Sedan or SUV: Choosing the Right Executive Car

Most executives over-buy the vehicle. The SUV looks like the safe default, but for the daily rider the sedan is usually the better, quieter, more economical car. Here is the decision the way the desk would walk you through it.

Default to the sedan

For one or two riders with a briefcase and a roller bag, the executive sedan is the correct car. It is quieter, lower to step into, easier to route through Manhattan, and it reads as composed rather than as a motorcade. A principal sedan — an S-Class or 7 Series — adds rear-cabin room and quiet without changing the footprint.

When the SUV earns its keep

Choose the SUV when the cargo or the company demands it: three or more passengers, a full week of luggage for an airport run, golf clubs, or the times you need to work or take a call with colleagues in the cabin. The full-size SUV buys height, headroom and trunk volume — pay for it when you need it, not by default.

When neither is right

Past five or six passengers, stop forcing an SUV. An executive Sprinter — conference seating, room to stand, space to work — is the correct tool for a team, a roadshow leg or a client group, and it keeps everyone together in one vehicle instead of a two-car convoy.

The rule of thumb

Buy the smallest car that carries the people and the bags in comfort. It rides better, costs less and arrives more discreetly. Our fleet page lays out the four house cars and what each is for.