CultureMap Auto Awards

Best New Design: BMW's i-Series are no concept cars — the future is already here (and reasonably priced)

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 fourth award of the year:

Best New Design: 2014 BMW i Models

The significance of the BMW's i-Series was best summed up for us when, under his breath, a rival automaker's head of design shared his surprise upon realizing the pair of BMW i3 and i8 models on display at the 2014 North American Auto Show were no concept cars but are full-on production ready and coming to dealerships in mere months. Concept cars are typically of your wildest dreams of what a future model could be — design cues, materials and technologies that may or may not make the light of someday.

But in BMW's i-Series, we have the future of cars here now — today.

Starting around $40,000 before government incentives of $7,500 or more, the i3 is an incredible value.

The i-Series is introduced in the form of two models: The urban transport i3 full-electric drive and the plug-in hybrid i8 super sports car — destined to be eco-friendly super car of the A-listers

The significance of the i3 is more than just future-forward looks, it's the first mass-production car with a carbon-fiber passenger cell mated to a high-strength chassis which carries the electric motor drive, batteries and suspension components. Known as "BMW LifeDrive" the concept does away with the bulk of intrusions into a conventional car's interior, creating a flat floor throughout and incredible weight savings — the i3 weighs 345 pounds less than the diminutive FIAT 500e and 650 pounds less than Nissan Leaf all-electrics.

BMW takes sustainability to a whole new level with interior materials like kenaf, a hemp-like natural fiber used on the door panels, shaped open-pore eucalyptus wood inserts on the dashboard that, over time will change color with exposure to the sun, and futuristic ultra-thin seats yielding significantly more leg space for rear passengers while saving weight. The carbon-fiber body isn't completely covered up inside with the exposed bits serving as another reminder of how special the space-efficient i3 is at its core.

Starting around $40,000 before government incentives of $7,500 or more, the i3 is an incredible value, which explains why BMW already has more than 10,000 orders.

Opposite the city dwelling i3 is the sex on wheels i8. While standing still it's moving and when moving it's a blur blowing past everything on the road.

The two-seater is a stunner of a sports car not only in looks but in performance with an electric motor on the front wheels and a mid-mounted twin-turbo combustion engine on the rear wheels. Working together the system promises benchmark performance at all four wheels, while separately the electric motor drives with all-electric efficiency and the gas engine generates power to the wheels and batteries.

It's a hybrid concept other automakers have suggested and theorized about. BMW has delivered and sold out the initial availability.

Runner-up Best New Design: 2014 Cadillac CTS Sedan

While not the concept-come-reality of BMW's i-Series, Cadillac's all new CTS is every bit as important in the transformation of the storied brand from Grandma's ride to today's drive. When first introduced in 2002, the CTS was the first demonstration of Cadillac's "Art and Science" design philosophy and now enters its third generation as the volume leader of the brand, making it the most important model to get right.

We feel it does just that, incorporating the trim, athletic yet distinct Cadillac character of the smaller ATS, our pick for last year's CultureMap Car of the Year, successfully scaling all that was good up to its mid-size luxury frame. It's that new size that's probably most significant as previous CTS models had a clouded identity straddling rival's compact and mid-size luxury models. This CTS is a clear competitor to the BMW 5-series, Mercedes Benz E-class, Lexus GS and Infiniti M.

The all new CTS is the clear design leader in its newfound class and is most definitely worthy of consideration, unless of course you're looking for Grandma's Cadillac. This isn't it (the XTS fills that role).

BMW i-Series - CultureMap's Best New Design of Year

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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

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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