The Finest Grand Tourers for Crossing a Continent

Of all the kinds of car, none is quite as romantic as the grand tourer. The idea is simple and timeless, a car fast and luxurious enough to carry two people and their luggage across a continent in a single, effortless sweep, from one glamorous destination to the next. The grand tourer is built not for the racetrack but for the long, beautiful road.

The Great GTs

The definitive modern grand tourer is the Bentley Continental GT, a car whose combination of immense power, hand crafted comfort, and long distance ease has defined the class for two decades. Aston Martin's DB12, which the marque calls a super tourer, brings a sharper, more athletic character to the same idea, while Ferrari's front engined 12Cilindri and its elegant Amalfi carry the grand touring tradition in the Italian style. At the pinnacle, the Rolls-Royce Spectre and the Mercedes-Maybach flagships offer grand touring in its most opulent form.

What Makes a Grand Tourer

A true grand tourer balances qualities that usually pull against each other. It must be quick, but comfortable over hundreds of miles. It must handle well, but ride softly enough to relax in. It must be beautiful, but practical enough to carry a weekend's luggage. The cars that manage all of this at once, usually with a large engine set ahead of the cabin and a focus on smooth, effortless power, are the ones that earn the name.

The Art of the Long Drive

The appeal of the grand tourer is ultimately about the journey. It is the car for the drive across the Alps to the Riviera, or down a coastline at sunset, where the pleasure lies not in a lap time but in the miles themselves. In an age of short trips and traffic, the grand tourer keeps alive the finest idea in motoring, that the drive can be the destination.