Here's the full list in alphabetical order — including how many years they've been on the list — after the press release below.

CAR AND DRIVER ANNOUNCES "10BEST" CARS FOR 2010

Imports Continue to Reign Supreme

ANN ARBOR, Mich., Dec. 2, 2009 – As the most tumultuous year in the history of the automotive industry draws to a close, Car and Driver magazine, the world's No. 1 automotive enthusiast publication, this week announced its 28th annual list of 10Best cars sold in America. With only two of the ten cars included on this year's list manufactured by US car companies, evidence continues to mount that American manufacturers still have a ways to go to catch up with many of the imports.

A positive sign of the times for an US car manufacturer is the fact the 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid made the coveted list as only the second hybrid ever to be included. The Toyota Prius made the list in 2004.

Following are the 2010 Car and Driver 10Best winners (in alphabetical order), followed by the number of times each model has made the list:

NAME: 2010 Audi S4
YEARS ON LIST: 2

NAME: 2010 BMW 3-Series / M3
YEARS ON LIST: 19

NAME: 2010 Cadillac CTS / CTS-V
YEARS ON LIST: 2

NAME: 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid
YEARS ON LIST: 1

NAME: 2010 Honda Accord
YEARS ON LIST: 24

NAME: 2010 Honda Fit
YEARS ON LIST: 3

NAME: 2010 Mazda MX-5 Miata
YEARS ON LIST: 11

NAME: 2010 Mazda 3 / Mazdaspeed 3
YEARS ON LIST: 3

NAME: 2010 Porsche Boxster / Cayman
YEARS ON LIST: 3

NAME: 2010 Volkswagen GTI
YEARS ON LIST: 7

Yesterday's ricer caught the bullet train to Crack Pipe with 55% of you getting fast and furious on the door number two option. Let's stay in that 1985 mind set, but instead of looking to the land of the rising sun, let's go to another of America's WWII rivals- Germany - for today's contender. It's also modded, and at a $3,995 asking, it's cheaper too!

What we have here is a 1985 BMW 318i, which is a gray market car, as evidenced by its chrome bumpers and the fact that it has a Baur targa top. The Baur conversion on these cars is very well done, and BMW offered the conversions with full factory warranties.

The history of Karosserie Baur is as long as that of BMW's auto making endeavors. The company started engineering convertible top mechanisms back in the ‘20s, and has done development work on most every BMW drop-top ever since. In addition to adding head room to the rondel brand's coupes, Baur also built most of the M1 supercars when Lamborghini abandoned the project after seeing something shiny and getting distracted. The Baur/BMW relationship is an open one, and neither partner gets upset when the other brings home a conquest. For Baur, that includes Opel, for whom they built a number of similar targa-top modded Kadetts, and Porsche, for whom they built the 959. As you can imagine, quality is a hallmark of Baur's work.

The E30 underpinning the Baur top is also a pretty rock-solid piece of hardware, although the 101-bhp 318i is not quite as ultimate a driving machine as you might like. This black on black example sports the Getrag 260 5-speed, which should help make best use of those few ponies. The seller claims the top is new, as are the rims (meh) and the springs and shocks (yeah), although from the pictures it looks like the exterior is not so great, with chips on the nose (bleh) and the federalized side-marker lights that look a little tacky (feh!).

The car is described as driving like new, and that everything works, including the A/C, which as it's an '85, could conceivably still be freon. If the seller is to be believed - and when have you ever known a used-car salesman to lie? - then this may just be a pretty sweet deal for that $3,995 price. If you were wondering about comparison shopping, he has another one for sale for $10,995- and you can grab a taste of that right here.

So what do you think? Is the seller dropping the top on high prices here? Or, is this from a gray market that sells nothing but Crack?

You decide.

City of Angels Craigslist or go here if the ad disappears.

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We don't think so. We know from experience Don Draper drives a 1962 Cadillac Coupe de Ville and, in fact, makes a reference to bombing German factories in season one. More importantly than the context clues, though, is the image.

The BMW 3-series is so junior executive. So Pete Campbell. Draper has constructed this facade of success and confidence that acts as a shell around a void he tries to fill with liquor, cigarettes, and cheap sex. That just screams Mercedes S63 AMG.

[Ads Of The World]

While there was only one European machine in the Gator-O-Rama top 10, the Opular Dependence Team Israel Opel GT grabbed the prestigious Organizer's Choice trophy for the Continent. Not only that, the Saabs avoided throwing even a single connecting rod this time out, which should be cause for rejoicing in the streets of Stockholm
.
Thanks to Myke Toman, Nick Pon, Zerin Dube and Speed:Sport:Life, Anna C of Bikini Racer, the Norwegian Slaabs, Saabs Gone Wild, Prison Break Racing, Team Beermer, LeMons Supreme Court Justice Lieberman, Jackson Williams, and others for their fine photographs.

Best known in the US for the Alpina B7, which is the M7 BMW never built, Alpina has a long history of tweaking diesels in Europe. Taking a smaller engine from the diesel 123d and transplanting it in the 3-series is a touch strange, but you end up with a unique tuner car capable of adequate performance, a 152 MPH top speed and impressive mileage of 45 MPG (US).

For just $43,000 you can feel as green as a hybrid owner and, with 332 lb-ft of torque on tap, you can leave them in your eco-friendly dust.

The new BMW ALPINA D3 Bi-Turbo Saloon

Unbeatable combination of performance, economy and emissions

The new BMW ALPINA D3. Saloon car evolution of the acclaimed D3 Coupe is now in the showrooms. A four cylinder four-door car, arguably the cleverest buy for all discerning UK drivers, delivering more than any larger engined counterpart in terms of performance, economy, low emissions and sheer exclusivity.

ALPINA engineers have once again used their development of BMW's state-of-the-art twin turbo diesel engine from the 123d, which – at 214 hp – produces more horsepower per litre than any other engine in a current BMW ALPINA road car.

Like the previous D3 Saloon, all UK cars will be ordered in a single specification meaning that customers only need to choose between manual and automatic gearbox and select their preferred colour and trim.

The car is capable of 152 mph and 0-62 mph in 6.9 secs and yet the official fuel consumption and emission figures tell a very different story: 52.3 mpg (overall EU) and 143 g/km (manual gearbox version).

John Quigley, Managing Director of ALPINA GB said: "The previous model D3 was one of our most successful cars ever. We believe we really hit the spot in terms of performance, exclusivity and price. But the new car is even better than the previous model in all the key areas; performance is improved, yet both fuel economy and – crucially – emissions are reduced. Around half of D3 sales will be to business users – who will relish any opportunity to lower their personal benefit in kind charges."

ALPINA GB, part of the Sytner Group, has been the sole UK importer for ALPINA since 1983. ALPINA has worked closely with BMW since 1961, with shared warranty coverage since 1964. ALPINA was registered as an automobile manufacturer to ISO standards in 1983.

[Source: Alpina]

The M Sport packages include more aggressive styling upgrades meant to emulate actual M cars bigger wheels — slightly lowered suspension with stiffer tuning, a short throw shifter for the handful to be sold with a manual and different trim finishes. No power upgrades, which is no surprise from a company engaged in projects like the 5-Series GT Concept. Overly dear pricing breakdown below.

• BMW 3 Series Sedan — $3750
• BMW 3 Series Wagon — $3270
• BMW 3 Series Coupe — $3250
• BMW 3 Series — $3250
• BMW 550i — $4800
• BMW X5 3.0 and 4.8 — $6500

Yes, the Autobahn Society Racing crew has made a 2002 into a painstaking replica of the Frank Stella 1976 3.0 CSL art car. This car is a veteran of the LeMons SF '08 race, where it finished 24th. This time it finished 80th.


The Altamont-vet "tank 5 Series" got zapped with a 150-lap BS Penalty right off the bat, which didn't sit too well with the team. Their best lap of 1:36.896 was quite impressive, though eventually they got put on the trailer for running 60-treadwear racing slicks, and parking-lot drift hilarity ensued.


You can usually spot a veteran of the legendary "Demolition Derby LeMons" race, aka the Gimme Shelter LeMons SF Fall '07 event, just by looking at the body panels, but the Mach Schnell car seems to have been beaten back into a semblance of factory appearance. This time the Schnells came in 25th, with a blistering 1:33.594 best lap.


Another battered Gimme Shelter Altamont vet, the Foolz came in 31st this time.


With nine penalties at the Yeehaw It's Texas '08 event the Sharks got 30th place this time. They drove like madmen fleeing a bank robbery and were on the receiving end of a textbook PIT Maneuver at the hands of a crafty RX-7. They also feature prominently in the Pandamonium Jackass Highlights Video, but the Sharks really do understand the spirit of LeMons and we hope to see them in future races.


Plucked from a swamp in the damp Pacific Northwest, this car had lichens growing all over its bodywork (and the most perfectly preserved 2002 dash in the entire world, which is no doubt headed for a lucrative sale on eBay). Thanks in part to a 35-lap bonus (but mostly due to their black-flag-free driving), the Hurling Mossers stunned the LeMons community with a 7th-place finish. OK, they'd have been 34th without the bonus, but everyone was still quite impressed.


Why don't we see more E24s at LeMons? You can get them cheap, junkyard 5 series cars provide plenty of parts, and they're quite fast; check out the 1:35.405 best lap on this car!





Another fast BMW (1:37.924 best lap), held back by reliability issues (and a 15-lap BS Penalty). 59th place.


This LeMons veteran ran a best lap of 1:36.083, but… 52nd place. Damn electronics!


The Porcubimmer was back, and the "angry porcupine" look was a real crowd-pleaser out there on the track. This time, the car held together pretty well, and the team notched a 32nd-place finish- no easy task in this race. Best lap time: 1:37.461. You can get the full story at the team site.


We liked the decoration on this car, which was yet another sub-1:38 hot-rod BMW with reliability problems. 78th place. Check out their excellent highlight video:





These guys have the #1 24 Hours Of LeMons video on YouTube, but the Porsche 944 just wasn't ready for Thunderhill and they showed up in a substitute E30 instead. Electrical malfunctions, blah blah blah, the usual E30 refrain. 81st place.


Here's an obvious Demolition Derby LeMons vet, not to mention all the California LeMons races since then. This E30 stayed clear of electrical demons and came in 10th place; you'll enjoy the team's mini-documentary.


We love literary and/or mythological references in team names, and the wing on the 55th-place Faustest E30 did look good.


Great team name, though we can't imagine many high-school kids wanted the 325e more than the 325iS. Look at that 1:34.669 best lap! Damn, those E30s are quick… but what's with the 65th-place finish?


Gimme Shelter '07 vet here, as you can tell by the much-bent-and-restraightened bodywork. The Bears did quite well at Thunderhill, coming in 28th and running a best lap of 1:37.341.

After watching it, we’re inexplicably happy, but aren’t quite sure what just happened to us. Somehow, a tuned S2000 motor has found its way into a modified E36, which then found its way into the hands of a rubber-glove wearing driving god with a sexy sidekick. We’d also like to take this opportunity to thank the cameraman for combining our new favorite things — upskirt and massively over-revving tachometers — into the same shots. I think we’ve found our new heroes, the good men of Best Motoring.

[via Streetfire]

BMW E30s are easy to find in the self-service yards, and they came right from the factory with a very nice trunk-mounted battery setup. The big self-service junkyard chains generally have a single price for all battery cables, which means that the 15-footer that runs from the trunk to the engine compartment will cost the same as a skinny 18" job from a Sentra. When the Half Price Sale is on, we're talking about $7 for both cables and terminals; not a bad deal for 20 pounds of copper!


For its trunk-mounted battery setup, the Black Metal V8olvo used some 1-gauge welding cable I'd hoarded for years, but then the LeMons safety requirements mandated a battery cutoff switch. That meant we needed about 8' of additional cable in order to install our switch. I went right to this 325i, to do a little shopping. All you need to do to remove the positive battery cable is get the carpeting and passenger-side interior trim out of the way, then start clipping various tie-downs and clamps. BMW believes in absurd levels of overengineering leaving nothing to chance, which means this task will take a little while, but it's nothing very challenging.


Speaking of overengineering, why did a small car like the E30 need a super-fat 00-gauge battery cable? Was there a little-ordered in-car arc-welder option, or perhaps an antiaircraft searchlight mounted on the roof with certain trim packages? In any case, here's the new cable hooked up to the battery in our (somewhat cluttered) Volvo's trunk.


Here's the switch installed and wired. Thanks, BMW! Note: trunk-mounted batteries in street-driven cars need to be fully enclosed and vented outside the car, because otherwise they'll fill your trunk up with hydrogen and you'll go up like the Hindenburg.

We're not sure what the Body I looked like, but the Body II is an interesting mix of BMW Z8, Edsel and Playskool design languages that combine to create something distractingly unattractive. The vehicle looks especially awkward next to St. Basil's Cathedral, an example of good Russian design.

Designed by Russian design firm Cardi, underneath the yellow-green skin it is assumed the Body II is a BMW 325i (E36) equipped with the 196-horsepower version of the 2.5-liter inline-six. Cardi claims the vehicle is capable of reaching 62 mph from a cold start in 6.6 seconds with a speed-limited top speed of 155 mph.

We're not sure of the price tag, but if you have to ask... you're probably some rich Siberian oil oligarch with more money than taste and you don't care.

[CarScoop]

On the exterior — changes to the head lights and tail lights, and umm — oh yeah, they changed the profile of the curves on the bumper.

Now that we have the exterior details differentiating the old from the new out of the way, let's talk about the interior. The dash gets extra buttons to further imbue i-Drive with irrelevance. Along with those new buttons you get a bigger, brighter 8.8" screen and an optional 80 GB entertainment-storing hard drive. No changes have been made to the powertrain, so these and any other changes you're able to spot to the baby Bimmer's beauty treatment, only go skin deep. [World Car Fans]

Compared to the current crop there are some obvious changes to the front of the car, including revised lamps, fog lights and mirrors. They've also taken a lot of care to squeeze a few more lines into the hood.

Understandably, our biggest interest in the 2009 3-series is the possibility of all-but confirmed BMW 335d, which we hope will hit shores this fall. What do you all think? Going in the right direction or retreating from classic BMW style?

It's those funny switches hidden in the ashtray that give away this 3-series as an undercover police car. The good chap who runs BridgeToGantry spotted it lurking around, we're assuming for off-track hoons or anyone engaging in fun stuff drifting while overtaking. [BridgeToGantry]

Urea is actually a compound found in mammal urine. Utilizing a method that's been put to use on Mercedes' Bluetec models, BMW will be using urea to clean up exhaust emissions. The urea will be stored on-board in a separate tank, and your friendly BMW service department will take care of refilling it for you. In a completely unrelated story, BMW dealership service departments are now serving St. Pauli Girl in the break room. (Update! Steel_ETC sent in some shots of what looks to be a very similar car testing in Maryland. Thanks Steel_ETC!)
[autofiends via BimmerFile]

[r3vlimited] Hat Tip to TheGuinnessTooth!

Who cares? If you want a lifted 3-Series wagon, why not buy a 3-Series wagon and have it lifted? Really, how many niches must there be? Does the world actually need something that's part wagon, part SUV, part minivan, part sedan? The bad part is that once the F3/V3/X1 finally does arrive, it won't actually be a bad vehicle. We'll test drive it, and declare that it's well-built, drives well, and is quite practical. And then people will buy it. Profit will be made. Other automakers will take notice and build similar vehicles. The niche will be filled. Then, two new niches, one to either side of the old niche, will be created. Those niches will be filled, and sooner or later we'll all be driving (or merely riding along) in nondescript blobs. Our children will have no knowledge of hoonage, at which point the world will likely end.
[BimmerPost.com]