Affordable and luxury are not words that usually go together, particularly regarding cars. However, if you broaden your horizons and look outside your typically brand-constrained box, you will realize that affordability and luxury can go hand-in-hand. In fact, affordable luxury cars already exist.
The Concept of Luxury
Luxury is an experience. It’s a feeling of lavishness, extravagance, and indulgence. Of course, it exudes an incredible feeling of comfort and elegance but at a remarkably high degree.
Any product billed as a luxury item goes above and beyond satisfying needs. It focuses on wants and makes nice-to-haves the standard. As such, when it comes to luxury vehicles, high-end features are the norm rather than the exception, and you expect the following high-end features:
- Ventilated seats
- High-quality leather upholstery
- Magic electric doors
- Atmospheric lighting
- Panoramic skylights
- Advanced panoramic parking systems
- Top-of-the-line safety systems
- Cutting-edge gear and tech
Affordable Luxury: What It Means
Typical luxury comes at a steep price, and eye-watering prices are a distinct feature of luxury products, including luxury automobiles. However, the entry of new industry players has opened the door to affordable luxury vehicles.
New automobile manufacturers need a differentiating factor to stand out. They must offer something unique and occupy a distinct market position if they want car buyers to give them a chance. To this end, affordable luxury has become these new automotive players’ rallying call and unique service proposition.
Affordable luxury cars marry high-end features with an affordable price point. Note, however, that affordable does not mean cheap – not at all. Instead, it means inexpensive relative to the features you’re getting.
Affordable luxury vehicles are cost-effective options, delivering luxury features for the price of non-luxury cars. Put another way, they provide a greater value for money than other similarly priced vehicles in the market.
Key Features of Cars in the Affordable Luxury Category
Affordable luxury vehicles have noticeably high-end features. The following are the most common:
- High-Quality Interiors
Premium leather seats are a default feature of luxury cars, including affordable luxury vehicles. Non-luxury cars may offer leather upholstery as an option, but it is not normally available in the base or other low-tier trims.
Luxe vehicles also have advanced infotainment systems. A touchscreen display for navigation and playing music is a typical feature of all modern cars. However, luxury vehicles go one step further, with high-resolution touchscreens that provide a graphical user interface for easy access to the car’s controls. They also often serve as a convenient screen to view the input from the car cameras and sensors, providing visual assistance and guidance when parking and driving.
Additionally, luxury cars have superior cabin materials. Typically, non-luxury vehicles have plastic surfaces that look and feel hard. Luxury cars, in contrast, usually have soft surfaces. They can have a dashboard and panels fully upholstered in leather or adorned with soft leather accents. Whatever plastics remain feel premium and are soft to the touch.
- Advanced Technology
Expect cutting-edge technology in luxury vehicles. They can have multiple touchscreen displays, not only on the tablet-like screen by the dashboard. The displays may also be available on side panels and on the row of passenger seats at the back.
Modern luxury cars have inductive phone chargers and multiple charging ports for phones and other gadgets. They also have premium sound systems equipped with surround-sound high-fidelity speakers. Additional features include panoramic parking assist systems, blind spot detectors, environment sensors, and front and rear radar.
- Performance
Luxury cars have first-rate engines under the hood, attaining excellent speeds through high horsepower. Their standout torques ensure brisk acceleration, agility, responsiveness, and pulling or towing power. Aside from generating satisfying speeds and power, luxury vehicles also handle exceptionally well and deliver a comfortable ride.
- Design
Luxury cars – even affordable luxury vehicles – look expensive. The way they look inevitably draws eyes and turns heads.
They have distinctive front grilles and unique features (e.g., hidden-sensing door handles). The headlights, taillights, and additional lights (e.g., a matrix of LED lights) look great in the daytime but are particularly impressive at night. An automatically controlled, panoramic sunroof is a default feature, as are touch-to-open cargo trunks.
Overall, luxury vehicles have a presence. Their sleek, stylish exteriors and excellent attention to detail give these cars an exceptional, upscale appearance.
The Right Affordable Luxury Brand
Affordable luxury vehicles provide excellent value for money and are worth a try. However, service availability and warranty should be considered when assessing luxury car offers in the UAE.
Specifically, choose a brand that offers a service contract for at least three years and has a reliable and accessible service center nearby. Also, opt for a brand that gives a long-term warranty by default — say, 1 million kilometers or 10 years, whichever comes first. If you do these, you can enjoy the benefits — particularly the cost savings — of driving an affordable luxury car.
