It’s no easy task to break down the best BMWs currently on sale.

The company has been designing and building cars for nearly 100 years, so it’s unsurprising that it is capable of creating compelling machines that deserve four or more Autocar stars.

That’s the case for the vast majority of its models. But it’s natural for the odd chink to appear in a firm’s armour, with some models delivering in some areas yet not others, and some not delivering at all. However, the models here, in Autocar’s view, are BMW’s most compelling cars. 

Whether it's a 2.7-tonne electric luxury car, a two-door sports car or a front-wheel-drive hatchback that handles more like a Bimmer than it ought to, each of these models has been tailored to the expectations of their respective markets.

To make it easier to quantify, we’ve ranked each of the models by a star rating, with the highest-rated coming first and the lowest last.

The best BMWs on sale