Plus cars that look like sedans but are actually hatchbacks are always cool.
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Best Looking: Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio
Image Credit: Alfa Romeo It’s hard to think of an ownership experience more potentially fraught with disaster than that of the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio. Well, maybe salvage title Range Rover comes close, but you are definitely flying closer to the sun in the Alfa. With its incredible-sounding timebomb… sorry, I mean Ferrari-derived twin-turbo V6, jaw-dropping good looks, and super sharp handling, the four-leaf Alfa promises a ton of fun with four doors and a decent interior. It also promises to break frequently and likely be expensive to repair, but like Nicole Kidman said, “Heartbreak feels good in a place like this.”
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Best M3 Upgrade: BMW M5
Image Credit: Fabian Kirchbauer The BMW M5 has always been the M3’s bigger, more powerful, and ostensibly more civilized big brother and while those things might make it seem like it’d be less sporty than its sibling, I assure you that it gives up very little of the M3’s grin factor when the road gets twisty. While the M3 has always been more of a scalpel, the M5 – especially in recent generations – has felt more like something John Rambo would use. With the forthcoming version’s 700-plus horsepower hybrid turbo V8 drivetrain borrowed from the XM, it’s still a brute, but we expect the folks from Munich to work their chassis magic on it and make it dance around a race track while still capable of hauling a whole family’s luggage to the airport.
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Best American: Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing
Image Credit: Cadillac The top of the mountain is a lonely place, but that’s just where you’re destined to go if you’re the CT5-V Blackwing. How could it be any other way with a supercharged 6.2-liter V8, available six-speed manual transmission, rear-wheel drive, and MagneRide suspension? The Blackwing goes from sweetheart to savage with the kind of ease that many other sports sedans can only dream about. The current version has even rectified the criticism that its interior felt dated in previous years. If you’re looking for the ultimate sports sedan in the $100,000 range, buy this.
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Most Underrated: Audi RS E-Tron GT
Image Credit: Audi Critics might say that the RS E-Tron GT is just a Taycan in chunkier clothing, and to some degree, they’d be correct, but ultimately, Audi’s flagship sporty EV is a lot more than that. While the styling is a little polarizing (we love it) the excellent interior and sharp driving dynamics make it easy to fall in love with. It’s also a car that looks great in any color and which can swallow a whole IKEA trip’s worth of shopping with no muss and no fuss. It’s a less delicate instrument than the Taycan, but Audi is all about that charge-straight-at-it mentality anyway. This car is underrated.
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Best Compact: Mercedes-AMG C 63 S E Performance
Image Credit: Mercedes-Benz Numbers don’t mean anything anymore. Well, at least when it comes to naming cars. The 63 line of Mercedes-Benz vehicles used to harken back to the 300SEL 6.3 from the late 1960s and its big limo-derived 6.3-liter V8. Now, in 2024, we have the C 63 S E Performance and not only does its engine not displace 6.3 liters (or anything close to it), it’s no longer even a V8! Of course, pedantic rage aside, it’s hard to argue with AMG’s results with its 2.0-liter four-cylinder hybrid drivetrain that produces a frankly staggering 671 horsepower and 752 pound-feet of torque. Toss it in a four-door body and, presto, you have a recipe for hooliganism that we can get behind no matter what badge you throw on it.
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Best for Overkill: BMW M8 Gran Coupe
Image Credit: BMW If the M3 is a scalpel and the M5 is a Rambo knife, the M8 is a dueling sword in the hands of a very well-dressed and reckless aristocrat. I’ll explain. The M8 Gran Coupe is much like the M5, with a 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8, but it is lower and sleeker and ultimately just a nicer place to be. It’s a BMW still, so calling it opulent would be a stretch, but this is certainly the thinkin’ feller’s four-door M car and it will look stellar while covering ground at a pace that’d make bullet trains weep.
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Best Charging Network: Tesla Model S Plaid
Image Credit: Tesla Say what you will about Tesla these days, but the Model S Plaid remains a handsome EV with killer range and a staggering amount of performance in a straight line. Of course, once Lucid came out with the Air and we got a super powerful, super quick EV that could handle, it was only a matter of time before Tesla answered with its Track Pack. This gives the Model S Plaid a serious set of carbon ceramic brakes with new brake fluid, super sticky supercar-spec tires, and new software. Is it a good deal at $20,000 on top of the cost of the Plaid? Probably not. Will it give almost anything on the road a run for its money? Absolutely.
