Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

Popular Mechanics doles out its Top 10 Cars of 2011

As 2010 draws to a close, it's time for different publications to start dishing out the numerous "car of the year" awards that highlight the best and brightest offerings for each new model year. The folks at Popular Mechanics have just released their Top 10 Cars for 2011, with American manufacturers (Ford, specifically) taking away the vast majority of top honors. Add General Motors and Chrysler to the mix, and the Big Three account for six of the ten vehicles on Popular Mechanics' list.

Ford's Mustang, Fiesta and F-250 Super Duty were all recognized as class-leaders for the 2011 model year. Across town, the new Cadillac CTS Coupe and Chevrolet Volt were given a hat tip from the editors, as was the Jeep Grand Cherokee, one of parent company Chrysler's big comebacks for the year 2011. The remaining awards were given to the Hyundai Sonata, Toyota Sienna, Lotus Evora and Infiniti M, all of which are fantastic cars in their own rights.

To see which cars were honored for each category, you can scroll through our image gallery of the winners, or hit the jump to read the official press release. Look for the full story in Popular Mechanics' December issue, which hits newsstands on November 12.

Gallery:
http://www.autoblog.com/photos/popul...-2011/#3525958

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/11/01/p...-cars-of-2011/

IS-SV

Nice to know, especially nice to know that Popular Mechanics still exists today.

LexFather

hahahhahahaha

LexBob2

Don't forget all of those barber shop subscriptions, along with Field & Stream.

mmarshall

You've been around a while. Do you remember the old Tom McCahill reviews in Popular Mechanics from the 60s and 70s? I remember when he rolled a rear-engined French Renault (don't remember exactly which one). Many rear-engine cars, back then, were tail-happy, unstable, and had swing-axle rear suspensions that, on hard cornering, sometimes allowed the outsides of the rear-tires to tuck-under and flip the vehicle on its side......or top.

mmarshall

I can (maybe) agree with the Mustang GT automatic, but the 6-speed manual's linkage is very disappointing (see my review for the details).

Agreed. Several things about the Fiesta I didn't like, but there's no question that the fuel-economy achievement, for a conventionally-powered gas car without a diesel or hybrid powertrain, is remarkable.

That's probably a toss-up. The same could be said for the fuel-cell Honda FCX.

IS-SV

Vaguely I do remember some of that stuff, not that it matters.

Lil4X

You had to wonder about "Uncle" Tom McCahill who often tested the size of a trunk by crawling into it and having himself photographed. Tom was a fixture at Mechanix Illustrated and later at Popular Mechanics, after WWII, where his reviews were considered gospel for hundreds of thousands of car buyers.

I think he managed to roll a Renault Dauphine, which was no real trick, what with swing axles, heavy rearward weight bias, and truly evil handling, the "Little Prince" was one of the worst postwar European cars imported into the US in the late '50's - early '60's. Designed for the badly mauled economies of the continent after the war, it was pretty nice looking, but as a design or quality exercise, it was a miserable failure - certainly in the American market.

Driven with due care, and limited to 60 mph highway speeds (the limit at the time), the Dauphine was a tiny, but reasonable piece of transportation, somewhat more conventional than its rival, the VW Beetle. It was interesting that the Wolfsburg product may have lost the war, but it soundly trounced the Gallic offering here in the land of the endless highway.

VW's could be driven all day long with the gas pedal pinned to the floor in whatever gear you chose. In fact the owner's manual for the '59 Microbus I drove for a TV repair shop shortly after getting my license, suggested that to maintain a constant 35mph, you kept it floored in third gear. Some cruise control, that. Volkswagen probably originated the term "restrictor plate", later adopted by NASCAR for the superspeedways.

Try that stunt in a Dauphine, and you would have a smoking heap on your hands. I had a friend who worked at the docks where the Renaults were unloaded and driven to the local dealership. I should say "RACED" to the local dealership, because the streets of the port became the French GP on the nights the shipments were unloaded. I'm surprised any arrived intact.

"Intact" was just a French expression for "generally hanging together", most buyers discovered. Within 60 days of ownership most had begun to leak oil, many burning it, and coating that rear "grill" with soot and oil - the standard livery of the Renault. Most were smoking heaps before the paint had turned to chalk - within three years. Somehow they continued to move under their own power, but the oil smoke that trailed them was probably more responsible for local mosquito control than the county mosquito-control sprayers.

Later Renaults redeemed themselves in my eyes, at least. I navigated an R-8 rally car a few years later in college, and it proved itself a fine, if unconventional, sports car. It wasn't much for power, but it could handle - you just didn't want to watch it perform a fast hairpin on three wheels, in which case it resembled a small dog relieving itself.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

how can volt win an award, it's not even out?

mmarshall

The auto press has (probably) had time to drive and evaluate it.

IS-SV

Agreed, even if subject car was a preproduction/prototype.

LexBob2

Plus the Volt "award" was for Technical Innovation. They probably were just acknowledging the innovation , not if/how it works.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

it's easy to innovate when you don't actually ship anything.

IS-SV

Volt looks good, on paper.