Motor Trend 2006 SUV of the Year

[ifcar]

http://motortrend.com/features/news/112_news051025_suvoty/

Motor Trend Awards 2006 Sport/Utility of the Year
Diverse field of contenders defines the modern classification of an SUV

Motor Trend, the world's number one automotive authority and part of Primedia's Consumer Automotive Group, has selected the Nissan Xterra as Motor Trend's 2006 Sport/Utility of the Year.

"The Motor Trend awards have become a staple in the automotive industry and we are pleased to award Nissan for stepping up to the plate with this impressive vehicle," said Angus MacKenzie, editor-in-chief of Motor Trend. "Our audience depends on us to honor the new model that best demonstrates overall superiority, significance and value, and the Xterra stood out in each of those categories for its outstanding engineering, impressive on and off-road ability and clear focus on its target customers."

Motor Trend's editorial staff selected this year's winner from a field of 12 vehicles after comprehensive evaluations, which included off-road, street and track testing. Eligible vehicles were new or substantially redesigned sport/utilities scheduled to be on sale by January 1, 2006. This year's contenders included Ford Explorer, Hummer H3, Hyundai Tucson, Jeep Commander, Kia Sportage, Mercedes-Benz ML, Mercury Mountaineer, Pontiac Torrent, Range Rover Sport, Subaru Tribeca, and the Suzuki Grand Vitara.

After many days of grueling testing, the Motor Trend editors agreed the Nissan Xterra raises the bar in terms of engineering, design, performance and safety. This vehicle delivers amazing 'bang for your buck,' thanks to clever product development that ensures versatility and value.

The Xterra's value continues in the interior where savvy technology and electronics add functionality, while passengers experience comfort, space and support. Special attention was paid to the cargo area with an easy to clean cargo floor, rubberized rear seats, ten utility hooks throughout and two adjustable channels in the floor, which make it easy to secure gear and bikes.

"The Xterra is not a truck trying to be a car, or a car trying to be a truck or a minivan trying to be anything else," said MacKenzie. "It is a sport/utility in the purest sense of the term. No matter where the driver decides to go, through a country side road, hauling gear up a mountain, or simply from point A to point B, the Xterra will get them there quickly, quietly and in style."

About the Testing and Evaluation Process
Each year since 1949, the editorial staff of Motor Trend has evaluated eligible vehicles based on three key categories: Significance, Superiority, and Value. Significance refers to innovation in engineering, technology, design, safety and packaging. Superiority levels the playing field and looks for class-leading levels of vehicle dynamics and performance, build quality and execution, and how well the vehicle performs its intended function. Finally, the all-important Value question asks, "What does this vehicle deliver in relation to what the consumer has to pay to purchase and own it?"

The complete report on the Motor Trend 2006 Sport/Utility of the Year testing and selection will be published in the December issue of Motor Trend, available on newsstands November 1, 2005. Multimedia coverage of the testing and selection process will be broadcast on Motor Trend Radio, hosted by Bob Long.

About Motor Trend
Motor Trend, a PRIMEDIA publication, was founded in 1949 and has a circulation of 1.1 million and a total readership of 7.1 million. Internationally recognized as the world's number one automotive authority, Motor Trend is one of the leading brands in automotive publishing. The Motor Trend brand is comprised of Motor Trend Classic, motortrend.com; Motor Trend Television; Motor Trend Radio; Truck Trend; Motor Trend International Auto Shows; Motor Trend en Espanol; and the renowned Motor Trend Car, Sport/Utility and Truck of the Year Awards program.

[cawimmer430]

MOTOR TREND = AMERICA HATERS!

[Raghavan]

THe Xterra, eh? That's a suprise...

[cawimmer430]

THe Xterra, eh? That's a suprise...

MOTOR TREND = AMERICA HATERS!!!!

Trust me on this!    :P  

[thewizard16]

Hmm. I wouldn't have guessed that. I don't mind the Xterra, but I don't see anything fantastic about it.

[El Barto]

[ nissan troll ]   [ /nissan troll ]  :D  

[TBR]

THe Xterra, eh? That's a suprise...

MOTOR TREND = AMERICA HATERS!!!!

Trust me on this!    :P

Actually, MT has exhibited some domestic bias in the past, they actually named the Thunderbird their 2002 Car of the Year!  

[Raza]

Figures.  The ML and Range Rover Sport are too expensive to make the cut, probably, the Explorer and the like are fairly mundane, nothing is revolutionary or stand-out about the Tribeca other than its ugliness, the Tucson and Sportage are other SUVs with nothing special about them, the H3 is really no better than the Xterra.  Don't know much about the Commander.  

Good choice, though.

[Fire It Up]

[ nissan troll ]   [ /nissan troll ]  :D

 

[SaltyDog]

I applaud them for picking the Xterra.

I can't say I'm as surprised as some of you.  They are a performance mag and will naturally pick a car liked by it's enthusiast readers.  CR, on the other hand, leans toward mainstream for the same reason.

[SJ_GTI]

What?!? The Pontiac "Torrent" didn't win?!?

I am with cawimmer on this one. MT obviously hates America!!!

:o  

[cawimmer430]

THe Xterra, eh? That's a suprise...

MOTOR TREND = AMERICA HATERS!!!!

Trust me on this!    :P

Actually, MT has exhibited some domestic bias in the past, they actually named the Thunderbird their 2002 Car of the Year!

I was just trying to sound like PMC.    

[TBR]

Yeah, I know. I just wanted to point out that it is fairly surprising to see the Xterra win over the H3 considering the domestic bias MT has exhibited in the past.

[ifcar]

No enthusiast mag could resist the Nissan's vast performance advantage.  

[Submariner]

MOTOR TREND = AMERICA HATERS!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!  IT CANT BE!  :o  :o  :o  :o  :o



























<_<    

[Secret Chimp]

What?!? The Pontiac "Torrent" didn't win?!?

I am with cawimmer on this one. MT obviously hates America!!!

:o

Hell, people barely know about that thing. I've barely seen a handful of commercials for it, and that's only in the last month or two.

[ifcar]

Maybe Pontiac is purposefully refusing to draw attention to their Equinox clone. <_<

[thewizard16]

Maybe Pontiac is purposefully refusing to draw attention to their Equinox clone. <_<

It wouldn't be a bad plan. The only prolific Pontiac commercial (other than for the Solstice, of course) I've seen lately is for the G6 coupe, which looks really nice.  

[CaseyNPham]

If I am correct, I think they chose the Kia Optima as the best midsize sedan once, but not for an award of anything like that..... So then I stopped subscribing.

[ifcar]

That doesn't sound like anything I've seen. The Optima has not earned much praise among enthusiasts.  

[TBR]

The stupidest thing they've ever done was name the Thunderbird as the 2002 Car of the Year.

[ifcar]

It's called "following the hype". They did it with the 300 too, the only reason they weren't criticized there was because you could put a big engine in it and because it sold well.  

[TBR]

That's a little different, the Thunderbird was a terrible car that was horribly overpriced, the 300 on the other hand is a pretty good car (though recent competition has passed it) that is only mildly overpriced.

[Raza]

That's a little different, the Thunderbird was a terrible car that was horribly overpriced, the 300 on the other hand is a pretty good car (though recent competition has passed it) that is only mildly overpriced.

What competition has passed it?  The 300C and Avalon are comparably priced, and the 300C has a V8 and RWD, whereas the Avalon has a ballooned body on an already overstressed Camry chassis.  

[thewizard16]

That's a little different, the Thunderbird was a terrible car that was horribly overpriced, the 300 on the other hand is a pretty good car (though recent competition has passed it) that is only mildly overpriced.

What competition has passed it?  The 300C and Avalon are comparably priced, and the 300C has a V8 and RWD, whereas the Avalon has a ballooned body on an already overstressed Camry chassis.

There are other reasons that the Avalon is more likable from an overall standpoint than the 300. Yes, it has a V8 and RWD, and that's where a lot of it's appeal ends. Unless you like the styling, and then people seem to love it regardless of anything else.

[ifcar]

That's a little different, the Thunderbird was a terrible car that was horribly overpriced, the 300 on the other hand is a pretty good car (though recent competition has passed it) that is only mildly overpriced.

Let's not get back into this, shall we? I still consider the 300 V6 to be mediocre at best, it just doesn't stand out in any way and is quite expensive.

And I don't think the Thunderbird was a terrible car. It wasn't remotely sporty, but it wasn't designed to be. Think of it as an comfortable cruiser, a value option against an SC430 and a premium option against a Sebring. Nothing wrong with that, except that the retro styling attracted hype that it couldn't live up to.  

[ifcar]

That's a little different, the Thunderbird was a terrible car that was horribly overpriced, the 300 on the other hand is a pretty good car (though recent competition has passed it) that is only mildly overpriced.

What competition has passed it?  The 300C and Avalon are comparably priced, and the 300C has a V8 and RWD, whereas the Avalon has a ballooned body on an already overstressed Camry chassis.

The 300C is not a direct Avalon competitor except that they're roughly the same size and price. And it's not the C that is expensive without merits, it's the V6 versions.  

[Raza]

That's a little different, the Thunderbird was a terrible car that was horribly overpriced, the 300 on the other hand is a pretty good car (though recent competition has passed it) that is only mildly overpriced.

What competition has passed it?  The 300C and Avalon are comparably priced, and the 300C has a V8 and RWD, whereas the Avalon has a ballooned body on an already overstressed Camry chassis.

The 300C is not a direct Avalon competitor except that they're roughly the same size and price. And it's not the C that is expensive without merits, it's the V6 versions.

I'll agree with you there.  But the 300C represents amazing value for money if it's your style.

[ifcar]

Right, I'm not criticizing the 300C at all. If you want a lot of acceleration for the dollar and interior space, it's hard to find a better choice. (The new Impala SS is astonishingly close, however.)

[TBR]

That's a little different, the Thunderbird was a terrible car that was horribly overpriced, the 300 on the other hand is a pretty good car (though recent competition has passed it) that is only mildly overpriced.

Let's not get back into this, shall we? I still consider the 300 V6 to be mediocre at best, it just doesn't stand out in any way and is quite expensive.

And I don't think the Thunderbird was a terrible car. It wasn't remotely sporty, but it wasn't designed to be. Think of it as an comfortable cruiser, a value option against an SC430 and a premium option against a Sebring. Nothing wrong with that, except that the retro styling attracted hype that it couldn't live up to.

Sorry, the Thunderbird was and is pure crap. It has very little over the 30k Sebring convertible yet costs $10k more and is lacking a rear seat. And, I've never seen anyone say very good things about the Sebring.

Also, one could argue that the 300 line-up adds up to good:

300C (GREAT) + 300 Base/Touring/Limited (medicore)= 300 line-up (good)

It's all in the math.

That said, I still don't consider even the non C 300 to be medicore. It may not be at the top of the class, but compared to what was out before it it was nothing short of excellent (XG350, Crown Victoria, Park Avenue, Le Sabre, etc). I simply won't say that a car has gone from top of the class to medicore in 3 months.