Canada’s automotive journalists are putting new vehicles to the test to see which ones are the best in market.
Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC) announced its rigorous ‘TestFest’ program is underway for 2016.
Vehicles are taken on a series of tests that represent and simulate various driving conditions. They are evaluated and scored on criteria such as passenger comfort, noise levels, ease of entry and exit, visibility, cargo space, fuel economy, braking distances and more, said AJAC. Each reviewer tests vehicles back-to-back in each category.
The best vehicles are up for awards in specific categories, as well as the overall Canadian Car of the Year, Canadian Utility of the Year, Canadian Green Car of the Year and Canadian Green Utility Vehicle of the Year.
“Whether a vehicle wins or not, the public can see exactly why, since all the testing and voting data is published online. This is not a popularity contest. When we declare a winner, we have hundreds of thousands of data points from controlled test drives to back it up,” said Justin Pritchard, co-chair of the Canadian Car of the Year Committee, in a written release.
Testing started on Oct. 24 and goes until Oct. 28, 2016 at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in Clarington, Ont. The winners in each category will be announced later this year, while the overall winners will be presented in 2017 at auto shows in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, said AJAC.
