Every year for the past 40 years, the lucky folks who work at Car and Driver have put together a list of their picks for the 10 Best Cars for you, the lucky reader, to purchase in 2023. Though Japanese cars have taken 5 of the top spots on the list with a mixture of Honda, Toyota and Subaru, and American cars have snagged 3 more with 2 Cadillacs and a Chevy, it’s the remaining two spots that are most intriguing, with a BMW and Porsche claiming those final two spots.
Which Cars Actually Deserve to Be Marked as the 10 Best?
The first criteria—at least in this year’s poll—is that all of them actually need to be cars. Though crossovers and SUVs have been included before, cars get their own list this year. There is also a price cap of $110,000, which though by no means a tiny budget, does mean that some of our favorite luxury models may be disqualified by default. And other than that, the bottom line is that these cars have to “that live up to their purpose while delivering incredible value and a great driving experience.”
This is how a $26,000 Honda Civic and a $37,000 Toyota Corolla can share a top 10 list with a Porsche 718 that can cost up to $108,000 and a Chevy Corvette that can run about $110,000. They are the best in their own ecological niches in the car world. The Civic is great at fuel economy and reliability, while the 718 is fantastic at being fun.
The Porsche 718 Family: The GT4, Spyder, GTS and More
Though it only takes up one slot, there are actually a myriad of Porsche 718 variants that fall under the umbrella of being members of 2023’s 10 Best. They include the 718 Cayman and Boxster T and S options, as well as the 718 Spyder, and the Cayman GT4. And if it weren’t for the $110,000 price cap, the $150,000+ Cayman GT4 RS would probably have been included as well.
Porsches are fantastic cars, both speedy and responsive and downright fun to drive. According to Car and Driver, Porsche’s 718 “resets everything you thought you knew about cars, giving you a perfect baseline.” Porsche 718s aren’t a part of the top 10 just because of their fantastic 0-60 speeds (which range from 3.3-4.4 seconds) or because it takes around 13 seconds to complete the ¼ mile, but because of the sheer delight you experience when you put the cars through their paces. And those paces can just be your daily commute or trip to the grocery store.
The BMW i4: The Car That Might Convince You To Go Electric
It can come as quite a shock to car enthusiasts when they hear that more of their beloved import and luxury car companies are pouring time and development into electric cars. They are the future, after all. But it can be difficult to accept a car that is worse than a gas-powered counterpart. Luckily, when it comes to the BMW i4, there is absolutely no compromise needed.
The i4 is an all electric car that is available in both the dual motor M50 version and the single motor eDrive40 version. The M50 can get to 60 mph in 3.3 seconds, and even with a single motor, it still only takes 4.8 seconds for the eDrive40 to get to 60 mph. The M50 has a healthy range of 227 miles, and the single-engine eDrive40 can get an even better 301 miles of range. And though these cars aren’t light—the M50 weighs a hair over 2.5 tons—it sure doesn’t feel like it when you are driving it. Despite being both electric and heavy, they are still BMWs—which indicates a level of quality, attention to detail, and luxury that can’t be denied.
Car and Driver were pleased with the i4, both inside and out. In addition to calling the i4’s Tesla rivals “shockingly crude” in comparison to the fantastic i4, they were pleasantly surprised at just how fantastic of a job BMW did with the car in general, wondering if “if BMW reassigned its best engineers to the i4 effort.” So not only is the i4 one of the 10 Best, but it may have been designed by some of the best BMW has to offer. And as well know, BMW has a whole lot to offer.
There’s Something in the 10 Best for Just About Everyone
Because the 10 Best list is so diverse, there is bound to be something for everyone on there. Whether it is a familiar and fantastic Porsche 718, a collected and reliable Honda Civic, or a step into a whole new world with a fantastic electric BMW i4, it’s worth it to take a look before you make any decisions about a new car for 2023.
