Ferrari, Aston Martin, VW top NY Times' 2010 best cars

Ferrari, Aston Martin and the Volkswagen GTI top the New York Times automotive critics’ 2010 top-10 Cars of the Year list.

Lawrence Ulrich, one several journalists who regularly report on the automotive industry for the newspaper, was direct in his top pick for the year, the Ferrari 458 Italia.

“The world’s best sports car, a racing video game come to life in three gorgeous, thrilling dimensions. This is the car I would buy tomorrow if I inherited $250,000 today.”

Jerry Garrett selected the Aston Martin Rapide:

“The exquisitely executed Rapide is, like the sleek Jaguar XJ, a product of Ian Callum, designer extraordinaire. A sedan is a new offering for Aston, a tiny builder of British sports cars, as is the comparatively bulky looking Panamera for Porsche. But the Rapide’s perfect coupelike profile succeeds in ways its competitors don’t. The interior is luxuriously tasteful, not techno.”

James G. Cobb selected the Volkswagen GTI:

“I had seat time in 2010 with some six-figure fantasies, including a gullwing Mercedes SLS and a blistering Corvette ZR-1. Yet my driving daydreams kept returning to this simple, fairly priced ($25,000), always entertaining hatchback.”

“A four-door version adds more versatility, and a new direct-shift gearbox mates brilliantly with the turbo 4, making the GTI the most fun you can have at 30 m.p.g. For the price of a Porsche Panamera you can decorate your driveway with three or more GTIs — and it will look all the better for it.”

Lawrence Ulrich’s top-10 cars of the year

Jerry Garrett’s top-10 cars of the year

James G. Cobb’s top-10 cars of the year