[pocketkiller]

for the 2nd straight year.

 

[johnej]

cool

 

[larchmont]

Y'know, I wasn't even paying attention! (Good get, PK!)

Wow, has it already been a year since we made it? :donno:


It's easier to stay on the list than to get on it, but this is still noteworthy.


What's the rest of the list, especially any changes from last year???

 

[TSX69]

Best Sports Sedan: TSX
Best Luxury Sedan: RL
Luxury Sports Sedan: 3 series
Performance Car: Vette
FullSize Sedan: Chrysler 300C/300C Hemi
Wagon: Dodge Magnum
Muscle Car: Mustang
Family Sedan: Accord
Sports Coupe: RX-8
Luxury Sports Car: Mercedes-Benz SLK350

http://www.caranddriver.com/article.asp?section_id=33&article_id=8915

 

[larchmont]

Best Sports Sedan: TSX
Best Luxury Sedan: RL
Luxury Sports Sedan: 3 series
Performance Car: Vette
FullSize Sedan: Chrysler 300C/300C Hemi
Wagon: Dodge Magnum
Muscle Car: Mustang
Family Sedan: Accord
Sports Coupe: RX-8
Luxury Sports Car: Mercedes-Benz SLK350

http://www.caranddriver.com/article.asp?section_id=33&article_id=8915

Thank you, 69!

Larchmont, who wonders how many billions of times that sentence has been said (or thought) throughout history. :naughty:


Here's what they say about the TSX:


"Precision crafted performance” was Acura’s original marketing mantra, and even though the slogan has long since been replaced, it accurately describes this little jewel of a sports sedan. Back for its second 10Best term, the TSX is a symphony of painstakingly perfected details that add up to feline agility enhanced by a bevy of luxury features that come standard. The only option is a DVD-based nav system that includes voice recognition.

The TSX is the sedan anchor at the affordable end of the Acura product range and replaces the four-door portion of the highly successful Integra line. But the commonality between the TSX and Integra ends right about there. The Integra was based on the Civic. The TSX is based on the European version of the Honda Accord, a little smaller than the U.S. version, a little bigger than the old Integra.

The TSX is also distinctly more refined than its predecessor—smoother, quieter, and creamier in the ride department. But this doesn’t mean it lacks the Integra’s well-developed sense of fun. The TSX carves up stretches of Sunday back road with the carefree accuracy of a neurosurgeon dissecting a Thanksgiving turkey.

We’d be even bigger TSX fans if its 2.4-liter four made a little more power. Still, 200 horsepower mated to a typically slick Acura six-speed manual transmission yields 0-to-60-mph times in the low-seven-second range, which isn’t slow. Add up the other virtues, and you have a value quotient that’s best in class.


Interestingly here's what they say for price....

Estimated base price $27,560

They must be including "Destination Charge" or something.
Official base price (non-Nav) is $26,990.

 

[larchmont]

OK, let's compare it to last year's list.....

(btw AFAIK the same cars tend to stay on the list from year to year, so any "bumps" are significant).....

Last year:

Acura TSX
Audi S4 Quattro
BMW M3
Chevrolet Corvette
Ford Focus
Honda Accord
Honda S2000
Infiniti G35
Mazda RX-8
Toyota Prius


This year:

Acura TSX
Acura RL
BMW 3 series
Chevy Corvette
Chrysler 300C/300C Hemi
Dodge Magnum
Ford Mustang
Honda Accord
Mazda RX-8
Mercedes-Benz SLK350


So the changes are:

Out: Audi S4 Quattro, Ford Focus, Honda S2000, Infiniti G35, Toyota Prius

In: Acura RL, Chrysler 300C/300C Hemi, Dodge Magnum, Ford Mustang, Mercedes-Benz SLK350


That's 5 changes, which is a lot.

One reason for that might be.....I'm not sure about this, but it looks like they might have changed the framework of the whole thing. Now they're picking a "best" car in each of 10 categories. I'm not aware that this was the case in the past; I thought they just picked 10 cars, regardless of category.

Anybody know???

P.S. Notice that there's only one make that has two on the last. And guess which make that is.
Of course it's three if you put Honda/Acura together.

 

[TSX 'R' US]

:woot: and :woot: for the RL as well

 

[tony4311]

:woot:

 

[johnej]

they have always picked on catagories... At least as far as i know

 

[larchmont]

Actually.....I took a closer look, and it seems indeed that they never confined the choices to separate "categories" until this year.

Here's the article from last year (Jan. 2004 issue): http://www.caranddriver.com/article.asp?section_id=33&article_id=7571

.....and here's the current one (Jan. 2005 issue): http://www.caranddriver.com/article.asp?section_id=33&article_id=8914

If you click on the arrows of that box near the top of this year's article where you can "choose one" of the 10 Best, you can see that each car is representing a category.
If you click the same on last year's list, that's not the case; it's just a list of 10 cars.

That doesn't mean for sure that they didn't observe the categories, but I'm pretty they didn't. For example: Look at what happened with the Toyota Prius. It made last year's list, but not this year's. If you look at the categories for this year, it doesn't look like there really is any category for it; the only one that would even possibly fit would be "Family Sedan," which was won by the Accord.

And last year, both the Accord and the Prius made the list.

Unless I'm missing something, they don't state outright that they changed their system. If I'm right that this was a change, they really should have made it very clear, because it would help explain why some cars got bumped off. There's nothing suddenly wrong with the Prius, and it's not like it got "passed" by the newcomer cars; it's just that they don't put it ahead of the Accord, and they didn't necessarily last year either.