Pristine 1978 Mercedes Benz 450sl Convertible on 2040-cars

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Edmunds ranks the best used cars for 2013

When people ask us what car we would recommend for them, it's usually not easy to answer. To make a useful recommendation we must consider which of the numerous vehicle segments fits their needs best, and then choose one of the many vehicles offered in each segment. For some people, new cars don't meet their expectations of value, because they lose so much of it the moment they are purchased and driven off the dealer lot. For them, there's always the used-car market, where great deals can be found, but cars' histories of reliability and maintenance records - and perhaps that Certified Pre-Owned warranty - become ever-important factors playing into purchase choice.
To help out, Edmunds has done us the favor of assembling a list of the best used vehicles money can buy, covering model years 2006-2011, according to what it considers the most important criteria when shopping for used autos: reliability, safety, value and availability. That means unreliable, unsafe, super-expensive or limited-edition models don't appear on the list, but instead cars from each segment that are more likely to satisfy the general population.
There are some real goodies on the list, including but not limited to vehicles such as the capable Honda Fit, the cultish Honda Accord coupe (which can be had with a 240-horsepower V6 and a six-speed manual transmission some years), and the powerful Chevrolet Corvette. While Edmunds' choice of the Volvo C70 for best used convertible baffled us at first (not that it's a bad car), it redeemed itself by stating that the Mazda MX-5 still is an unofficial top choice if you don't require more than two seats.

Comparison test: 2019 Acura RDX vs. compact luxury SUV competitors

Truth be told, if we were to compare the all-new 2019 Acura RDX with those compact luxury crossover SUVs it would most likely be cross-shopped against, you'd be looking at a different list. Even Acura admits that Lexus and Infiniti are the most likely bogies, but with the 2019 RDX, Honda's luxury brand is attempting to attract those customers who think as much with their hearts as with their heads. And for the most part, those folks have been buying from German brands: the Audi Q5, BMW X3 and Mercedes-Benz GLC-Class. So, to show how the new RDX compares to them, Acura actually provided examples of each during the recent press drive along with a Volvo XC60. All were determined to have greater emotional appeal than the last RDX, and we would certainly agree. For, as much as the previous-generation RDX made sense on paper, it was really hard to get excited about it. And when you're paying extra for a luxury vehicle, shouldn't you get a little excited? Well, as luck would have it, Consumer Editor Jeremy Korzeniewski and I were on hand in Whistler, British Columbia, for the press launch. We didn't have an abundance of time in each RDX competitor, but in conjunction with our usual comparison chart, our impressions should provide a good first taste of how the new RDX compares. Performance and fuel economy Contributing Editor James Riswick: On paper at least, the RDX is gutsier than its comparably powered European rivals. It also weighs the same or less, which logically should mean it'll be the quickest in a straight line. During my brief drives, though, I'm not sure it really stood taller than the three Germans. It at least matches them for smoothness, which is something that can't be said about the Volvo. Fuel economy is lower than them all when you consider all but the Mercedes come standard with all-wheel drive. It's also worth noting that all the competitors are available with engine upgrades, and unless Acura's forthcoming resurrection of Type S models includes the RDX, it should stay that way. Consumer Editor Jeremy Korzeniewski: Line 'em all up in a drag race, and I have a feeling the Acura would squirt away to victory. A good bit of that, though, would be due to its 10-speed automatic transmission, which offers a huge spread of ratios and fires off extremely quick shifts. In the real world, I'd guess fuel economy will be similar across the board, so I'm willing to call that category a draw.

Mercedes out to defend its F1 crown with new W06 Hybrid Silver Arrow

They say there's only one way to go when you're on top, and that's down. That's the direction in which every other team on the Formula One grid will be trying to push Mercedes this season, but the defending champions will be doing their best to stay on top. What you see here is the embodiment of that effort. After taking pole position at all but one race last season, the checkered flag at all but three and an impressive dozen one-two finishes, the new Mercedes AMG F1 W06 Hybrid will have one heck of an act to follow. In accordance with the only major change to the sporting regulations for 2015, the most obvious difference over last year's W05 is the revised front end, but the team insists it worked hard over the winter to optimize everything underneath that silver and teal bodywork, from the suspension to the turbocharged hybrid power unit and everything in between. One of only two teams (alongside Ferrari) on the grid this season to develop its own engine in-house, the Mercedes PU106A proved practically unbeatable last season. And with engine development all but completely frozen in the off-season, its innovations are likely to prove just as insurmountable this year. But as team principal Toto Wolff puts it, in quoting Babe Ruth, "Yesterday's home runs don't win today's games." While nothing's for certain in one of the world's the most competitive arenas, chances are still high that Mercedes will continue to dominate this season just as it did the last. The most gripping battle, then, may very well be waged once again between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, whose rivalry started long before either got their start in F1, from karting and up through the ranks of the lower formulae. Though Lewis was just crowned world champion for the second time, Nico has been with the Mercedes team for longer, has been in F1 for longer and didn't give up on chasing Lewis all of last season – so don't expect him to this year, either. MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS Gets Back to Work with the new F1 W06 Hybrid Silver Arrow Jerez, Feb 01, 2015 The MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team today unveiled its 2015 Formula One World Championship challenger, the F1 W06 Hybrid, ahead of the first day of pre-season testing at the Circuito de Jerez in Spain.