Playboy announces their picks for Hottest Cars of 2008

The 08 car of the year, the sultry Audi R8, it's a work of art, a real thing of beauty on par with whoever your favorite actress is. It has a 4.2-liter V8 cranking out 420BHP, which for a car that small, is a lot of ponies.

The best luxury sports coupe goes to Maserati and their GranTurismo pushing 405 ponies, and I am sure, just like all of Maserati's other vehicles, looking simply stunning. The smartest purchase of the year (wait for the pun) is the SMART ForTwo, sure, its not all that attractive, but the gas mileage is impeccable, and the crash test ratings are off the charts, Top Gear, the British car show, literally took one and ran it into a cement wall at 70km per hour, sure it had dummies in it, but there wasn't any physical damage to them, just the car was really messed up.

The best sports sedan is the Cadillac CTS and the best SUV is the Land Rover LR2. the best convertible is the BMW 335i (how did a 3-series BMW make it on this list?) and the best Earth Day car was the MB E320 Bluetec. The best pint-sized performance whip was the Volvo C30 and the best crossover was the Buick Enclave CXL. So, there's a few tips if you were looking for a new vehicle.

Playboy Picks the Hottest Cars of 2008 [via i4u]