Counter Culture: 8 Curious Cars For Those Seeking Their Own Roads

Matt Bubbers September 8, 2025

Let’s talk cars. First, you’ve got sedans, sometimes called saloons in the beer-drinking bits of Europe. Then you’ve got the station wagon, a.k.a. wagon, sportwagon, estate, touring, avant, variant, weekender, kombi/combi, break, or longboi. (Why the Europeans have so many names for station wagon, we’ll never know.) There are also hatchbacks, which don’t have any cute names. Beyond that, you get into the niche stuff, like shooting brakes, sports cars, and convertibles; the Italians sometimes like to refer to the latter as a barchetta (“little boat”) or a spider.

Some say there are as many genera and species of cars as there are bugs in the rainforest. We may have yet to discover them all, but here in Canada, the smorgasbord of automotive delights we casually call “cars” has been reduced to little more than a rounding error in vehicle sales. According to our friends at DesRosiers Automotive Consultants, who obsessively track these things, cars made up just 13 percent of new vehicles sold so far this year. That means roughly 87 percent of drivers choose SUVs and pickups, not cars. For those that want to buck the trend, here are our favourite cars of the moment.

Audi A6

The German mid-size contender is all-new for 2026, and we’re hungry for a test drive. Audi is out to set a new benchmark, promising a supremely comfortable ride, quiet cabin, and oodles of cutting-edge tech (natch). Could the 2026 A6 be a sleeper hit?

Mercedes-AMG E 53

What it lacks in old-school AMG V8 fireworks, Affalterbach’s latest mid-size sedan more than makes up for with a ferocious straight-six plug-in hybrid engine packing over 600 horsepower. It’s classy, understated, and subtly menacing, like if Tom Hardy were a car.

Cadillac CELESTIQ

Meet Cadillac’s moon shot. CELESTIQ is a $495,000 challenge to Rolls-Royce’s unopposed dominance in the ultra-luxury sedan stakes. It’s wildly ambitious and all the better for it.

Acura Integra Type S

It punches so far above its weight, it’s sometimes scary. Acura’s sporty Integra lives up to the teenage antics of its predecessors — note that razor-sharp feel — while adding a newfound dose of comfort and maturity. It’s surely a future classic.

Lexus IS 500

Who would have thought Lexus would be among the last purveyors of rowdy rear-drive V8 sports sedans? Not us. But the IS 500 still exists, and for that, we love it.

Aston Martin Vanquish Volante

If the sight of Aston’s most powerful convertible to date doesn’t make you feel some kind of way, we can’t help you. It’s classically beautiful, with proportions that would make a Botticelli blush. We’ve driven the Vanquish coupe and can confirm it rips.

Bentley Flying Spur

Do we still miss the grand old Bentley Mulsanne? Dearly. But is the Flying Spur a lovely machine in its own right? Of course, and the new mid-range Hybrid model — a plug-in hybrid V8 with 670 horsepower — might just be the best Spur yet.

Genesis X Gran Coupe and Convertible

This brand has been raking in awards from critics, like us, who praise Genesis cars for their comfort, style, and value. But this pair of concepts, based on the flagship G90 sedan, are the first to really pull at our heart strings. We want these. Bad. And rumour has it our wish may soon be granted.