MotorMouths

The Cadillac ATS is roundly satisfying to drive. It provides crisp handling, quick acceleration, snappy braking, responsive steering, entertaining technology and an alluring base price of $33,990. Bull’s-eye.

The 2012 Buick Verano drives great. Looks cool. Makes you feel like somebody special behind the wheel. Perfect? Nothing is. Among premium small cars, though, Verano is close enough.

Overall, the LaCrosse is quite an appealing machine, but the eAssist, in real-world use, doesn’t seem like the magic bullet.

Mainstream-mobiles don’t offer the excitement and satisfaction that the X3 delivers. Whether it’s worth a big price premium is up to you.

The 535i turbocharged six-cylinder with six-speed manual transmission, drove very well — expected from a BMW, but an attribute that shouldn’t be overlooked. The options list on the tester ran to $15,700 (enough to buy a Mazda2 subcompact).

If you can find an A3 with no noises, don’t need the latest-greatest interior and perhaps actually like the MMI control system, you are dead meat. You will find it pretty close to impossible to leave the Audi store without buying one.

The 2010 ZDX is entertaining and exciting if judged (as Acura intends) as an all-weather, all-road sports sedan rather than as a family-oriented SUV.

The TSX eschews the complicated-is-good theme of electronic gadgetry, and the over-accessorized engines and gazillion-speed transmissions that reign today. We applaud that, and credit it for much of what made the TSX sport wagon test car a delight every mile.

The 2013 RDX is bigger, softer-feeling, smoother-driving. All worthy. But it’s also a bit dumbed-down from Acura’s historic high-tech/high-class approach. On the other hand, it works fine and probably will suit most people most of the time.