Beauty Contestants With Curves, Talent and German Accents
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ONE carmaker after another is proposing an answer to a question: how do you show off lavish wheels without looking like, well, a show-off?
For many middle-aged buyers, crisis-averting red sports cars are out. Instead, the runaway trend is the "four-door coupe," a description that seemed to be less of an oxymoron after the success of the 2005 Mercedes-Benz CLS-Class. Seemingly within weeks, companies began to imitate the CLS's eye-catching hillock of a roof, first with the more mainstream Volkswagen CC.
The movement has recently produced some unexpected offshoots like the Aston Martin Rapide and the Porsche Panamera. Even a family sedan, the Hyundai Sonata, should remember to thank Mercedes for its curvy style.
Now two new models are going head to pretty head in a battle for luxury buyers: the Audi A7, with a supercharged V-6 and hidden-hatchback layout, and a redesigned CLS550, formidably powered by a new twin-turbo V-8.
It's not always wise to choose a car for its seductive looks, but here you can't go wrong: both cars are fine performers beneath their handsome skins. And since these are personal-reward cars, if one or the other fulfills your dreams, and you have the cash to burn, I'd say go for it. Yet I'd still urge any infatuated shopper to test-drive both cars: their on-road impressions may surprise you.
Second Place: Audi A7
For the reliably fabulous Audi brand, a looks-first luxury car might seem an easy assignment. And the company hasn't messed it up.
The A7 crystallizes everything that has Audi on a roll with customers and critics. The exterior combines Germanic strength with litheness and painterly detail. The interior is a sensory and technological feast, with its impossibly thin pop-up navigation screen, a magnificent optional 15-speaker, 1,300-watt Bang & Olufsen audio system and a choice of striking trim that includes a "natural brown ash" with exposed grain that recalls hand-hewn furniture.
First Published August 21, 2011 12:01 am
