Consumer Guide® Automotive places each vehicle into one of 18 classes based on size, price, and market position. Large Cars comprise the biggest passenger sedans and wagons. Large, inside and out, they offer lots of metal for the money and are dominated by domestic brands.

Our Best Buys include Chrysler 300, Dodge Charger, and Dodge Magnum. Our Recommended picks are the Ford Five Hundred and Mercury Montego.

Ford says Crown Victoria and sister Grand Marquis will phase out sometime in the 2010-2012 model years, thus finally retiring their vintage-1979 basic design. But oddly enough, the company is spending some $200 million to give the '09 models a few chassis upgrades and mild cosmetic tweaks. Is this anyway to run an ailing automaker? Not to our mind, though part of that investment probably goes to plant improvements for future products.

Speaking of which, Ford is likely to offer new large rear-drive sedans based on either a reworked Mustang platform or a new architecture developed by Ford Australia. The latter seems to have the inside track as more cost-effective, but whatever car emerges would doubtless be built in North America, not "Down Under".