Buy/Drive/Burn: 2014 Midsize Luxury Sedan Shootout

Corey Lewis
by Corey Lewis

Today’s edition of Buy/Drive/Burn was generated by a discussion over at the TTAC Slack room. The conversation turned to sporty midsize luxury sedans from 2014, and one staff member regarded one of these choices with a “meh.”

Let’s see how you feel about them.

BMW 528i

The sixth-generation 5 Series (known as F10) debuted for the 2011 model year, as BMW expanded beyond the usual sedan and wagon variants and into a third utility liftback style known as Gran Turismo. Engines of four, six, or eight cylinders were available depending on market, as well as turbo options and a couple of diesels. Today’s selection is the North American base model for 2014, the 528i. Contrary to BMW’s past lives, the “28” here actually means a 2.0-liter turbocharged inline-four. It produces 240 horsepower, all of which are sent to the rear wheels via an eight-speed automatic. $49,500.

Lexus GS350

The Lexus GS entered its fourth generation for the 2012 model year, riding atop a new variation of the N platform used for its prior generation. Unlike the BMW, the GS was (and is) solely a sedan. For 2014, only one engine powered the GS — a 3.5-liter 2GR-FSE V6. Uplevel trim variants added all-wheel drive to the mix, and the range topped out at the AWD GS450h. Today’s base model GS350 pairs 306 horsepower with an eight-speed automatic. $47,700

Cadillac CTS

Cadillac’s CTS was new for 2014, as a new, angular version replaced its more upright predecessor. For the first time, engines of four cylinders were offered alongside the six- and eight-pot versions. The coupe and wagon variants of the second-generation CTS faded from view at this point. Still, they continued selling alongside the sedan in their old guises for 2014 before being discontinued, which means in 2014 there were 12 different trim trees for the CTS. Today’s selection is a 3.6L Luxury, which features GM’s ubiquitous 3.6-liter V6. With 321 horsepower, the CTS is the most powerful car on offer today. Like the other two, it uses an eight-speed automatic to sort out the power. $53,700.

Which sedan gets the Buy?

[Images: Lexus, BMW, GM]

Corey Lewis
Corey Lewis

Interested in lots of cars and their various historical contexts. Started writing articles for TTAC in late 2016, when my first posts were QOTDs. From there I started a few new series like Rare Rides, Buy/Drive/Burn, Abandoned History, and most recently Rare Rides Icons. Operating from a home base in Cincinnati, Ohio, a relative auto journalist dead zone. Many of my articles are prompted by something I'll see on social media that sparks my interest and causes me to research. Finding articles and information from the early days of the internet and beyond that covers the little details lost to time: trim packages, color and wheel choices, interior fabrics. Beyond those, I'm fascinated by automotive industry experiments, both failures and successes. Lately I've taken an interest in AI, and generating "what if" type images for car models long dead. Reincarnating a modern Toyota Paseo, Lincoln Mark IX, or Isuzu Trooper through a text prompt is fun. Fun to post them on Twitter too, and watch people overreact. To that end, the social media I use most is Twitter, @CoreyLewis86. I also contribute pieces for Forbes Wheels and Forbes Home.

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  • RicInRVA RicInRVA on Feb 05, 2019

    Now if you want a BMW without the timing chains made of cheese N20 turbo four... The 2011 F10 had the old N52 Straight six. The last of the great BMW NA motors. I have one and it has been great. Know nothing about the other cars so BMW wins for me!!!

  • Chiefmonkey Chiefmonkey on Feb 06, 2019

    Exactly! Burn the BMW because it is the awful 4 cylinder turbo 528i! If it were the 535i it would jump to the front of the pack.

  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
  • Oberkanone Where is the value here? Magna is assembling the vehicles. The IP is not novel. Just buy the IP at bankruptcy stage for next to nothing.
  • Jalop1991 what, no Turbo trim?
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