MotorMouths

The Ford Fusion Hybrid is the best hybrid model in the U.S. market. It wears no egg-shaped hypermile bodywork, doesn’t ask its occupants to contort themselves to fit inside it and doesn’t demand any creative financing for regular Americans with regular jobs to purchase it.

The E550 successfully blends traditional Mercedes prestige and comfort with open-air excitement. At top-down touring speeds, the Aircap system renders the back seat as comfortable as the front seat in other cars.

Like every new Toyota, the Prius is an extremely carefully considered and professionally executed transportation device, very effectively balancing fuel efficiency, safety, practicality and comfort. The 2010 version is the best Prius yet.

The 2011 Mustang is an extremely appealing machine, with muscular style and powerful engines. But it seems to be a matter of correctly matching the right car to the right task. Horses for courses, as they say.

The Grand Cherokee further extends Jeep’s marriage of comfort with authentic off-road capability. And now drivers’ minds will be unburdened by reliability concerns and dissatisfaction with unsightly materials and thirsty, unrefined engines.

This new engine lineup puts Ford ahead of its competitors and the EcoBoost in particular puts the F-150 over the top because it doesn’t ask drivers to choose between power and efficiency. Giving them both should discourage shoppers from counting cylinders.

Honda’s goal in designing the 2010 Insight was to find the value sweet spot, and it looks like they’ve hit it. The Insight marks the best intersection yet of the plots for price, efficiency and practicality.

The CR-Z’s efficiency is good, but not spectacular. Same for performance. But the car has head-turning good looks, decent practicality thanks to its large hatch, and storage space where there is a microscopic back seat in other markets.

The2011 Ford Edge finally delivers on the dynamic driving experience promised by its design, with a trio of powertrains and a sumptuous cockpit and increasingly functional electronic gadgetry.

VW’s customers want lavish cabin appointments, communicative steering, competent independent rear suspension and standard rear disc brakes.The all-new, designed for America, dumbed-down, decontented, Corolla-wannabe 2011 Jetta delivers none of these things.

Just as a great actor like Robert De Niro can waste his talent in a flop like “Rocky and Bullwinkle,” it turns out Lexus can fritter its auto-building flair on a drab luxury sedan like the HS250h.