[ilvtofu]

It's obvious Ford and GM are doing well with their performance products but I think the Hellcats are worth noting too. They seem like nothing more than drag cars at first but from what I've heard from auto journalists they seem to be pretty fun in the twisties too, especially when you consider the luxury/size/weight of them.

Personally I have little to no brand affinity, in my early teens I lusted after Subarus and every Subaru was an awesome car to me even if it was just a bog standard Forester. I'm a lot more objective now and I tend to judge cars on individual model achievements just because I've learned sticking stubbornly to a brand will likely get you into an undesirable car. If you're a fan of 90's/early 2000's Hondas, and you go buy any 2014 model Honda today you'll be sorely disappointed if you thought you're getting a driver's car in any way/shape/form. Honda has sunken to where it's at simply because of apathy. For so many years they were able to move units based on their former reputation of reliability and decent handling cars, the Honda/Acura brand is shit compared to where they were 10-15 years ago and the former execs know it.

I'm impressed by how Mazda makes desirable and enjoyable to drive cars that are in pedestrian market segments such as the 3, 6, or CX5. I'm also impressed at cars like the new F-150 which has been commended for it's steering and way it drives which is rare when you're talking about full size trucks. To me this simply means the company gives a crap, it's easy for a company to build a halo car and spend money in marketing how that 'DNA' translates into their econoboxes, but only a handful of lower-tier cars are engineered that way. Anyone who's driven a regular Nissan knows the GTR is as related to a Versa as an emu is to a peregrine falcon