I was thinking about this for a while. How many Motor Trend Cars of the Years that never were redesigned?

Is Motor Trend off their rocker or are the manufactureres crazy for not keepnig the names around?

Or is Motor Trend playing it safe lately by only crowning well established vehicles?

Here is the list from the last 10 years.

2003

Didn't last long 2002-2005

2002


2002


2001


Is this because the vehicles are American vehicles?

In contrast. The imports still have the nameplates from "Import Car of the Year" from 1992 to 1999

A few suprises:

LS400 never won the award (I would like to read the article)
Toyota, Chevy and Ford have all won Truck of the Year twice in the last 10 years
The Dodge Charger 5.7 liter V8 car of the year in the China version of COTY

 

Well, you have to take a look at how MT chooses their COTY.

They base their decisions on price, availability, and sport performance.
Ultimately, it misses a few major marks such as technology, functionality, and utility.

You also have to look at the current market trends: is one automaker having a stellar year? Perhaps a bad one? Are gas prices affecting what types of cars are being bought? Is there a backlash to a certain automaker due to bankruptcy or conglomerations?


I think those examples noted above are unfortunately examples of poor judgement. I think MT is getting it right recently, especially with the GT-R, CTS, Camry, Civic, and Prius. Ten years from now, all of those cars will still be in the market (well, maybe not the GT-R because of the upcoming CAFE Standards).

 

Yeah and they used to have Import car of the year and car of the year and then they made it one award. The GS won in 1998.

 

Most car mags select their COTY based on advertising sales. Ever notice how the much ballyhooed COTY spends much of the year gracing second, third and fourth covers (inside front, inside back, and back pages, thought to be the most sought after positions in the magazine)?

I'm asked all the time to submit my work for "awards" competitions - of course to be accompanied by a several hundred dollar "entry fee". Next you become a finalist in your region or division and for another entry fee, you go to national competition, where you are billed a couple more times until you win your "category". Naturally your category is manipulated so that you are the only possible winner, and there are literally hundreds of categories by this point in the competition.

Some friends at a rival company have entered these scams for years and have a shelf full of "crystal" (plastic) trophies to show for their work. Each one cost them about two grand. If I want trophies like that, I have a friend who owns a trophy shop . . . . I can "win" whatever contest I can dream up - and for a LOT less money.

For that reason, I'd like to know what quantifiable criteria are the judges using, just who they are, and what standing do they have to judge, and finally, how the criteria and judges were selected, whether recognized industry experts or just employees.

 

used to drive one

 

i always like the styling of the Probe GT...everything else was just garbage though

 

MT, as I understand it (and as they themselves have explained it) does NOT base the COTY award on performance alone....or on sales/ads. It is given by what their judges believe to be THE most significant all-new model vehicle's (not just a mildly revised/restyled one) contribution to the auto market and general state of automobile engineering. Take the 2000 Honda Insight, for example. It was small, cramped, underpowered, ill-handling, plagued with road/tire noise from lack of insulation, and, with a small 350-lb payload, literally couldn't carry anything more than 2 normal-sized people; not even their luggage. But it was an enormous first in the American marketplace.....never before had a gas-electric hybrid been offered for sale. it was easliy the most significant new vehicle for 2000, although the more practical Toyota Prius was soon to follow, a few months later.

Going back more than 10 years, I can think of a number of MT COTY vehicles that were never significantly redesigned in their lifetime.....the 1976 Plymouth Volare/Dodge Aspen, the 1978 Plymouth Omni/Dodge Horizon, the 1980 GM X-Body compacts. The 1982 GM J-body sub-compacts and 1984 Ford Tempo/Mercury Topaz compacts did get partial re-designs later. However, it turned out that all of these vehicles, though significant new designs, were poorly-built, plagued with quality-control problems, and unreliable (the Tempo/Topaz was a little more reliable than the others).

 

all of those cars are garbage. I am surprised to hear that any american car would be called COTY, but then I realized it was motor trend

 

Ok....more like going back more than 20 years..

 

Keep in mind that this model was the end of the redesigns. The Thunderbird Turbo Coupe won COTY in '87 and then again two years later with the completely redesigned '89 T-bird SuperCoupe (I had one and it was a fantastic vehicle). It then won again in 2002 with the retro designed T-bird.

 

Yes the good ole days, and some poor MT choices.