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Best Used Coupe 2013: The Car Connection's Picks


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When a coupe is new, there's little left to mystery. No other drivers have been behind the wheel; no other posteriors have graced the seats, except maybe at the showroom.

With a used coupe, it's a completely different story. Although new cars are a blank slate, used cars can have quite a colorful history, especially if they had a chain of owners in the past. For the next buyer, it could be a horror story of high mileage, low reliability, and expensive repairs.

There's a way to avoid the pitfalls of buying a used coupe, and we've taken some of the steps out of the process. There's plenty of helpful information that should come into play when you're shopping for a used car--and we've pulled together some of it to help you narrow the list of choices when shopping for a used coupe.

We've arrived at this select set of two-door hardtops by comparing a few sets of data. To make our Best Used Coupes list, a vehicle must be three years old and must score:

At least an 8.0 rating on The Car Connection's full reviews from three years ago--in this case, the 2011 model year At least four circles on J.D. Power's predicted-dependability rankings, or at least average reliability on Consumer Reports

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No reported score lower than four stars overall from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) or a Top Safety Pick award from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). Since few coupes are crash-tested over time, we've lowered this bar to include cars that may not have been tested during that year, but have had a strong track record for safety.

In this list, we've examined the field of contenders, and have come up with the following choices as the best used coupes on the road today, with the bottom line from our 2011 review:


Audi A5

The Audi A5 Coupe and Cabriolet bear one of the most elegant bodies in autodom, and drive with a light, easy touch. Read more »


BMW 3-Series

Stunning performance is still the calling card for the 2011 BMW M3; the weight it's gained may just be a sign of its success.


Cadillac CTS

Attention-getting style, solid driving dynamics, quality materials, and a very competitive price put the entire 2011 Cadillac CTS lineup on level-or-better footing with most of the competition. Read more »
 

Chevrolet Corvette

Ridiculously fast and still daily-driver practical, the 2011 Chevrolet Corvette is an everyday supercar. Read more »