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The average american spends weeks each year in a car. Its no wonder were demanding smarter, safer, and more entertaining automobiles.
Yet for all the billions spent on development, the fusion-powered flying cars of science-fiction movies have stubbornly failed to appear. Cars still run on rubber tires powered by the same gas-powered, environment-unfriendly engines.
But are cars really as primitive as all that? A look at the higher-end machines now reaching the street shows that, in fact, Detroit, Munich, and Tokyo are embracing technology to improve the driving experience and the cars underlying mechanical functions.
Weve picked the ten most technologically compelling cars from this years models as finalists for our Digital Drive awards. They range from the fantastically expensive Mercedes S550, which costs more than $100,000 in our recommended configuration and includes just about every gadget on the market, to the more modest but still technically impressive hybrid Honda Civic, attractively priced for soccer moms everywhere.
We rated each of the cars based on a mixture of the built-in technology, the relative merits of the entertainment system and GPS, and how much fun the overall experience was. We also gave a special nod to the best uses of environmentally friendly tech.
Not ready to buy a new vehicle? Give your cars tech level a boost with our favorite accessories. We also look down the road, to show you what a high-tech car (and dashboard) of the future might look like. Want even more?
Continue to the awards >