MotorMouths

Like any great femme fatale worth her ill-gotten diamonds, the Rapide floods your mind with a lake of irrationality. Kiss logic goodbye. And that’s okay. As of 2010, no car is as sensual, as erotic, as wordlessly desirable, as flat out cool.

Overall, the 2012 Audi A6 is an excellent machine. Comfortable, smooth, very advanced, and safe, with good-enough performance for most. I imagine owners will be smitten with their choice of mid-size luxury transportation. But…I’m not satisfied.

The A7 is swoopy, tech-swaddled, and severely styled, and it drives better than other big Audis. Would I buy it? Oh yes — absolutely.

The Bentley Supersports Convertible is a dreamboat, a car that can not only wow you with potency, but sooth you with straight-up luxury. And that top goes all the way down. Did we mention the organ pulls? As we often say in these situations, man, oh man, do we wish we were rich.

Most of the people purchasing one want exactly what the BMW 535i delivers: a safe, well-built, handsome luxury object that lets friends and strangers know how well they’re doing financially.

Ride, handling, acceleration and even interior aren’t the point of the Cadillac CTS Coupe. Style is, and in that regard Cadillac has grand-slammed it. All of the competing Germans and Japanese two-doors simply can’t hold a candle to the Coupe’s glorious lines.

The XTS is mostly good looking and has a posh interior, suspect cabin controls, a carryover drivetrain, and a magic carpet ride thanks to GM’s groundbreaking Magnetic Ride Control and torque-steer cancelling HiPer front struts.

While passable as a rental car (but what isn’t?), the 200 Convertible isn’t passable as a Chrysler. It’s ungreat, and therefore does the Chrysler brand no favors.

The Chrysler 200 wants to compete against the Toyota Camry, Honda Accord and Hyundai Sonata, something the old Sebring simply could not accomplish. But the new 200, while better looking, just isn’t good enough to play with the big boys.

The newest big-dog Challenger SRT8 392 feels like a rocket sled. And we’d like to tip our hats to Dodge for keeping her naturally aspirated, proving once again that there’s no replacement for displacement.

The Dodge Charger still represents great value for the money. However the 2011 model is largely free from compromise. It’s one that’s a decent transmission away from entering the pantheon of automotive greats.

While the mechanical work is all well and good, if there’s any place the old Durango needed polishing, it was inside the cabin. That’s why the 2011 been completely redesigned with higher-quality materials, tighter panel gaps, and fewer seams.