Gadgetory

we review about a hundred cars a year here at CNET but out of those only a handful really reset the bar every year I'm Brian Cooley with the five highest rated cars in CNET's tech centric view of the showroom through 2013 number five the Jeep Grand Cherokee about 43 grand CNET style editor's choice back in May of 2013 mature lines now that are more Land Rover than Grizzly Adams it's one of the easiest to use touchscreen interfaces in the whole car business but with a lot of good modern tech behind it and the GC has real off-road ability not just offroad in the sense of rolling over a shrub at the mall makes this one of the best overall packages of the year and one you can actually afford in fact the cheapest on our list number 4 the BMW m6 Gran Coupe pricey at about 130 grand CNET style this guys scored editor's choice in November it's to have it all car of the year in many ways mPower adaptive suspension track class handling combined with four doors and perhaps the most connected cabin in the world and also I think the best lines of any car in our list the price is kind of unconscionable so I'd head for a 650 i its sibling in a heartbeat but if you have the money this is your new hot rod number three the 2014 Mercedes s550 all new design 110 grams t net style editor's choice back in August in one swoop Mercedes scooped up the s-class and rescued it from what could have been a lardy fate at the hands of the country club valet space and pace still abound in this big barn burner but so do connected LCDs everywhere inside and LEDs everywhere outside combined with much sleeker styling and a full suite of apps it suddenly feels much less like an old man's car number two the Audi s6 and/or s 782 $87,000 editor's choice back in march i put these two together because they're very similar now everyone loves the four-door coupe the seven which is more than i can say for a lot of four-door coupes it's got that inexplicably silky out ES powertrain and drive select that transform it two three cars Google Earth handwriting recognition and all of it actually works now the s6 scored equally high but in more of a sedan package and we started to almost get bored with Audi excellence this year number one has to go to the Tesla Model S about 80 grand or so CNET style and it got to get his choice technically in December of 2012 but I'm putting it on the 2013 list because it reverberated loudly throughout the year this is the first really aspirational electric car from a company you can be pretty sure will be here tomorrow I love the absurdly large 17-inch LCD center panel loaded with technology and throughout the vehicle clean sheet 21st century touches abound as the only Eevee on our list it's also the only car with an e range anxiety and battery safety issues perhaps need monitoring still this was the car everybody was asking me about in 2013 and it scored the highest of anything we drove all year high tech cars and modern driving you'll find that and more at CNET on cars.com i'm brian coulis thanks for watching you