One thing we know for sure - the Canadian Car of the Year for 2012 will be Korean.
The top three finalists, each of which won its category at last October's Car of the Year Test Fest conducted by the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC), are the Hyundai Accent, the Hyundai Elantra, and the Kia Optima.
Given that Elantra (right) was also chosen North American Car of the Year this week at the Detroit Auto Show might give you a hint, although the two awards have not always coincided.
Accent offers a lot of the Elantra's same attributes - style, economy, value - in the lower-priced sub-compact segment.
Optima is simply a gorgeous piece, which is also a good car to drive.
This clean sweep is a reflection of how far the Korean industry has come in a few short years, cranking out cars that aren't merely inexpensive, but also look good, and drive well too.
The finalists for Utility Vehicle (a.k.a. 'truck') of the Year are BMW X3 (also a finalist in the North American contest), Dodge Journey, and Volkswagen Touareg TDI Clean Diesel.
Harder to pick a favourite here. Even if it were strictly on the basis of 'Most Improved Player', X3 versus Journey would be a close-run thing. The old X3 wasn't very good, the new one IS very good.
The Journey, always a strong 'cubic-metres-per-dollar' vehicle as reflected in its strong sales success in Canada, gains a new and dramatically better interior which turns it from a vehicle you might have to buy to a vehicle you might actually WANT to buy.
A different variation of Touareg has also won this award before, so your guess is as good as mine.
Finalists for Best New Design are Hyundai Veloster, Jaguar XKR-S and Range Rover Evoque.
Again, a Korean car - for a design award? That really is something. I'll also bet Optima wasn't far behind.
The big Jag (left) is merely sensational to look at, especially in the French Racing Blue of the test car.
And Evoque won the overall North American Truck of the Year award this week too, and its styling was surely part of that.
There is a small overlap of the juries for these two competitions.
The North American contest is judged by a panel of 50 journalists, of which maybe five (including yours truly) are also members of AJAC. While there is a ride-and-drive program, attendance thereat is strictly optional, and only about half the voters actually drive the vehicles back-to-back.
The Canadian contest brings all the new vehicles to a central location (Niagara-on-the-Lake) for four days of back-to-back, same-roads-same-day comparison by over 70 journalists from coast to coast. It is, we believe, the most comprehensive and objective such program in the world.
The Canadian results will be announced at the start of the Press Day for the Canadian International Auto Show in Toronto on Thursday, February 16, 2012.
My truck is getting close to dying, and I've been researching different cars that I can by to replace it. I actually wouldn't mind a Hyundai, and it has been on my radar for some time. Was it really the Canadian car of the year? Almost validates it if you ask me ;)
Posted by: Hyundai fan | June 07, 2012 at 04:59 PM