MA Best Car to Buy

  • Motor Authority Best Car To Buy 2018 Frankencar

    Swap the keys of four luxury and performance cars among seven editors for a few days, and opinions get formed. Each guy learns the things he likes about each car and the things he doesn't. We start picking nits and picking favorites. The result of this back and forth was naming the Honda Civic Type R the Motor Authority Best Car To Buy 2018, but we were left with plenty we liked about the other contenders. So, we got to thinking. What if we combined the best elements of our four finalists—the Type R, the Lexus LC, the Porsche Panamera, and the Kia Stinger—into one car? How would...

  • Motor Authority Best Car To Buy 2018
    Motor Authority Best Car To Buy 2018: how we arrived at the winner

    The Motor Authority Best Car To Buy 2018 is the Honda Civic Type R. We said as much Monday. With its combination of exhilarating performance and downright value, you would think it would be a shoo-in for the award. Think again. The competition was fast and fierce this year and covered wide ground...

  • 2018 Honda Civic Type R
    Honda Civic Type R: Motor Authority's Best Car To Buy 2018

    Every year at Motor Authority we drive hundreds of vehicles to tell you what's best—swank luxury sedans to hypercars that chew through miles. This year we had a wide-ranging mix including a superb Porsche Panamera, a stunning Lexus LC 500, an upstart Kia Stinger GT that we loved to drive. But...

  • 2018 Lexus LC 500
    Motor Authority Best Car To Buy 2018 nominee: Lexus LC

    The Lexus LC is a concept car come to life. It started life as the LF-LC concept at the 2012 Detroit auto auto show, and the public's response was so overwhelming that Lexus put it into production. We're glad it did because this grand tourer drives as good as it looks. From the arrowhead LEDs that...

  • 2018 Kia Stinger GT
    Motor Authority Best Car To Buy 2018 nominee: Kia Stinger GT

    Kia is taking on giants with the Stinger. Priced below a BMW 3-Series and sized like a Lexus GS, the Stinger is aimed squarely at European sport sedans, and it has the European roots to back it up. Penned by former Audi design boss Peter Schreyer and developed by the former head of BMW M...

  • 2017 Ford GT
    Best Car To Buy 2018: cars that didn't make the cut

    As a staff we drive hundreds of new cars, trucks, and SUVs every year. We do the hard work of sorting through the best and worst of them so you don't have to. Many of the vehicles we drive are true achievements in performance and luxury. Others not so much. And then there are those that are quite...

  • 2018 Porsche Panamera 4 E-Hybrid

    The Porsche Panamera isn't the crazy bit of heresy that the Cayenne was. After all, a sedan/hatchback isn't as far a leap for a sports car maker as an SUV. But like the Cayenne, it's a Porsche, and that means it has to be sporty, even if it doesn't have two doors and an engine located anywhere but up front. Now in its second generation, the Panamera takes a technological leap forward for 2017. DON'T MISS: 2018 Porsche Panamera 4S first drive review: the quiet heretic Technology helps this rather large car handle like a smaller car. The rear-wheel steering and active anti-roll bars, in...

  • 2017 Honda Civic Type R
    Motor Authority Best Car To Buy 2018 nominee: Honda Civic Type R

    Honda fans in America have wanted patiently. As other countries got four generations of Civic Type Rs, we looked on longingly. Now it's our turn. The 2017 Honda Civic Type R shoves 306 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque through its front wheels and handles it expertly. A front suspension...

  • 2017 Honda Civic Type R
    One of these cars will be Motor Authority's Best Car To Buy 2018

    History may record these as the best days for drivers. It is the era before emissions standards eliminate the internal combustion engine and before the autonomous car. It's an era of horsepower enabled by new engine technologies rising out of the same regulations that intend to make our planet...

  • 2016 BMW M2
    Let's make the BMW M2 better

    Less than 24 hours ago we told you the BMW M2 was the vehicle you must have in your garage, by awarding it the Motor Authority Best Car to Buy 2017 title. That still holds true, but the reality is, it's not perfect. The BMW M2 could be better. If you want that show but no go Let me be clear...

  • 2016 BMW M2 Coupe
    BMW M2: Motor Authority's Best Car to Buy 2017

    Each year, Motor Authority drives the quickest, fastest, and most luxurious vehicles on the planet to tell you which are the best. This year we had a bumper crop of amazing new machines. The Acura NSX is back, and so is the Audi R8—and we're finally driving the rally-tastic Ford Focus RS...

  • 2016 Chevrolet Camaro convertible
    Best Car to Buy 2017: Previous winners

    When we name our Best Car to Buy 2017 on Monday morning, the winner will join an esteemed list of performance cars. It's a big honor, and it's one we take seriously. Our staff has spent hours behind the wheel of each of this year's nominees. Needless to say, this year's challenge may have been our...

  • 2016 Ford Focus RS

    By their nature, hot hatches are a little juvenile. They start out as economy cars and add turbocharged power, big wings, wide tires, sport suspensions, and all manner of tack-on parts to toughen the look. The new Ford Focus RS is no exception. It looks like it just dropped out of the latest Fast & Furious movie. Everything's oversized: the rear wing, the exhaust outlets, the front air intakes that feed the hungry intercooler and brakes. But that doesn't mean it can't win our Best Car To Buy award. We care about performance here, and fun behind the wheel can trump any issues we have with...

  • 2017 Audi R8 vs. 2017 Acura NSX
    Acura NSX vs. Audi R8: We compare tech versus higher tech

    Supercars give automakers a chance to show off the fullest extents of their design and engineering capabilities. They use lightweight materials, advanced powertrains, and state-of-the-art suspension technologies to create the fastest, best handling, and most exotic automobiles on the planet. But...

  • 2017 Jaguar XE
    Motor Authority Best Car To Buy 2017 nominee: Jaguar XE

    With the release of the XE, Jaguar is trying to elbow its way into one of the most competitive segments in the luxury-car realm for a second time. The X-Type of the early 2000s turned out to be little more than a gilded Ford Mondeo and sales suffered for it. This time Jaguar has its sights set on...

  • 2016 BMW M2
    Motor Authority Best Car To Buy 2017 nominee: BMW M2

    At Motor Authority we like cars that are fun to drive fast, so we stand up and take notice when BMW releases a new M model. M cars have defined engaged driving excitement for ages, but recent examples have become a little too digital for our tastes. That’s not the case with the new BMW M2...

  • 2017 Audi A4
    Motor Authority Best Car To Buy Nominee: 2017 Audi A4

    If an automaker is going to offer a compact luxury sedan it had better be on top of its game. The segment is filled with fantastic cars like the BMW 3-Series and Mercedes-Benz C-Class, and upstarts like the Cadillac ATS and Infiniti Q50. That's some stiff competition, but Audi has been up to the...

  • 2017 Audi R8, Asheville to Daytona part III
    Motor Authority Best Car To Buy Nominee: 2017 Audi R8

    Sometimes the second album is more important than the first. If a band can't follow up its breakout first album with another platinum effort, it could go down in history as just a flash in the pan. But if the second album can meet or beat the artistry of the first, that band can become a mainstay...

  • 2017 Acura NSX

    The 2017 Acura NSX is somewhat controversial. Fans of the original loved the way it challenged the established supercars of the day with a simple mid-mounted V-6 engine and an aluminum architecture. That car could perform on a racetrack and feel like an Accord on the road, while the Ferraris and Lamborghinis of the era beat up their occupants in the name of performance. Take that formula, throw it out, and start over with a three-motor hybrid powertrain complete with all-wheel drive, torque vectoring, and more lines of code than your desktop computer. The 2017 Acura NSX isn't exactly...

  • Motor Authority Best Car To Buy
    Best Car To Buy 2017: Cars that didn't make the cut

    A big part of our job around here is to drive today's new cars and report back to you. That puts us in the seats of hundreds of vehicles each year, many of which represent the latest achievements in luxury and performance. Many are brilliant pieces of comfort and engineering, and some fall shy of...

  • Motor Authority Best Car To Buy
    One of these cars will be Motor Authority's Best Car To Buy 2017

    Sometimes we have to pinch ourselves. The world's automakers just keep developing new vehicles spanning a wide spectrum of luxury and performance. From ulta-luxury SUVs to high-performance hybrids to driftable hot hatches, automakers are finding new and better ways to coddle customers and create...

  • 2016 Chevrolet Camaro
    Chevy Camaro SS: Motor Authority's Best Car To Buy 2016

    Every year, the editors of Motor Authority do something we dreamed about as kids. We drive the most ferocious performance cars and the finest luxury cars to tell you which ones are the best. This year, the competition has been unbelievable. We've sampled exceptional cars like the new Cadillac ATS-V...

  • 2016 Mercedes-Benz AMG GT S at Laguna Seca, first drive, November 2014
    Motor Authority Best Car To Buy Nominee: 2016 Mercedes-AMG GT S

    This past year the auto industry offered up a smorgasbord of new or significantly updated luxury and performance cars. We drove them, we reviewed them, and we really loved several of them. As we considered the finalists for our annual Best Car To Buy award, we had to, reluctantly, leave several...

  • 2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata drive, Southern California, July 2015
    Motor Authority Best Car To Buy Nominee: 2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata

    We drove an impressive list of new or significantly updated luxury and performance cars this past year. Many of them approach the cost of a mortgage and the Lamborghini Aventador SV we profiled yesterday costs about a half a million dollars. Among a sea of incredible high-dollar cars, one of the...

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