Becoming the Motor Trend Car of the Year is one of the most coveted automotive honors around, and for good reason. No other automotive brand goes as far as Motor Trend to fully evaluate and track-test vehicles for the Car of the Year award — and we’ve been doing it since 1949. While a separate Import Car of the Year winner was named from 1970 until 1999, the consolidated Car of the Year award has recognized automotive excellence from every corner of the industry.
Revisit previous Motor Trend Car of the Year winners in this special feature.
2016 Car of the Year Winner: Chevrolet Camaro
Had we stopped and thought about it a little harder, however, we might have reached a different initial conclusion. Why’s that? Because the sixth-generation Camaro is based on General Motor’s awesome Alpha platform architecture, the same structure that underpins the Cadillac ATS and CTS, the latter being our 2014 Car of the Year. Additionally, we’ve long felt that the ATS has been a burbling V-8, a smart transmission, and an interior upgrade away from KO-ing the BMW 3 Series. Especially as you can absolutely make the argument that GM’s core competency is the small-block. Long story short, we have a history of loving the wondrous-to-drive, lightweight, aluminum- and high-strength-steel intensive Alpha platform. But man, have we been waiting for the General to offer a small-block with a manual transmission.
Boy howdy, did they ever deliver. Guest engineering judge Theodore said of the new sixth-generation Camaro: “Quite an accomplishment. Bravo!” He wasn’t only talking about the V-8-engined SS. Chevy also sent us an RS version packing a 335-horsepower, 284-lb-ft of torque, 3.6-liter V-6 and GM’s new eight-speed automatic transmission.
Is this the best production ponycar the world has ever seen? Without hesitation, yes.
2015 Car of the Year Winner: Volkswagen Golf
While we admit that the 2015 Golf won’t make the average freeway-goer take much notice, the devil’s in the details. With crisply sculpted bodywork that’s nearly an inch lower, two inches longer, and a half-inch wider than its predecessor’s, the new Golf looks sleeker and sportier than the car it replaces. There are no superfluous lines, no gimmicky details; this makes the Golf one of the few cars in its segment that is able to appeal visually to both younger and more mature demographics. “Exquisite execution of lines and surface,” said our guest judge in design, Tom Gale. The interior is equally impressive, with refinement and attention to detail apparent everywhere — from the revamped 5.8-inch touchscreen display, to the supportive seats and clear instrumentation, to the cloth-lined door pockets normally found only in higher-end vehicles. We also appreciated classic touches such as the golf-ball-styled shift knob and available tartan upholstery in the GTI.
If a trend toward smaller vehicles has shown anything, it’s that buyers want the same tech-laden features, the same build quality, and the same upscale design and feel of their larger cars in their smaller ones. The 2015 Volkswagen Golf is a quality car, a fun car, a grown-up car — a C-segment vehicle that can instill pride of ownership without breaking the bank. And that’s why it’s the 2015 Motor Trend Car of the Year.
2014 Motor Trend Car of the Year: Cadillac CTS
By most calendars, a decade isn’t a long time in the grand scheme of things — except on the automotive calendar, where it is nearly an eternity. Aside from some extreme cases, a decade encompasses at least two vehicle generations. It’s the average amount of time a typical consumer keeps a newly purchased car. It can also be the difference between also-ran and champion.
Examine our 2003 Car of the Year competition, if you will. The Infiniti G35 won by offering an unbeatable combination of style, refinement, handling, and value. We put BMW on notice: The Japanese have done it better. The Cadillac CTS, meanwhile, was barely mentioned, and praised only for its bold new design.
Welcome to 11 years later. In the intervening time, the CTS evolved into a champion in its own right, and was named Car of the Year in 2008. Again, we put Germany on notice: America’s coming. In neither of those victories, though, did either car face down its competition for the title. That’s what makes this year different.
2013 Motor Trend Car of the Year: Tesla Model S
The 2013 Motor Trend Car of the Year is one of the quickest American four-doors ever built. It drives like a sports car, eager and agile and instantly responsive. But it’s also as smoothly effortless as a Rolls-Royce, can carry almost as much stuff as a Chevy Equinox, and is more efficient than a Toyota Prius. Oh, and it’ll sashay up to the valet at a luxury hotel like a supermodel working a Paris catwalk. By any measure, the Tesla Model S is a truly remarkable automobile, perhaps the most accomplished all-new luxury car since the original Lexus LS 400. That’s why it’s our 2013 Car of the Year.
Wait. No mention of the astonishing inflection point the Model S represents — that this is the first COTY winner in the 64-year history of the award not powered by an internal combustion engine? Sure, the Tesla’s electric powertrain delivers the driving characteristics and packaging solutions that make the Model S stand out against many of its internal combustion engine peers. But it’s only a part of the story. At its core, the Tesla Model S is simply a damned good car you happen to plug in to refuel.
2012 Motor Trend Car of The Year: Volkswagen Passat
If Car of the Year juries were seated like criminal trial juries, Volkswagen’s lawyers might have used up their peremptory challenges dismissing the lot of us. They’d claim we had been poisoned by the launch coverage of the company’s supersized Yank-tank B7-generation Passat. Harsh auto-show lighting made the car look like a freshened version of Chevy’s little-loved Impala; early punditry slammed the interior as drab, plain, and cheap-looking; and news that the moaning I-5 we loathe in the Golf-class cars would be the mainstream engine seemed like strike three. Making things worse were VW’s concurrently announced plans for world domination, which, combined with the above impressions, seemed to suggest that VW was saying “Vee unterschtand zat to sell lots of zees cahs to you fat Dummkopfs, zay need to be bland like Camry.”
Unlike GM and Ford, which are consolidating regional platforms and introducing world cars, Volkswagen’s larger new Passat will sell only in North America and China. The car and the strategy raise serious questions: Can an American-born-and-bred Passat be German enough to please the VW faithful? Can anything with a VW badge pry large numbers of people out of their Accords and Camrys? Can such conservative styling turn the heads of the legions on their way to Hyundai? Out on the test track, in the high-desert sunshine, three Passats spanning the range of powertrain and trim levels did their best to answer these questions, presenting evidence in each of our six criteria and gradually whittling away at our editorial preconceptions. Let’s read the court testimony.
2011 Motor Trend Car of the Year: Chevrolet Volt
As one of the consultant judges on this year’s COTY panel, Chris brought the deep insight and professional skepticism you’d expect of someone who’s spent his entire working life making cars. But our 2011 Car of the Year, Chevrolet’s ground-breaking Volt, has blown him away.
“This is a fully developed vehicle with seamlessly integrated systems and software, a real car that provides a unique driving experience. And commuters may never need to buy gas!” Like all of us on the staff at Motor Trend, Chris is an enthusiast, a man who’ll keep a thundering high-performance V-8 in his garage no matter how high gas prices go. But he nailed the Volt’s place in automotive history: “If this is the brave new world, then it’s an acceptable definition.”
In the 61-year history of the Car of the Year award, there have been few contenders as hyped — or as controversial — as the Chevrolet Volt. The Volt started life an Old GM project, then arrived fully formed as a symbol of New GM, carrying all the emotional and political baggage of that profound and painful transition. As a result, a lot of the sound and fury that has surrounded the Volt’s launchhas tended to obscure a simple truth: This automobile is a game-changer.
2010 Motor Trend Car of the Year: Ford Fusion
In 1964, Motor Trend‘s Car of the Year award went to the entire Ford lineup, recognizing its combination of design, engineering excellence, and performance. In 1970, we gave the nod to the Ford Torino, which could be ordered in a wide variety of configurations. Forty years ago, buyers could choose from economical, six-cylinder-powered sedans to the dragstrip-ready 429 Super Cobra Jet fastback. These legendary winners had one thing in common: bandwidth. In the 1960s and ’70s, this term wasn’t yet part of popular lexicon. Today, the 2010 Ford Fusion’s impressive bandwidth as a model range was one of the many factors that helped it earn the 2010 Motor Trend Car of the Year award.
Want an economical midsize sedan that doesn’t cost much, yet won’t bore you to tears? Need to please your greener side with a high-tech hybrid? Fancy a near-sport sedan with AWD, 18-inch rolling stock, and the latest infotainment and electronics? Depending on which model you choose and how many option boxes you tick, the Fusion can be any of the above. Arthur St. Antoine calls the Fusion “a compelling sweep across one of the market’s most hotly contested segments.”
2009 Motor Trend Car of the Year Winner: Nissan GT-R
Yes, we are fully aware of the GT-R’s best-known nickname, “Godzilla” — so called because the automotive press found previous generations as ferocious and all-conquering as Japan’s fire-breathing monster. But following a full week of intensive evaluation in Nissan’s new sports car, we here at Motor Trend now lay claim to a more suitable GT-R moniker — Ichiban. From Japanese, ichiban translates to “number one.” In Motor Trend vernacular, however, it simply denotes: 2009 Car of the Year.
Every September, it seems a few editors comment, “This is the toughest field I can remember.” Sure enough, as this year’s testing drew to a close, several staff members expressed those same sentiments.
2008 Motor Trend Car of the Year Winner: Cadillac CTS
News flash to automakers in Japan and Germany: The eagle has landed. Again.
If you were one of those who wrote off General Motors as a dying dinosaur — after all, it’s been a decade since any GM car took home the Golden Calipers (the Chevrolet Corvette won back in 1998) — prepare to rewrite everything you think you know about what’s in the General’s store. With this bold, savvy, uncompromising showpiece of a sedan — the all-new Cadillac CTS — GM has leapt straight from the rabble’s side of the velvet rope into that coveted, highly selective inner sanctum marked “World’s Finest Cars.” For that remarkable achievement, and for making us grin like lottery winners every time we drove it, the CTS is our enthusiastic choice for Motor Trend‘s 2008 Car of the Year.
2007 Motor Trend Car of the Year Winner: Toyota Camry
Every day of every week, on average, Americans buy more than 1200 of them. Since its debut in 1983, over 10 million have been sold worldwide — five million of those homegrown in the horse country of Kentucky. Without benefit of fleet sales or incentives or dancing girls behind the showroom glass, it’s easily the best-selling car in the United States — and has been for nine of the past 10 years.
The redesigned, sixth-generation version has even become something of an automotive rock star: Stories circulate of buyers chasing loaded transport trailers to the dealership in hopes of grabbing one before it’s snatched up by some other lucky groupie. Maybe now those buyers will have to don helmets and shoulder pads: The new Toyota Camry is our choice for Motor Trend‘s 2007 Car of the Year.
2006 Motor Trend Car Of The Year Winner: 2006 Honda Civic
Our photographers had zoomed in on our 2006 Motor Trend Car of the Year winner before we’d even voted. “When you drivers passed our photo locations on the test route,” said one, “depending on the car, some of you were visibly pushing harder than others. But every single time the Civic Si came toward us, no matter who was driving it, we’d hear the engine screaming at the redline, the tires yowling for grip, and then the Honda would flash by, the driver grinning like Cameron Diaz on payday. We got it all on film.”
It’s true: At the flamboyant wheel of Honda’s brand-new bottle rocket, we dropped our professional poker faces, lost our journalistic composure. An 8000-rpm redline, a light-switch six-speed, and Terrell Owens moves will do that to you. But this new Honda is more than just one great performance bargain. The 2006 Civic lineup encompasses four new models: the sizzling Si, the sleek Coupe, the elegant Sedan, and the 50-mpg Hybrid. Each one is a winner. When we sat down to vote, it wasn’t even close: out of 12 judges, 11 voted Civic.
2005 Motor Trend Car of the Year Winner: Chrysler 300
From the evening mist appears a gleam, the shimmer of tailored chrome, the diamond-glint of jeweled headlamps. A silhouette materializes, broad-shouldered, muscular, yet equally cool and elegant — like a champion athlete dressed for awards night. Heads turn. Conversation halts in anticipation. The valet unclasps the velvet rope.
And into the spotlight rolls the all-new, rear-drive 2005 Chrysler 300 four-door sedan, a suave and splashy new arrival from the DaimlerChrysler corporation and our enthusiastic choice for 2005 Motor Trend Car of the Year.
Allow the paparazzi its flurry of flashbulbs while we share a few revealing quotes from our logbook. “Bold. Brash. Beautiful. Bentley meets Boyd Coddington — love the hot-rod look.” “Far exceeds its competitors in style, fit and finish, and daring. Ballsy, with a big payoff.” “Extremely compelling combo of power, responsiveness, room, and refinement.” And this comment that sums it up best: “The rejuvenation of the great American full-size sedan.”
2004 Motor Trend Car of the Year Winner: Toyota Prius
We love horsepower, naturally. And responsive handling — the more gs, the more grins here at Motor Trend HQ. Sexy sheetmetal? Always gets our attention. We’ve never denied our affinity for luxurious amenities, either.
Above all, though, we are admirers of brilliant design and engineering. Which is to say, design and engineering that advance the state of the automotive art without forcing users to relearn what they already know about the automobile. Having completed weeks of testing and over-the-road evaluations, our editors agree that, in this year’s highly diverse and competitive field, one entry shines more brilliantly than any other. The all-new Toyota Prius, a roomy, feature-packed, and user-friendly gas/electric hybrid capable of delivering an astonishing 60 miles per gallon in city driving, is the 2004 Motor Trend Car of the Year.
2003 Motor Trend Car of the Year Winner: Infiniti G35
“Superb powertrain, maybe the best available in this price range.” “Dynamically, this thing is a winner. So capable, so confidence-inspiring.” “The best-looking new sport coupe on the road today.” “Balance, poise, good driver feedback — finally, a real driver’s car from Infiniti.” “The G35 will keep the folks in Munich working overtime.” “These cars rock….”
These comments come from the Car of the Year test logbooks that rode along with the Infiniti G35 Sport Sedan and Sport Coupe during our multiweek evaluation process. There are pages more of these observations, and although the words are different, the sentiments remain the same: These are terrific machines.
2002 Motor Trend Car of the Year: Ford Thunderbird
Forward revived more than an American icon when it boldly resurrected its unique Thunderbird sports/personal car for 2002. It also, as events would have it, reprised an historic Motor Trend Car of the Year win. Our forefathers here named the ’58 T-Bird — the first of the larger, four-seat versions — as Car of the Year, hailing “the overall concept…that combines safety with performance and comfort with compactness.”
For 2002, we’re happy to bestow that honor again, recognizing today’s Thunderbird for how it combines heritage with modernity and pleasure with practicality.
2001 Motor Trend Car of the Year: Chrysler PT Cruiser
They say there’s no such thing as something new. They say inexpensive cars are boring to look at, and that practical ones are equally boring to drive. They say fun cars need to be expensive (although that’s no guarantee an expensive ride is any fun). They say this, they say that. One thing is obvious to us: “They” have never seen, driven, or enjoyed Chrysler’s amazing ’01 PT Cruiser. Consider the just-discussed criteria employed in choosing Motor Trend‘s Car of the Year-particularly such factors as Design, Daily Liveability, Value, Special Features, and, of course, the Fun Factor-and it’s easy to understand how and why the PT Cruiser captured the gold in this year’s huge 21-car competition. And it captured our automotive-enthusiast hearts, as well.
The PT Cruiser is another shining example of how an ingeniously conceived DaimlerChrysler concept vehicle becomes a production reality. The first hint of its heritage-inspired, “tall sedan” profile was seen in the Plymouth Pronto concept, first shown at the Detroit Auto Show in January 1997. Principal Exterior Designer Bryan Nesbitt then translated the look into a two-door coupe, giving it more of a chopped, street-rod flavor in the process; the result was another styling study, the Pronto Cruiser, which first broke cover 14 months later at the Geneva Show. Considering the crowd and media reaction, it was obvious DaimlerChrysler’s design team was onto something, and they worked hard to ensure the look of these concept vehicles was accurately translated to the final package. When attendees of the ’99 Detroit Show were told the car would, in fact, be built with a base price of less than $16,000, the PT’s future as a marketplace hit was cast. Today, the production PT clearly melds the four-door-plus-tailgate body style of the Plymouth Pronto concept and the smooth, raked, fender-flared, rod-inspired flavor of the later Pronto Cruiser.
2000 Motor Trend Car of the Year: Lincoln LS
Among all the impressive entries in this international competition, none left a more notable mark in its class, pushed the boundaries further among its peers, and turned the heat up on its direct competition more than the Lincoln LS. In creating this all-new entry-level sport/luxury sedan, the division strove to create not only a distinctive new car, but also a whole new direction for itself. Leaving its American luxo-cruiser tradition behind like a pair of green polyester slacks, Lincoln designed the LS to compete head-to-head with European sport/luxury sedans. That’s a tall order, and a mission that no domestic company has before been able to fully achieve.
In truth, Lincoln went out on a long limb to build the LS because — put bluntly — it’s a car that had better draw new, younger, customers to Lincoln dealerships since it likely won’t appeal to many existing Town Car, Continental, or Mark VIII owners. Still, such a bold attempt to overhaul a company’s image usually falls short of the goal.
1999 Motor Trend Car of the Year: Chrysler 300M
It’s quite appropriate that, as Motor Trend begins the celebration of its 50th anniversary, one of the most evocative American nameplates during that span should reemerge, flanking a car that will propel us into the next millennium with equal doses of performance and pizzazz. Despite wearing a moniker that first appeared in ’55, the ’99 Chrysler 300M is one of the freshest statements to come out of Detroit in years. It’s a solid testament that America really can build a machine that masterfully blends performance, luxury, styling, and value into a five-passenger sedan shape. It’s a car, quite simply, we have long awaited. We’re proud to commemorate or 50th year as an integral part of the American automotive scene by naming the Chrysler 300M as Motor Trend ’99 Car of the Year.
This hard-fought award is open to every new or significantly changed ’99 car or minivan that’s classified as a domestic vehicle by the EPA and on sale by Jan. 1. From an intensely focused process that involves weeks of all types of road and weather driving, exhaustive track testing, and overall living with the various models, the Motor Trend editors choose one vehicle as the most significant new car of the year. This year, the all-new stunningly styles, fun-to-drive, value-priced Chrysler 300M was the overwhelming winner.
1998 Motor Trend Car of the Year: Chevrolet Corvette
It’s a grand annual tradition. It’s Motor Trend‘s Car of the Year competition, our lengthy reenactment of “Twelve Angry Men,” but with less smoking, more driving, and a great deal more swearing.
Our competition is open to every new or significantly changed car or minivan that’s classified a domestic vehicle by the EPA. The evaluation process begins months, and occasionally even more than a year, before the celebratory issue goes to press. Our staffers get early exposure to the ’98 models, investigate the new machines, talk to engineers and product planners, visit factories, and get their first stints behind the wheel. By the time Car of the Year decision time nears, we’ve spent a vast amount of time with these vehicles, driving, testing, prodding, and researching-and testing some more. By process of elimination, the field is narrowed to a reasonably sized bunch of finalists that would be on sale by the Jan. 1, 1998 deadline. This final group ventures forth from our Los Angeles office on a multi-day mass comparison flog that takes in a wide range of driving conditions-and offers our judging staff plenty of opportunity for spirited discussion of the candidates.
1997 Motor Trend Car Of The Year: Chevrolet Malibu
Malibu is a golden model name that resonates powerfully in the memories of not only Motor Trend staff members but also millions of people nationwide.
As 1960s rug rats, many of us rode on the back seats of rear-drive Malibu models, scribbling pictures of Rat Fink or playing license-plate poker. Later as teens, many of us owned a used version of this ubiquitous GM born in ’64 as the uplevel version of the all-new Chevelle line. That year’s offerings were designed (as were all Malibus yet to come) as honest, high-value, youthful transportation, with a wide range of options to fulfill the varied lifestyles of its customers.
1996 Motor Trend Car Of The Year: Dodge Caravan
It turns out that making history is easy. At least it is in this case. Motor Trend‘s Car of the Year award has been in existence since 1949, and during that nearly half-century, we’ve scrutinized every new domestic car to hit the market-place. We’ve driven thousands of cars over the years, but never before have we selected a vehicle quite like the Dodge Caravan. For the first time ever, we’ve awarded a minivan Motor Trend’s Car of the Year.
It seems fitting that the company that created this segment should drive home with MT‘s Golden Caliper award. Particularly when you look closely at the magnitude of accomplishment Chrysler has made with the brand-new Dodge Caravan. Point after point, the Caravan redefines the boundaries of what we’ve come to expect from a family vehicle.
1995 Motor Trend Car Of The Year: Chrysler Cirrus
Selecting the Car of the Year is far from a simple task. The rigorous examination process involves a cadre of dedicated staffers, several top-secret test venues, and a big stack of gasoline cards waiting to be run up to their limits. In addition to generating reams of empirical data on acceleration, braking, and handling performance, we micro-inspect every aspect of the vehicles’ inner and outer limits-opening, closing, entering, exiting, sitting, reclining, loading, unloading, feeling, touching, looking, listening, probing, and prodding. From the overall design theorem to the details of the finished product, each car is evaluated with an eye toward just how well it performs oits intended task.
We considered every all-new or substantially changed ’95 EPA-domestic car and minivan that will be on sale by Jan. 1, 1995, looking for the most significant vehicle in the market. Viewed from both an industry and buyer’s perspective, we weighed technological advancement, value, and performance. After all the data were analyzed, and the heated debates put to rest, one new car stood above the crowd. Perhaps surprisingly, the winner wasn’t the fastest, best handling, or even the lowest-priced vehicle in the mix. But the accolades roared nonetheless. On the merit of its superb design, top-notch quality, and outstanding value, we enthusiastically proclaim the Chrysler Cirrus Motor Trend‘s 1995 Car of the Year.
1994 Motor Trend Car of the Year: Ford Mustang
Ever since its April 17, 1964, debut at the New York World’s Fair, the Mustang has symbolized power, performance, and personality. Thirty years later, a smartly restyled and significantly upgraded new Mustang continues to fan the flames of automotive passion.
Over the past 10 or more years, the versions of this pony-car benchmark were defined by the people who bought them: The GT was for hardcore enthusiasts, and the base car was for those interested in sporty looks at the more affordable price. These roles were softened for the fresh-faced platform, however. The Mustang is available in coupe and convertible configurations, and in GT or “base” models, (Ford insists there’s no base model, just a Mustang and a Mustang GT. Press materials, however, refer to the six-cylinder car as the base model.) The GT’s rough-hewn aggression has become civil without diminishing its authority, and the six-cylinder is an order or magnitude better than the four-cylinder version it replaces. In total, the new Mustang line makes a powerful statement.
1993 Motor Trend Car of the Year: Ford Probe GT
Ford’s new Probe GT’ is a landmark car. For Starters, it’s the first car from the company’s joint venture with Mazda to attain full domestic status, according to the EPA. Thus its inclusion into the ’93 Car of the Year field, where no Probe has gone before. It also happens the existing competition with its fine road manners and clean styling. More important, the Probe compares just as solidly with its imported competition; this car stands on its own merits in either context, which isn’t something that can always be said domestic offerings. One other distinction: The Ford Probe GT is Motor Trend‘s ’93 Car of the Year.
The price for such capability is a small one — the highway ride is taut but agreeable, and the tires inform you of changes in road surface in a conversational tone. All perfectly in keeping with the Grand Touring role Ford engineers envisioned for the new Probe. Long-range comfort for front passengers is a strong suit, with supportive seats and room to spread out. Compact people fit nicely in the rear compartment, and full-size adults can handle short stints in class-average comfort.
1992 Motor Trend Car of the Year: Cadillac Seville Touring Sedan
Motor Trend‘s 1992 Car of the Year is the Cadillac Seville Touring Sedan. General Manager John O. Grettenberger and his audacious band of engineers and metal-benders have crafted a precision-handling performance-orientated American luxury/sport sedan without a peer in the United States. Frankly, we’re probably as proud to award them the famed caliper trophy as they are to receive it.
What was the last truly important Cadillac? It may have been powered by a V-16 engine. The Allante is a fine automobile, but it’s aimed at a small slice of the marketplace. Some critical elements in a truly important automobile are broad acceptance from a wide range of customers, that it promise abundant stylistic and technical credentials — and that it deliver on those promises. In these and other ways, the STS is a truly important Cadillac, a truly important American car. And as an evocative and credible alternative to its foreign competition, the STS rekindles the long-dimmed Cadillac flame.
1991 Motor Trend Car of the Year: Chevrolet Caprice Classic LTZ
The Chevrolet Caprice Classic LTZ is the ’91 Motor Trend Car of the Year. It was a decisive win, topping six of seven individual editors’ scoreboards. When you can win over attitudes like ours with a car like this, it’s got to be good. This one is terrific.
The thoroughly modern and aerodynamic exterior design was a surprisingly courageous decision on Chevy’s part, one we applaud for its solid step into the future. Flush glass and headlamps, wraparound taillamps, subdued door handles — for this model, Chevy even lays the hood ornament flat on the hood. This attention to detail is not available in other big cars at this price.
1990 Motor Trend Car of the Year: Lincoln Town Car
The hallmark of any great performer is the ability to always remain true to its character. In the case of the new Lincoln Town Car, we’re watching the curtain go up on a genuine new star. Top pick of five of the eight judges in this years Motor Trend Car of the Year competition, the new flagship of the Lincoln-Mercury lineup carries on a proven successful tradition, while setting off a new path to establish a reputation all its own. This is a vehicle that survived an era of downsizing for one simple reason: There remains in this country a loyal group of consumers who demand good, old American luxury in a full-size American car. These buyers are going to find a lot to like in the new Town Car.
Developed in just 41 months, the shortest time period of any modern Ford Motor product, the new Town Car embodies a seamless blending of the familiar and the futuristic. Its aerodynamic bodywork retains a number of traditional styling cues, but these classical overtones are integrated into contemporarily contoured sheetmetal definitely in step with the ’90s. The overall softer shaping coupled with wind-cheating touches like flush-fit glass, low-drag external mirrors, concealed drip rails, and vastly improved door and window seals cut Cd on this consummate cruiser from 0.46 to 0.36.
1989 Motor Trend Car of the Year: Ford Thunderbird SC
Ever since the first oil crisis 15 years ago, the domestic auto companies, once smug bastions of the profitable status quo, have been forced to struggle against the ever-increasing tide of import automobiles. And for most of the last 15 years, it seemed like a losing battle. Despite their gigantic resources and bottomless well of talent, the American car companies had a woeful time bringing together features, quality, and concept to match the offerings of their burgeoning import competition. Even in the face of “voluntary” import restrictions. Big Three market share dropped ever lower, as more Americans fell under the spell of imported cars. Quality and value seemed to be an exclusively province of the foreign-built makes, while domestically produced autos offered only the solace of the red, white and blue.
Until 1989, that is. We’ve just completed our 1989 Car of the Year testing a rigorous schedule in which we put every new domestic car through its paces; and we’re happy to report that all four of our contenders are truly world class in their conception, design, construction, and value. You don’t have to wrap any of these in the American flag to make them palatable; they stand tall among the world’s autos on their own considerable merits.
1988 Motor Trend Car of the Year: Pontiac Grand Prix
Throughout much of the early ’80s, Pontiac found itself in the difficult position of having to talk about a good deal more automotive excitement than it actually managed to deliver. Things have turned around measurably during the past couple years. With the introduction of the all-new Grand Prix, the division has tined to further bolster its current lineup and strongly affect the competitive balance in the personal luxury coupe field.
In changing from a rear- to a front-drive platform, the Grand Prix has retained a number if traditional Pontiac styling cues, but several new elements have been incorporated into the basic design that bring it squarely in step with the ’90s. The look of tomorrow is most readily apparent in the SE model. Its strikingly sculpted sheetmetal endows this top-of-the-line Grand Prix with an impressive 0.29 Cd number and a degree if pure flash not seen in any of its GM-10 counterparts.
1987 Motor Trend Car of the Year: Ford Thunderbird Turbo Coupe
Back in 1983, Ford selected the Thunderbird to serve as the harbinger of its aero revolution. It was a gamble that paid off handsomely, as every new FoMoCo model introduced since will ably attest. For 1987, a comprehensive restatement of the innovative styling theme, couples with extensive mechanical upgrades, has yielded another winner in the Thunderbird.
Coming off a stunning victory by the Taurus in our 1986 COY contest, Ford Chairman Donald E. Peterson, Ford Division General Manager R.L Rewey, and the entire vehicle design team can be justifiably proud of their achievement with the new time in the history of the event that the same manufacturer has walked off the Car of the Year honors in two consecutive years.
1986 Motor Trend Car of the Year: Ford Taurus LX
Ford is on one of those rolls that every gambler who ever picked up a poker chip dreams of. There’s a lot more to a successful car than merely designing and building it, and Ford has plotted and planned, executed, and orchestrated a near flawless concert of diverse elements to hit the biggest jackpot it’s had in years — the Taurus.
Design engineers knew from the beginning they had a winner. Marketing heads knew they had a problem. From the outset, the biggest question mark facing Taurus was, as one of our testers noted, “Will it play in Peoria?” Will Middle America, for whom the Taurus was designed, accept the radical aerodynamic look and take one bold step into a quickly changing automotive future.
1985 Motor Trend Car of the Year: Volkswagen GTI
Even if you tried not to look ahead and stumble upon the results, you can’t have missed the fact on car took wins in four of the six subjective categories. And it had strong finishes even in the three categories it didn’t win: a 4th, a 3rd, and a tie for 2nd. So we had a case of specialized strengths plus broad flexibility — domination in some areas combined with sound capabilities in all others — to produce a commendable win… for Volkswagen GTI.
Ever since the VW GTI first appeared (1976 in Europe, 1982 over here), the name has symbolized a special brand of motoring: practical and energy-conscious as the 1980s demand, yet quick and high-spirited. This was sensible fun — enthusiast driving with a low profile. To embarrass some much more pricey and prestigious hardware was a no-cost option. Relative to Volkswagen’s projections and production capacity, the GTI was the most successful model in the Rabbit line.
1984 Motor Trend Car of the Year: Chevrolet Corvette
Somewhen, somewhere, when we’re all zooming around in anti-grav land speeders and later g is a forgotten concept, it’s going to be interesting to go to the archives and see what’s been written about the 1984 Corvette. While we wouldn’t necessarily expect it to stick out of the surrounding automotive landscape as one of the great engineering mileposts of its time, we would expect it to reflect deference as one of the best of its breed for the times. Perhaps even the best. Almost unquestionably the best, if purchase price is a consideration.
After all, that’s what we’re really talking about here. The best car for the money in a given year. We’re not talking perfection: The Corvette’s video arcade instrumentation, though exceptionally comprehensive, wins a few aesthetic points around here, and is difficult to read when it’s bathed in direct sunlight. The 4-speed manual with automatic overdrive, though improved by the addition of the manual lockout feature, would be even more improved if it was a regular 5-speed such as the one that graces the Porsche 928. The car is far from light, weighing only a couple hundred pounds less than its pudgy predecessor.
1983 Motor Trend Car of the Year: AMC / Renault Alliance
It’s always good to see a winner thoroughly dominate the Car of the Year competition. Besides scotching any doubts we many have harbored, a unanimous result is usually a sign if a completely engineered automobile. The Alliance is the first new product to come from the AMC-Renault product to come from the car’s performance, the two partners seem to work well with each other. As do the various mechanical bits of the Alliance. In Europe, Renault has become the master of getting the most mileage out of available componentry. The 1397cc engine used in the Alliance has been around in various guises since 1963. A few journalist have even had the audacity to comment that the engine has been around too long. We don’t agree. Veteran design or no, the 1.4-liter incorporates advanced features like an all-aluminum cylinder head, sleeved block, and fuel-injection — not exactly that kind of fare found under the hood of your average family car. The little powerplant deserves mention for producing 55 of the most tractable horses in the U.S. While it’s certainly no lightning bolt, the Alliance feels like it’s got something on the order of 65 ponies under its sloping hood.
The 5-speed manual transmission has been well matched to the engine’s limited power. The ratios have been well selected to allow the driver to move through the gears without encountering any big jumps. The shift linkage is much better than that found on the average front-wheel-drive car with none of the vagueness that plagued the Dodge and Oldsmobile Car of the Year participants. In addition, the reverse gear lockout is very positive, without being a hindrance when you actually need to engage marche arriere.
1982 Motor Trend Car of the Year: Chevrolet Camaro Z28
First and foremost, the Camaro was conceived as a handling car. The project engineers started with targets for stability, steering response, cornering capability, and ride quality, then adhered to their goals religiously throughout the development process. Significantly, the Z28 package was developed first, and the lower-pressure Sport Coupe and Berlinetta evolved from it.
The new unit-construction body (which contributes greatly to the 470-lb. weight reduction from last year’s Camaro) carries a strut-type front suspension and live rear axle. True, independent control arms at each corner would be more dazzling, but the Camaro engineering team determined that the slight ride and camber-change advantages were far outweighed by extreme cost and more complex load-bearing consideration. As it is, the modified MacPherson struts in front are readily adjustable for camber and caster, and they allowed the low hood line that was to be a key styling element. At the other end, a sturdy torque arm between the transmission and differential, two trailing arms, coil springs and an anti-roll bar add up to outstanding control of the axle.
1981 Motor Trend Car of the Year: Chrysler K Cars, Dodge Aries and Plymouth Reliant
In this part of the new decade, Passenger Comfort, Ride & Drive, Styling & Design and, most important, Dollar Value are more relevant than all-out performance. In these classes, the K-car simply outscored its competition: and in three cases out of four, the competition turned out to be another K-car. This accomplishment alone was enough to make it Car of the Year.
But there is more to it than raw scores and subjectivity. As an intermediate in EPA’s log book, the K-car finds its only comtemperaries in the Chevrolet and Pontiac hatchback X-cars. In addition, there are a slew of rear-drive playmates here, but the K-cars according to the EPA, get better city mileage than any of them. In this respect, the K-car is unique to its market. It is unique, too, in the fact that it is te only intermediate station wagon equipped with front-drive.
1980 Motor Trend Car of the Year: Chevrolet Citation
The obvious reason for the selection of the Chevrolet Citation as the 1980 Motor Trend Car of the Year is that its score at the conclusion of our testing was the highest of all the cars nominated. It won on merit.
Underlying the facts and figures, however, was the realization that this car represents a clean break with the past and clearly points to the future of the American automobile. This can also be said of the other X-body cars that we evaluated. But the Citation proved to be first among its equals because it outperformed them in enough categories — fuel economy and braking to name two — to take the top spot.
1979 Motor Trend Car of the Year: Buick Riviera S
Buick’s Riviera S is the 1979 Motor Trend Car of the Year for reasons that are both apparent and subtle. It is a car in which aspects of engineering and design are combined in ways that are often mutually exclusive. The Riviera S offers luxury with taste, and performance with comfort. Though it is plush, it rides and handles extremely well for a car of its type. Its styling is crisp and modern, but not at the expense of utility. Though it abounds with innovative engineering, the Riviera S is well within the tradition that made the original Riviera a classic. It is imposing and identifiable, but in size and efficiency it meets yesterday. And, though the Riviera S is certainly not a car for the masses, it offers excellent value, especially when compared to cars costing twice as much.
The basic shell of the Riviera is the new General Motors “E-Body,” which it shares with the Eldorado and Toronado. It is yet another phase in the “downsizing” evolution which brought us the Monte Carlo-Regal-Cutlass A-Body cars in 1977 and will bring the Nova-sized X-Body cars later this year.
1978 Motor Trend Car of the Year: Chrysler, Dodge Omni and Plymouth Horizon
Since its inception in 1949, the Motor Trend Car of the Year Award has been given to an American auto maker for a variety of outstanding contributions towards the improvement of the passenger car. Awards have been based on styling, engineering, safety, powerplant development and new transportation concepts. Through the years many methods have been employed to determine the winner, such as panels, polls, outside consultants and the many test procedures supervised by the staff to determine the winner of what has become the industry’s most prestigious award for excellence in the field of passenger car design and engineering.
In recent years, however, the procedures have become more exacting, designed to test and evaluate the complete package on the basis of its design concept and to determine as objectively as possible whether the fact does what the engineers and designers have intended it to do. The final judgement of the Motor Trend staff is based on the results of week-long testing and evaluation of performance, handling, and passenger capacity and comfort, fuel economy, exterior and interior fit and finish and overall styling concept. Each member of the test staff literally lives with each nominee, so that by the end of the trial period the tester’s likes and dislikes are well established before he files the individual final report used in determining the winner.
1977 Motor Trend Car of the Year: Chevrolet Caprice
The setting was Riverside International Raceway. The occasion was the test session that was to guide the choice of Motor Trend‘s 1977 Car of the Year from among eight of Detroit’s best offerings for the coming year. The competition for the most part had been close, so close that the differences in the scoring boiled down to decimals insofar as acceleration and braking were concerned. All that was left was the increasing-severity single-double-triple lane-change test that would tell the handling story.
All the cars but one had gone through the tight, 734-ft slalom with times ranging from 13 seconds to the mid-14-second bracket. Each car had been run through the problem three times, with the best run counted for score. The last one was the glossy black Chevrolet Caprice Classic. It zipped easily through the course on its first run. The time: 12.2! The second run chopped the time to 12.12. The third and final dash came up 12 seconds flat.
1976 Motor Trend Car of the Year: Chrysler, Dodge Aspen and Plymouth Volare
The 1976 Motor Trend Car of the Year is presented to Chrysler Corporation for its Plymouth Volare and Dodge Aspen line of automobiles. The recipient of the Car of the Year Award is determined by a rather long process that traditionally stretches back to the preceding summer, when Detroit reveals its new models to the press. Although the rumor mills and the spy systems keep us pretty well abreast of what is going to be offered, the press preview is our first opportunity to actually see and, more importantly drive the new cars.
Fortunately for our physical well-being and tranquility on the home front, the car companies usually cooperate by scheduling their previews in relatively quick sequence. This has added virtue of allowing us to sample one company’s wares while those of another company are still fresh in our minds.
1975 Motor Trend Car of the Year: Chevrolet Monza 2+2
Chevrolet’s 2+2 Monza V-8 emerged as 1975’s Car of the Year from a long, tight and difficult contest that involved the opinions of scores of people, nearly impossible logistical problems and a selection process unprecedented in the 25-year history of the award.
It all started last July when Motor Trend‘s staff selected 15 cars to vie for Car of the Year and Golden Wheel Award honors. These cars were then judged by a panel of 25 distinguished members of the automotive press. Delayed release dates, strikes, shortages of cars and the inherent difficulty of getting so many cars to so many people all over the country made this stage of the process a very complicated one. But it was accomplished and the Media Panel’s selections went to the Car of the Year and Consumer Panels.
1974 Motor Trend Car of the Year: Ford Mustang II
Obviously, the 1974 Mustang II is the Car of the Year. In the beginning it seemed as if there were a handful of other solid contenders, but at the end, the realities of the time, the car’s outstanding value and economy decided the issue. You see, the mustang II, above everything else, is a genuinely good automobile.
So, our annual award goes to the Ford Division for the introduction of the 1974 Mustang II, an outstanding concept of affordable luxury and prestige in a small package. Motor Trend‘s selection of the Mustang II as the Car of the Year for 1974 was, for the first time in many years, a somewhat effortless decision.
1973 Motor Trend Car of the Year: Chevrolet Monte Carlo
“There is a single bond unifying the world’s great road cars,” said Bill Millikin, one of our Car of the Year panelist.” All the different builders — Mercedes, BMW, Porsche, Fiat, Ferrari — seem to have approached the problem from different perspectives and come to more or less the same end result. They all create automobiles with balance, braking, steering, suspension, tires and transmission, that complement a driver instead of challenging him. Even at the very limit of their capability these vehicles feel comfortable, strong and satisfying.”
Which is by the way of explaining why Chevrolet’s Monte Carlo is Motor Trend‘s 1973 Car of the Year. Judged in the context of contemporary automotive philosophy, the Monte Carlo is one of the few American automobiles to attain levels of roadability and handling previously available only in machines designed and manufactured outside this country. Moreover, the Monte Carlo marks the first solid domestic reaction to a foreign challenge that threatens to completely overshadow Detroit’s product design leadership in its own market.
1972 Motor Trend Car of the Year: Citroen SM
Once again we were off on our great annual pilgrimage to seek the Holy Grail — the Car of the Year. The program has evolved a lot since we had our first abbreviated ride and drive evaluation back in 1968 — the route is about twenty times as long and infinitely more varied: our CARS (Conference of Automotive Research Specialists) panel of experts now has the final say in choosing the Car of the Year; and, the candidates are already winners in their own right, triumphing in each of our testing categories, scoring above all others in a full, twelve-month test program. Maybe most significant of all, each and every passenger vehicle we can get our hands on to test is now automatically eligible for consideration. That the Car of the Year is open to everything sold in the U.S. is a little like starting all over again at the beginning — in 1951. Perhaps that’s why it is somehow fitting the Citroen SM won.
We always came back to the SM. The Porsche 911S had its great road feel and response; the Fiat, its economy at no sacrifice to quality; the Nova 8, its blend of family sedan and econo super car; the Torino four-door, its acres of interior room; and the Blazer, its great versatility.
1971 Motor Trend Car of the Year: Chevrolet Vega
Bob Bondurant may have said it best: “I’ve been away from American cars for about five years and it is pleasantly surprising to see how good they’ve gotten, especially these new little ones.” In a conference room in Palm Springs, California, after a grueling 4-day ride and drive that saw then of Detroit’s finest put through a 1,000 mile wringer, we — the CARS (Conference of Automotive Research Specialists) — Karl Ludvigsen, Roy Richter, Mike Jones and Bondurant) and the MT Staff — cast our votes and made Vega 2300 Motor Trend‘s 1971 Car of the Year.
The result wasn’t altogether a surprise. Though the nominated cars comprised what we felt to be the ten best new automobiles in America, there was the bagging suspicion, that, in design, at least some of them were concepts whose time may have passed. In the final voting, it was close but sheer size held not the clout of former years.
1970 Motor Trend Car of the Year: Ford Torino
Obviously, it was a tough call. Things aren’t the way they used to be. Back in the ’50’s when this Car of the Year business started, a new model meant just that. There wasn’t much funny business about recontoured door handles or nylon rollers for ash trays: a manufacturer would very likely pop with completely unique sheet metal, engine and drivetrain all in one shot. Things were clear cut — either a machine was new or it wasn’t. You could stand back and say with unchallenged certainly what was and was not a car with advanced engineering, breakthrough styling, and ground zero timeliness.
If was the period of revolution instead of evolution and as you know the going price of coup d’etat’s has escalated steadily since the War of 1812, so a lot of the people that participated in these palace putsches aren’t around anymore. When you start talking about seven, eight, and nine million units a year, a one- or two-buck goof may be your last. Besides that absolute obsolescence doesn’t send shivers of joy through your loyal owner’s body whose Super Wombat GT’s resale value is suddenly measured by the pound from one season to the next. Finally, there is the persistent possibility that what was banished from relevance by a General Manager’s pen may, in fact, be interior to what is replaced. Hear, hear.
1969 Motor Trend Car of the Year: Plymouth Road Runner
How do we choose the Car of the Year? In 1951, when Motor Trend originated the award, selection was relatively easy because the American automobile industry was structured rather simply. When you talked of Ford, for instance, there was Standard or Deluxe trim in two-door, four-door, convertible, and station wagon body styles. The engine was 100 hp V-8 or 95 hp six and you had your choice of three-speed standard transmission or the just-introduced Fordomatic. The option list consisted of radio, heater and white sidewalls.
Now look at Ford for 1969 Galaxie, Fairlane, Mustang, Falcon, Thunderbird and the models of each size car run on forever. Engines: 428, 427, 390, 351, 302, and so forth. Transmission: Three-speed, four-speed, close-ratio four-speed automatic, and all connected to a wide selection of axle ratios. Options: radio, power steering, power brakes, air conditioning, and on and on. in short, the simple car of eighteen years ago has become a very sophisticated piece of machinery. in 1951, Cadillac was a far step above Ford, but today Fords LTD not only challenges Cadillac in ride and quality but comes very close to matching the price when fully loaded.
1968 Motor Trend Car of the Year: Pontiac GTO
The inertial force that started the supercar trend — Pontiac GTO — holds a distinctive position in the automotive world for 1968. Not only does it continue to establish the class standard in the fifth year of its existence, but it also represents a unique and revolutionary engineering/styling function. Its salient innovation is the integration of a rubber bumper with the body deign, rendered in a manner that provides a direction and impetus for the entire industry. Never before has an automobile been so successful in confirming the correlation between safety, styling, and performance as the 1968 GTO. With the new combinations of aesthetic unity, unbroken styling lines, decreased body vulnerability, increased impact absorption, and responsive power, handling and controllability, it convincingly proves that optimum design/function criteria for nearly all automotive purposes, can be achieved in one unit.
Pontiac people eat well. Prime rib an inch and a half thick,. choice veal with a grapefruit and cheese condiment, filets, grapefruit in V.S.O.P, brandy for dessert… all in the company cafeteria. maybe that’s where they developed their technique.
1967 Motor Trend Car of the Year: Mercury Cougar
POP! ZOOM! DAZZLE! It takes a zoom lens to give a camera, even our $1500 Nikon outfit, imagination enough to picture what we see in a new Cougar — what made it our unanimous choice for Motor Trend magazine’s 1967 “Car of the Year” award.
Remember the rules. The winner “must have that multiplex combination of engineering, styling and market timing that when perfectly enjoined do together create progress sufficient to set an industry trend..” The Cougar’s trend-setting capabilities are already indicated by early sales totals. To start with, Cougar got caught with a not-unusual marketing situation with an all-new car. The long-planned introductory date of September 30 of necessity became inflexible, but manufacturing wasn’t quite ready. So, in lieu of adequate stocks at each of the 2500 or so Mercury dealerships. Principal Motors of Monterey, California was chosen to be given an “unlimited” stock to test the market. Out of the initial delivery of 30, it sold 29 the first month, a rate which if projected nationally would have given Cougar an 8% market penetration.
1966 Motor Trend Car of the Year: Oldsmobile Toronado
The editor’s of Motor Trend feel pleasure and pride in presenting the 1996 Car of the Year award to Oldsmobile Division of General Motors for rits Toronado. We say pride as well as pleasure, because never in the 14-year history of this award has the choice been so obvious and unanimous. The Toronado is symbolic of a resurgence of imaginative engineering and tasteful styling in the U.S auto industry.
Oldsmobile is a newcomer to the ranks of award winners. Perhaps if Motor Trend had been in existence before World War II, Oldsmobile would have a collection of trophies. The Division in those days was always the first to adopt advancements, such as chrome plating and automatic transmissions. Some of us remember it as the “experimental division” of General Motors, and we suspect that the Toronado is just part of an effort to recapture this pioneer image.
1965 Motor Trend Car of the Year: Pontiac Motor Division
It is with great pleasure that the editors and technical staff of Motor Trend Magazine present the 1965 Car of the Year award to the Pontiac Motor Division of General Motors for styling and engineering leadership in the development of personalized passenger cars.
This is the third time Pontiac has graced their trophy room with this award. In 1959, when the big, luxury feel was all the rage among car buyers and performance engines were in the process of gaining popularity, Pontiac was successful in improving handling of their vehicles with suspension changes wider tread, and more positive steering. Their leadership set the pattern for firmer ride, more positive steering, and a styling concept that found immediate acceptance.
1964 Motor Trend Car of the Year: Ford Motor Company
Motor Trend presents its annual Car of the Year award in this issue. Winner for 1967 is the Ford Division the Ford Motor Company — for their entire line of Ford. Fairlane, Falcon, and Thunderbird cars.
Basis of this year’s award is engineering advancements in the concept of Total Performance, based on high-performance testing in open competition. The editors of Motor Trend believe the 1964 Fords offer a better product to the public because of engineering improvements evolved from testing under the most rugged and demanding conditions ever conceived — open competition.
1963 Motor Trend Car of the Year: American Motors (AMC) Rambler
Road testing the Car of the Year isn’t like testing any of the other new cars. With this one we tend to be a little more critical, more miles are logged and we spend a lot more time with it than usual. While the award is based on pure progress in design, we like to make sure the car is also worthy of the title in the critical areas of performance, dependability, value, and potential buyer satisfaction.
For our tests we chose a Classic Six, Series 660, four-door sedan and an Ambassador V-8, Series 990, two-door club sedan. The classic six is strictly an economy family sedan, while the Ambassador V-8 is a sportier, more performance — oriented vehicle. This, we felt, gave us a good cross-section of what’s available in the way of models, engines, and drive trains.
1962 Motor Trend Car of the Year: Buick Special
Motor Trend‘s Car of the Year award to the 1962 Buick for pure progress in design, originative engineering excellence and the power concept for the future expressed in America’s only V-6 automobile engine.
Since 1949, when Motor Trend launched its first car of the Year award, the automotive industry has become more and more conscious of this type of qualified editorial evaluation of their motor cars. Motor Trend‘s concept of the award is based on progress in design, a reward to manufacturers with the courage, foresight, and ability to set new precedents within the industry.
1961 Motor Trend Car of the Year: Pontiac Tempest
The Pontiac Tempest is the Motor Trend Car of the Year for 1961 and as such been granted the annual Motor Trend Award.
The decision was reached by the editors of Motor Trend after long and careful study of the entire field of Americans motor cars. In a year of outstanding for progress in design.
1960 Motor Trend Car of the Year: Chevrolet Corvair
With interest in compact cars being what it is, it was virtually, a foregone conclusion that members of our staff would vote for a compact as the “Car of the Year” in this — our fifth annual Motor Trend Award. We Weren’t looking for the fastest, or the most economical, or the most lavish, or the best styled, but strictly for the “most significant.”
The basic premise on which the award is based was set fourth in our May, 1956 issue. We said that the award was to be made with a production car, that we were to disregard changes made strictly for the sake of change alone, that we were to weigh the meaning of any new program or philosophy and that we were to disregard changes that bring the car “up to par”. In short, it was to be presented annually “… to the U.S manufacturer making the most significant engineering advancement.
1959 Motor Trend Car of the Year: Pontiac Motor Division
To any story there are many parts. In the story of Motor Trend‘s selection of the ’59 Pontiac as “Car of the Year” and our presentation of the 1959 Motor Trend Award to the Pontiac Motor Division, there are at least four parts.
The first of these is an explanation of what the award is — why we established it. The second is a rundown of previous award winners since its inception in 1956. The third is a brief discussion of the ’59 cars and features we considered worthy of consideration for the 1959 award. And the fourth — the reasons why we chose the Pontiac this year.
1958 Motor Trend Car of the Year: Ford Thunderbird
Motor Trend Award for 1958 goes to Ford for their new car — a car that combines safety with performance and comfort with compactness.
Just for a few moments put yourself in the shoes of the editors of Motor Trend. Your immediate job is to select from among the 1958 cars the most significant advancement. Which one would you choose?
Would it be one of the cars with air suspension? Probably not, because there is much more development work to be done before these systems are even as good as our present steel spring systems.
1957 Motor Trend Car of the Year: Chrysler Corporation
Motor Trend‘s annual achievement award goes to Chrysler for superior handling and roadability of all their cars. Last year Motor Trend magazine established an award that was to be given annually to the automatic manufacturer who — in our opinion — had made the most significant advancement. in a year of many such advancements, it takes a very thorough study of all cars before a final decision can be reached.
One point that should be emphasized is that this award is not necessarily an engineering award, nor a safety award, nor is it for any other particular category. If you must give it an adjective other than Motor Trend, you can use the word — achievement. Our intent is to present this award each year, but with the proviso that some manufacturer must have made a noteworthy achievement on a standard production car — weather it is an entirely new approach to power propulsion on a great forward step in brakes, or a totally new concept in interior packaging. And it need not be an engineering improvement per se, though we shall not give the award for a styling innovation that in itself does not contribute to progress. We shall also disregard improvements that should have been made on previous models. in that year when no positive improvements is made by any manufacturer (Heaven forbid!), there will be no Motor Trend Award.
1956 Motor Trend Car of the Year: Ford Motor Company
The pendulum never rests: like opinion, like all matters in life, it swings from one extreme to the other. Today, stodgy performance in American Cars is generally shunned. Even the conservative holdouts have succumbed to the lure of high power and sparkling performance. It is understandable, even though tomorrow the pendulum may start its inevitable swing in the opposite direction.
Performance should not be something to hide under a bushel. On the contrary, it has been sadly lacking in many cars — at least up until a few years ago. The question is, tho, how much more performance do we need? Certainly before there is any more wrong out of our cars of tomorrow — and today — a greater degree of safety be incorporated.
1955 Motor Trend Car of the Year: Chevrolet Motor Division
1952 Motor Trend Car of the Year: Cadillac Motor Division
1951 Motor Trend Car of the Year: Chrysler Corporation
1949 Motor Trend Car of the Year: Cadillac Motor Division
Choosing an outstanding “car of the year” for certain years past may be difficult, but for 1949 the selection is narrowed down to three most worthy of consideration: Ford, Oldsmobile and Cadillac.
While the Ford has an entirely new chassis and body, plus many mechanical changes, if offers nothing new or outstanding from an engineering viewpoint, since it now falls in line with conventional design practice established by competitors before the war.
The Cadillac was chosen in preference to the Olds because, while both have outstanding new V-8 engines which are similar, they are not by any means the same. The Cadillac, with 10 per cent more piston displacement than the Olds, develops 18.5 per cent more bhp and weighs a few pounds less.
Import Car of the Year Winners
1999 Import Car of the Year: Volkswagen New Beetle
The Summer of Love, 1967: Hippies, Janis Joplin, The Mamas & The Papas, Haight-Ashbury, flower power, hallucinogens, and the VW Beetle. Lots and lots of VW Beetles. Cheap to buy, stingy on gas, and virtually indestructible, the Beetle proved the quintessential counter-culture car of the American youth movement.
Three decades later, many of those former long-hairs are running the nation’s commerce and judicial systems, planning leveraged-buyout takeovers on Wall Street, and trumpeting conservative morals to todayis children who listen to “that horrible” rap music.
1998 Import Car Of The Year: Lexus GS 300
For over 20 years, Motor Trend has bestowed the Import Car of the Year award on the automobile that best embodies a significant achievement in design, engineering, innovation, performance, market influence, and value-within its category. Above all, this remarkable import must do so in a way that sets a new high-water mark in the worldwide automotive industry.
The field of ICOY hopefuls includes all new or significantly changed cars and minivans that are EPA classified as imports, and ’98 presented a particularly eclectic group. It ranged from autobahn-bred roadsters and cutting-edge performance sedans to high-value family cars and people movers. Also, this was the first year an electric-powered car has been considered for the ICOY award.
1997 Import Car of the Year: BMW 5 Series
Superb, stunning…an engineering masterpiece. Those comments and others like them were repeated more than once by the Motor Trend Import Car of the Year judging staff whenever the ’97 BMW 5 Series was discussed. In one fell swoop, Bayerische Motoren Werke has created a machine that not only is more stylish, more luxurious, and more fun to drive than its predecessor, but one that also effectively raises the bar in this highly competitive class.
Choose the model and performance level that suits your taste, and the 5 Series can be anything from a pure Teutonic luxury cruiser to an autobahn-eating muscle sedan capable of 0-60 mph in 5.6 seconds.
1996 Import Car of the Year: Mercedes-Benz E-Class
Selecting the Motor Trend Import Car of the Year is seldom easy, and this year’s competition proved to be a particularly spirited undertaking. When the debate finally ended, however, we agreed that the winner of our Golden Caliper award could be only one car: With its exceptional combination of contemporary styling, world-class engineering, first-rate handling, and above all, solid value, the Mercedes-Benz E-Class has moved decisively to the head of the class of ’96.
The criteria we use to select the MT Import Car of the Year are straightforward. Every all-new or significantly changed ’69-model car or minivan classified by the EPA as an import and on sale by January 1, 1996, is eligible for consideration. We scrutinize every qualified vehicle, using in-depth technical evaluations, on-road driving, and track testing to help us identify the single most important new import vehicle of the year — no simple feat in this era of excellent vehicles.
1995 Import Car of the Year: Nissan Maxima
Each year, it seems the task gets more difficult. Each year, the players get more impressive. But each year, we look forward to meeting the challenge and selecting the one vehicle we feel is most deserving of the title, Motor Trend Import Car of the Year. This season’s field of candidates is arguably the finest ever assembled for an ICOY competition, spanning the entire gamut of autodom: econocars, high-performance machines, family sedans, coupes, convertibles, luxury cruisers-even a minivan for good measure. But when the last box was checked, we found ourselves with one overwhelming favorite. This standout possesses an exceptional combination of style, function-ality, performance, safety, meaningful technology, and value. That singular blending made it our consensus winner. The vehicle is the new Nissan Maxima, Motor Trend’s 1995 Import Car of the Year.
Our criteria in selecting the ICOY winner were simple and direct. The competition included every all-new or significantly changed car or minivan classified by the EPA as a import and on sale by January 1, 1995. We subjected all qualifying vehicles to a wholesale scrutinizing process designed to help us select the newcomer we feel will have the greatest impact on consumers, as well as on the automotive industry as a whole.
1994 Import Car of the Year: Honda Accord
The development process of the ’94 Accord — code named CY — spanned a particularly tumultuous period for Honda Motor Company, Inc. In the midst of the CY’s 40-month gestation period, Nobuhiko Kawamoto (elevated to the presidency of Honda Motor Company in June ’90) undertook the most radical corporate shakeup in the firm’s history. At the heart of the matter: the need to reel in a long-sacred engineering bureaucracy that had simply gotten out of control. In place of large, unwieldy decision-making groups, Kawamoto mandated a radical streamlining that not only led to better cost-control measures, but also improved manufacturing efficiencies and overall product quality.
A multitude of clever design innovations coupled with the decision to use components from the existing Accord or other Honda products wherever possible paid off handsomely. It enabled the company to hold the price of the base ’94 Accord models — $14,330 for a DX Sedan — to ’93 levels and restrict increases on higher-line LX and EX variants )and the as yet unpriced wagon models) to less than 3 prevent. Many of the procedures adopted during the Accord deserve as patterns for future vehicles, as well. Project engineers were charged with making certain tat all the money invested in the new BY was applied to areas where customers would be able to see and feel tangible benefits. Their labors resulted in a new car that’s the strongest, safest, quietest, best performing, and most fuel-efficient Accord ever.
1993 Import Car of the Year: Mazda RX-7
In a world where most sports cars are defined by the equipment they have, the Mazda RX-7 is defined by the equipment it doesn’t have. Many of the supplementary systems that characterize some modern sports cars, things like four-wheel steering and all-wheel drive, simply aren’t here. What’s left is an elemental, almost basic sports car. One that’s so good, our judges named it the ’93 Motor Trend Import Car of the Year.
To build the car that would celebrate Mazda’s 25th year of rotary engine production, project leader Takaharu Kobayakawa had his team concentrate on the basics. Key people were put through driving schools and turned loose to race go-karts on company time, all to give them a first-hand understanding of what makes sporting driving fun. They applied these lessons to the new RX-7.
1992 Import Tuner Car of the Year: Lexus SC 400
Introduced too late for the ’91 ICOY competition, Acura extensively refined and improved its class-leading Legend Coupe. It’s everything we loved about its predecessor and more. “A wonderful blend of luxury and performance,” said one tester describing our opinions.
But while Honda was refining the Legend Coupe, Toyota was developing the Lexus SC 400. One of the biggest differences between the two, especially for performance-oriented cars, is which wheels deliver power. The Legend’s fronts are micro-managers, in charge of all the power from its 200-horsepower V-6, and the majority of the braking and cornering forces, as well as 60 percent of the car’s static weight. Kept to cornering speeds below the limits of those front tires, the Legend is is a delightful handler; pushed harder, and the car lapses into persistent understeer. Though this tendency cut into the fun during dictable nature has advantages when you’re not a professional driver on a closed road. And when the highway’s straight, that 3.2-liter V-6 will blast you to the next corner in a real hurry, while the three-channel, four-wheel ABS brakes easily return you to a socially responsible speed before the next turn. “For the way people really drive, the Legend is just right, and I like its ride better than the SC 400’s,” said on editor.
1991 Import Tuner Car of the Year: Mitsubishi 3000GT VR-4
What do you say to a company that’s taken the Import Car of the Year crown in two of the last three year’s? How about, “Congratulations.”
Engineered as a showcase for Mitsubishi’s most advanced production technology, the 300GT VR-4 raises the standard for Grand Touring sports cars to a new level; never before have you been able to buy so much advanced hardware for such a comparatively reasonable price. And it’s not just hardware — this stuff really works. In keeping with Mitsubishi’s concept of active safety, all the new technology is engineered to make the VR-4 easier to drive and far more forgiving than any current car in class.
1990 Import Car of the Year: Nissan 300ZX Turbo
They get to be dream cars because someone sat around thinking, “now if I were in charge here, I’d pull out all the stops and build me the best damn sports car in the world.” Once in a great while, the dreamers actually are in charge at Nissan. The dreamers there have built the 1990 Motor Trend Import Car of the Year, the 300ZX Turbo. Dollar for dollar, it’s the best damn sports car in the world.
This twin-turbo 2-seater is born of design excellence and imaginative engineering. The Z’s 300-hp heart is truly a wonderful 24-valve DOHC V-6 of 2960cc displacement, the same silky core engine used in the normally aspirated 300ZX. induction is via multipoint sequential electronic fuel injection. As with the basic engine, lots of valves and heavy breathing requirements dictated variable intake camshaft timing. This is accomplished elegantly by adjusting the intake cams according to oil-pressure changes monitored by the electronic engine management system. The cams are specific to the manual gearbox.
1989 Import Car of the Year: Mitsubishi Galant GS
As of now, Mitsubishi is no longer the car company you used to know.
The Japanese car maker gained its first access to the American market in the prosaic role of supplier to Chrysler Motors. It provided automobiles to Chrysler and its divisions in a largely unsung capacity. The turbocharged Conquest, was hotter, despite its mostly anonymous public image. Every year, the road rockets improved, evolving from interesting but sometimes flawed turbocharged cars to the fully competitive power cars they are today. But simply vending to one of the Big Three was never intended to be the limit of Mitsubishi’s imagination.
1988 Import Car of the Year: Honda CRX Si
One can’t help but feel a distinct sense of deja vu in reviewing the results of the 1988 Import Car of the Year contest. For the second time this decade, Honda Motor Company has repeated its heretofore unprecedented 1-2-3 finish in the competition. once again, the charge of the H-Brigade was spearheaded by the phenomenal CRX. The accomplishment is doubly significant, to be sure, as this year’s field was arguably the strongest ever gathered in the history of ICOY.
Bigger inside and out, the new CRX has also moved up a notch in class for 1988. Although completely redone, the sporty 2-passenger hatchback retains the same basic concept that originally catapulted it to the top of the enthusiast’s charts worldwide. now further refined and endowed with numerous mechanical improvements to match its sleek new aero looks, the second-generation CRX is destined to keep turning heads and winning hearts well into the 1990s.
1987 Import Car of the Year: Acura Legend Coupe
Honda is certainly no stranger to the Motor Trend Import Car of the Year award. The Honda Civic was the winner in 1980, and the Honda Civic CRX turned the trick in 1984. Now, in the first full year of its existence, the new Acura division of Honda has captured the award again with the Legend Coupe.
The luxury 2-door is more performance-orientated than its 4-door sister-ship. That performance orientation starts under the hood with the enlarged 2.7-liter version of the sedan’s 4-valve V-6. The engine uses Honda-designed electronic engine controls and a unique SOHC/rocker arm arrangement to produce 161 hp at 5900 rpm and 162 lb ft of torque at 4500 rpm. Despite the car’s relatively large size, it still offers excellent fuel economy — 20 mpg city city and 25 mpg highway.
1986 Import Car of the Year: Mazda RX-7
Mazda has hit a World Series home run with the new RX-7. It’s a seven-course gourmet meal for tech freaks. It’s also a refined, competent, high-speed tourer for two, and features all-new contemporary styling. Soon after the intro of the normally aspirated model, the Turbo was announced, and the extra turbopower is the pizzaz needed to turn the ;86 RX-7 into a world-class GT car.
The RX-7 Turbo’s technical credential list is a long one. Mazda designers didn’t simply fit an independent rear suspension to the new car, but incorporated what is surely the smartest collection of “dumb” linkages, levers, and bushings this side of the space shuttle. Dubbed the DTSS (dynamic tracking suspension system), it controls rear-wheel steer, directing the rear wheels out at low cornering speeds — and then in at higher speeds — and then in at higher speeds. Results? Enhanced low-speed agility, increased stability at high speed.
1985 Import Car of the Year: Toyota MR2
What is it that separates the winner from the many worthy also-rans? As we’ve seen in the past and as we’re seeing this year, the winner isn’t necessarily the fastest, the most expensive (or the cheapest) , or the one with the neck straining lateral acceleration number. The key to success is a balance of all those qualities plus on more: that of fun-to-drive. The MR2 delivers on everything.
In the 2-seater market where the MR2 will compete, it simply outshines everything else in sight. You want affordability? how about that $11,000 asking price. Fuel economy? How about a real-world 36.02 mpg. High technology and something you’re not embarrassed to pop the hood on? How about that 16-valve head with dual overhead cams, and that fuel injection in that little 1.6-liter mill that makes 112 hp? These are not qualities you’ll find in every dealership in town. In fact, you won’t find this combination of looks, performance, handling, high technology, and list price anywhere else but in a Toyota Dealership.
1984 Import Car of the Year: Honda Civic CRX
What self-restraint! You still haven’t looked ahead. Well, it seems fair to take a peek now. And if you’re a Honda-phile, you’re gonna love it. Honda won it, as noted at the outset. Honda also finished second. Honda also finished third. Amazing. There has never been a Car of the Year finish like this, even though we’ve seen triple entries from other manufacturers. As our calculators clattered down toward the conclusion of the first tally, we couldn’t believe the result we saw taking shape. Hondas 1, 2, and 3.
As you can see from the scoring breakdown, we are far from sharing one voice on this matter. In the Testers’ Choice that accompany these results — a purely subjective exercise designed to gauge personal preferences without the complications of scoring — you will see names other than Honda occupying the top spots. Several of us also wound up with Audis in first place in the formal scoring., and the winning Honda scored top marks in only one of the nine categories. But that one category — Value — is all-important. It really sums up what this annual competition is all about: The best car of the money in a given year.
1983 Import Car of the Year: Mazda 626
One editor relates a story about the first time he got in a new 626. Cruising at 65, in the dark, unfamiliar with the new interior layout, he wanted to lower his window. He knew only that a bank of power window switches lay on the console ahead of the shift lever. It turned out that was all Mazda required him to know. Laying a hand in the general area, he felt a curious asymmetry; raised portions on the end of one rocker switch made it stand up higher than its neighbors. Would Mazda be guiding the hand of the car’s one passenger who can’t divert his eyes to identify a control? And are hose arrows I feel embossed in the two sides of the switch? One points up and the other down. Now I’m a rookie in this car, and I haven’t taken my eyes off the road for an instant, but I bet if I push here my window will open. And Mazda will have earned some kind of rationality award.
Sure enough. That’s a small incident concerning a small feature, but it accurately characterizes the king of sublime cleverness and intelligence that crop up all over Mazda’s new winner. There’s the Electronic Variable Shock Absorber system, which provides push0button selection among three damping modes; asymmetrical front suspension arms counteract side-to-side weight bias and equalize behavior in right and left turns; equal-length driveshafts help wipe out torque steer, the power steering’s assist trails off at higher engine speeds to increase road feel; a vent in the center of the dash sweeps gently back and forth; and the 2-door coupe has an aerodynamic drag coefficient as low as the company’s sleek RX-7: 0.35. As one staffer noted, “I love virtually everything about, in, on, or under this car.”
1982 Import Car of the Year: Toyota Celica Supra
In its advertising, Toyota has stated the Celica Supra has “the right stuff.” By our standards, this qualifies as an understatement. The Supra is one of those cars that only come around every 10 years or so. A car in which every component meshes together to make it much more than the sum of its parts. And what parts.
Toyota’s experience with dual overhead cam engines is extensive. They’ve been a fixture at Toyota ever since late 1966, when the firm introduced, the well-remembered 2000gt. The Supra’s 2.8-liter engine bears more than a passing resemblance to the 2-liter powerplant of the GT. That’s because Toyota has applied the 2000’s technology to every twin cam engine the company has built, nearly 425,000 to date.
1981 Import Car of the Year: Mercedes-Benz 300SD
This phrase passed many lips during the week of testing to determine the 1981 Motor Trend Import Car of the Year. And it was always preceded by. “The Mercedes is…”
There was near unanimity about this among the staff, but the sentimental in no way guaranteed that the Mercedes-Benz 300SD could ultimately win the award. To become our Car of the Year, an automobile is judged within the context of the market segment for which it is intended and its relative importance in that segment, especially in view of the current automotive state of the art. How else can such different cars as the Honda Civic or TR8 be involved in the same test as vehicles like the Mercedes?
1980 Import Car of the Year: Honda Civic
Everybody knew that the Honda Civic, as good as it was, would be replaced sooner or later with a Civic that was better. We watched it get progressively smoother, making the most of small, meaningful changes that were a boon to later owners but somehow didn’t obsolete the capabilities of earlier cars.
Through this exercise, we realized just how intuitive and market-wise the Honda “mind” really is. They seem to have made the very most of available resources, stretching the original tooling as far as it would go without compromising the product or its buyer. The old Civic was a fine car. Our overall scoring and subjectively showed us that the 1980 Civic is an even better one.
1979 Import Car of the Year: Datsun 280ZX
The Datsun “Z” is a tough act to follow. It’s been one of the most popular and successful cars of the last decade. Designing a replacement for it has presented a number of options for Datsun’s product planners. They chose a conservative approach, and the result of their efforts is an automobile that’s superlative enough to be named Motor Trend‘s Import Car of the Year for 1979.
Through strikingly similar in appearance to its predecessors, the 280ZX is, in the main, a completely new car. Its primary links with the past and with other Datsun models are found in the drivetrain and suspension. The 280ZX’s engine is the tried-and-proven 2.8-liter 6-cylinder with improvements in its intake, exhaust, and ignition systems. In our test car, this powerplant was backed by a manual 5-speed transmission (automatic is optional).
1978 Import Car of the Year: Toyota Celica
In case of you haven’t read the Motor Trend that preceded the one you are looking at now, you might not be aware that the 1978 Toyota Celica line is our ’78 Import Car of the Year. For our road test of the winner, we chose the car in its Liftback GT guise, but it is also offered as a regular notchback coupe with ST or GT trim levels.
Ostensibly, the Celica’s major area of change is the bodyshell, although a number of mechanical refinements have been carried out. Curb weight has been reduced by an average of 100lb., and the rear track has been widened by 2.2 in. Suspension travel at the rear (notably lacking in earlier Celicas) has been increased, and some weight has been shifted rearward to give the new cars a rather more favorable weight bias.
1977 Import Car of the Year: Mercedes-Benz 280E
Why an Import Car of the Year? When Motor Trend instituted its first Car of the Year program back in 1949, imported cars were rather rare. There were a few MGs, Citroens, English Austins and Jowett Jupiters that GIs had becomes enamored of during World War II, and an occasional Bentley, Rolls or SS Jag drew attention from the car buffs. But by and large, the big things to American car buyers were horsepower, comfort, and chrome. Hang the fuel economy.
Then the subcompact imports began an earnest penetration of the U.S car market, sparked by the highly successful albeit “ugly-but-you-learned-to-love-it” Volkswagen Beetle. These new, small, fuel-efficient cars were followed by other from both Europe and Asia, with the Japanese grabbing a substantial share of the market. Traditionally, American cars were large and heavy with powerful but necessary fuel-efficient engines. There were efforts by the Detroit to build smaller cars in the compact and subcompact classes, but poor sales and some largely unfounded but highly publicized questions about their safety caused a gradual phase-out of production.
1976 Import Car of the Year: Toyota Celica Liftback
The winner of the 1976 Motor Trend Import Car of the Year Award is the Toyota Celica. Not just a Celica, or even the new Liftback, but the complete three-car line: the 1976 Toyota Celica ST, GT and Liftback GT.
The Celica has been a significant force on the U.S automotive scene for several years now, and has received on-going improvement and refinement from Toyota’s engineering department. And now there is a new Liftback GT, which has put the capper on the Celica story. So although our Import Car of the Year Award is for Toyota’s 1976 Celica line, it is also in recognition of the quality of all those that have gone before.
1970 Import Car of the Year: Porsche 914
On the map it looks like a little straight stretch before Hemet. On the road, Highway R3 is very straight and very flat and in a 914 Porsche you can run 120 indicated flat-out. We had just finished a 10-mile tangle of hairpins and reverse-camber switchbacks on our Import/Car of the Year 700-mille Ride and Drive evaluation, and it felt good to slip the shift lever into 5th, watching the speedometer climb in chorus with the mechanical song behind our backs. It was almost like being in a miniature Mercedes C-111 with an open top. The wind tore at our hair and the sun came in at an angle and we knew we were into something good.
All the nominees in our First Annual Motor Trend Import/Car of the Year were good: they wouldn’t have gotten here in the first place if they hadn’t been. But somehow, the Porsche was better, more relevant at its price for the task it was designed to do — carry two people across great chunks of land at almost any speed they chose to go and do it in comfort. And that is precisely what the Import Car of the Year Award is all about — finding imported vehicles that fulfills its destiny better for the money than any other.
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