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Fingers Crossed for Tonight

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After reading the previews, it seems like they're pretty high on the Civic... and knock the 3's size, especially the backseat leg room.

The comments on the leg room were surprising from everything else I'd seen. That said, I wouldn't take that as indicating the Model 3 is any less likely to lose... they don't want those write-ups from the past couple of weeks to give anything away.
 
Here's Motor Trend's COTY criteria:


In the final phase of Car of the Year, Motor Trend judges debate and evaluate each vehicle against the awards six key criteria:

Design Advancement - well-executed exterior and interior styling; innovative vehicle packaging; good selection and use of materials.

Engineering Excellence - total vehicle concept and execution; clever solutions to packaging, manufacturing and dynamics issues; cost-effective tech that benefits the consumer.

Efficiency - low fuel consumption and carbon footprint, relative to the vehicle's competitive set.

Safety - a vehicle's ability to help the driver avoid a crash, as well as the secondary safety measures that protect its occupants from harm during a crash.

Value - competitive price and equipment levels, measured against those of vehicles in the same market segment.

Performance of Intended Function - how well the vehicle does the job its planners, designers, and engineers intended it to do.



strangely, this was in the Wikipedia article, but the source was a 2013 Cadillac press release.. but Motor Trend does mention this in a current article:

Every step of the way we remind ourselves of our competition’s six foundational criteria: Advancement in Design, Engineering Excellence, Performance of Intended Function, Efficiency, Safety, and Value. (source)

Based on the 6 criteria, I feel the Model 3 has a good shot at the title versus the other finalists.
 
ALFA ROMEO GIULIA IS THE 2018 MOTOR TREND CAR OF THE YEAR
2017-Alfa-Romeo-Giulia-Q2-front-three-quarter-in-motion-03.jpg
 
Seemed to be a lot of inconsistencies in the selection. I guess it all boils down to their seat-of-the-pants feel. They complained about the Model 3 price, but the Alpha upper level model is $80K. Not what they were testing? Well, they seemed to compare the Quadrifoglio performance when convenient for them to have it win.

Maybe they'll have more trouble when the dual motor Model 3 is available.

I pity these poor guys when the new Roadster is out. They will have a very hard time coming up with a reason to criticize it, other than it doesn't make noise like their impression of a good car. Sounds like Cadillac is putting desirable car-like sounds out of the stereo in their cars -- maybe Tesla needs to come up with a "Motor Trend" setting to do that for their cars...