The best online car configurators

First of all, there’s a golden rule when it comes to configurators: they need to show you the price of the machine you’re creating. Granted, you could argue that if you’re spending more than £400,000 on a Ferrari you probably don’t need to worry about how much extra the red stitching is over the black. But even if you’re minted, keeping an eye on how much cash you’re spending is important. As a result, sadly the likes of Ferrari, Lamborghini, Bugatti and Bentley aren’t here. The ones that are here, however, show you the cost of everything, so let’s get spending…   

Porsche

The Porsche configurator is truly excellent. You can be sensible and create the perfect 911, or you can be silly and build a Panamera GTS Sport Turismo with green wheels. Top tip: If you’re into your accessories, the Porsche configurator will let you add 10 of each option. So you can have 10 high-visibility jackets for £14 each and £140 in total, 10 tool kits for £263 each and £2,630 in total, or even 10 20-inch, platinum finish ‘Exclusive Design’ winter wheel and tyre sets for £5,245 each or £52,450 in total...

Alfa Romeo

We’re written about an Alfa Romeo configurator recently, specifically the Giulia GTA configurator. Brilliant though it is, it is also a tad limited, and as you add what options there are you don’t get a price. For the time being, then, it’s Alfa’s standard build page that does it for us, and almost immediately we’re drawn to the Giulia Quadrifoglio. The most expensive option happens to be the carbon-ceramic brakes, while at the other end of the scale you could spend £6 on an Alfa Romeo ice scraper.

Range Rover

Whether you’re interested in speccing a new Land Rover Defender or a Range Rover, you can chase the perfect spec here. When it comes to the new Defender we’ll take one as basic as it can be, with steel wheels, obviously. Then again a fully loaded Range Rover Sport SVR with the optional ‘Spectral British Racing Green ChromaFlair’ paint for £6,120 looks mighty tasty…

Mercedes

The Mercedes configurator is a funny one, as you can build anything from a Mercedes-Benz A-Class to a Mercedes-Maybach S 650. If you do that then be prepared to spend a lot of imaginary money. The total base price is around £180,000, but two-tone paint will set you back £12,800, a ‘First Class Cabin’ that includes a rear fridge is £7,295, and the ‘designo leather package’ is £13,150.

Audi

Like Mercedes, Audi’s configurator covers a wide range of vehicles, from the humble Audi A1 to the mighty R8. As lovely as the R8 is, however, it’s designing a dream-spec RS6 that has sapped hours from our evenings. It would be hilarious to dump £6,000 on an ‘Audi exclusive matt paint finish’, but there’s a joy in pondering over the ultimate RS6 sleeper. Silver, with standard wheels, and maybe we’ll ask Audi nicely to remove the rear-window tints. The cheapest option we could find is a Union Jack air freshener for £9.

Caterham

If you’re looking add a fridge or carbon-ceramic brakes, look elsewhere. Caterham’s configurator is as simple to use as the cars themselves. As mental as the 620R would be, something a little less extreme, like a 310 or a 360, would do us very nicely. They aren’t too extreme, but they still make a bonkers noise, will skid their little tyres away all day long (or rather they won’t, because they don’t weigh anything and therefore don’t munch through tyres) and are just so pure to drive. Simple, in the case of a Caterham, is better. 

Maserati

The only other Italian manufacturer on this list, the Maserati configurator is a good one, although, at the time of writing, the GranTurismo is still available to spec, even though GranTurismo production finished at the end of 2019… That being said you can’t see the price, so we must stick to reality with something like the Levante GTS.

BMW

Where to start with BMW? So many different models, so many different options, and depending on where you look you’ll find front-wheel-drive, all-wheel-drive or rear-wheel-drive. If we’re being sensible there’s something very, very lovely about the standard 3 Series. If we abandon all reasonableness we’ll start ticking the boxes with the BMW M5 Competition…

Morgan

Morgans are built on a hill in Malvern, physically making their way down the production line one by one. In a similar fashion, working through the Morgan configurator is incredibly simple, working from left to right through the model, paint, wheel and cockpit options. A green Plus Six with a tan interior will do nicely.