From the January 2017 issue
We have a crack copy-editing department, the best in the business, mind you, so how is it that we can have 10 “best” cars? Or for that matter, five Volkswagen Golf variants making our list? Deviant grammar aside, there’s actually some logic to having a group of superlatives. Not every car can be everything to everyone. Automotive attempts at ubiquity tend to result in lowest-common-denominator products that are neither best at anything nor best for anyone. And still we recognize those machines that manage mass-market excellence: The Honda Accord has been on the 10Best list since a growing cohort of Car and Driver editors were mere twinkles in the eye.
Unlike comparison tests, in which we stage trials of equals, pitting 10Best challengers against our incumbents involves an intentional imbalance. We’re not awarding spots based on market segment; we’re sussing out transcendence. Which is why the Accord and Golf families perfectly demonstrate the three pillars of 10Best evaluation: driving engagement, value, and mission fulfillment.
Take the first, the C/D equivalent of “Will it blend?” We could call this “Will it accelerate, shift, turn, handle, and stop?” But that’s a mouthful. Our awarded cars perform each of these individual tasks exceptionally. Yet engagement is not just a numbers evaluation. In fact, it’s highly subjective. For instance, Honda, with no good reason to, offers a six-speed manual in its mid-sizer that has such a perfectly balanced shifter and delicately fluid clutch pedal that you can’t help wanting to hustle it through the gears. You’ll never find these virtues on a spec panel, yet they amplify the Accord’s other sporting credentials, such as its near-perfect body control and sublime ride. So winners must also present a cohesive and superior Gestalt; they’re the ones that tie the route together.
On its surface, value seems a simple calculation; a Volkswagen Golf starts at just $20,715, so where do we sign? But a Golf R is almost twice as much. Is it twice the car? Is a stripper Golf half as good as an R? Of course not. Yet no matter which of the many Golfs in the range you might pick, you’ll never find one that feels cheapened or decontented to meet a price point. Each Golf is priced fairly for how it drives and performs, rather than assigned an MSRP based on what the market will bear. While we can’t guarantee 10Best winners won’t follow normal paths of depreciation, we don’t expect owners to be as bothered by it. Reward never begets regret.
Mission fulfillment seems a litmus test. Does the car deliver on its promise? Of course it provides motorized transportation, but how well does it do everything else its buyers demand of a car in its segment? 10Besters stand proud of their competitors in meaningful ways, and not just with a laundry list of features. But this criterion also has a Rorschach quality, wherein we imagine ourselves owning and driving a 10Best winner every day. Indeed, many honorees will be invited to join our long-term fleet to endure 40,000 miles of making those perceptions reality. Both the Accord and Golf passed these tests with aplomb: The Honda is the perfect low-stress family sedan, and the VW is the paragon of hatchback efficiency and utility.
All of this is why they continue to stand as our 10Best benchmarks.
2017 10Best Cars: Return to Overview
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