10 BEST CARS FOR 2012.

Welcome to 10Best. 

The cars here don't have to be the newest, and they don't have to be expensive – nothing over $80,000 is allowed. They just have to meet our abundant needs while satisfying our every want. These are the best cars in the market.

The Nominees

Nominees consist of all-new cars, 2011 10Best winners, cars that were not available for the 2011 competition, and those with significant updates. All cars must fall under our base-price cap of $80,000 and be on sale in January 2012.

Audi A6/A7 3.0T Quattro - Passion and persistence win. Always.

It’s easy for love affairs to wilt as life’s odometer ticks off the years. But our passion for the Audi A6—a two-time comparison-test winner in its previous guise—has now burgeoned into the sort of fiery affair that would have prompted Humbert to jam a ring onto each of Lolita’s 10 delicate digits. For 2012, the A6 enjoys its seventh remake, with all of its most lovable traits—right-now power, gratifying steering, unyielding structure—present and accounted for. This is a car that waltzes in the hills because it’s so forgiving, so informative, so easy to drive to its limits. At its heart still beats a supercharged 3.0-liter V-6, making 310 horsepower, now paired with a rapid-fire ZF eight-speed automatic.

Audi scores a two-fer here because the A7 “four-door coupe”—$9350 dearer—is a mechanical clone that also shares the A6’s cabin furnishings. What the A7 lacks—one fewer seat abaft—it spectacularly counters with slick slant-back styling, 0.93 g of grip, and a power hatchback that envelops 25 cubic feet of storage space. The A7 is so good that it has already trumped, in a comparo, the V-8–wielding Mercedes-Benz CLS550. Both of these Ingolstadt invaders engross their pilots in a peaceful, cushy, clubroom cockpit. And both offer so much passionate bang for the buck that it’s fair to label them as practical purchases.

BMW 3-Series/M3 - The 3 is still the one.

The competition should have figured out a way to beat the BMW 3-series by now. It’s not for lack of trying: Every so often, another carmaker will pitch a worthy competitor into the mix, but none has been able to knock the 3-series from its pedestal or even maintain its consistent brilliance. After 21 consecutive years on the 10Best list, BMW continues to evolve the 3-series toward some platonic ideal of sportiness. You don’t notice the seats, the steering, the suspension, or the brakes because everything feels natural. Everything feels right. And how has no other automaker matched the silkiness of BMW’s inline-six engines? Don’t forget the M3, either, which remains magnificent in the twilight of a celebrated life, thanks largely to that lusty 414-hp, 8300-rpm V-8. The 3-series sedan is on hiatus until a new model drops in February. In other words, even as the entire current 3-series lineup is on the way out the door, it still roasts the competition.

The biggest threat to its dominance is not from another carmaker but from BMW itself. An increased focus on gizmology has robbed a couple of recently introduced BMWs of the athletic, connected feeling that made the old Ultimate Driving Machine tag line ring so true. Here’s to hoping BMW doesn’t screw up the best one.

Cadillac CTS-V - The ace, king and queen of the American fleet.

Let’s get the CTS-V’s achilles’ heel out of the way first: It’s useless as a getaway car. If you plan to knock off a liquor store, we strongly recommend choosing something other than one of these superheroes as your ride. Because although they have the ability to expeditiously achieve escape velocity—of the six we’ve tested, the slowest clocked 0 to 60 in 4.3 seconds—all burn indelible retinal images. The chain-mail grilles, shark-fin taillamps, 19-inch chariot wheels, and center-exit tailpipes (coupe only) make these cars conspicuously easy for the most witless eyewitness to rat out. Except for that one fault, the V trio — coupe, sedan, and wagon — is blessed with more than its share of virtue. Think of a Corvette with extra seats.

During our most recent Lightning Lap extravaganza, we pronounced a CTS-V coupe track-ready in no small part due to its Nordschleife-proven Brembo brakes and near-Porsche-grade steering. This Caddy’s magnetorheological shocks work so well that Audi and Ferrari use versions of them. The handling is forgiving, the ride is supple, and the high-speed stability makes it the unlikely king of the autobahn. But the clincher is every V’s honking 556-hp, supercharged and intercooled V-8. Do your part to “Save the Manuals!” by ordering your CTS-V with a stick shift.

Ford Focus - Street fighter.

Two boxing terms seem appropriate here: the “rope-a-dope”—Ali’s ploy to sit on the ropes getting beaten for what seemed like a decade, then come out swinging once the other guy was worn out—and “punching above your weight class,” its meaning obvious. The Ford Focus so embraces these two concepts that it ought to be wearing silk shorts. After nearly a decade of waning significance, the Focus comes off the ropes with several unexpected combinations: a sensational ride-handling balance, an admirable power/mpg index, and fantastic materials and utility inside. This is one of the best front-wheel-drive chassis on the road right now, supple yet precise, and it allows the Focus to get around many more expensive, more powerful, more overtly sporty cars on a twisting stretch. It’s as much sports sedan as economy sedan.

Still, like most prizefighters, it has its vices. No, not pet lions or a taste for ear meat. The Focus’s, at least, are avoidable: No version should be ordered with the frustrating MyFord Touch infotainment system. And no serious driver should purchase a Focus with the clunky-yet-somehow-squishy PowerShift dual-clutch automatic. We recommend the Focus SE with the slick manual transmission and the SE Sport package. It’s the sweet spot of the Focus lineup and a staggering bit of sweet science.

Ford Mustang GT/Boss 302 - Sounds pretty incredible and it is.

What the Boss 302 did for the Mustang GT is not too dissimilar from what the Stradivari family did for the violin. The basic instrument (the violin, the Mustang GT) was already pretty great. Near perfection. Then someone (a Stradivari, Ford Mustang engineers) managed to create a new standard for all other luthiers and/or muscle-car makers. Which are kind of the same people. Okay, they’re not, but the point is that nothing can touch the Boss at $41,105. With its screaming 7500-rpm, 444-hp, 5.0-liter V-8, it’ll rip off 60 mph in four seconds flat, break the quarter-mile in 12.4 seconds at 117 mph, stop from 70 in 155 feet, and hold the road at 0.95 g. If you are wondering, those numbers are on par with the $20,970-pricier BMW M3 coupe. And don’t forget the Boss 302 Laguna Seca edition, good for one second around its namesake track.

Our biggest complaints are that the steering wheel lacks a telescoping feature and that steering feedback is, at best, vague. We got over it, and so can you. Also, as one of us found out, your significant other may have a problem riding around in a car that has “Boss” emblazoned on its side. Then again, if 40 large is too rich, the Stang GT doesn’t disappoint. It’s short 32 horses and lacks the track-ready suspension of the Boss, but it’s an astounding instrument in its own right.

Honda Accord - Old-school Honda goodness.

The four-cylinder Accord proves that when Honda plays to its strengths, it is better than anyone at producing vehicles with a supernaturally fine balance of attributes. That this is still true while Honda is widely acknowledged to have lost some of its product magic puts the all-around excellence of the four-cylinder Accord in stark relief. This is a big sedan (without a sunroof, roomy enough to reside in the EPA’s Large Sedan category) that’s lighter on its feet than many sports coupes you could mention. The primary controls are so perfectly matched to each other that this not-exactly-sporty-looking sedan can traipse along the tightrope of your favorite back road with precision and utter predictability. It will return 33 mpg on the highway; a well-equipped EX version costs just one nice dinner more than $25,000 (a little more for the coupe); and it’s a more natural heel-and-toe enabler than most sports cars. That’s an unparalleled breadth of talent and goodness.

Unlike in years past, the V-6–powered Accords do not share in this 10Best prize. Competitors, ­notably the V-6 VW Passat, play a more convincing premium-family-car riff. Whether this Accord becomes the guiding light for the future of ?Honda or is simply a star that hasn’t quite extinguished yet, we don’t know. For now, it shines as brilliantly as ever.

Honda Fit - Small outside. Bursting with genius inside.

Excellence comes in many sizes, but when the Fit first earned its way onto our 10Best list in 2007, it alone offered that quality in the B-segment, a size class that was largely an afterthought in the go-go Aughts. Now, the class is bursting with legitimate pint-sized threats from Hyundai, Mazda, Ford, and Chevy, but Honda still wins with best-in-class passenger space and cargo capacity. It also offers the most flingable chassis and a five-speed manual that is among the great ambassadors to the stick. That transmission would no doubt sway even more converts if it had a sixth gear to calm the engine on the highway.

Overall, though, the Fit is not just a triumph over other small cars, it’s a triumph of engineering. It makes the minds behind other cars seem lazy. There are so few intrusions into the capacious interior that you’d think the structure consists of a thin layer of aluminum foil stretched over some toothpicks, even though this body shell is astoundingly rigid. All hatchbacks offer folding seats, but the Fit’s create a completely flat load floor and open up 57 cubic feet of cargo volume — 13 more than you’ll get if you flop the back row in a Ford Explorer. In other markets, this tiny Honda is sold as the Jazz, which is appropriate: It exudes all the unflappable cool and versatility of a session drummer.

Mazda MX-5 Miata - The imitator inimitable

In 1962, Lotus launched a diminutive, 1515-pound roadster called the Elan. It was equal parts rapture (light, fast, deliciously nimble) and nightmare (leaky, fragile, often caught fire). That impractical dream was so captivating that when Mazda launched the first Miata in 1989 (as a ’90)—essentially a note-for-note Elan tribute, albeit with Japanese build quality and a top that didn’t douse your knickers—the world beat a path to its door. Here was an affordable roadster without drawback, a compact slingshot more fun than many cars costing twice as much.

The 2450-pound, $23,985 MX-5 reminds you equally of that first Miata and of Lotus’s flammable little heartbreaker, as evolution hasn’t dimmed the car’s genius. Rear-wheel drive is standard, along with brake feel that won’t quit and blissfully alive steering. The 2.0-liter, 7200-rpm four offers 167 horsepower and 140 pound-feet of torque, or just enough thrust to get you into trouble. Racers love the MX-5’s balanced, endlessly forgiving chassis; little old ladies dig its spunky charm and Maytag reliability. Like the BMW 3-series, the MX-5 is a virtually perfect answer to a very simple question. Unlike the BMW, however, the Mazda isn’t surrounded by imitators—in 22 years, no one else has gotten the ingredients this right, and most have simply given up trying. Who can blame them?

Porsche Boxter/Cayman - Baby Porsches, all grown up.

A sports car should be transportation for the spirit as well as the body, and few sports cars offer a more transcendent driving experience than these mid-engined fraternal twins. In either roadster or hatchback form, they’re distinguished by exceptional balance, eager responses, and a link between car and driver that’s free of excessive filtration. Civilized, yes. But not at the expense of purity. Over the years, the sinews of Porsche’s entry-level twosome have grown stronger and more flexible; the output of their flat-six engines has climbed as high as 330 horsepower in the new Cayman R; and their styling has become less 911-derivative. Another trait that upstages the 911 is the twins’ practicality: Yes, they give up two only grocery- or small-dog-appropriate seats to their big brother but in return offer covered storage fore and aft. There was a time when we also used the word “affordable” in ­connection with these two. But with the least-expensive roadster starting at $49,050, that no longer tracks. On the other hand, it’s the most attainable of Porsches, almost $31K less than a basic 911.

The ­Boxster has now made 12 10Best appearances since its 1998 debut, and this will be the sixth straight for the Cayman. Porsche will unveil a new Boxster in the spring; we can’t wait to meet it.

Volkswagen Golf/GTI - Down the hatch.

In its quest for sales, Volkswagen is poised to “pull a Porsche” and sell vehicles that aren’t quite in step with the kinds of driver-focused, airtight machines that made enthusiasts fall in love with the brand in the first place. The Volkswagens we love aren’t gone, but we thought we’d take a moment and raise a glass to two VWs that refuse to pander to the lowest common denominator, the 10Best-winning Golf and GTI.

To you, Golf, we’d like to give thanks for your unwillingness to associate affordable with boring, for sporty steering feel, for an odd number of cylinders that thrum, and for diesel engines that hum. We celebrate your expensive and refined demeanor, your taut structure, your rich and comfortable interior, and your gift for carrying large pieces of furniture back from megastores. And then there’s the GTI. You might be a Golf in a muscle T, but you pull it off. Actually, you look better than any two-box shape has any right to. Highly adaptable, you entertain people who love driving and convert those who don’t. You might start your day as a fuel-sipping kid hauler, but you become a turbocharged hellion on the way home. You take punishment without ever dishing it out. You are the car that every hatchback would like to be when it grows up. You are a 10Best winner.