The North American International Auto Show, aka the Detroit Auto Show, isn’t taking place in January anymore. It’s set for a move to September.
But that didn’t stop the traditional North American Car and Truck of the Year award ceremony from taking place at Cobo Center Huntington Place this morning.
Meanwhile, I watched via live stream from Chicago as the winners were unveiled. They were the Honda Civic (car), Ford Maverick (truck), and Ford Bronco (utility).
Can’t say we’re shocked — Chris and I gave the Maverick our car/truck of the year nod, and I gave the Bronco an honorable mention in that piece. Somehow, I’ve still not driven the Civic — I was scheduled for a loan a while ago but the car was damaged and I didn’t get to see it — but everything I’ve heard so far has been positive.
The other finalists were the Lucid Air and Volkswagen Golf GTI/Golf R (car), Hyundai Santa Cruz and Rivian R1T (truck), and Genesis GV70 and Hyundai Ioniq 5 (utility).
[Image: Honda]
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All 3 are good picks.
Call me crazy but, I d buy a Bronco sport over a real bronco. Much more road friendly. 5-8 MPG more. 80% of the off road ability (car & driver tested a RAV 4 v a Wrangler – what a year ago? The RAV4 almost kept up. (could have done even better if it had tow hook screw receiver hole like a Forester)). You dont need Bronco / wrangler to do mild mid level off roading.
@redapple – “You dont need Bronco / wrangler to do mild mid level off roading.”
I fully agree. Most “off-road” rigs are sold based upon image . A trip down a groomed gravel road or laneway to the cottage/cabin on the lake doesn’t require a Rubicon or Sasquatch trim package. It isn’t all that different for pickups or sportscars. The majority of the public doesn’t need offroad technology, payload/towing or performance.
You can’t remove the roof from a Bronco Sport. Well, you can, but it won’t be going back on after.
i dont see too many wranglers taking advantage of the removable top and doors in so cal, even in summer. the ones that do really commit though- door bars, LED floodlights all over. even saw the doors off a RENEGADE, once.
You’re crazy but not for buying the tarted up Escape over the Ranger SUV, just for buying any Ford. With a complete absence of quality it’s going to be more headaches than fun.
As for the roofs, the soft top on the Ranger SUV is so poorly designed that at highway speeds it lifts off the vehicle leaving large gaps allowing anything to come in.
One Ranger SUV owner in Alaska found this out when a storm rolled in and, because of the strong winds, the soft top was lifted off the vehicle enough to fill the interior with snow.
Fords are garbage which is why they have to pay for awards like this. Otherwise nobody would award them anything. The Escape pickup and Ranger SUV are phoned in vehicles not deserving of any award as they don’t stand out in any way. Completely undeserving
North
American
Car
Of
The
Year
That’s their URL, but NACTOY is accepted as “North American Car and Truck of the Year” — utility is a recent add, I believe. And they call themselves NACTOY on the site.
I like all three of these vehicles. Like redapple I’m also a fan of the Bronco sport. If it were available in AWD with the hybrid engine or if the Maverick offers the hybrid with AWD they would be my top picks if pricing and availability ever return to normal. They are both have good looks to my eye and offer a good combination of utility and economy.
I don’t know if it’s just me or if everybody else experiencing issues with your blog. It seems like some of the written text in your content are running off the screen. Can someone else please provide feedback and let me know if this is happening to them too? This could be a problem with my browser because I’ve had this happen before. Appreciate it
Keep on working, great job!
I will contend that the Maverick is the best new-vehicle introduction of the last decade – or more! – and if it wasn’t production-restrained by the current situation(s) it might have become the best-selling new vehicle introduction in a long time.
(By “best” I don’t mean it’s a great vehicle, although it’s pretty darn good. But I think it’s “best” in terms of a combination of vehicle design, powertrains, and especially pricing. For about half the price of the average new vehicle, the Maverick can fulfill the vehicle needs of probably 50+% of what people *need* in a vehicle.)
2 of these will will be on my list in MY’23. More and more I’m thinking the Maverick could be it. It just checks a lot of my boxes, and the pickup bed is a bonus that I wasn’t really asking for. Part of me thinks they should have given it a round headlight fascia treatment and made it a part of the Bronco range (Bronco Courier? Bronco Express? Bronco Pony?), but still, it’s a great vehicle. Civic hatch is great too, but the color palette is drab as ever.
your on to something there, “bronco maverick”