There isn’t a set-in-stone checklist that makes one car premium and another car luxury, but luxury models are higher-end than premium vehicles.
At Cars.com, we list these types of vehicles in our Luxury Buying guide, which also includes a segment, called near-luxury cars, that fits in between the premium and luxury categories.
Premium vehicles are a starting point to the luxury segment and typically start in the high $20,000 to low $30,000 range. The premium segment won’t have extravagant options, such as night vision or massaging seats, but they typically come loaded with more convenience and comfort options than an ordinary sedan.
Saab and Volvo tend to have a grasp on the premium and near-luxury segments, while Lexus and Audi are predominately luxury. Occasionally a model can fit into both categories, and when that happens, editorial discretion – not an MSRP or number of features – will determine which category that car fits into at Cars.com. Below are examples of premium, near-luxury and luxury cars.
Premium
Near-luxury
Luxury
Learn more
See if your question has already been asked and answered
Your question has been successfully submitted to Ask.cars.com. It will now be reviewed by our editors and we'll answer it soon if we think it's a useful question. You will be notified via e-mail when the answer is posted. Ask.cars.com tackles your questions about new cars and the car-buying process. Unfortunately we can't answer questions regarding:
Have our experts answer any of your questions about new cars.
Don't worry — we won't publish your last name or email.
