{"id":26636,"date":"2021-01-12T16:19:33","date_gmt":"2021-01-12T20:19:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=26636"},"modified":"2021-01-12T16:19:33","modified_gmt":"2021-01-12T20:19:33","slug":"payne-how-i-voted-in-the-north-american-car-of-the-year-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2021\/01\/payne-how-i-voted-in-the-north-american-car-of-the-year-awards","title":{"rendered":"Payne: How I voted in the North American Car of the Year Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some elections aren\u2019t very contentious at all.<\/p>\n

My fellow North American Car, Truck, and Utility of the Year jurors and I have voted and Ford Motor Co. was the overwhelming winner of the Truck and Utility categories. The Ford F-150 pickup and Mustang Mach-E SUV won in landslides. We\u2019re talkin\u2019 Johnson v. Goldwater,\u00a0Reagan v. Mondale.<\/p>\n

Heck, the Ford F-150 won bigger than FDR v. Alf Landon in 1936. Alf who? The third category was a squeaker with Hyundai\u2019s Elantra winning Car of the Year by two votes over the Genesis G80.<\/p>\n

I voted with the majority in all three cases. Which is unusual, as I have had quarrels with my fellow scribes in the past. Since 1994, our 50-member jury of auto critics vote in the most prestigious, annual, independent auto award in North America. This year, we whittled a list of 43 new, 2021 models down to 27 semifinalists. From a comprehensive, October test event in southeast Michigan emerged our\u00a0nine finalists.<\/p>\n

If I have a beef with the election, it was in the primaries. The SUV primary in particular.<\/p>\n

So hot are SUVs in the U.S. market that they made up 50 percent of new vehicle entries this year. So good were the entrants that 15 of the 27 NACTOY semifinalists were SUVs. From there emerged the $43,995k Mustang Mach-E, $49,925 Genesis GV80, and $47,450 Land Rover Defender.<\/p>\n

Seriously? Not a single ute under $40k? Who can afford these chariots?<\/p>\n

Not a lot of folks, which is why volumes for luxury SUVs are\u00a0low. Of the three utes, the Genesis might push 50,000 sales a year. Compare that to some of the contenders that didn\u2019t make the finalists\u00a0list. The Nissan Rogue, for example. This blue light special has consistently sold\u00a0400,000 units a year \u2014\u00a0second only to the Toyota RAV4 as the best-selling non-pickup in America.<\/p>\n

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For 2021, the new Rogue really takes it up a notch. Sculpted styling, a knockout interior, loads of standard tech \u2014\u00a0and a new, luxurious Platinum edition which, at $36.5k, is still well under the starting price of our three finalists.<\/p>\n

Even better is the 2021 Mazda CX-30, perhaps the best SUV bargain around. With a starting price of (ahem)\u00a0$23k, this little beauty offers standard \u2014\u00a0standard<\/em>\u00a0\u2014\u00a0features like adaptive cruise control, auto high beams, lane-departure warning, best-in-class 186 horsepower, and a partridge\u00a0in a pear tree. Load it up with all-wheel-drive, moonroof, leatherette seats and blind-spot assist and you get an SUV that can go toe-toe-with a $45 grand BMW X1 in the twisties for under $29,000. Go the head of the class, kid.<\/p>\n

But my favorite was the Baby Bronco.<\/p>\n

Voted Detroit News Vehicle of the Year, the Ford Bronco Sport brings a hatch-full of personality to America\u2019s most popular SUV segment. With the looks of its dirt-kicking, truck-based Bronco big brother and the comfort of its unibody-based Escape sister, the Sport is a loaded, no compromise SUV.<\/p>\n