Top 10 Cars of the 2013 New York Auto Show

Winter’s icy stranglehold on the northern hemisphere has finally been broken. After months of gray skies and freezing weather spring is finally in the air. Automakers are responding to the warmth and sun by emerging from product hibernation. Companies located in places ranging from South Korea to the United Kingdom have unveiled a bumper-crop of new hardware ranging from sensible to insane. Here are the Top 10 reveals from the 2013 New York International Auto Show.

2013 New York Auto Show Complete Coverage

Without a doubt the SRT Viper TA, which stands for “time attack,” is the most exciting car at the New York show that nobody gave a damn about. It was plopped in an out-of-the-way part of Chrysler’s booth, sitting there like a roll of remnant carpeting at a flooring store. But nonchalant positioning can’t hide this snake’s fangs. Coated in searing orange paint, the Viper TA looks ready to strike. The car’s suspension has been updated and mass has been cut thanks to the use of various carbon fiber parts. Add it all up and carry the two, this supercar set the fastest track time of any production vehicle at Laguna Seca.

Chrysler may have invented the modern minivan segment back in the early 1980s but Honda is king today. Arguably its Odyssey is the best such vehicle on the market, a modern monarch that combines a roomy cabin with an efficient drivetrain, not to mention top-notch safety and reliability ratings. Upping the innovation factor engineers integrated a vacuum cleaner in the rear of the vehicle. Yes, a vacuum. It’s perfect cleaning up after a messy herd of kiddies or sucking up dirt from the floor mats. Driving a minivan doesn’t have to suck, but now the Honda Odyssey does, literally.

Land Rover has been eating responsibly and hitting the gym. Its recent vehicles have lost a ton of weight, figuratively. The 2013 Range Rover trimmed down by 700 pounds thanks to a fully aluminum structure. Now the smaller Sport model is on a health kick as well. It’s lost the equivalent of an obese shut-in, shedding more than 800 pounds from its husky frame. A supercharged six-cylinder engine delivers 340 horsepower and serves as the vehicle’s base powerplant. A similarly force-fed V8 delivers a familiar 510 ponies. Starting price for this luxurious rig is about $64,000. It’s expensive being rich.

Whoops! How did this car get on here? Clearly we made a mistake because there is absolutely nothing exciting about the 2014 Mitsubishi Mirage. If you want to reminisce about what it was like living in the mid ‘90s just sit in this half-pint hatchback and listen to Dave Matthews Band. You’ll weep from shame. It does have one thing going for it, fuel economy. It stickers at 37 miles per gallon in urban driving and 44 on the highway, netting it a combined score of 40 MPG. If Mitsubishi executives think this car is their salvation then it’s just that, a mirage.

The XKR-S GT is Jaguar’s hottest coupe ever. It’s powered by a supercharged 5.0-liter V8 that cranks out 550 horsepower with 502 lb-ft of axle-snapping torque. With a six-speed automatic transmission swapping gears the car should rocket from zero to 60 miles an hour in 3.9 seconds. Bringing all that awesomeness safely to a halt are carbon-ceramic brakes, a first for any Jaguar production car. The front rotors span 15.7 inches and are clamped by six-piston calipers, one piston for every day of the week except Sunday; you’re not supposed to work the Sabbath.

After more leaks than a swimming pool made of cheesecloth the 2014 Jeep Cherokee is finally here. Built on the same basic platform as the Alfa Romeo Giulietta and Dodge Dart, this compact SUV was one of the most anticipated mass-market vehicles in recent memory. For months enthusiasts were clamoring for details about it, and when photos finally surfaced there was a collective uproar on the cyb3rw3bz, an HTML riot. Beyond design there’s a lot to like about the vehicle. It comes with a standard 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine that serves up 184 horsepower. A 3.2-liter Pentastar V6 is optional, hauling the mail with 271 ponies.

Like a suitcase nuke, the Mercedes-Benz CLA 45 AMG packs a devastating punch in a travel-sized package. It levels the competition with a 355-horespower turbo four-cylinder engine. This tiny 2.0-liter delivers a big, fat vat of torque, 332 lb-ft to be precise. The mushroom cloud of destruction continues with its transmission. This compact sedan is offered with a standard seven-speed dual-clutch automatic for instantaneous gear changes. All-wheel drive is mandatory at this power level and the CLA 45 AMG is so equipped.

One of the biggest surprises in Manhattan this week was not the price of cigarettes, but the Chevrolet Camaro Z/28. Seemingly this purebred muscle car fell from the sky; nobody expected it. This Camaro brings back memories of Detroit’s halcyon days when the Big Three dominated the automotive industry the way the Red Sox dominated the Rockies in the 2007 World Series. Under its long and shapely hood sits an absolute monster, a 7.0-liter V8 putting out at least 500 horsepower and nearly as much torque. The car is offered exclusively with a six-speed bolt-action transmission; if you can’t handle a stick do us all a favor and take the bus. With a revised suspension the car is completely focused on racetrack performance, and according to GM it should be faster than the current top-dog ZL1. The Camaro Z/28 features some very tasteful styling tweaks and is frosted in delicious looking matte-white paint.

The sharp-looking WRX concept hints at what’s coming down Subaru’s product pipeline over the next couple years. As it stands on the auto-show turntable this car is a little shorter, slightly wider and a skosh lower than today’s WRX, which should help it handle even better. A carbon-fiber roof and rear diffuser trim weight and look sweeter than a bag of brown sugar. Powertrain details are frustratingly absent, but a turbocharged boxer engine and all-wheel drive are essentially guaranteed.

Cadillac did an amazing job with its compact ATS sports sedan and now the premium brand is turning its attention to the midsize CTS. This 2014 model cranks it up to 11 and then twists the knob right off. It’s bigger, more luxurious and even prettier. The Vsport variant roundhouse kicks BMW’s 5 Series in the groin with a 420 horsepower twin-turbo V6 engine. This 3.6-liter unit is matched to an eight-speed automatic transmission. A 2.0-liter turbo serves as the base engine while a naturally aspirated six-shooter is stuck in the middle. A manual transmission is no longer offered, but a stick will almost certainly be available on the range-topping CTS-V… whenever that comes out.