PREMIUM PERFORMANCE

COVER STORY: IS LUXURY WORTH IT?

We ask our vehicles to be good for multiple uses, but few are asked to do such disparate duties as luxury sports cars. They need to ride nicely but handle well. They need to have quiet interiors but aggressive exhaust notes. They need to be light and nimble but come with fancy materials and loads of features that add weight. Everything ends up being some kind of trade-off.

The more money you can throw at the problem, the fewer compromises you need to make. But this test is specifically about not throwing money at the problem. With a $40,000 price cap, we find ourselves with the keys to a 2018 Cadillac ATS 2.0T coupe and a 2018 Ford Mustang EcoBoost, both just squeaking in as tested. Although both cars can be had with a manual transmission, we opted for automatics