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Car and Driver’s 10Best Cars through the Decades

Here's how we've delivered 10Best trophies to over 100 different models over the last 40 years.

By Greg S. Fink and Car and Driver
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The title says it all: Here you’ll find a rundown of every Car and Driver 10Best Cars list from the inaugural awards in 1983 all the way through the latest crop of automotive greats. While the cars that win each year aren’t necessarily the newest, we strive to have our winners represent the absolute pinnacle of what’s available on your local dealer’s lot.

These Cars Have Won 10Best the Most

One last note before you dive in and wonder where the heck all the Ferraris are: We always ensure that our winners are available at prices mere mortals can afford, because a car that pushes or exceeds six figures had damn well better be amazing.

1983 10Best Cars

Land vehicle, Vehicle, Car, Coupé, Sedan, Classic car, Compact car, Subcompact car, Hatchback,

Car and Driver isn’t the first magazine to bring you the 10 best of something or other, nor will we be the last. We hope that we’re breaking important new automotive ground, however, by bringing you the 10 best in 10 different automotive categories. That’s 100 of the best, right there, and when you throw in our seven sidebars—those boxes and panels that hold subcategories related to one or another of the 10 basic biggies—it adds up to 170 examples of things excellent, noteworthy, and/or memorable. If not the best of everything, at least our choice for the best of Automotive America, 1983.

FULL 1983 10BEST COVERAGE

The Winners:
AMC/Renault Alliance
Chevrolet Caprice
Ford Mustang GT 5.0
Honda Accord
Mazda RX-7
Mercedes-Benz 380SEL
Pontiac 6000STE
Porsche 944
Toyota Celica Supra
Volkswagen Rabbit GTI

1984 10Best Cars

land vehicle, vehicle, car, coupé, sedan, full size car, performance car, classic car, sports car, hardtop,

There’s a great deal of pleasure to be had in acknowledging things that really work well, people who’ve actually accomplished something, situations where everything seemed to go right. That’s what the second annual Car and Driver 10Best issue is all about. Cars, parts, people, events, and places singled out for a little well-earned praise. Last year we decided to celebrate and commemorate the 10 best in 10 different automotive categories. The result was our January 1983 issue, which started the year off with a roar, one of the best-selling magazines of our entire year. So, okay, if you liked last January, you ought to love this January. We get better with practice. FULL 1984 10BEST COVERAGE

Winners:

Audi 5000S / Turbo
Dodge Daytona Turbo
Honda Accord
Honda Prelude
Mazda 626
Pontiac 6000STE
Pontiac Fiero 2M4
Porsche 944
Toyota Celica Supra
Volkswagen GTI

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1985 10Best Cars

Land vehicle, Vehicle, Car, Sedan, Full-size car, Coupé, Subcompact car,

It is January again, and we have come to praise and celebrate the best cars, people, and other noteworthy phenomena in our automotive universe. There was an embarrassment of riches from which to choose this year. Far more has gone right in the world of automobiles than has gone wrong. Mr. Reagan hasn’t fixed all that’s bad in the government’s relationship with the Republic’s cars and drivers, but neither has he done anything terrible to us, as did Mr. Nixon (the speed limit) and Mr. Carter (everything else). General Motors has given us a Corvette that not only will run faster than any other American production car in the past decade (150 miles per hour), but will also set records for lateral acceleration (0.84 g on the skidpad) and stop just as fast as it goes. GM must share the credit for these splendid achievements with the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, but the fact that their collaboration was so successful is just another reason for us to celebrate. Five years ago, there was little to be hopeful about on the automotive scene. Now we’re deluged with wonders and delights. They’re even fixing our roads! FULL 1985 10BEST COVERAGE

Winners:

Audi 5000S / Turbo
Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z
Chevrolet Corvette
Dodge Caravan/Plymouth Voyager
Honda Accord
Honda Civic/CRX
Honda Prelude
Merkur XR4Ti
Pontiac 6000STE
Porsche 944

1986 10Best Cars

Land vehicle, Vehicle, Car, Full-size car, Coupé, Sedan, Classic car,

The fourth edition of our annual 10Best fest is dedicated to the admirable notion that it’s never too soon to begin a celebration. In a few weeks, fans of the automobile all over the world will be toasting Gottlieb Daimler, Karl Benz, and everything automotive that has followed since they put us on this roll 100 years ago. To give you party animals the proper excuse for a head start at the merrymaking, we’ve packed this special issue with the 10 best stories we could muster. We hope it’s the first hurrah in a full year’s tribute to all that’s good about the automobile.

FULL 1986 10BEST COVERAGE

Winners:

Audi 5000CS Turbo Quattro
Chevrolet Corvette
Ford Taurus / Mercury Sable
Honda Accord
Honda Prelude
Lincoln Mark VII LSC
Porsche 944
Saab 9000
Toyota MR2
Volkswagen GTI

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1987 10Best Cars

Land vehicle, Vehicle, Car, Sedan, Coupé, Full-size car, Classic car, Ford tempo,

We modestly title our annual celebration of automotive excellence “Ten Best,” but this January issue is filled to the borders with more than a hundred examples of the greatest things in life. If you’re not already in a festive frame of mind, you soon will be: there’s more than enough inspiration here to lift your holiday spirit to the rafters and to keep you humming on a high plane well into the new year. FULL 1987 10BEST COVERAGE

Winners:

Acura Integra
Audi 5000/CS Turbo
Chevrolet Corvette
Ford Mustang GT
Ford Taurus
Honda Accord
Mazda RX-7 Turbo
Pontiac Bonneville SE
Saab 9000 Turbo
Toyota MR2

1988 10Best Cars

Land vehicle, Vehicle, Car, Sedan, Coupé, Liftback, Honda, Sports car,

Stoke up the yule log and pour yourself another cup of flog, because it’s that Ten Best time of year again. Ready or not, we’re back with another lapful of our best work to prove that there really is a Santa Claus.

FULL 1988 10BEST COVERAGE

Winners:

Acura Integra
Acura Legend Coupe
Audi 5000
Chevrolet Corvette
Ford Mustang 5.0
Ford Taurus
Honda Accord
Honda Civic
Honda CRX
Saab 9000 Turbo

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1989 10Best Cars

Land vehicle, Vehicle, Car, Sedan, Full-size car, Compact car, Coupé,

For the seventh consecutive year, it’s our pleasure to bring you Car and Driver’s annual 10Best issue—the oldest and best of its kind. Each autumn, as the leaves begin to turn, we begin to assemble a field of automobiles from which our editors select—by secret ballot—our 10Best Cars. We take this assignment seriously, and, judging from the flood of mail that our January issue generates, so do you. And so do the numberless newspapers, radio stations, television shows, and magazines who call us for interviews about our 10Best Cars.

FULL 1989 10BEST COVERAGE

Winners:
Acura Legend Coupe
Chevrolet Corvette
Dodge Colt Turbo / Mitsubishi Mirage Turbo
Ford Probe GT
Ford Taurus / Taurus SHO
Honda Accord
Honda Civic
Lincoln Continental
Mitsubishi Eclipse Turbo / Plymouth Laser Turbo
Saab 9000 Turbo

1990 10Best Cars

Land vehicle, Vehicle, Car, Sedan, Coupé, Full-size car, Mid-size car, Sports car,

This is the eighth rendition of our annual 10Best issue. Here at Car and Driver, no issue of our magazine receives as much attention as the one you hold in your hands. . . either from you or from us. To say nothing of the attention it now gets from other media. The 10Best issue is not only our annual best-seller, it is also the issue that requires the most work. That work, however, is labor freely given in the cause of bringing you, our subscribers and our readers, yet another 10Best issue.

FULL 1990 10BEST COVERAGE

Winners:

Acura Legend Coupe
Diamond-Star Turbos
Ford Taurus / Mercury Sable
Honda Accord
Honda Civic
Lexus LS400
Mazda MPV
Mazda MX-5 Miata
Nissan 300ZX/300ZX Turbo
Nissan Maxima SE

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1991 10Best Cars

Land vehicle, Vehicle, Car, Full-size car, Sedan, Mid-size car, Coupé,

Welcome to the ninth annual 10Best issue of Car and Driver, our traditional kickoff of the coming year. The toughest responsibility; we have to our readers, picking the 10Best Cars, has been made more difficult, once again, by the increasing number of quality cars being produced worldwide. Not that it gets any easier to tell which is which. What has gotten easier to do is to tell you that cars are better than ever.

FULL 1991 10BEST COVERAGE

Winners:

Diamond-Star Turbos
Ford Taurus / Mercury Sable
Honda Accord
Honda Civic
Mazda MPV V-6 3.0i
Mazda MX-5 Miata
Mercury Tracer LTS
Nissan 300ZX Turbo
Nissan Sentra SE-R
Toyota Previa

1992 10Best Cars

Land vehicle, Vehicle, Car, Full-size car, Mid-size car, Sedan, Executive car, Compact car, Coupé,

This is the 10th year we’ve winnowed the season’s new cars down to 10Best. We regard it as a heavy responsibility, and yet—and yet—for a troop of car guys, what could be lighter work?

FULL 1992 10BEST COVERAGE

Winners:

BMW 325i
Cadillac Seville Touring Sedan
Eagle Talon TSi AWD / Plymouth Laser KS Turbo AWD / Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX
Ford Taurus SHO
Honda Prelude Si
Lexus SC400
Mazda MX-5 Miata
Nissan 300ZX Turbo
Nissan Sentra SE-R
Toyota Camry V-6

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1993 10Best Cars

Land vehicle, Vehicle, Car, Full-size car, Mid-size car, Sedan, Coupé, Executive car, Automotive parking light,

As we open the second decade of 10Best Cars selections, we’re bound to offer along with our selections the opinion that car buyers have never had it so good when it comes to the number of high-quality, exciting, and surprisingly cost-effective cars available for purchase.

FULL 1993 10BEST COVERAGE

Winners:

BMW 325i
Dodge Intrepid / Eagle Vision / Chrysler Concorde
Ford Probe GT
Honda Prelude Si VTEC
Jeep Grand Cherokee V-8
Lexus SC300
Mazda RX-7
Nissan 300ZX Turbo
Nissan Sentra SE-R
Toyota Camry

1994 10Best Cars

Land vehicle, Vehicle, Car, Sedan, Coupé,

For the staff of Car and Driver, choosing the 10Best Cars is the most difficult and most important comparison-test vote of the year. With almost 50 excellent nominations, covering the gamut from high-testosterone sports cars to cozy and cuddly minivans, selecting our 10Best Cars always turns into an exercise in automotive hair-splitting.

FULL 1994 10BEST COVERAGE

Winners:

Acura Integra GS-R
BMW 325i/325is
Chrysler Concorde / Dodge Intrepid / Eagle Vision
Ford Probe GT
Honda Accord EX
Honda Prelude VTEC
Lexus SC300
Mazda RX-7
Nissan Sentra SE-R
Nissan 300ZX Turbo

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1995 10Best Cars

Land vehicle, Vehicle, Car, Automotive design, Sedan, Executive car, Mid-size car, Personal luxury car, Full-size car, Automotive lighting,

This is the 13th time that we have mustered the far-flung staff of Car and Driver for the purpose of selecting the 10 very best cars available on the American market. While this goal sounds eminently simple, culling 10 winners from the 40 to 50 excellent nominees gets more difficult every year, as the world’s carmakers constantly intensify their Sisyphean struggle for market share. For guidance in this difficult process, we look to the set of simple rules governing this contest.

FULL 1995 10BEST COVERAGE

Winners:

Acura Integra GS-R
BMW 325i/M3
Chrysler Cirrus LXi
Ford Contour / Mercury Mystique
Honda Accord
Honda Prelude
Lexus SC300
Mazda RX-7
Nissan 300ZX Turbo
Nissan Maxima SE

1996 10Best Cars

Land vehicle, Vehicle, Car, Coupé, Sedan, Full-size car, Executive car,

For most Americans, Labor Day signals the end of summer. Here at Car and Driver, however, our summer-ending ritual for the past 14 years has been the weeklong 10Best Cars pageant that we conduct in late September.

FULL 1996 10BEST COVERAGE

Winners:

Acura Integra
Audi A4
BMW 328i/M3
Chrysler Cirrus / Dodge Stratus
Chrysler Town & Country / Dodge Caravan / Plymouth Voyager
Ford Contour / Mercury Mystique
Honda Civic
Honda Prelude VTEC
Nissan 300ZX Turbo
Nissan Maxima SE

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1997 10Best Cars

Land vehicle, Vehicle, Car, Motor vehicle, Transport, Yellow, Luxury vehicle, Sedan, Full-size car, Mid-size car,

For our 15th-annual 10Best Cars competition, we’ve finally added pickups to the ranks of the cars, minivans, and sport-utility vehicles eligible for 10Best honors. Contrarians familiar with our glacial thinking will take this as proof positive that truck sales have finally peaked.

FULL 1997 10BEST COVERAGE

Winners:

Acura Integra
Audi A4
BMW 328i/M3
BMW 5-series
Chrysler Cirrus / Dodge Stratus / Plymouth Breeze
Chrysler Town & Country / Dodge Caravan / Plymouth Voyager
Ford Contour / Mercury Mystique
Honda Prelude SH
Mercedes-Benz SLK
Toyota Camry V-6

1998 10Best Cars

Land vehicle, Vehicle, Car, Personal luxury car, Mid-size car, Luxury vehicle, Transport, Sedan, Automotive exterior, Executive car,

In the 16-year history of Car and Driver’s 10Best Cars competition, there has never been a year when six new vehicles forced their way into our hearts and onto our annual list of favorites. Until now.
FULL 1998 10BEST COVERAGE

Winners:

Audi A4
BMW 328i/M3
BMW 5-series
Chevrolet Corvette
Dodge Intrepid
Honda Accord
Honda Prelude
Lexus GS300/400
Mazda MX-5 Miata
Porsche Boxster

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1999 10Best Cars

Land vehicle, Vehicle, Car, Full-size car, Sedan, Luxury vehicle, Mid-size car, Personal luxury car, Executive car, Family car,

Beatific calm often sets in after a period of tumultuous change, and that’s exactly what happened at our 17th Annual 10Best cars competition. Although a record six new cars muscled their way onto our list last year, there were only two new faces for 1999. But before getting into the details of the winners, let’s review the process by which they were selected.

FULL 1999 10BEST COVERAGE

Winners:

BMW 328i/M3
BMW 5-series
BMW M Coupe/M Roadster
Chevrolet Corvette
Chrysler 300M
Dodge Intrepid
Honda Accord
Lexus GS300/400
Mazda Miata
Porsche Boxster

2000 10Best Cars

Land vehicle, Vehicle, Car, Motor vehicle, Transport, Personal luxury car, Mid-size car, Full-size car, Luxury vehicle, Executive car,

With a U.S. record of some 17 million vehicles sold in 1999, coming on top of 75.8 million sales in the previous five years, the car industry is red hot. And in the hope of keeping these sales churning, the industry keeps turning out new models. Which doesn't make our job of picking the 10Best any easier at all.

FULL 2000 10BEST COVERAGE

Winners:

Audi A6 2.7T/A6 4.2
Audi TT
BMW 3-series
BMW 5-series
Chrysler 300M
Ford Focus
Honda Accord
Honda S2000
Lexus GS300/400
Porsche Boxster

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2001 10Best Cars

Land vehicle, Vehicle, Car, Motor vehicle, Automotive design, Luxury vehicle, Personal luxury car, Sedan, Mid-size car, Sports car,

As this is written, new car and truck sales are running ahead of 1999’s record pace. This follows five fat sales years from 1994 through 1998. Moreover, U.S. buyers are spending more than ever on new cars and trucks with the average transaction price running at about $24,800. Record sales at ever-increasing prices might suggest that the carmakers have the upper hand in this market, but nothing could be further from the truth.

FULL 2001 10BEST COVERAGE

Winners:

Audi A6 2.7T/A6 4.2
Audi TT
BMW 3-series
BMW 5-series
Chrysler PT Cruiser
Ford Focus
Honda Accord
Honda S2000
Mazda MX-5 Miata
Porsche Boxster

2002 10Best Cars

Land vehicle, Vehicle, Car, Transport, Mid-size car, Luxury vehicle, Automotive design, Automotive exterior, Personal luxury car, Full-size car,

Amazingly enough, this issue marks the 20th occasion that the editors of Car and Driver have assembled to select the 10Best cars available in the U.S. market. Despite protests from manufacturers who are as outraged as proud parents that we've overlooked the beauty of their babies, we are back to select the 10Best cars once again.

FULL 2002 10BEST COVERAGE

Winners:

Acura RSX
Audi A4
BMW 3-series/M3
BMW 5-series
Chevrolet Corvette
Ford Focus
Honda Accord
Honda S2000
Porsche Boxster
Subaru Impreza WRX

Headshot of Greg S. Fink
Greg S. Fink
Senior Editor

Despite their shared last name, Greg Fink is not related to Ed "Big Daddy" Roth's infamous Rat Fink. Both Finks, however, are known for their love of cars, car culture, and—strangely—monogrammed one-piece bathing suits. Greg's career in the media industry goes back more than a decade. His previous experience includes stints as an editor at publications such as U.S. News & World Report, The Huffington Post, Motor1.com, and MotorTrend.

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