Hasta La Gadget!

The one U.S. automaker that didn’t take federal bailout money has the only two American cars to make the Digital Drive Top 10 for 2010. Coincidence? We think not.

The sleeper car in our Top 10 is the Ford Fusion, and we’re particularly fond of the hybrid version. It’s relatively affordable, the hybrid gets great mileage compared to the gasoline version, and the Sync iPod-and-Bluetooth adapter is on virtually every Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury, which is how it should be. The Ford Fusion provides comfortable transportation and outstanding reliability, according to a number of surveys.

Korea is the new Japan (think Samsung and Sony.) The Hyundai Genesis sedan is the new Lexus LS460. For $43,800, tops, you have an immaculately appointed sedan with a huge back seat and all the technology you’d want: navigation, real time traffic, iPod adapter, backup camera, rear sunshade, HD Radio, satellite radio, hard disk drive, and now active cruise control.

It’s compared more often to a Chrysler 300 than to a Lexus, sadly for Hyundai’s sense of self-worth. Let’s be clear: Nothing else from across the Pacific or Atlantic comes within $25,000 of the Genesis sedan when you factor in cockpit space. (The Ford Taurus has even more technology available but the Genesis is more Lexus-like in its appointments.)

The third-generation Toyota Prius looks a lot like the second-generation Prius, so casual observers assume only modest improvements lie under the sheetmetal. Wrong. The Toyota Prius’ beauty is more than skin-deep. In fact, Toyota continues to advance hybrid technology and sell in large quantities–about 140,000 in 2009–and both are reasons this is one of the Digital Drive Top 10 cars.

This Digital Drive Top 10 award is a twofer, going to the economical Volkswagen Golf TDI diesel and, as long as we’ve got the Golf diesel in the winner’s circle, the fire-breathing VW GTI that is based on the Golf. Both start with the nicely upgraded 2010 Golf chassis and interior. The Golf TDI gets 42 mpg on the highway, 40 percent better than the gas-engine Golf, and most drivers should be able to match or better that EPA rating.

The GTI’s most impressive statistic is smiles per gallon: You reach 60 mph in 6.7 seconds, while the highway mileage rating is the same 31 mpg as the vanilla gasoline-engine Golf.

If you want current car technology cheap, look to a two- or three-year-old car coming off lease that hasn’t had a major model change in the intervening years. Automakers go three to seven years between complete model changes. Our pick for the Digital Drive Used Car of the Year is the Infiniti M35 and Infiniti M45 from 2006 through 2009. This third-generation M has a fabulous cockpit with the best one-screen integration of navigation (by Xanavi), audio, and climate control I’ve seen on a car to date.