Nothing ruins a car fanatic's day like his or her favorite ride getting a check-rating from Consumer Reports. (Imagine if your Maria Sharapova-endorsed sneakers earned a Codgers' Choice mark for comfort from Modern Maturity. You'd be conflicted, too.)

Actually, CR's testers are car nuts and SCCA racers, if not necessarily the editors who turn the testers' enthusiastic thoughts into somber prose suitable for the finished pages. The magazine reported these top picks for 2006 cars from its April issue.

Check back in a couple weeks to see the PC Magazine Technoride Ten, where we'll honor our favorite technically adept vehicles. We're happy (or sad) to say, a few cross over.