3 Chevrolets, 2 Mazdas make it to Car and Driver’s annual selection

 

(Second of two parts)

Unlike Motor Trend’s Car of the Year, SUV of the Year, Truck of the Year, and Person of the Year, Car and Driver’s annual 10 Best Cars event does not divide the contenders into categories.

The January 2017 Car and Drive magazine says the 10Best (yes, “10 Best” becomes one word) testers are guided by three criteria: driving enjoyment, value, and mission fulfillment.

Each of the 34 testers distills each car they drive into a single score out of a possible 100 points.

10Best contenders for 2017 must have a base price of $80,000 or less, be on sale in January 2017, and show up for the September testing.

No car with a base price higher than $80,000 can participate, based on Car and Driver’s belief that it shouldn’t be all that tough for an automaker to produce greatness at more than twice the cost of the average car in the United States.

Keeping the 10Best rules to a minimum and simply letting the best rise to the top allows Car and Driver to park Chevys side by side with Jaguars and still end up with a list that isn’t just the 10 most expensive or the top 10 performers.

The winners change every year, yet the list is always essentially the same: a diverse group of 10 cars on which the 34 testers would happily spend their own money.

Rather than throwing contenders en masse against returning winners, the incumbents are held back while the challengers are assessed during Week One of the driving regimen.

From Week One, Car and Driver picks a first cut of 10 favorites to face last year’s winners in Week Two.

Pitting the 10Best challengers against the 10Best incumbents gives the testers time to get to know all the vehicles intimately and creates more opportunities to drive more cars back to back, even those that might, on the surface, seem mismatched.

These pairings, in turn, draw out deeper contrasts in the three criteria the testers use to evaluate potential 10Besters.

For 2017, Car and Driver editors decided to devote more pages to the Battle for the 10Best.

So the January 2017 issue has three sections: the first lays out the field for Week One, the second presents a tale of the tape for Week Two, and the third reports on the key match-ups that drew the testers toward consensus on this year’s winners.

The 13.5-mile 10Best Loop isn’t quite the chassis torture test of prior years, but it remains a constant exercise in body control and damping behavior between the curves and undulations that expose a car’s handling traits.

The newcomers

With some products, buying the newest and freshest implies that you are buying the best. Examples: smartphones get faster, appliances become more efficient.

But cars are simply too complex to declare that because a car is new, its goodness is guaranteed.

10Best rewards enduring excellence, not fleeting novelty. This is why, ever since the first 10Best in 1983, every subsequent list has carried over winners of the prior year.

This remained the structure of the testing for the 10Best of 2017.

Every one of the 33 cars that showed up for Week One is new to the market in some form, and each had to prove itself under intense scrutiny in order to stick around for Week Two, let alone knock a car off last year’s list.

The newness of these cars, parked amid the rest of the field in the sandy lot at 10Best headquarters, fades quickly.

Every car carries equal weight and receives equal scrutiny. New is what got these cars invited, but it won’t get them onto the VIP list.

The retreads

The underdogs of the competition are re-jiggered entries of models that failed to win a 10Best trophy in an earlier iteration.

Retreads tout new powertrains, trim configurations or other specification changes. Yet coming back juiced in the middle of their product cycles, these cars face a great challenge, not just at 10Best but in the marketplace at large.

They are not really new, so it can be hard to convince an apathetic public (or writer) to take another look.

Some hardly merit a second glance, such as a car that looks a little sleeker and has a longer list of features than it had five years ago, but riding on the same architecture.

Or a car that continues to use a two-decade-old engine.

Second chances

Former 10Best winners try to sneak their remixes back on to the charts.

It’s hard—but not impossible—to get back on the 10Best list.

Excellence tends to remain excellent, and each of these cars had it once.

It’s hard to make the 10Best Cars list. A contender must execute its mission at the highest level and deliver driving experience somewhere between sublime and messianic.

Then the car has to be demonstrably better than one of the 10 returning winners to secure a spot, which is no small feat.

But it’s even harder for a usurped vehicle to reclaim its crown after losing it, as it’s rare that Car and Driver invites a vehicle back prior to a generated redesign.

Some former 10Best honorees showed up for 2017, including the BMW 3 Series, the Chevy Corvette, the Ford Focus and the Subaru BRZ/Toyota 86.

The challengers

With Week One over, the testers are left with their first cut—those standout cars amid 2017’s new crop deemed good enough for Week Two.

The challengers for 2017 10Best were:

1. The 2017 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport

This made the cut because it was “so intoxicating in so many ways: power, grip, looks, fiberglass odor. It’s like swimming in an ocean of torque.

“The sheer brawn of the Grand Sport is astonishing. And there’s so much grip it feels you could park it on the ceiling.”

2. 2017 Audi A4 2.0T Quattro

“The A4 is extremely well-executed if a little boring. It’s easy to drive hard and always composed.

“Sometimes, on the drive home, you just want an anodyne, don’t talk to me, do everything luxury sports sedan.”

3. 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV

This made the cut because “The Bolt is GM’s iPhone. It’s not perfect, but it is a significant and sly agent of change…a car that inspires respect rather than poetry.

“Its presence here is justified on the strength of its engineering rather than on its looks or performance numbers.

“It advances the EV game further than anything else since the launch of the Tesla Model S.”

4. 2017 Genesis G90

“We like honest cars, and the G90 never pretends to be anything more than a big, fast luxury yacht.”

5. 2017 Hyundai Elantra

This made the cut because it “delivers a one-two punch of a highly efficient Eco model and a robustly upgraded Sport.”

6. 2017 Jaguar XE 35t

“We still want to love a compact sports sedan and the XE chassis reminds us of an old BMW 3 Series.”

7. 2017 Chevrolet Malibu Hybrid

This made the cut because “No other hybrid draws less attention to its electrification system, visually or mechanically.”

8. 2017 Volvo S90 T6 AWD

This made the cut because “a) interior and exterior styling; b) it’s gorgeous; c) have you looked at the thing? d) all of the above.”

9. 2017 Mercedez-Benz AMG C63 S

“Even the Cosmopolitan magazine editorial staff would have voted for this, the only 500-hp machine on hand.”

10. 2017 Mercedes-Benz E300

This made the cut because “It delivers the Mercedes promise of technological superiority in a richly appointed package.”

The incumbents

1. 2017 BMW M2/240i Coupe

“Cars like the M2 form the radioactive core of BMW’s performance credibility, and the M240i backs off just enough to please drivers who find it a little too hot at the center.”

2. 2017 Cadillace CTS VSport

“She blinded me with Art and Science.”

3. 2017 Chevrolet Camaro V-6/V-8

“The SS 1LE Camaro is almost as to the point as the old Z/28 was.”

4. 2017 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350/GT350 R

“Driving the Shelby GT350 is a visceral experience that stays with you long after you switch off its ignition.”

5. 2017 Mazda3 hatchback/sedan

“The Mazda 3 line demonstrates control response worthy of single purpose performance cars but does so with a drop-the-kids-off livability.

“The Mazda3 moves with a fluidity you won’t find anywhere else in this price class.”

6. 2017 Honda Accord V6 coupe/sedan

“It speaks volumes about the Accord’s tuning that, with a single drive mode, it can be both a well-mannered, quiet, roomy car and a quick-witted, fun sporting machine.”

7. 2017 Mazda MX5 Miata/RF

“The Miata’s balance, poise and eagerness are simply unmatched by anything that doesn’t cost twice as much or more.”

8. 2017 Volkswagen Golf, Golf Sportwagen, Golf Alltrack, GTI, Golf R

“All Golfs drive with a solid composure and predictability, with controlled body motions and the ride quality of a far more expensive machine.

“The Golf’s merits are best on display in our favorite variation on the theme, the GTI.”

9. 2017 Porshe 718 Boxster/Cayman

“The 718 distills a similarly pure spirit, particularly in roadster form, even as Porsche has stripped out its glorious flat six engines in favor of turbocharged flat fours.”

10. 2017 Tesla S

Implementing the 10Best rules, Car and Driver ousted the Tesla Model S after two consecutive 10Best appearances because the manufacturer would not provide a current entry-level 60 or 60D Model S.

The long-term Model S that Car and Driver has is a P85D, which is not only out of production but also exceeds the 10Best price cap of $80,000 by $25,000.

The winners

After two weeks of intensive testing, Car and Driver named the following as the 10 Best Cars of 2017, listed here in alphabetical order:

1. BMW M2/M 240i coupe

2. Chevrolet Bolt EV,

3. Chevrolet Camaro V6/V8 coupe

4. Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport

5. Ford Mustang Shelby GT 350/GT 350R

6. Honda Accord V6

7. Mazda3

8. Mazda MX5 Miata

9. Porsche 718

10. Volkswagen Golf