The Christmas lunch bunch: Festive showdown in 2025’s best cars

In a twist on an Autocar tradition, we ditch Secret Santa and skip straight to an argument…

Christmas is a time of comforting traditions, isn’t it?
In our household, Christmas begins in early December with a showing of The Muppet Christmas Carol while we wrestle the Christmas tree into place, before sitting down for baked Camembert and garlic bread. It’s my favourite day of the season.
There is, however, another tradition that heralds the true beginning of the Christmas period for us here at Autocar Towers and that is – of course – the road testers’ Christmas lunch. In previous years, we’ve gifted a surprise car to fellow lunch attendees, with mixed levels of gratitude. I’m not sure that road test editor Matt Saunders has yet forgiven me for giving him a brown Volvo estate a few years back.
This year, we’ve decided to keep it simple. We just have to turn up with a car from the past 12 months that we want to champion – either because it appeals to us the most personally, or because