When Henry Ford introduced the Model T to the buying public in 1909, the car created a sensation. As the first affordable family sedan (priced at $260 in 1925) the average person could afford (and repair with basic hand tools), the Model T changed the world and brought America to the open road.

Now in the 21st century, the average family sedan hovers in the $25,000 range (over 87 times the cost of a Model T) and requires a computer to repair whatever is malfunctioning in the engine bay. Nonetheless, the 4-door family sedan has come a long way, and we've assembled the latest and greatest North America has to offer: the Chevrolet Impala, Dodge Intrepid, Ford Taurus, Honda Accord, Mitsubishi Galant, Nissan Maxima, Oldsmobile Intrigue, Saturn LS and the Volkswagen Passat.

Why these nine? Because since our last family sedan shootout in 1998, they've all been freshly updated with either new powertrains, additional features and, in some cases, major makeovers (with the exception of the relatively unchanged Honda Accord). You'll recognize two vehicles from our previous test - our former winner, the Honda Accord, is back to defend its title and the second-place Oldsmobile Intrigue was invited again due to it's new 3.5-liter DOHC V6 and stability control system. So why leave out other contenders like the Toyota Camry? For one, it was a part of our 1998 test (the Toyota placed a respectable third) and two, there have been no major changes since then.

Our test team spent a total of 10 days with these vehicles, crawling in, under and all around to evaluate the real-world livability of these family sedans. We took them out to the test track for performance evaluations, flogging them to see which would perform the best under strenuous conditions. Then we performed the most dreaded test of all: cramming five editors and a trunk load of gear into each vehicle, then running through a test loop that included smooth highways, pot hole-riddled streets and parking lot speed bumps. We made these sacrifices with the desire to empower our readers with knowledge of the good, the bad and the ugly of each vehicle.

So without further ado, here are the winners, losers, the up-and-comers and falls from grace.