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.

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

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.

The 2010 Volkswagen GTI MkVI has a lot going for it. As far as hot hatches are concerned, none of the competition offers the same mix of refinement, sophistication and driving good times that the GTI does.

If the throttle and transmission were as good as the rest of the car, the E63 AMG wouldn’t just be the rarest car Mercedes-Benz makes—it would be the greatest.

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.

The Ford Escape Titanium nets you seemingly every bell and whistle known to man. My only gripe is how it looks. Be that as it may, most people really seem to like the new exterior. And even more folks will like owning such a high-quality compact CUV.

What we’ve got here is a pretty compelling, good-looking, sporty handling, inexpensive crossover. Like its cousin the Hyundai Tucson, this represents great value when compared to competition like the RAV4, CR-V and Escape.

For the corner-carving set, there’s no question that the lighter, much more tossable M37S is the Infiniti to get. However, if big, wafting, luxurious road trips are your thing, you’ve got to choose the M56S.

The Prius V is a fine, well-thought-out vehicle. It’s much better to drive than any other Prius, and it can haul as much as a small CUV and get a combined 42 mpg while doing so.

Whereas the old tC was simply a smartly styled, semi-sporty value proposition, the new car is actually quite an eye opener — as in, we weren’t expecting to like the 2011 Scion tC as much as we did. Luckily we like surprises.