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    CultureMap Auto Awards

    Hot Compact of the Year: 2014 Ford Fiesta ST packs a lot of punch for the price

    Nic Phillips
    Jan 5, 2014 | 2:30 pm

    Editor's Note: In the second annual CultureMap Auto Awards, our automotive correspondents Nic Phillips and Kevin McCauley bestow honors in 10 categories for the top cars and trucks of 2013/2014 and explain why they're deserving of a good hard look. First up:

    Hot Compact of the Year: 2014 Ford Fiesta ST

    Small cars are a definite trend going into 2014 with automakers racing to meet demand for efficient, economic yet premium offerings. Topping our list this year is the completely reinvented Ford Fiesta with our hat tipping to the brilliant ST performance variant.

    Fiesta introduced Ford's first-ever three-cylinder EcoBoost engine, making one of our most memorable drives of the year. This tiny turbo mite is an engineering marvel with several revolutionary technologies delivering up to 45-mpg highway, but with enough low-end grunt to make it a joy to drive. The engine's block is so compact that a Ford engineer was able to pass it through TSA airport security (see slideshow). But despite its diminutive dimensions, it's remarkably refined with smooth, confident power delivery.

    Fiesta introduced Ford's first-ever three-cylinder EcoBoost engine, making one of our most memorable drives of the year.

    Premium is the keyword when describing what Ford has done with the Fiesta. Why limit features and technology to only the largest of cars? Basically one can have up a Fiesta equipped Microsoft Sync with myFord Touch and Sync Applink, Navigation with traffic, rearview camera, push-button engine start, LED ambient lighting, heated leather seats... the list goes on and on while the price stays below $20,000.

    Ford continues to be one of the few carmakers that hasn't forgotten about the enthusiast driver and so we have the ST. Performance upgrades start with a specially tuned 1.6-liter turbo four-cylinder EcoBoost boasting 197-horsepower and 202 lb-ft of torque mated to a six-speed manual. Sportier front and rear suspension components, quicker steering, torque vectoring control, beefier brakes and a curb weight well under 3,000 pounds add up to a compact experience that's sure to turn that frown upside down.

    Be sure to spend on the available RECARO sport seats, you'll appreciate them in the corners and they go a long way to show you have something special to show on the inside. EPA estimates fuel economy at 26 city / 35 highway, but if you're hitting those marks you're not driving the ST as you should be.

    Bravo Ford, our right foot thanks you.

    The Ford Fiesta starts at just $14,100 and our lusty ST model, complete with every option, just breaks $25,000.

    Hot Compact Runner-up: 2014 Kia Soul

    Kia's tagline for its hamster toting, future blasting nightclub box on wheels: "Totally transformed."... and it couldn't be more true. In the biggest surprise of the year, the Soul has grown up, is completely reworked and presents one of the best values on the road.

    Pete Schreyer (Audi TT, the New Beetle) is responsible for Kia's styling and he smartly retained the iconic boxy design nature of the Soul adding to its desirability inside and out. The wheelbase has been stretched and strengthened making the profile longer, lower and wider with finishes that make the box look practically wrapped in high-gloss, as if it's been polished. Inside surfaces are more nuanced, more sophisticated with expensive new soft touch materials ultimately raising the bar for its sub-compact competitors.

    The Soul is no driver's car, it's more of a lounge on wheels and there it maybe over equipped with a downright soulful 350 watt Infinity Audio System shaming many luxury car systems costing thousands more and an optional LED light show for, well you know, those nights.

    Pricing been simplified into three trim levels and a few package options starting at $14,700 and the whole shebang right around $24,000.

    CultureMap's Hot Compact of the Year: 2014 Ford Fiesta ST.

     
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    CultureMap Auto Awards

    Luxury Car of the Year: Mercedes-Benz S-Class Sedan shakes up luxury cars, declares the recession long gone

    Nic Phillips
    Feb 16, 2014 | 5:45 pm

    Editor's Note: In the second annual CultureMap Auto Awards, our automotive correspondents Nic Phillips and Kevin McCauley bestow honors in 10 categories for the top cars and trucks of 2013/2014 and explain why they're deserving of a good hard look. For our sixth award of the year:

    Luxury Car of the Year: 2014 Mercedes-Benz S-Class Sedan

    For several years the very top of the luxury car segment has remained fairly static — with only minor improvements to long time models, just enough to be dubbed "new" each year. Blame the recession for Mercedes-Benz's last overhaul of its flagship sedan coming way back in 2005 and the demise of the exotic Maybach brand in 2013, whose exclusive models were basically modified S-Classes that couldn't match superb competitors from Rolls Royce and Bentley.

    Now, if the 2014 S-Class Sedan is any sort of economic barometer, Mercedes-Benz has declared the recession over in a thoroughly modern way. The exterior is sleeker and decidedly more distinct with a larger, more characteristic front grille and that svelte body that now uses aluminum saving weight while adding strength.

    It's the interior though that really blows us away, setting a new high bar for the class with an execution beyond that of even the old $450,000-plus Maybachs. The design is clean if not modern successfully blending the old world luxury of Bentley with leathers in three styles bearing names like "Deep Sea Blue", "Silk Beige" and "Sea Shell Gray" matched to expansive wrapped Burl Walnut, Sunburst Myrtle, Black Poplar or even Metalized Ash Wood trim.

    Unlike the Bentley though, the big Benz has a more technologically advanced esthetic most apparent in the new enhanced COMAND system's two 12.3-inch HD screens covering nearly two-thirds of the dashboard, and at night, some 300 LEDs illuminate the interior with color options to match customer preference.

    Technology is more than skin deep for the S-Class with innovations like Intelligent Drive making use of a new stereoscopic camera and radar sensors around the vehicle constantly looking 360-degrees to warn or even take autonomous evasive actions to improve safety and accident avoidance. That same multi-camera system is also used in S-Class' MAGIC BODY CONTROL — the first ever air suspension system that can actually see the road ahead, identifying bumps and potholes before the reach the vehicle and preemptively responding to provide a luxe ride. No Bentley of Rolls Royce has that.

    Which makes admission to this VIP experience quite the value indeed, at just $92,900 the S-Class is a super-luxury game changer and should the "base" 449-horsepower biturbo V8 not have the thrust you desire, a $140,000 AMG sport version is available with a handcrafted 5.5-liter 577-horsepower V8 getting you to 60 (and the fuel pump) in under four seconds.

    Luxury Car of the Year Runner-up: 2014 Hyundai Equus

    Selling fewer than 12,000 Equus since coming Stateside in 2009 as a 2010 model, believe it or not, Hyundai's flagship luxury sedan is more of an exotic than the $100,000 S-Class (in 2013 alone Mercedes sold more than 13,000 S-Class in the United States). It's not just the small number of them making it unlikely you've never noticed the Equus.

    Its understated styling is easily mistaken for the Lexus LS which the Hyundai is directly targeting.

    Despite low sales numbers, Equus has been a surprise hit amongst low-profile luxury sedan seekers, so much so that Hyundai has significantly upgraded the 2014 model with some similarities to our top ranked S-Class. A newly improved interior and the refinement of driving dynamics all while keeping the price well below the $70,000 mark that ordinarily defines this segment places the model on our picks list.

    Throw in "White Glove Service" where you never see a dealership — the car is picked up and dropped off at your direction — and it becomes easy to see why smart luxury buyers have chosen Equus.

    Hyundai has done a bang up job of comparing the Equus to other luxury offerings, and it's well worth a look.

    CultureMap Luxury Car of the Year: 2014 Mercedes-Benz S-Class.

     
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