This year, in an unusually mild October, Canadian journalists covering the entire nation gathered for the annual AJAC test fest. AJAC is the Automotive Journalist Associate of Canada. AJAC’s test fest is an onslaught of the current models, across all categories, that manufacturers currently have on offer. Cars, truck, SUVs and luxury vehicles are all subjected to a variety of real life driving tests. Vehicles are driven on roads, with heavy loads, off roads, in urban and suburban settings. All this effort gave journalist judges an astonishing 1,911 test drives, 110,000 data points culminating in 1701 category ballets. After all 71 judges had driven the cars in similar testing environments, scores were assigned, and a list of category winners was announced today.
A long standing award in Canada, the Canadian car of the year award is the last stop towards the ultimate prize: AJAC car of the year award. Candidates for this prestigious prize are chosen only from the pool of category winners. Because this award is chosen from real life tests, and such a large and varied pool of judges, you can be sure this award truly reflects the best new cars in Canada. Categories are split into segment types, and then into cost variations, to ensure high end cars don’t snuff out everyday level vehicles. What do you think of this year’s winners?
The 2016 Canadian car of the year “best of” awards:
SMALL CAR
Honda Civic
FAMILY CAR
Volkswagen Golf Sportwagen 1.8TSI
SPORTS / PERFORMANCE under $50K
Volkswagen Golf R
SPORTS / PERFORMANCE over $50K
Mercedes-AMG C 63 S
PRESTIGE / PERFORMANCE
Mercedes-AMG GT S
PICKUP
Chevrolet Silverado
SUV / CUV under $35K
Mazda CX-3
SUV / CUV $35K – $60K
Kia Sorento
SUV / CUV over $60K
Volvo XC90
As always, all of the testing data is available for the general public to view on the AJAC website. Use this resource as a tool when buying a new car.