How do you compare 36 passenger cars against each other when the field is composed of family sedans, touring coupes, hot hatches, sports cars, and minivans all in the same pack? This also applies to the wild varieties of SUVs and the differing capabilities of pickup trucks big and small.
You don’t. Or rather, you can’t.
That’s why the MotorTrend Car, Truck, and SUV of the Year evaluations are so grueling and strenuous. This year, our field of contenders for the awards hit 81 vehicles.
Trying to place those myriad vehicles, with sticker prices from $20,000 to $150,000, requires something more than a mere comparison test. To level the playing field, we created six key criteria so that each vehicle can be judged on its own merits:
1. Advancement in Design: We dissect the quality execution of exterior and interior styling, as well as the clever selection and use of materials. And we have expert guidance: For Car of the Year, our panel of judges includes Tom Gale, the former head of design for Chrysler and a man who is never short of reasoning for why someone’s baby is ugly.
2. Engineering Excellence: In other words, the integrity of the total vehicle concept and execution and the use of technologies that benefit the consumer. This can range from new-tech internal combustion engines, to elegant alt-fuel systems, to new suspension and transmission tech. Inside, we judge the vehicle’s ability to fit people and cargo and the success or failure of infotainment systems. For COTY, former Ford and Chrysler chief engineer Chris Theodore helps us dig under the skin of the contenders; for SUVOTY, we’re assisted by former Mazda and Kia R&D chief Gordon Dickie.
3. Efficiency: Fuel economy relative to the competitive set, plus overall operating costs, weight, and recyclability. And yes, we consider mpg-e and well-to-wheel equations for electric vehicles.
4. Safety: We examine the safety measures that protect occupants from harm in a crash and test a vehicle’s ability to help a driver avoid a crash in the first place.
5. Value: What’s the damage to your pocketbook? Surprisingly this doesn’t always favor the less expensive cars; oftentimes, it’s the better-equipped vehicle relative to competitors in the same market segment. That said, it’s orders of magnitude harder to build a great $20,000 car than a decent $40,000 one.
6. Performance of Intended Function: Essentially it’s how well the vehicle does the job its designers, engineers, and product planners intended. If you build a luxury car, it damn well better ride like one. An off-roading SUV must surmount every obstacle. And a tire-scorching sports car can’t be sloppy around the handling course. If there’s ever a tie-breaking situation, it all comes back to this.
Some might think that these six criteria merely reinforce the secure place of automakers that are already renowned for their excellence. They would be wrong. Last year we had our first Italian-badged vehicle win a MotorTrend Of The Year award. This year we have our first winner from a Korean manufacturer. The traditional definition of who builds the world’s most excellent vehicles is shifting, and rapidly so.
On behalf of the exhausted, parched, sunburned testers, writers, editors, photographers, and videographers of MotorTrend, I welcome you to the most comprehensive automotive awards judging process in the business. How can I make such a claim? Because I’ve belonged to several other judging panels whose methodology is, ahem, cursory by comparison. (More details as to how we test can be found in the introductory pages of the Car, Truck, and SUV of the Year sections.)
And unlike other automotive publications that have lengthy “best” lists, only MotorTrend has the testing discipline—and let’s face it, the guts—to designate one vehicle we deem the finest of its category.
More by Mark Rechtin:
- You Can’t Buy Love, Bug
- A Decade’s Progress
- The Evolution and Rise of the SUV
- The Sedan Is Not Dead
- Enzo and the Damsels
The post How We Determine our Car, Truck, and SUV of the Year – Reference Mark appeared first on Motor Trend.
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