In the beginning,TTAC had its TWAT: Ten Worst Automobiles Today. In the interests of positive PR, we changed the name of our reader-selected "award" to the "TTAC's Ten Worst." The re-christening worked out well; the mainstream media picked-up on the TWA. Much linkage ensued. And now it's time to choose TTAC's Ten Best Automobiles Going. Yes, that's TBAG. Well, it was TBAG. And then we changed THAT to Ten Best Autos (TBA). Which is almost as bad as TWA. So, people, we need some help. Yes, I know; you're about to do the coffee-through-the-nose thing with some extremely witty acronyms. Or some left field choices (the El Caminos?). By all means, fire away. But we seriously need some help with this. What can we call our awards that isn't boring OR offensive? OK, not THAT offensive.
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For me, the Ten Worst will always be the TWAT-award. I’m sorry, but it has stuck. There’s nothing you can do about it. And people who gets offended by that should seriously reconsider their priorities and life. Or go and fuck themselves.
But whats wrong with “TTAC:s Ten Best” ?? Or perhaps the TWIT-award ?? TTAC:s Ten WInners of Today.
TTAC’s Ten Autos We Love (TAWL)? Ten Autos That Rule (TATR)?
I think you should call it ironic…considering this post from a while back:
https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/5-reasons-why-we-hate-top-10-car-lists/
Throwing this out there:
TTAC’s MOVE Awards (Most Outstanding Vehicles Existing)
(Also doesn’t force you to pick 10.)
Glenn’s Ten?
Why can’t TTAC be like Nigel Tufnel and “go up to eleven”?
A rumor?
Nobel established the Nobel Prize.
Farago should have the Farago Award/Prize/Whatever.
How about TTAC’s TATA awards (Ten Autos To Admire).
Of course based on the recent site survey a lot of people will be disappointed that the awards are really for cars.
Or TTAC’s TATAM awards (Ten Auto That Aren’t Minivans).
I think you should call it ironic…considering this post from a while back:
https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/5-reasons-why-we-hate-top-10-car-lists/
Hah, good point :-) I guess the power of having your own website is that you can contradict yourself at any time.
I can understand neutering the award names on the altar of higher recognition, but I feel its somewhat of a sellout move. I like the TWAT and TBAG awards as they are named….
TTT: Truths Top Ten.
Ouch. Hypocrites and sell-outs.
1. Maybe I should have titled that blog “Five reasons why I hate EVERYONE ELSE’S Top Ten Car Lists.”
2. We hashed out the “sell out” thing last year. But we can do it again if you like. The bottom line: you gotta get people in the church before you can tell them they’re going to Hell.
The Truthies?
I like the idea of making it 11. The last one can be a wild card.
TTAC’s Elated Eleven? Eager to Please Eleven? The EPE’s?
Oh boy those are horrible. Good thing I’m not in marketing.
This is worse: “Eleven cars you should buy but won’t because you’re a douchebag.”
TTAC
Ten ThAt Count
Ten awesomest rides today (TART)
Most awesome rides of the year (MARY)
Top ten award-winning cars (TTAC)
In any event, the trophy should be known as the Farago
i liked the ten worst because almost nobody else has the parts to do similar. but everyone & their pet pig has a ten best (most of which ain’t). so i’d wrap that idea in the soggy newsprint the fish came in & drop it in the bin.
Most awesome rides of the year (MARY)
+1
I don’t think you need to have a website to be a hypocrite…
The True Top Ten
The Truth About Cars:Top Ten
Somthing simple and it’ll catch on someones ad department…ie..Car&Drivers Ten Best.
I assume that’s why the switch from TBAG…
The TTACkies
TOP TURDS
TOP Ten UbeR DriveS
TTAC Auto Champion
I’m going to throw this out one more time. How about holding an NCAA tournament style face-off? Maybe a field of 64 that TTAC seeds and we vote on each round of matchups to the finals.
Nod to Dearborn
Least Shitty Cars (LSC)
For the Ten Worst…
TED NUGENT
For the Ten Best…
HEATHER LOCKLEAR
The letters can stand for anything you like. No worries as far as I’m concerned.
NO ACRONYMS!!!!
Just call it the Top Ten.
Steven,
Heather Locklear? It was the other Heather (Thomas) those days that had my eyes.
quasimondo :
NO ACRONYMS!!!!
Just call it the Top Ten.
I’m with the first statement. But I would also be tempted to say “no top ten awards, please.” I couldn’t be bored any more shitless. Wait, what’s “more” of something that’s “less?”
Nevermind, the point is, I don’t even read the reviews around here! Reviews bore me. I’d rather just jump in my car and go for a ride.
Although I think top tens are a waste of time and effort, exactly as Robert blogged not too long ago, I’ll let you fellas and ladies have your fun. So all that effort to say that I just don’t care what you call it.
But yeah, I like the idea of no acronyms.
“For me, the Ten Worst will always be the TWAT-award.”
+1. I always think of the ten worst as the TWAT. It’s like TTAC’s own meme.
I don’t have any catchy names but I like the idea of 11. It’s just enough of a inside joke/middle finger/vive la diference to stand out.
Why not the Towel Awards? That way, if anyone is seen driving one of the cars in the list, we can say “That hoopy guy sure knows where his towel is!”
(In case you think I’m nuts [I am] it’s a reference to The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.)
I like the idea of making it 11
Great idea.
This one goes to 11.
TTAC CATT (Current Automotive Top Ten)
TBEST
TWART (ten worst)
TRUTHIE
NADIR (Nine Automobiles Desperately In need of Replacement)
TTB/TTW (Truthfully Ten Best/Worst)
TSUCK (Truthfully Seriously Undesireably Cars and trucKs)
TLAC (Truthfully Lusted After Cars)
THATE (Ten Horrible Autos To Eliminate)
TLOVE (Ten LOved VEhicles)
TCAR (Ten Cars Above Reproach)
That’s enough for tonight.
Car Lovers Interesting Ten
Keeping with the anatomical theme:
TOES – Ten Obviously Excellent Sleds
How about “TTAC’s TTAC”?
The Truth About Cars’ Top Ten Awards for Cars?
And for the bad cars, “TTAC’s CRUD”
The Truth About Cars’ Cars Really Underwhelming Drivers?
CLAL class leading automobiles list
BAL best automobiles list
BIC best in class (lawyers might threaten arson with a… Zippo)
I don’t think any specific number should be a target; in a hypothetical world where only 10 cars exist, and Chevy Aveo existed, it would make the list if a top 10 best.
Put that in your pipe and smoke it. And cringe.
I think it’s more about the attitude than a catchy name.
Cars you should consider and probably buy or you’re really not smart at all. Disagree until you’re blue in the face, that’s fine, you’re an idiot.
Cars you’d be stupid not to drive/own.
TTAC’s “Ten True Cars Award”
Cars … Regarded … As … Praiseworthy.
Sorry, I got nothin’.
Definately go to eleven!
TTAC: Top Ten True Cars. The Truth is your brand so you should promote it. Come up with a list of what a True Best Car is and reward those that adhere to those standards.
TTAC’s “DeCARthalon” (with apologies to the Olympics)
TOTH (Top Of The Heap[ with apologies to Frank Sinatra)
Most people here raised a really good point: if you want to promote TTAC, then the “TTAC” name should appear IN the award name, so that when linked, there will be no doubt as to the originator.
TTAC: Top Ten True Cars. The Truth is your brand so you should promote it. Come up with a list of what a True Best Car is and reward those that adhere to those standards.
That’s my favorite so far.
Iproctor1982: It seems Detroit Big 3 already have plenty of towels, and are usingthem to great effect in avoiding the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal, aka, “Reality”.
For those not familliar with the Hitchikers guide, the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal is “a mindboggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can’t see it, it can’t see you – daft as a bush, but very ravenous”.
Seem to descibe them fairly well…
Thanks for all your suggestions. Unfortunately, none of them floated the boat that Frank and I paddle upstream every day. Except the ones calling for no acronyms. So “Ten Best” it is.
I apologize to those who consider the name too lame to represent this kick-ass website. But, as a former owner of the former M5, I can testify that sometimes stealth is the better part of not losing your license. I mean, valor.
RF
PS As soon as I experience a [sustained] attack of megalomania, I’ll consider naming something after myself. But I reckon I’ll start with a foot bridge and work my way up to a TTAC Award.
I think you should just call the “TTAC 10”.
The John Z. Delorean award?
… :(
[EDIT]…what a dork I am]
I with cbk and any others who suggested there should NOT be a TTAC ten best list. The Ten Worst is much more fitting. It makes a mockery of 10 best lists, which we (at least I) hate.
Don’t do it. Save yourselves!
Ten Outstanding Rides & Cars …or
The Outstanding Rides we Cherish
‘The TORC Awards’
TTAC Present’s: “The 2008 NBSBD” ‘No Bullshit Baker’s Dozen’ awards!
Not a fan of ‘top 10’ awards personally…..should be at least 11.
The UBER awards: Un-Biased Excellent Rides
How about forget acronyms and numbers.
Just call them “the suckie list” and “the supa’ list”. This way is very clear what it is and you leave the number open to more than 10 in case Chrysler decides to have new 11 models next year.
I would also propose that after each car review,in addition to the star ratings a car is given a “suckiness” or “superness” grade which will help it or not in the final list.
The True Top Ten
Almost. “True Ten” or (if you must) “TTAC’s True Ten” would capture it. “Top” is overplayed and really doesn’t clarify anything. Neither does “Best”, when you think about it. But “True”, in the Elvis Costello “Alison” lyrics sense, captures something that would resonate more for TTAC than for any other car site (or buff book).
Hey, better late than never.
Best Eleven Sizzling Transports (BEST)
Best Eleven Autos Sold Today (BEAST)
Best Eleven Autos Right now (BEAR)
RF- I think going to Eleven is in keeping with TTACs distinct style.
Bunter
TTAC’s TTop TTen
John
If not the Farago award, then the Cugnot award (for the man who built the first automobile–in 1769.
And let’s not forget, the Cugnot had not brakes and was reportedly the first automobile to be involved in a traffic accident and the first to have its driver arrested for wreckless driving.
The title of this website is “The Truth About Cars” and what strikes me about the title is the word, “Truth.”
There are all sorts of depressing inspiring and insipid interesting quotations from famous people throughout history about truth including:
• “There are few nudities so objectionable as the naked truth.”
Agnes Repplier (1855 – 1950)
• “Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it.”
Andre Gide (1869 – 1951)
• “All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.”
Arthur Schopenhauer (1788 – 1860)
• “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
Bible, John 8:32
Arguably, the most famous American truth teller is George Washington, the father of our country, who in myth as a youth chopped down his father’s cherry tree and when questioned about it by his father, admitted the deed.
While not acronyms, possible names for an award from TTAC with a distinctively George Washington and American inspiration could include:
• The Georgie
• The Hatchet (A little too close to doing a hatchet job?)
• The Axe
• The Cherry Tree
• The Cherry (Would lend itself to all sorts of nasty puns)
OTOH, even older than George Washington or John McCain going farther back in history is the ancient Greek philosopher, Diogenes of Sinope (Turkey) who is known for carrying a lamp while conducting a Faragoian and futile search for truth in the form of an honest man.
Although none of Diogenes’ writings have survived, there were many stories and some writings about him that have that have. There is too much to be said about Diogenes, but below are a few of the highlights of his life.
Described as “Socrates gone mad!,” Diogense is credited as being one of the founders of “Cynicism” as a school of philosophical thought and was greatly admired by the “Stoics,” members of another philosophy and way of living. Diogenes has also long been associated with dogs even before the Dogs Love Trucks ad campaign and the words for cynic and dog have similar origins in the ancient Greek language.
Diogenes is also is also credited as being the first person to use the world “cosmopolitan.” Quick to use his middle finger, he lived a life of poverty, and carried out a lifelong campaign to debunk many of the social values and conventions of the time (not unlike out our own Robert Farago).
Diogenes reportedly spent the last years of his life on the island of Corinth where he was brought after having been captured while on a journey and made a slave. He became a teacher to his owners’ children and he undoubtedly knew what rich Corinthian Leather looked like, although it would be nearly 2,000 years before automobiles were invented and 2,200 years before rich (fake?) Corinthian Leather would find its way into the interior of an automobile.
Besides sounding ever so pretentious, awards with a Diogenetic theme could be:
• The Diogenes
• The Diogenian
• The Diogenian Lamp
• The Diogenian Staff
• The Diogenian Dog
• The Featherless Biped
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