New cars and trucks with a family flair rule.
Each year, the editors of Gaywheels.com drive hundreds of new cars (and some old ones, too) to find the best new vehicles for you, your partner, your family, and sometimes for ourselves too.
For 2007, some clear winners emerged from the field of new and redesigned vehicles. Cars from Cadillac, Volvo and Audi struck a chord with our expert team of car reviewers — and a handful of new trucks, crossovers and SUVs gave us pause when thinking about what vehicles might fill our dream garage.
So this year, for the first time ever, Gaywheels.com’s editors are picking their favorite vehicles of 2007. The field of best-ofs includes some 2007 and 2008 models–cars perfect for us, for families, for dates and clubbing, and cars and trucks notable for their new looks, new hardware and new attitude.
The winners for Gaywheels.com’s Best of 2007, in order of seniority, are:
Joe LaMuraglia
Founder, Gaywheels.com
Best New Car: Volvo C30
It’s a perfect blend of modern-retro styling, versatility, safety and fuel efficiency–and you never can tell there’s Focus pieces underneath.
Best Makeover: Cadillac CTS
The CTS clearly went to the gym, got a good plastic surgeon and underwent the most thorough transformation of any car I drove this year.
Best Date Car: Audi TT Cabriolet
The perfect accessory to see how your future-ex-husband looks with the wind in his hair–assuming he still has any.
Best Family Car: Buick Enclave
Gorgeous, refined and really easy access to the rear–who doesn’t like that?
Best Club Car: Lincoln Navigator
A club car has to have room for all my friends, must get attention and
have a kicking stereo. Mix all that up and you get the biggest Lincoln.
Best Car For Me: Saab 9-3 Sport Combi
It has unique styling, comfortable seats, the versatility of a wagon and the availability of all-wheel drive.
Joe Tralongo
Montana Editor
Best New Car: Audi A5/S5
We want our cars to do so much these days, hence the rise of the five-door monster carriage. Sometimes, the simplicity of two-doors, a gorgeous body and a hell of a lot of horsepower is all one needs to experience utter driving bliss. And how about that bitchin’ Camaro profile?
Best Makeover: Cadillac CTS
The new CTS brings home the bacon with a sizzling exterior, stunning interior and great performance. Easy on the eyes and with a great big six-speed manual stick to wrap your hands around, think of it as the Sean Cody of the luxury-performance set.
Best Date Car: Toyota Corolla
Of course he’s going to swoon for you if you pick him up in a fiery-red Porsche 911, but with all the talk of “I just want to find a normal, decent guy” going around, what better test than this? If he really likes you, the car won’t matter.
Best Family Car: GMC Acadia
Yeah, yeah, it’s an evil SUV–sort of. Actually, the Acadia is a very sensibly sized family hauler, with a genuinely usable third-row seat, tons of cargo space and pretty decent fuel economy. This handsome stud also happens to have a lovely interior with all manner of electronic goodies to the keep the little ones happy on long trips.
Best Night Club Car: Dodge Viper SRT10
With its 600-horsepower V-10 snarling as you glide up to the club, the Viper is just rough enough around the edges to avoid the “pretty-boy” Porsche stigma, yet sharp enough to turn even Tim Gunn’s stylish silver head.
Best Car for Me: Volkswagen GTI
In four-door trim the turbocharged VW GTI satisfies my practical side, my environmental side, my budget-minded husband’s side, my backside (great seats) and my need-for-speed side.
Scott Corlett
San Francisco Editor
Best New Car: Audi R8
The R8 is a serious, grade-A hottie. He shoots from 0 to 60 mph in 4.4 seconds and rips through turns like a Ferrari. Best of all, he’s a total exhibitionist: the R8’s 420-hp, mid-mounted V-8 works it beneath a transparent hood, with white LEDs for nighttime shows.
Best Makeover: Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution
The legendary Evo has long been the car for the fast-and-furious set. Now, the new Evo has that sexy, edgy BMW/Lexus IS bod. Thankfully, the muscle and guts remain to back it up.
Best Date Car: Jaguar XK Convertible
A ride in an XK is like foreplay, with the supple leather, the throaty growl of the 300-bhp engine, and the ice-smooth ride. Just find a quiet spot, under a starry sky, and throw down the ragtop. And then the XK leaves the rest to you.
Best Family Car: BMW 530ix wagon
Who says you need a lumbering SUV or an emasculating minivan to haul your precious cargo? Not only does BMW’s über-wagon offer seating for five and plenty of space for the pooch, but with the 530’s handling, you can hook the curves so fast and hard that the g-forces will keep lil’ ones in back real quiet.
Best Club Car: Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution
Pull into a parking lot, throw open the Evo’s doors, and crank the 650-watt Rockford-Fosgate sound system, with its 10-inch subwoofer and 30-gig built-in music server. Now, for your outdoor rave, you’ve got tunes until either the sun rises or the police arrive.
Best Car For Me: Volkswagen GTI
This little pocket rocket is super-fast and sized just right for San Francisco’s tight parking. And best of all, the GTI’s sexy, speed-racer wrapper screams ready to go.
Marty Padgett
New Arrival
Best New Car: Saturn Astra
Get over your “Huh? A Saturn?” pose. Here’s the best domestic compact car to arrive since I started driving. There’s almost none of the old domestic GM in any cupholder or storage bin in the Astra, three- or five-door version. It’s a smart, savvy small car with a great price tag that probably will give Saturn the kind of boost that Ford got from the Focus lineup at the beginning of the decade.
Best Makeover: Cadillac CTS
Sometimes the crowd knows best, and here Gaywheels agrees. Cadillac’s done wonderful things with all its cars but the CTS is the essence of today’s Caddy lineup. It’s sharply dressed, quick on its feet and the equivalent of the entry-level Lexuses and BMWs on most ratings–and their superior in many ways that can’t be distilled in a number or a graph.
Best Date Car: MINI Clubman
This one assumes you want to be hip but nonthreatening, cool in an instantly recognizable way–and let them uncover the many wonderful layers of you as you’ll do with the Clubman. It has MINI cachet, more room and easier access, great fuel economy, and it’s probably the only thing made in Britain any of us can afford anymore.
Best Family Car: Mercedes-Benz GL
I don’t have the big-SUV qualms of some of the other Gaywheels team–I mean, sometimes you have to spell out who’s the daddy. Benz’ big, but not sloppy, GL-Class ute is the best of the Suburban/’Slade class to actually drive, and the prominent three-pointed star on the front earns respect all by itself. Carry your kids, your stuff, and leave room in back for their schtuff–just don’t expect much change from a $75,000 bill.
Best Night Club Car: Infiniti EX35
Practical but swank, compact but not a useless midget, the EX35 looks and fits just fine for you and your rapscallion buds. Whether you’re meeting for tapas first or heading for something topless instead, the EX35 has just enough room to ferry you from hotspot to hotspot and the guts underneath to keep your passengers entertained. Can’t swing this one? Nissan’s own Murano crossover’s a close second in looks and hip factor.
Best Car for Me: Jaguar XKR Convertible
I love practical cars, but my queer little heart secretly pines for a Jag convertible in the biggest, most unaffordable way. I want it supercharged, I want it convertible-ized, I want it triple-black with tan leather, I want the navigation system, and I want someone else to pay the insurance. (Joe, great idea for a new Web site: gaysugardaddies.com!)