MotorTrend Car of the Year 2012

I'm a bit baffled how any VW can get CotY given VW is always near the bottom of the list of manufacturers on the reliability of their cars. We had a Jetta then a Passat and swore we'd never buy a VW again. Back when I got my RX8, there was a list of reliability by manufacturer and VW was dead last and it wasn't even close (Mazda was #3, so quite good). I can't remember how it was measured though, whether it was consumer complaints or recalls, etc.

Bob Lutz was talking up VW during the Charlie Rose interview.
Their brand empire includes iconic sports and luxury cars which makes them a "car guy's halo company" of sorts, even if their run of the mill, "bread and butter" products aren't necessarily tops.

I think there is a sense that the various COTY awards can be colored by expected advertising $, not just the raw data.

Winning COTY is not much of a distinction. Motor Trend has picked some real clunkers in the past. Chevy Vega, Chrysler K cars, Ford Torino, Plymouth Roadrunner, Renault Reliant, they had their reasons I guess, mostly points for innovation or performance but these were not very good cars. Maybe they have upped their game. Hope so.

Read the article for full details on their 5 test courses...

1. skidpad
Model S should be able to win this one due to ridiculously low CG.

2. straight road acceleration
Model S should do well

3. High speed loop to evaluate engine noise and shifting.
Model S should win this hands down due to near zero engine noise and zero shifting.

4. Freeway surfaces: ride quality
Model S should do well due to body stiffness and low CG

5. Winding road
Model S should do very well, most likely win

Wow. This seems like a set of tests that was made for Model S.

Citizen-T said:

Wow. This seems like a set of tests that was made for Model S.

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Or Model S was designed to do everything well...

TEG said:

Or Model S was designed to do everything well...

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Well, lest we sound like a bunch of fan boys, that's all a bit theoretical at the moment. Should probably wait until real people have had the car on real roads to pass judgement.

... Wait a minute.

Clearly, Model S is voted here to be this forum's car of the year. Now all we need is draw public attention towards TMCCotY...

Acceptance of the touchscreen center console by the press will be the make or break for Car of the Year award given by the media. How well Tesla integrates the GUI for controlling functions via the touchscreen vs. the traditional buttons is the unanswered question.

Mycroft said:

The CotY was the VW Passat. A Pa-what? They could have picked a more boring car, but not by much.

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Maybe, they were influenced by the almost-iconic Super Bowl commercial for the 2012 Passat: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R55e-uHQna0 :smile:

My '99 Passat was built like a tank and had nary a problem; that was when it was still assembled in Germany for the North American market...

Reading through what they said about the Leaf:

FINALIST: NISSAN LEAF
By: Kim Reynolds

WE LIKE: Solid construction, professional integration of battery-electric drivetrain, plush performance.
WE DON'T LIKE: Oddball styling, limited range, long recharging time.

When is a car...actually a car? That debate got sometimes, ah, pointed as our staff struggled with the Leaf's restricted driving range between chargings (in our experience, around 75 miles.) Although that's comfortably beyond the daily distance most people typically commute, it's clearly a big limitation in sprawling metropolitan areas. Moreover, it's almost a philosophical issue. Since the time of the Model T, the automobile has always winked with the eternal allure of letting you just take off in a direction -- pick one -- and, via quick fill-ups, keep on going until you eventually plunge into an ocean. We never actually do this, of course, but we sure need that possibility.

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I'm not getting my hopes up for next year for the Model S; these guys are biased already - they'll gripe that a range of 300/320 (coupled with a DC fast-charging network) isn't enough either. And remember, they'll not be getting any advertising $$ from Tesla...

gg_wants_a_tesla said:

Reading through what they said about the Leaf:
I'm not getting my hopes up for next year for the Model S; these guys are biased already - they'll gripe that a range of 300/320 (coupled with a DC fast-charging network) isn't enough either. And remember, they'll not be getting any advertising $$ from Tesla...

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Kim has always been pretty good with Tesla. I would not be so sure that he would be so quick. Though the non advertising dollars are the deal breaker here.

And you could look at it this way, if the Leaf was a finalist given it's lack of looks and short range, then maybe the odds aren't that stacked against the Model S. I would think price though might be a problem. Does CotY ever go to higher priced luxury cars? I thought usually it was more for mass market.

Motor_Trend_Car_of_the_Year
2012 Volkswagen Passat
2011 Chevrolet Volt
2010 Ford Fusion
2009 Nissan GT-R
2008 Cadillac CTS
2007 Toyota Camry
2006 Honda Civic
2005 Chrysler 300
2004 Toyota Prius
2003 Infiniti G35
2002 Ford Thunderbird
2001 Chrysler PT Cruiser
2000 Lincoln LS
1999 Chrysler 300M
1998 Chevrolet Corvette
1997 Chevrolet Malibu
1996 Dodge Caravan
1995 Chrysler Cirrus
1994 Ford Mustang
1993 Ford Probe GT
1992 Cadillac Seville Touring Sedan
1991 Chevrolet Caprice Classic LTZ
1990 Lincoln Town Car

It's worth noting that both the Prius and the Volt won in their years, so CotY has some bias towards ground-breaking electric drivetrains. Back when MT still have a separate "Import CotY", both the 5-series and the E-class won (late 90s). And there're those big luxury sedans from Detroit. So, it doesn't seem that the Model S is either too radical or too expensive to win.