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"Best Family Sedan of 2013: 2014 Mazda 6 The current incarnation of the family-sedan category isn&amp;#039;t a riot of excitement, rich with the best that the automotive world has to offer. Which is too bad, because if there were more cars like the new Mazda 6 (REVIEW / PHOTOS), it could be. No, honestly. This car is as close to perfect as you can get for the money. The steering and chassis make the class-leading Toyota Camry feel like a dead fish; the Accord, a dead fish with an ego problem. We like the new 6 so much, in fact, we added one to our long-term fleet.  Best Pickup of 2013: 2014 Chevrolet Silverado The full-size-truck segment is in a constant state of flux, with changes and one-upmanship creating headlines every year. Horsepower numbers and tow ratings climb. Rancher special editions appear like clockwork, raising the prices of loaded trucks to comical highs. After several extra years of bankruptcy-induced gestation, GM finally released a pair of new pickups. The Chevrolet Silverado (REVIEW / PHOTOS) and GMC Sierra (REVIEW / PHOTOS) are still basically the same truck underneath, inside, and out, with only trim and options setting them apart. And the GM truck has once again made evolutionary, not revolutionary, changes. No fancy eight-speed transmissions or turbocharged engines. Just a better interior, infotainment that isn&amp;#039;t ancient or tacked-on, and a fresh take on clean, no-nonsense styling. Plus a comfortable ride that nearly rivals the Ram&amp;#039;s optional air-suspension/coil-spring setup. The new V6 and V8 engines are fuel efficient (up to 24 mpg) while remaining simple enough. Above all, however, GM&amp;#039;s new pair work well as trucks, and the lack of gimmicks means they&amp;#039;ll probably last longer than their competitors. Sometimes, figuring out what&amp;#039;s right for the future means landing on what worked just fine in the past.  Best Luxury Sedan of 2013: 2014 Cadillac CTS Luxury goods are a proposition fraught with dissonance. A luxury car should be something that appeals to many but is available to few. If too few buy it, it won&amp;#039;t be profitable enough to survive. If, on the other hand, too many can afford it, it becomes commonplace\u2014and thus less desirable. The 2014 Cadillac CTS (REVIEW) strikes the balance perfectly. With the GM division&amp;#039;s still-polarizing Art &amp;amp;amp; Science design language, it&amp;#039;s attractive for some, garish for others. It&amp;#039;s unabashedly American and yet as sophisticated as the Europeans. Best of all, with its 420-hp twin-turbo V-6, locking rear diff (technology borrowed from the C7 Corvette), and magnetorheological shocks, the Vsport is the surprise performer of the class. Leave the lease-special BMWs for yoga-matted housewives. This is the luxurious sport sedan you&amp;#039;ll want to own.  Best SUV of 2013: 2014 Range Rover Sport The original Range Rover Sport wasn&amp;#039;t really a Range Rover (it was based on the LR4), nor was it terribly sporty. That changes with this one, which uses the same aluminum unibody as the latest top-dog Rover. That makes it about 800 pounds lighter than before. And it&amp;#039;s powerful, with an optional 510-hp supercharged V8. But unlike most sport-utes, the Rangie can hang off-road. The same all-wheel-drive system used in the big Rover is available, but the Sport adds a Dynamic mode. It tightens the air suspension, dials in more torque vectoring, and quickens shifts, justifying both its name and the car&amp;#039;s. On top of all this, the Sport looks great, like a Range Rover that actually evolved for the future, as opposed to being stuck in the past. Compared with that unapologetic brick, the Range Rover Sport (REVIEW / PHOTOS) is a little louder, a little more locked-down, a little more our speed.  Best Economy Car of 2013: 2014 Mazda 3 Seriously, does Mazda make any bad cars? There isn&amp;#039;t one that&amp;#039;s not well-built, affordable, and fun to drive. The Japanese company&amp;#039;s new small car, the Mazda 3 (REVIEW / PHOTOS), is pretty much that idea distilled. And man, it&amp;#039;s nice metal. The long hood and sultry curves call to mind older Alfa Romeos, far from a bad thing. And something&amp;#039;s very Alfa about the way it drives. The $17,740 3 is light\u20142800 pounds for the one you want, the 2.0-liter, manual version\u2014and stiff in the chassis where it counts. You can drive it all day with a grin on your face. And you&amp;#039;ll want to.  Best Electric Car of 2013: 2014 Fiat 500e First things first: Yes, the Tesla Model S (REVIEW / PHOTOS) is a real-world sedan, a smooth, sports-car-fast achievement. If we&amp;#039;d made this list last year, the Model S would have been brand-new and thus eligible to hold this spot. It&amp;#039;s a better car, and also electric. But as far as we&amp;#039;re concerned, the Fiat is better at the idea of the electric car. Semantics? Nah. You&amp;#039;re probably tired of hearing how great it is that electric cars make all their torque from zero rpm, and you&amp;#039;re wondering where all the lurid and creepily silent burnout action is. Well, it&amp;#039;s here! Here it is! In a stubby little Italian package that looks like a toaster! The people at Fiat&amp;#039;s electric-vehicle division must like having big fun on the clock, because this thing will chirp its tires and lay elevens all d ... until its batteries go flat. Naturally, that&amp;#039;s a concern. Plus, the Fiat 500e (REVIEW / PHOTOS) is only available in California, it has a tiny back seat, and it&amp;#039;s $32,000. You&amp;#039;ll need a charger, and you&amp;#039;ll only get around 60 miles of spirited driving on a single charge. But sheriff, you knew the risks when you took the electric-car badge. If that&amp;#039;s the road you&amp;#039;re headed down, might as well leave your mark on it.  Best Station Wagon of 2013: 2014 Mercedes-Benz E-Class The wagon market is a little sleepy these days, with just two new or updated entrants for 2014. Our vote is for the face-lifted E-class, the only true wagon sold here that offers rear-facing third-row seats. And a 577-hp twin-turbo AMG V-8. You can&amp;#039;t option the engine and seats together, however. A shame.  Best Diesel of 2013: 2014 Audi A8 L TDI We&amp;#039;ve come full circle, back to an era when German manufacturers built American empires by luxing up standard cars and selling them with efficient (and slow, clattery, smoky) diesels. In the 1970s and &amp;#039;80s, it proved that buyers of expensive German cars appreciated efficiency. And they still do. Like many modern oil-burners, the A8&amp;#039;s TDI V-6 renders the old diesel tropes null and void. Slow, clattery, and smoky are no more; the glory here is how far diesel has come. The only difference between a diesel A8 (PHOTOS) and a gasoline-fueled version, in practical terms, is what fuel goes in and what economy numbers come out. The EPA quotes 24/36 mpg city/highway. That and how much distance each car will cover on a full tank. Note: Watch the rest of the diesel world. We have Chevrolet building a compression-ignition Cruze, Ram and Jeep using a diesel six in place of gas V8s, and the Germans putting oil burners everywhere. Diesel&amp;#039;s back in the mainstream, hopefully for good.  And Road &amp;amp;amp; Track&amp;#039;s first-ever Performance Car of the Year is... Well, that&amp;#039;s the biggie isn&amp;#039;t it? And for that reason, it gets an article all its own. Go find out who the winner is. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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