Many, many truly impressive cars hit the market for the 2014 model year. This hand-picked handful of sport/luxury sedans, coupes, and roadsters are our favorites--the very best. One of them will be our Best Car To Buy 2014.

The list is presented in alphabetical order to preserve the suspense. Any one of them could end up with the win.

So what makes a car Motor Authority's Best Car To Buy? It's not necessarily the fastest, most luxurious, the most fun-to-drive, or even the best-looking car to come out this year. A balance of all of these factors, and more (call it an ineffable quality of simply being), combines to make us want the car for ourselves--and drives us to recommend the car for you, the enthusiast, as a fun and functional addition to your own personal fleet.

You'll notice the list includes most of the major car-making countries: America, Germany, and Britain are all represented. Notably absent is Japan--but the Scion FR-S and Subaru BRZ made the list last year, and we haven't seen anything as emotively excellent out of Japan since.

Without further ado, our list of nominees, representing the top eight luxury/performance cars for the 2014 model year:

2014 Audi RS 7
2014 Cadillac CTS
2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray
2014 Jaguar F-Type
2014 Mercedes-Benz CLA45 AMG
2014 Mercedes-Benz S Class (including the S63 AMG)
2014 Porsche Cayman
2014 Porsche Panamera

Between now and November 12, we'll detail the best (and worst) aspects of each, explaining why they made the cut when so many other good cars didn't. On November 12, we'll announce the winner.

This year marks the fourth installment of our Best Car To Buy award. Previous winners of our award are:

2013: Porsche Boxster
2012: Porsche 911
2011: Cadillac CTS-V Coupe & Wagon

To see more about our past Best Car To Buy winners and nominees, and to keep up with this year's award process, be sure to bookmark Motor Authority's Best Car To Buy page. Our sister sites The Car Connection and Green Car Reports will also be picking their Best Cars To Buy in the mainstream and green segments, respectively, so be sure to follow all three for the complete picture of this year's best cars in the industry.