MotorMouths

The 2013 Ford Mustang GT is simply an excellent car regardless of genre, an appealing balance of price, refinement, handling and brutish verve.

It’s an LS. It’s cushy. It’s luxurious. The new interior is excellent. The driving experience could best be described as “generic platonic luxury ideal.” Other than the exterior, the LS is fundamentally restrained in every respect.

The Ford Raptor SuperCrew has got a lot in common with its namesake, the hypermodern F-22 fighter. Engineered within an inch of its life, loaded with computers and supremely competent.

If you’re concerned with style, comfort, value for the money, safety and the badge of just-outside-the-norm respectability, the S60 T5 AWD is a solid choice.

The Model S is attractive, feels well-built and luxurious, offers features that no other EV does, handles the way a serious sports sedan should, and generally comes off as a wholly considered proposition. It is, however, still a machine for early adopters.

The Flex faithful will find much to like in the 2013 model, while fence-sitters might find themselves finally converted. The updated styling offers a front-end treatment more avant garde than that of the previous car.

The Traverse is a modern-day Middle-American chariot, a simple, well-proportioned beast meant to haul American families with a minimum of fuss. Chevy’s done a good job of it. If you’re in the market, it’s worth a look.

The Hyundai Veloster’s some strange hybrid of an Aston One-77, Saturn’s unlamented three-door SC2 and the beloved Honda CRX. Who’d have thought such a combination was even possible, let alone be a recipe for the most compelling economy car in a largely uninspiring market?

The Malibu Turbo proved itself capable and compliant, if not entirely enthused about corner carving. The interior seems as if the designers came up with a solution that met product-planner/bean-counter approval, but it is functionally excellent.