asufrin

Car and Driver listed their top 10 cars for 2003.
They also listed all nominees they considered.

NO Lexus was considered!?!? None ???

see

http://www.caranddriver.com/xp/Caran...cars_intro.xml


Whats up with this?

Gojirra99

They only consider brand new or significantly updated models?

I never take them seriously. They usually judge cars as if every owner is going to drive their cars on a race track.

McDonough

Price is a big point. It can't be more than 2.5 times the average selling price. Really, what does Lexus have that should have been on their. I like that magazine. I like Lexus cars. Don't take it personal.

LexusSC430

Again, its opinions and they are more loyal to performance oriented vehicles. Its speaks nothing of volume or reliability. They have had 10 best cars with recall after recall. ie corvette. Who really cares. But in defense, what is so special about a Ford Focus? Are you kidding me, any other notable rental cars? Cmon. Usually a better service to check cars out is carpoint or edmunds, they seem to not be swayed by favorites. In case you havent noticed, BMW is always on top with Audi being in there as well.

SCamp

To quote the article: "Whether a car excels in performance, styling, refinement, or simple value doesn't matter. What's important is that it excel in at least one important area."

Reliability and service, and by extension "complex" value over the life of the car, are not mentioned as "important areas" - hence the Corvette, Mercedes, and a number of other cars that might be fun to drive but problematic to own.

dseag2

I'm sure you guys who visit the forum regularly are tired of me mentioning my Audi experience, but anyway, here goes...

Audi A6 4.2 Quattro was on C/D 10 Best List. This is one of the criteria I used in selecting my 2002 model. It was truly a wonderful driving machine and, quite honestly, handled far better than my SC430. However, even with 300hp, it couldn't "get up and go" in traffic like the SC. Consequently, I almost got rear-ended several times when trying to pull out of stopped traffic. C/D never mentioned that.

C/D also had no way of knowing that Audi service (at least in So. Florida) is perhaps the worst on the planet and that paying $53k for their top-of-the-line model buys you absolutely no respect from either their service dept. or Audi of America. C/D also doesn't have to wash the filthy front wheels every other day because of excessive brake dust.

Bottom line... I'll take a car from the "Top 10 Best REAL WORLD Vehicles" list!