India, May 2 -- In the market for best cars in 2026? Before you slap down the cash, here's what's on the shopping list.

We may kid ourselves the decision is based largely on rational deliberation and logic - price, technology, utility, safety, economy and other residuals - but the reality is that next to falling in love and, possibly, getting married, buying a car is among the most emotional choices we make in life. It's also one of the costliest. But unlike a house or apartment, whose value can reasonably be expected to appreciate over time, most cars shed a huge chunk of the sticker price as soon as they're driven out of the showroom. Does that prevent us from lusting after one? For most of us the answer to that is an emphatic no.

We...