Are These REALLY The Best? Car And Driver Picks Top 10 for 2011

8 of the 10 cars on the 10best list can be had for under $40,000. and value is one of the criteria. so what's your big gripe?

The CTS and 3 series were compared by C&D but they arent even in the same class. What are you talking about? You didnt sound like an ass until AFTER your first comment second paragraph...

5 seem to be perennial locks: BMW 3-series/M3, Honda Accord, Mazda MX-5 Miata, Porsche Boxster/Cayman, and Volkswagen Golf/GTI. Of these, the Accord seems to be most displaceable.

The 5 other spots are the ones up for grabs. They seem reasonable choices. Time will tell about the Volt.

Congrats to Hyundai for making the list. C&D did not have the balls to drop the Accord.

The Volt is surprising as I have yet to see a full review or comparo by C&D on it.

I stopped reading C&D a long time ago.

The CTS-V is a M5 fighter at a M3 price.Thats why it hold the world record for being the fastest production sedan in the world.There is no car like the Volt so how do you test it with another unless you compare apples to oranges.I remember one of the fine publications comparing 15 passenger Vans with a Toyota Sienna and guess what the Toyota wins because it drives like a car they said.What happened to the 15 passenger requirement? Most of the foreigners buy imports.Import bias is the new trend.If you hate American products so much go back to your country.I am saying that and I am a foreigner.

Actually the M5 is faster if you want to talk top speed. With the limiter removed it tops 200mph. Also, while the CTS-v may slightly beat it in the quarter mile, the M5 blows past it very shoirtly after, as evident by the higher trap speed. I commend the CTS-v but what do you expect with an engine with a whole 1.2 litres more along with a supercharger. I light pressure supercharger with a conservative 6psi would devour the CTS-v. NBever the less, I do commend the CTS for its abilities. It is a great car.

Part of GM's $50 plus billion bailout was to pay those nickle and dime mag companies(Motor Trend & Car/Driver) to talk shit about the Volt. How is the Volt innovative? When it still uses gas?!?! Another suspect product from GM. Just like the good ol' Saturn EV-1 days....what's new?

wow... why would any company pay a magazine to talk shit about their product? The only ones I see talking shit about the volt are people such as yourself. And if you're going to shit on it, ignoring the fact that a gas engine was implemented so the driver wouldn't ever be stuck isn't the strongest argument you have available to you. The expensive price tag is a far more stable argument to stand behind.

@Joe_Limon: I'm not riding Joe, but that is a valid point you made.

re: Chevy Volt in Top 10 without even being reviewed
re: Top 10 Best Cars List

It's just someone's *opinion*. And it's in a car magazine, not the New England Journal of Medicine with a peer-reviewed breakthrough discovery :-) Take it with a huge grain of salt, and it's no big deal.

Thats right Joe.You also have to have a charging dock if you own a Leaf costing 2 grand otherwise you need 18 hours to fully charge it.The Volt is more like a regular car.Why are you guys hating it? If Toyota had come up with it or another import company most of you would be cheering for it.Give new technology some support and time especially beneficial technology.I am not refering to over technology for example cars that park its self.If you cannot park do not drive.

I tested the Volt and it BLOWS the leaf (pun intended) away. Not even close.

The Volt is also designed to perform almost at peak in even the severest weather conditions where I'm told the Leaf will hardly get half a charge in below freezing temps.

001

LMFAO...Joe_Lemon_Tits!!! Great to hear from ya'! take it however to you like it kids. As for the joe_lemon_tits adopted kid "Fijian" if any other company made what the Volt pulled outta the hat...it would be called a "Hybrid." Or in this case "plug-in hybrid". but hey I guess when you are given $50 plus billion dollars, you can call it whatever you want. Love the new hair do joe_lemon_tits! It really brings out the bullshit in you. LMFAO!!! Peace ya'll!!!

Fijian...you're an idiot(like a joe_lemon_tits wanna-be). The proof is in the pudding my friend, without the U.S. bailout(feel free to convert to Chinese currency since it might be a loaner for a loaner), your thoughts like other GM nutbags on this forum would not matter. Don't call it a "Volt" if it still requires gas. Why bother calling it a Buick when it really is an Opel? The CTS-V better be somewhat "kick ass", since it's the only 1 of 3 pathetic recent model offerings Caddy can provide and focus on, considering "Caddilac" has been out forever and this is all they can still come up with???....etc, etc...yada-yada-yada. GM makes "certain" great products, but it's over all global management/engineers of ignorance/cockyness/narrow minded individuals, is what will continue to hurt GM's products for the long term. It's only a matter of time(3-4 years tops) before GM is either busted again or 99% owned by the Chinese.(since China already owns 99% of U.S. anyways, based on "I owe you"...pathetic) And you said "Most foreigners buy imports?!?!?...Guess what U.S. auto company is in "need" of banking on the Asian market? Let alone actually keepin' them afloat? So becareful of saying "go back to your country." After all GM just might need those other countries around the world in the most desperate way to maintain whatever is left in GM's lifeline. Saudis just bought $500 million in shares and barely put a dent in GM stocks to rise but more so drop 2% so far for the day...ooohh boy! Probably best for you and the rest of the kids to stay away from the internet...read more quality books and "not those mags"...LMFAO!!! PEACE!!! LMFAO!!!

lol so what's the difference between buying a honda generator and sticking that in the trunk of the leaf in case you decide to travel more than 35 miles away, and a volt with a generator already on board and optimized to efficiently charge batteries??

Bigshow wow how many autospies accounts do you have!

no, there is a scale let me clarify it for you.
Parallel Hybrid- The motor directly drives the wheels and has to be engaged at all times just like a conventional vehicle, these are the vast majority of hybrids on the market.
Series Hybrid- The motor is linked directly to a generator, the motor is still the source of power as it solely charges the batteries.
Full Electric- The vehicle is driven directly from electricity pulled from the grid.

Given these definitions, I disagree with you entirely. Also, I find it hilarious how you can take one of the volt's benefits to be detrimental, i.e. when it runs out of charge it drives the car in the most efficient means possible (direct drive... which face it, is more efficient then putting a generator and electric motor between the engine and the road).

So which of these definitions apply to a Volt? and which applies to the Prius. Prius can drive under electric only...and gas engine....just like the Volt does the same thing. The gas engine in the Volt powers the wheels....not just the batteries.

it's hard to decided where to start....there's so much ignorance and mis-information in your posts.

big picture: china does not 'own' the US. they do hold $2trillion in US government debt though--so if we got to hell in a handbasket, they're coming right down with us. furthermore, the US BUYS ALL THEIR CRAP and keeps their mostly state-owned and MASSIVELY state-subsidized businesses humming along.

china could collapse tomorrow and the US would still survive. NOT so the other way around.

read a little. get a basic grasp of finance and economics. then come back and chat.

bye.

and if GM is making such garbage, do explain how 3 of the top 5 brands with the greatest sales gains in 2010 are GM brands (cadillac, buick and GMC).

http://www.caranddriver.com/features/10q4/2011_10best_biggest_sales_gainers-10best_cars

All are great cars. My vote goes to the Porsche Cayman S.

The big three needed help because our markets are open to competition but they are extremely restricted in Japan.If the Japanese are so proud of their product why dont they open up their market.They are smarter than most Americans that drive imports.They also keep their factories rolling by drastically increasing registration fees for cars with over 40,000 kilos on them.These are shipped to South Pacific countries since people would rather trade them in.Visit a 3rd world country and you will be shocked at the quality of imports they send there.

This "bigshow" character is a big mess...