USED CARS - Sports Sedans Reviews

The following report was originally published on ConsumerSearch to cover new cars manufactured and sold in the 2006 model year, and so can offer a good guide as to which cars from past model years are good bets as used vehicles. We are keeping this report on our site as a convenience to our readers who may be shopping for a used car.

The most in-depth review on sports sedans that we found comes from Car and Driver, which chose two vehicles as top picks in its' annual top-ten list. What separates this review from the rest is not only the thoroughness of the testing process, but the amount of detail in the write-ups. Forbes Autos is a relatively new review site; here we found a helpful article on the best and worst cars for city driving. Editors offer a slightly different perspective on sports sedans, based on size/power tradeoffs.

A second review from Car and Driver is an excellent comparison of eight 2006 sports sedans with a price tag in the $35,000 range -- the sweet spot for sports sedans. Car and Driver includes an exhaustive amount of critical detail in this review, with a logically chosen winner. This particular review covers some of the most popular vehicles in the sports sedan market today, and it's great to see these sedans go head-to-head in measured testing. Consumer Reports magazine has some helpful information on sports sedans, and editors include less exciting data like crash-test scores, safety options and fuel economy.

Sports sedans are a bit of a compromise. They're not quite as sleek as a sports car, but they're not as straight-laced as a family sedan. Many sports sedans get lesser fuel economy than family sedans or small cars, but they make up for it in terms of power and luxury touches. The best sports-sedan reviews balance overall reliability, practicality and fuel economy with performance, style and image.

The Cadillac CTS-V (*est. $50,675), which was a top-rated sports sedan in 2005, is not mentioned much in reviews for 2006. As is often the case, it seems as though the competing vehicles have simply made more impressive changes in an attempt to become the best. While the Cadillac CTS-V is still an impressive vehicle according to anyone's standards, it simply failed to make waves in 2006 the way that it did in the previous year. The Cadillac CTS-V has a high-performance 6-liter V8 OHV engine, which generates 364 horses. Fuel economy takes a hit, however. The EPA estimates gas mileage at about 15 mpg/city and 23 mpg/highway, which isn't competitive with sports sedans like the BMW 3-series and Lexus IS 350 (though these mainly have 6-cylinder engines).

For 2006, the king of the hill in the sports sedan market is the BMW 3-series (*est. $30,900 to $38,500) . In reviews we have examined, the 3-series sports sedans took home seven top-honors, an incredible feat for any vehicle. In addition, even when the 3-series was not the winner, it routinely places second or third. It seems few auto critics question the quality of the redesigned-for-2006 BMW 3-series.  ... Continued