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Payne: Why I voted differently for the 2023 NACTOY winners
Posted by Talbot Payne on January 12, 2023
The votes are in for the prestigious, 2023 North American Car, truck and Utility Vehicle of the Year awards and the Acura Integra, Ford F-150 Lightning, and Kia EV6 stand atop the podium with their gold medals. I voted on the jury with 49 of my colleagues, all independent auto journalists. I judged the same finalists. I tested the same vehicles.
I didn’t pick any of the winners. Oh for 3.
I’m like the Olympic skating judge holding up 6.0 when all the other judges are showing 9.0. My selections? The Nissan Z for best car, Chevy Silverado ZR2 for truck, the Cadillac Lyriq for SUV. Let me explain.
Let me start with the SUV category. This was the first year that an entire category’s finalists were electric vehicles. That was not my choice, especially with affordable, gas-engine SUV decathletes on offer like the superb, sub-$40k Mazda CX-50, Honda CR-V, and Kia Sportage. They do everything well. Smooth, torquey EVs are more expensive, less utilitarian, and a bother to drive on long trips (I know, I’ve owned two Teslas) and are therefore best suited for luxury buyers with more than one car in the garage.
The luxurious Cadillac Lyriq is in the meat of that market. GM’s luxury brand is going all-electric this decade, and Lyriq is an innovative ute with old school Caddy bling ‘n’ swagger. Lyriq went bold, moving the EV styling needle with a front-fascia light show outside and curvaceous, 33-inch screen inside.
It isn’t just bold; it’s affordable in its class. Equipped with all-wheel-drive, the base, $64,990 Lyriq comes standard with Super Cruise (the industry’s best, hands-free driving system), Google operating system, wireless Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, 19-speaker AKG stereo, and lovely detail. That’s competitive with a comparable, gas-powered Caddy XT5.
And it’s priced right on top of the Genesis GV60 (the first EV from Hyundai’s lux brand) and just 7 grand north of a comparable Kia EV6. It’s also well below the $75k you’d pay for the best-selling Model Y EV. Don’t get me wrong, this was a close vote. The Korean pair are superb with fresh designs and clever electronic tricks — especially Genesis’s cool, remote parking features. And the Kia is a powerful statement (like the fastback Stinger sedan) of the brand’s premium potential.
My colleagues gave EV6 the nod with 258 points over the Lyriq (136) and GV70 (106). Each of the 50 jurors has 10 points to distribute in each category.
But if you’ve got $57,000-plus burning a hole through your pocket, you’re not going to want to arrive at the country club in a Kia. For a competitive price, the Caddy brings gravitas and Super Cruise wow its competitors can’t touch.
As for best truck, I didn’t think anything could match the Ford F-150 Lightning when I first tested its $42k entry-level Pro model in May. The coolest affordable EV since the Tesla Model 3 blew the world’s mind in 2017, Lightning boasted face-flattening acceleration, silky-smooth operation, a frunk the size of Delaware, and state-of-the-art electronics.
But two things changed my mind on the way to the NACTOY vote: pricing and towing.
The Lightning’s price ballooned to nearly $60,000 by the end of the year — a 40% hike that placed it in the lux realm (top trims of the Lightning are an eye-watering $90k-plus). For that kind of dough, Lightning lacks the Swiss Army Knife dexterity demanded of trucks. Namely, the Ford’s range shrinks below 100 miles when towing 5,000 pounds, limiting it to a metro truck.
My jury colleagues were still agog, granting Lightning a landslide win of 433 points out of 500 cast.
I gave the Silverado (also pricey at $72k) a 6-to-4 point edge due to its superior towing ability as well as off-road talent that can take it miles into the wilderness without fear of range anxiety. A distant third was the Lordstown Endurance truck — an admirable first volley from the startup automaker, but only available to commercial buyers.
The closest category was Car of the Year with the Integra sedan (174 points) nosing past the Genesis G80 Electrified (169 points) and Nissan Z (157).
For me, this was always a race between the iconic, born-again badges from Acura and Nissan. The $80,000 Genesis is a niche lux barge. Integra and Z are affordable toys aimed at enthusiasts everywhere.
My colleague and NACTOY president Gary Witzenburg crowned the winner: “Honda Civic-based Acura Integra looks good, drives well and is among the very few in its (or any) segment offering a slick-shifting manual transmission.”
I, too, am thrilled to have the sporty Integra back after a 20-year hiatus. But it’s the “Honda Civic-based” part that brought me up short. The 11th-gen Civic on which Integra is based is sensational with its refined handling and an upscale interior. Though its snazzy exterior is instantly recognizable next to Civic’s more vanilla wardrobe, the pricier Acura doesn’t do enough to separate itself from its Honda brother. Same front-wheel-drive, same engine, similar interior.
The Nissan Z, on the other hand, is a one of a kind.
Bearing the best Z design since the original, 1970s Datsun 240Z, the ’23 model also brought an all-new, twin-turbo V-6 and interior layout. In a market starved for affordable sports cars, Z is a reminder of how much fun can be had for $40k. I gave the Nissan 8 points to the Integra’s 2.
Put a Lyriq, Silverado ZR2, and Z in your three-car garage and you’ll never have a dull moment.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.