Car and Driver's 2013 '10Best' cars

To the "As" and "6s" and "7s" from the A6 3.0T and A7 models that made the list last year, we're happy to see a couple of hot "Ss" float to the top in 2013. For the S6 and S7, Audi takes the "A" models' rich mix of virtues and turns it lethal, thanks in no small part to a 420-hp, twin-turbo 4.0-liter V-8. In a recent comparison test, the S6 put the hurt on the vastly more powerful BMW M5 and Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG. On the road, the S6 is an inexhaustible cannon, more cohesive and less fiddly than cars costing an additional $20,000.

2013 Audi A6

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Audi's modus operandi for the non-S varieties is basically the same, minus 110 horsepower. Understated bodies cover stout structures into which Audi crafts beautiful and sensible interiors, without unnecessary complication. Combine that with an unflappable chassis, accurate steering, ample power, and a general sense of quality and you have an unbeatable luxury/sports-car range.

Tip o' the hat to the freshened-for-2013 Ford Mustang in this, its third consecutive 10Best posting. Which is funny, because this 48-year-old malefactor's stingy rear seats would enrage the Amish. Its cabin materials still recollect Little House on the Prairie. The rigid rear axle is older than Moses. And on commutes in rain or snow, this loudmouth is only marginally more useful than your Schwinn. Said Jens Meiners, our European voter, "Wasteful, crude, unsophisticated — an automotive caricature of America." That's why, when the polls open, the Mustang sucks up to a constituency comprising Bruce Springsteen, Joe Biden, and all the rest of us hormonally imbalanced American boys whose primitive predilections got us kicked out of study hall. Well, too bad. At least we know our math:

2013 Ford Mustang

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420-hp Mustang GT: 60 mph in 4.5 seconds, quarter-mile in 13.0 seconds at 111 mph, top speed of 147 mph, 0.89 g of cornering grip, base price of $31,095.

444-hp Mustang Boss 302 Laguna Seca: 60 mph in 4.2 seconds, quarter-mile in 12.7 seconds at 114 mph, top speed of 161 mph, 0.96 g of cornering grip, base price of $42,995 (Boss) or $49,990 (Laguna Seca).

For now, we're still warming to the 305-hp Mustang V-6 and the 662-hp Shelby GT500. In the end, it's the GT/Boss twofer that shines as the quintessential Motown emblems of power, performance, and practicality — each a white-hot line drive of blue-collar satisfaction for red-blooded Yanks. Did we go over the top there?

With the Fit, Honda hands drivers a bargain-priced tool that is neither pretty nor powerful. In place of all that is something rarer: density of thought. There's more intelligence packed into the Fit than in many cars nearly twice its size. It's the defining small car — mechanically precise, pared of excess fat, respectful of gasoline, and graced with fluid handling. It's also hugely practical and affordable. Like a genie lamp, it's small on the outside and remarkably cavernous inside. An electric version priced itself out of contention, and the gas model is by no means perfect — the 117-hp engine needs more oats. But the Fit's every component hums the song of high-quality machinery and that seduced us again.

2013 Honda Fit

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At this point, the Miata deserves some veneration for enduring as the only inexpensive roadster still on the market. But we don't hand out awards for longevity. The Miata remains on this list for the eighth straight year because it shows how engineering rightness transcends performance figures. The 167-hp four is merely adequate and the handling limits are unimpressive by sports-car standards. What keeps the Miata triumphant is not raw performance but a balanced chassis that communicates every nuance to the driver through perfectly calibrated controls. And at a $24,515 starting price, the Miata keeps all that fun affordable.

2013 Mazda MX-5 Miata

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Let us get this straight: The new Accord has ditched its control-arm front suspension for struts; a CVT has displaced its four-cylinder's step-gear automatic; and gasoline direct injection is new this year — but only on the four — nine years after Audi first offered it in the U.S. So why is this car back on this list for a record 27th time? It's not because the Accord is a looker. What it has is inner beauty: Luxury-car big inside and yet smaller outside than before, this ninth-gen version fully delivers on Honda's "man-maximum, machine-minimum" philosophy. The Accord's greatness has always derived from its ability to disappear under its driver, but this new car verges on the ethereal —

2013 Honda Accord

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it is so easy to see out of, so easy to point into a corner, so elegant and light and forgiving in its responses that one big fluid loop develops between man and machine. This is true whether you're talking about the base four-cylinder sedan or the six-cylinder coupe with its clockwork manual. Its playful and graceful spirit makes taking grandma to the doctor and the kids to soccer and the boss to lunch no chore. You only think it's a driving appliance until you drive it. Then you understand.

2013 BMW 3-Series sedan

2013 Ford Focus / Focus ST

2013 Porsche Boxster / Boxster S

2013 Scion FR-S / Subaru BRZ

2013 Volkswagen Golf / GTI

For more information on any vehicle in this slideshow, click the links below:

- Audi A6 3.0T / S6 / A7 3.0T / S7
- BMW 3-Series
- Ford Focus
- Ford Mustang GT / Boss 302
- Honda Accord
- Honda Fit
- Mazda MX-5 Miata
- Porsche Boxster/Boxster S
- Scion FR-S / Subaru BRZ
- Volkswagen Golf / GTI