The desire for a relationship, the kind of machine-to-man connection you don’t get with your new dishwasher, is paramount. Sure, performance is nice. So is cargo capacity, and voice controlled-navigation, and stability control, and seating for seven.
What you want, however, is something less tangible, something you know when you see but can’t precisely define.
You want to want it. A new car can’t simply tick off all the boxes. That’s not good enough. Spreadsheet supremacy does not cause a passionate car-loving customer to sign on the dotted line.
We can’t all own 45-year-old Lancia Fulvias or brand new Lamborghini Aventadors. But we can have cars we like, cars that pique our interest, capture it, and hold it. For now and for always. Each year, GoodCarBadCar chooses twelve vehicles capable of piquing, capturing, and holding your interest. This sounds like a recipe for happiness, but beware: GoodCarBadCar also chooses eight vehicles you must avoid, at any cost.
The Good 12 is a bit different this year. For one thing, there are established cost parameters based on USD base prices. More importantly, this year’s list is based almost exclusively on an answer to a question I’m asked on a constant basis: What car would you buy? There aren’t always easily explainable reasons. Sometimes emotion plays too large a role. Choices aren’t always logical. But your humble sales analyst’s decisions can be found in 2013’s The Good 12. And The Bad 8 features the cars I simply couldn’t consider acquiring.
To land in The Good 12, vehicles are first expected to excite, to ignite some form of passion. Don’t be ugly; don’t be priced too far beyond key rivals; and don’t cause me to suffer boredom. Please consider performance, even if tiny levels of horsepower are a regulated necessity. Be unique and unanticipated. Turn traditional on its head. Show us things we’ve never seen before. Or go ahead and show us what we have seen before, but make it better. Make appropriate use of history and cause us to feel nostalgic, but not nauseous. Reach beyond normal expectations. Look good in the process.
If you still don’t understand how this works, check out the FAQs below. Access The Good 12 and The Bad 8 through the dropdowns above or by clicking the links at the bottom of this page.
FAQs
What’s With The New Price Categories? For the first time in GoodCarBadCar.net’s history, The Good 12 is a list of cars from various USD base price segments. While this unfortunately throws the Chevrolet Volt up against the Chevrolet Tahoe, it at least helps us answer one key question. Almost daily, car writers are asked, “What’s your favourite car?” We all respond with the same question: How much am I allowed to spend?
While attempting to keep the varying needs of wildly different buyers in mind, this year’s Good 12 was more about individual desire than ever before. Rather than convincing you that these are definitely the cars you should buy if you have $15,000 or $20,000 or $25,000 to spend, these cars answer the question: Which car would I buy if I had a specific number of dollars to spend?
Admittedly, I’m not currently in a position to acquire a two-seat roadster or even a four-seat city car. GCBC Towers is being renovated, and a lot of the items we buy at Home Depot are long. We also own a growing dog. Commuting isn’t an issue, but long drives are frequent.
Lower-priced categories have been emphasized because of the sheer number of buyers who can’t afford a Pagani Huayra. Besides, we can safely assume the Ferrari 458 Italia is great - you don't need GCBC to tell you that. So we’ve set a barrier of $90,000 USD. Cars priced above that are accepted as valid purchases. In cases in which genuinely expensive cars are not worth purchasing - the $119,910 Lexus LS600hL comes to mind - we already know it sucks and wouldn't be considered for the receipt of any award.
Why Twelve In The Good 12? If GoodCarBadCar.net honoured only one or two or three vehicles, I would be saying that many deserving vehicles are second-rate. If GoodCarBadCar.net honoured ten vehicles, it would look like attempts were being made to be like Car And Driver. So twelve it is.
Why Not Just Newly-Introduced Vehicles? Many publications throw together the whole fleet of new-for-this-year vehicles and hand out their Car Of The Year award as well as awards in different categories. Yet vehicles introduced last year or the year before aren't necessarily sucky already. In fact, they may well be better than this year's crop of new cars. Conversely, recent unappealing vehicles may still manage to be more appealing than last year's worst cars. Imagine if sports leagues like the NHL only gave out an award for Rookie Of The Year but acted as though the winner was automatically the league MVP. That's how strange Car Of The Year selections are.
Why Only Eight For The Bad 8? As a symbol to recognize the improvements being made by automobile manufacturers in this golden age of the car, GoodCarBadCar.net places greater numerical emphasis on the good.
Aren't Most New Cars Built These Days Reliable And Therefore Not Bad? True enough, the least reliable new car in 2013 will likely be far more reliable than the most reliable car of the relatively recent past. However, when greatness is in abundance, an utter lack of excitement or excellence is perceived as, well... bad. Outside of quality (although quality and durability and reliability can come into play), The Bad 8 dishonours cars that are especially undesirable for a variety of reasons.
Where Did Last Year’s Bad 8 Losers Go? 2013’s The Bad 8 remains focused on its original purpose. The eight cars we can’t consider parking in front of GCBC Towers this year differ slightly from last year for three reasons. Acura’s RL is about to be replaced by the RLX, and while boring, we don’t yet know just how boring the new RLX will be. Ford’s Explorer EcoBoost now sits in Ford’s showroom alongside a Ford crossover with even worse value credentials. And the Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet never came to Canada and doesn’t appear to have a future in the U.S. If we’ve successfully killed it off, there’s no need to dishonour it any longer.
Who Is On The Selection Committee? The opinions proffered on GoodCarBadCar.net are those of Timothy Cain, the founder and editor of GCBC. Thus, the victories garnered have not been won by acquiring multiple third-place votes. Each winner and loser is given a full-tilt opinion-filled explanation.
What’s The History? Check out last year’s Good 12 and last year’s Bad 8 to see previous selections.
