What's Wrong With This Competition?: Canadian Car Of The Year Edition

by Edward Niedermeyer

Updated: November 9th, 2022 Published: October 30th, 2011

It’s safe to say that most of the seemingly infinite number of “car of the year” competitions are so utterly bunk that they’re not even worth the effort of exposing. But the reality is that you still see advertisements for cars proudly proclaiming them the favored choice of some local, national, or media outlet’s car of the year competition. So, to show just how non-representative and unscientific these awards can be, we thought we’d share the categories from the Automotive Journalist Association of Canada (AJAC)’s “Test Fest,” which will determine the “Canadian Car Of The Year” as well as the favored cars in several categories. Our Canadian tipster writes:

They do all kinds of crap that skew the results. For example, they use the cars “as tested” price to determine what category it falls under, rather than MSRP. So what category the car falls under is completely at the whim of whatever car the manufacturer drops off and what category THEY want the car tested in. You could have an Elantra fall into the “Over $21,000” category or “Under $21,000” category depending on content. Same car, 2 different categories. But it gets better. Some of the categories I call “lump” categories because they just throw everything in one category. My favorite is Sports Car Under $50K. They actually have the Veloster competing against an Charger SRT8 and a C Class Merc. No, I’m not making this us. I’ve included the list for you, so that you may try and decipher WTF these boobs are doing.

Hit the jump to check out the categories for yourself. But first, it should be noted that despite previous questions about the AJAC award’s ethics, the competition now has a page on its website dedicated specifically to enumerating the ethical obligations of participating journalists and the award’s organizers. Unfortunately that page is limited to the following content:

Code of Ethics

AJAC Ethical Guidelines

Under review.

Oy…

Small Car

Chevrolet Sonic Sedan

Fiat 500

Honda Civic Sedan

Hyundai Accent

Kia Rio S

Nissan Versa Sedan

Scion iQ

Small Car > $21K

Ford Focus

Hyundai Elantra

Subaru Impreza

Volkswagen Beetle

Family

Chevrolet Orlando

Chrysler 200

Kia Optima LX

Mazda 5

Toyota Camry

Volkswagen Passat TDI

Family > $30K

Chevrolet Volt

Dodge Charger

Hyundai Sonata Hybrid

Kia Optima Hybrid

MINI Countryman

Toyota Prius V

Luxury Car

Acura TL

Buick LaCrosse eAssist

Chrysler 300S

Infiniti M35h

Lexus CT200h

Mercedes C-Class C350 4MATIC

Sports/Performance

Buick Regal GS

Dodge Charger SRT8

Honda Civic SI Coupe

Hyundai Veloster

Kia Optima SX

Mercedes C-Class Coupe

Sports/Performance > $50K

BMW 1 Series M Coupe

Chevrolet Camaro Convertible

Chrysler 300 SRT8

Hyundai Genesis R-Spec

Mercedes CLS C-Class

Porsche Cayman R

Prestige > $75K

BMW 6 Series Cabriolet

Jaguar XKR-S

Mercedes S-Class S350 BlueTEC 4MATIC

SUV-CUV

Dodge Journey

Jeep Compass

Jeep Wrangler

SUV-CUV $35-$60K

BMW X1

Dodge Durango

Ford Explorer

Range Rover Evoque

Volkswagen Touraeg TDI

SUV-CUV > $60K

BMW X3

Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8

Mercedes M-Class

#AJAC #Awards #Canada #Media

Edward Niedermeyer

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3 of 23 comments

Giltibo on Oct 30, 2011

AJAC awards are A J O K E . Always have been, always will be!!!

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V65magnafan1 on Oct 31, 2011

I'll reserve judgement until I see the Korean vehicles after ten Canadian urban winters. Salt and freeze-thaws are not kind to cars.

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- Don1967 on Nov 01, 2011
  
  You obviously don't get up to Ottawa very often. Ten-year old Sonatas, Elantras and Accents are running around all over the place up here. Many of them look pretty damn good; like "one of the newer models" until you realize their age. And they did this at the hands of the typical 2001 Hyundai owner. Think about that.
  
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