What are the Motor Trend Award Winners for 2014?

If you are like me, you might sometimes wonder why it seems every single car or truck commercial you see says they are either the Motor Trend award winner, or the JD Power award winner, but what does that really mean?  In order for a vehicle to be eligible for the Golden Calipers, the vehicle must be all-new or substantially upgraded, not have been on sale for more than five years in its current configuration, and have been sold for the past twelve months starting in November.

The three categories Motor Trend grades the vehicles for are superiority, significance, and value and the vehicle also must not have an MSRP greater than $100,000.  The award began in 1949 simply with a car of the year and has expanded since to add truck of the year and SUV of the year as well.  Each vehicle is subjected to a battery of tests to grade the three areas listed and then the best are awarded for their excellence.   As the years have passed, additional criteria have been added to each category of judging to distinguish some characteristics specific to that category.

Now that we know what the criteria is for the award, what vehicles actually won the award for this year?  What are the new, upgraded, and exciting vehicles who Motor Trend felt were deserving of the Golden Calipers?

Motor Trend SUV of the Year

To start us off, let’s check out the SUV of the year for 2014.  This is really a difficult category to judge at all because the definition of SUV is so different for so many different people.  The Motor Trend article itself states “if you ask 10 people what an SUV is you get 11 different answers” and that is absolutely the truth.  By wording alone, an SUV is a Sport Utility Vehicle.

The sport part elicits thoughts of taking it to the beach, cruising around town, or hugging the sharp curves you see on some car commercials but can never find in real life.  The Utility part make you think of a vehicle that is tough, rugged, and can haul it all through the mud and the muck.  Put these together and you can really come up with a ton of vehicles out there that might actually fit this description, however Motor Trend shaved the list down to just a few.

The contenders were: the Acura MDX, the Buick Encore, the BMX X1, the Dodge Durango, the Jeep Grand Cherokee, the Hyundai Santa Fe, the Land Rover Range Rover, the Mini Cooper S Paceman, the Mitsubishi Outlander, the Subaru Forester, and the Toyota Rav4.  This sounds like a primo list of possibilities to me, and with one a couple exceptions I would love to drive any of them myself and give the others the chance to surprise me.

While the testers started out with twenty-three vehicles, they ended up seeing these ten as the top contenders pretty early in the testing.  Driving each vehicle through a grueling road and off road test to ensure they have selected the right vehicle for the award, the winner for this year’s Motor Trend SUV of the Year goes to the Subaru Forester.

Even though the Forester is not a new model name, the model has been redesigned and offers more cargo space, better efficiency, and more power, which we all love, than its predecessor.  Throughout the testing, the Forester impressed the judges in every category and was a clear favorite to win.  Subaru provided two models for the testing, at either end of their model spectrum and both performed exceptionally well for the Motor Trend team.

During the testing the testers noted the Forester won in five out of their six criterion categories, taking efficiency, engineering excellence, performance of intended function, safety, and value.  In fact a couple of the testers were shocked to find even the more basic $24,000 model Forester came equipped with cruise control and a backup camera.  The only category the Forester did not take home was advancement in design mostly due to the limited towing capacity of only 1500 pounds.

Motor Trend Truck of the Year

Now we bring out the big boys.  The old adage of a truck being a gas guzzler has all but gone from the mantra of a truck though; many of today’s manufacturers have found ways to give their customers the power they deserve with the fuel efficiency they desire.  Because of these new feats of engineering, the truck world has become one where economy meets strength meets class.

Before we see who made the cut and announce the winner, we need to see what actually qualifies as a truck.  To judge the truck class, Motor Trend looked at the ½ tons and heavy duty trucks as well as the small and full-size work vans.  The vans might actually surprise you, but keep in mind the work vans are built on a truck frame and in many cases are asked to perform duties similar to a truck. Let’s see who the contenders for this prestige were.

The list of possibilities included the Chevrolet Silverado, the GMC Sierra, the Ram 1500, the Toyota Tundra, the Nissan NV200 cargo van, the Ford Transit Connect cargo van, the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter, and Ram Promaster cargo van.  With such and impressive list of vehicles to choose from how were the judges to choose just one, and with such a diverse category how did they keep it fair and even?

By keeping their testing even across the board and only comparing vehicles to their own respective set, the judges felt they found the right choice to earn the Golden Calipers.  With the same six criteria as the SUV’s the judges had a big job as these monsters are meant to haul and carry a whole lot of cargo.

The trucks and vans were tested with and without cargo, put through a ton of speed and braking tests and given a full run down between power and fuel efficiency along with a complete review of their interiors.  The truck that came out on top was the Ram 1500.  The Ram 1500 is not so much a newly designed truck in appearance, but brings a powerful and redesigned diesel engine to the mix that hasn’t been seen is a ½ ton truck in years.

Because diesel has a slower burn, gives a driver more efficiency and is more suited for the lower torque end of the spectrum, this was a clear choice for a winner in the truck category.  Couple this with the V-6 engine rather than a traditional V-8 and it’s no wonder the Ram 1500 was the most efficient truck of the test group, but how did it fare on power?

While testing the judges found the Ram 1500 to have no problem getting up to speed when fully loaded, barley squealing at all and once there the truck seemed to move along just fine as if there was nothing in the bed or being towed.  Overall it’s really easy to see why the Ram 1500 took home the award for this year’s Motor Trend Truck of the Year.

Motor Trend Car of the Year

Finally, the class which this award was built on, the car of the year, you have been kept in suspense long enough and here it is.  With the industry having so many new models that seem to find the marketplace each year, how do we come up with just one car of the year?  Obviously such a vehicle will have to possess style, class, speed, handling, and some serious technological advances to earn the Golden Calipers here.

Knowing this is the 65^th anniversary of this award, the judges found it was very important to not skimp on any of the judging during their blue sapphire anniversary.  Only a short five years ago the automotive industry as we all know took a huge blow with all three major brands in America having to file some form of bankruptcy or ask for significant bail out assistance from the government.

To think the cars that would come out a few years later that were being planned then, would have such amazing class and character was beyond anyone’s imagination.  Let’s take a look at the competing class for this long standing prestigious award.

In the Car category there were actually 22 different contestants bringing 38 models of vehicles, so we won’t go so far as to name them all.  The list does include such names as the Kia Forte, the BMW4, the Lexus IS, the Mazda 3, and the Toyota Corolla.

For this group the testers and judges had their hands full for an entire week, testing the cars under all sorts of conditions; really putting them through their paces throughout the entire process to come out with only one winner.  This was a monumental feat for the team as they burned up the pavement, dirt and rubber to find that one winner.

The criteria again used followed the same six characteristics listed previously; advancement in design, efficiency, engineering excellence, performance of intended function, safety, and value.  To find the vehicle that stands out above all the rest a lot of tires, tears and feelings were shed, but eventually the judges came in with a clear favorite.

The winner for this year is the Cadillac CTS, and why not?  This is an absolutely beautiful car with precision engineering, a gorgeous, well designed interior, and plenty of power with fuel efficiency under the hood.  While the CTS is not a new name, first coming out in 2003, this model is new and the Art and Science design team at Cadillac found a way to match beauty with brains and make the boldest statement yet.

Offering models with both a V-6 and a four cylinder engine the CTS is built for power and for efficiency.  In fact the V-6 model outperformed some of its V-8 relatives in the testing for this award, showing the engineering that goes with the style.  With sharp lines, but smooth contours, the Cadillac CTS was an enigma all to itself and a clear favorite for this year’s Golden Calipers.

Inside the CTS give the driver a quiet comfortable ride while surrounding them with a fantastic leather interior with wood accents, technology everywhere, especially in the center console with the huge touchscreen information system, and a ton of safety feature including a rear view camera and road condition sensors to help make the drive easier.  The CTS also brings the noise with the Bose sound system installed, ensuring you aren’t just getting a drive, but an experience from the ride.

Final Note

As you can see there was a ton of fantastic competition out there for this year’s Motor Trend Awards.  From the mid-sized and versatile SUV class to the beasts of brawn in the Truck class and finally the classic set of the reason why  this award was started, the Car class, there has been a ton of great cars, trucks and SUV’s brought to light today.

Seeing the different vehicles side by side and how they performed against one another, there was no doubt why each of the winners was chosen for their respective class of vehicle.  The Subaru Forester is quick, handles well, and can take on a small tow or the rough terrain without much problem at all.  The Ram 1500 brings power with its fuel efficiency in a newly designed diesel engine model, something not seen in the ½ ton trucks for many years.  Finally, the Cadillac CTS shows off with luxury, advancements in engineering, fuel efficiency and power.

The folks at Motor Trend really seem to know what they are looking for and what they are doing when looking for a vehicle to judge this award with.  I for one am excited to see what comes down the assembly line next and earns its own pair of Golden Calipers.