For the 28th running of Car And Driver’s annual 10 Best competition, the winners were cars that were not available for the 2009 competition, and those with significant updates. All winners fell under  base-price cap of $80,000 and be on sale in January 2010.

2010 Car and Driver 10 Best Cars:

2010 Audi S4
2010 BMW 3 Series / M3
2010 Cadillac CTS / CTS-V
2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid
2010 Honda Accord
2010 Honda Fit
2010 Mazda Miata MX-5
2010 Mazda3 / MazdaSpeed3
2010 Porsche Boxster / Cayman
2010 Volkswagen GTI
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Couples buying a car together can argue over every detail, from the colour to the shape of the car lights, but the biggest cause of contention is the price, according to recent research. Online used car retailer carsite.co.uk, found that in over a quarter of cases, money was the main factor couples argued over when choosing a new car.

Second most frequent cause for ‘carguments’ was style, with just over 23% of drivers admitting they had clashed with their partners over what their potential new car should look like. Along a similar theme, colour was also a significant catalyst for debate for the motorists interviewed, sparking 19% of altercations.

The Chevrolet Suburban and Dodge Challenger are some of the biggest gas-gulpers available, but they don’t cause quite the environmental harm other cars do.

That title is reserved for vehicles that combine their poor gas mileage with high tailpipe and greenhouse gas emissions. Think along the lines of some of the bulkiest cars on the road, like the Jeep Grand Cherokee, Chevrolet Trailblazer and Dodge Dakota.

1. Jeep Grand Cherokee
2. BMW M5
3. BMW M6 Sedan/Convertible
4. Chevrolet Trailblazer
5. Mercedes-Benz CL600
6. Mercedes-Benz S600
7. Chrysler Aspen
8. Dodge Dakota
9. Dodge Ram 1500
10. Dodge Durango

Asian automakers are still building the most reliable cars and trucks, with 8 of the top 10 brands from Japanese and Korean companies, according to an annual survey by Consumer Reports.

But several models from Ford Motor Co. are now consistently scoring above Honda and Toyota, the perennial leaders.

While Toyota’s youth-oriented Scion brand finished first for the second year in a row, several Ford models, including the midsize Ford Fusion and its cousin, the Mercury Milan, consistently have been at or near the top of their classes, a trend that led Consumer Reports editors to declare that Ford is now making some vehicles with world-class reliability.

Silver in hues ranging from chrome to charcoal gray extended its reign as the most popular choice for car and truck paint across the globe this year. In the U.S., silver rose from 20% of the market a year ago. White finished second at 18% and black was third with 16%. Red was a distant fourth at 12%.

Americans’ tastes have changed dramatically in the past 15 years. In 1994, green was the most popular color and only 8% of buyers chose silver. Silver rocks!

New statistics of driving habits altered by the recession…

The share of workers who drove to work alone has dropped to 75.5% from 76% the past two years — a possible consequence of high gas prices and the recession.

The share of households having one car or no car at all rose to 42.2% from 41.8%.

Families with at least three generations living under one roof make up 3.5% of households or about 4 million. Because it’s the first time the Census has tallied multigenerational households, the data don’t indicate whether more families are moving in together. Extended families living in the same home are most numerous in Hawaii (7.4%) and California (5%). North Dakota (1.1%) and other Great Plains states (1.5% to 1.7%) are at the other end.

September could produce the worst auto sales of the year, according to an analysis. Just as Cash-for-Clunkers goosed auto sales numbers in August, it’s crushing September’s sales numbers. Without that juicy government rebate, fewer people are interested in buying a car. People like free money!

The seasonally adjusted annual rate of sales (SAAR) for September will be 8.8 million units. Last year when the economy was unraveling September’s SAAR was 12.5 million. In February, “the darkest month of the recession,” SAAR was 9.1 million.
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According to a new survey, 30% of consumers who purchased a new car during the recent Cash for Clunkers program had no intentions of buying a car, but said they bought one because the government program was too good to pass up.

The survey, which focused on consumers who purchased a new or used car in the last three months, also showed that an additional 37 % of consumers who bought a car in the last several months were originally planning on buying a used car but switched to new to take advantage of the government offering.
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Only 6% of Romanians intend to buy a car in the next six months, a study has revealed. In comparison, 9% of Romanian intended to buy a car one year ago.

Women are more interested in a car’s colour and security system than men. Only 37% of Romanians own a car, according to the study, which claims the favourite brands for 60% of Romanians are Volkswagen, Dacia Logan and Opel.

According to a new Consumer Reports poll, 81% of Americans say they are likely or very likely to consider buying a car from an American manufacturer, while only 47% said they would consider an Asian brand. Hmmm… That’s not what it looks like to me. Who’s in this poll? American, huh? That’s funny because many Toyotas and Hondas are built in the US at a UAW plant.
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Which dealerships treated car shoppers graciously and unagressively? Daimler AG’s Mercedes and Toyota Motor Co’s luxury Lexus brand topped a ranking intended to measure how well U.S. car shoppers were treated in dealer showrooms whether they bought a new car or not.

I have to agree on this one. In my experience, Mercedes and Lexus dealers really took care of me. I’ve never felt any pressure or experienced pushiness with either of them. Probably another reason why those 2 cars are my favorite brands. The most offensive was when I test drove a Corvette. It all started when the corvette ran out of gas on the freeway. Downhill from there…
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J.D. Power and Associates released its annual survey of initial quality for 2009 model year vehicles, based on questionnaires from more than 80,900 new-vehicle owners.

These are the top performers and runners-up in each category. Activity vehicles refer to crossovers and sport utility vehicles.

Subcompact car:
Highest ranked: Toyota Yaris
Runners-up: Hyundai Accent, Honda Fit

Compact car:
Highest ranked: Hyundai Elantra sedan
Runners-up: Toyota Prius, Honda Civic

Compact sporty car:
Highest ranked: Scion tC
Runners-up: Volkswagen GTI

Compact premium sporty car:
Highest ranked: Nissan Z
Runners-up: Mercedes-Benz SLK-Class
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Despite the recession, most American consumers are still planning to buy a car within the next two years. However, a recent consumer sentiment survey also found that car buying plans varied considerably by region of the country. There was also regional disparity on whether the potential car buyers were considering a US auto nameplate.

In the Plains states (Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota), 62% of consumers plan to purchase a new or used vehicle within the next two years.
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A new study found that more than four out of every five US car owners now plan to keep their current car longer, due to the bad economic climate.

According to the survey of US vehicle owners aged 18 and over, 82% reported they now intend to keep their car longer than originally planned. The findings suggest an end to the cycle of frequent new car buying. The trend is even stronger for low income drivers and families.

Is there really a positive side to a recession?

The ruling orthodoxy on socio-economics is that difficult times drive a rise in crime, but maybe as a sign of how bad things may have become, at least one crime is decreasing: car theft.

Why? One reason is improved security in later model cars, but the other driving factor is demand: like the rest of the car industry, people aren’t buying cars, and that includes stolen ones. if you can’t afford to buy a Corvette off the lot, you can’t afford to buy one from a criminal. With no place to sell their goods, thieves have stopped stealing as many cars.
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Would you buy any of the cars listed below? The original list is titled “The top 10 cars that Americans hate”. Hate is such a strong word. Do people really hate cars? So, to generate this list of the cars Americans dislike, Forbes looked at sales data for the 10 major vehicle segments. The vehicles with the lowest sales in their class made this list.

Kia Rio (Subcompact Car)
Why Americans Hate It: Acording to J.D. Power’s 2008 dependability study, it ranked miserably making it a risky quality purchase for some buyers.
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Some people believe that the color you choose for your car reflects something about your taste and personality.

Dark colors = aggressive personality

Bright colors =energetic and vibrant personality

Red cars =speed demon

For many years, silver has been the most popular new car color in North America. Perhaps because it looks modern and looks good on any type of vehicle. The next most popular colors are black, red, and gray. There are new color variations coming out every year. PPG Industries Inc., an automotive paint supply company, predicts that blue will be the next popular car color. Blue? Really? This better be some nice new blue color in the making. Hope its good.

In the midst of all the bad economic news, this has almost gone unnoticed. Gas prices dropped more this week than in any week since AAA began recording prices. Currently, the national average price is $3.12, according to AAA.

With the price of oil below $80 a barrel, this price could come down even more over the next few weeks, bringing $3 gas back into sight. Woo Hoo!
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Gaywheels.com, a source of information specifically targeted to and about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) car-shoppers, rounded up their 2008 Q3 most researched cars and here’s there top ten (more like 14)…

1 VW Rabbit
2 VW Eos
3 Mazda MX-5 Miata and Audi A3 – tie
4 Mazda MAZDA3 and VW Jetta – tie
5 Toyota Yaris
6 Saab 9-3 and Dodge Caliber -tie
7 Volvo C30
8 smart fortwo
9 Toyota Matrix and MINI Cooper – tie
10 Maserati Grand Turismo

People readily see faces and traits in cars, and a new study suggests that they prefer cars to appear dominant, masculine and angry.

The finding rests on the propensity we have to actually see faces or human characteristics in everything from cars to clouds, a phenomenon called pareidolia. But now researchers hope to better understand what goes on in the brain when people see faces in objects versus humans faces, as well as help automakers design more appealing cars.
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