Car of the Year Awards 2008 [PLEASE READ FIRST]

[fisetdavid26]

UCP Car of the Year Awards

I decided to change last year's formula, which was generally a mess more than anything else, to make it much more organized. I know not everybody will be pleased, but I'm giving my idea a try, and we can always change the formula next year anyway. I divided the Car of the Year award into two categories, mainly to give mass produced vehicles a chance. Last year most people voted for a supercar, I won't blame you, I did as well. However, I feel like great cars such as, say, the Ford Mondeo, the Subaru Legacy or the Fiat 500 deserve a chance to be nominated. The way it works this year is as follow: the two main categories are "Mass Market Car of the Year" and "High-end Car/Supercar of the Year". Now it was complicated to find a proper way to set boundaries between the two, very hard in fact. First I thought about using MSRP, aka under/above $100,000, but this way has flaws: a $80,000 Nissan GT-R is a supercar in its own rights and doesn't belong in the mass market category. Then I thought about power-to-weight ratio as it makes the most sense, but unfortunately this piece of information is not available in the UCP database, and I don't want people to have to look up all over the internet to find the info. Ultimately I decided I would split the two categories as follow: under/above 300 bhp. Now obviously this way has flaws as well, since horsepower is very subjective. For example, an Ariel Atom with a 245 bhp engine produces supercar-territory numbers. For this very reason I will have to allow exceptions, depending on performance numbers. Use your common sense as you nominate cars, please.

Moreover, the main two categories are split in 4 sub-categories. The reason is simple, there are too many cars nominated to do only one poll, which allows for a maximum of 15 entries. So I thought I would divide the car by territories. "Best American Car", "Best European Car", "Best Australian Car" and "Best Asian Car" are the sub-categories. The 3 cars that receive the most nominations in each sub-categories will make it to the final "Mass Market Car of the Year" and "High-end Car/Supercar of the Year" voting threads. That's 12 choices in each categories, which is under the 15 entries maximum limit for a poll. It allows me as well to enter 3 additional cars in case there are ties in the nomination threads, eliminating the need for run-off threads (providing there are no more than 3 ties, hopefully).

I will post the results of all of the awards in a thread when all the voting threads are closed, and whichever car has the most votes between "Mass Market Car of the Year" and "High-end Car/Supercar of the Year" will ultimately win the overall UCP Car of the Year title.

Multiple nominations are allowed.

RULES

Now this is subject to debate as well, but I had to set rules so here they are. Again, we can change them next year if they are widely criticized

• Nominated cars have to have been introduced at an auto show in 2008 and/or...
  
• ...sold as a 2008 or 2009 model year (so if a car was introduced at an auto show in 2007 AND made it as a 2008MY production car, it can be nominated)
• ...be a production car, OR a concept car INTENDED for production (confirmed, not based on rumours)

LINKS

Nomination Threads

Best European Mass Market Car (2008)
Best Asian Mass Market Car (2008)
Best American Mass Market Car (2008)
Best Australian Mass Market Car (2008)

Best European High-end Car/Supercar (2008)
Best Asian High-end Car/Supercar (2008)
Best American High-end Car/Supercar (2008)
Best Australian High-end Car/Supercar (2008)

I will add links to the voting threads here once they are up.

[henk4]

now to further clarify what does for instance
"european mass market" stand for.
Is it a car that is produced in Europe or a car available in Europe?

[fisetdavid26]

Originally Posted by henk4

now to further clarify what does for instance
"european mass market" stand for.
Is it a car that is produced in Europe or a car available in Europe?

Made by a manufacturer whose origin is European.

[Ferrer]

Isn't it a bit overcomplicated?

[fisetdavid26]

Originally Posted by Ferrer

Isn't it a bit overcomplicated?

At first, yes. But it's not that complicated when you think about it: "was the car available in 2008?", "does it produce above/under 300 bhp?" and "where does it come from?". 3 simple questions you have to ask yourself before nominating a car. Repeated a maximum of 8 times. Not exactly brain shattering.

Also, I wanted to make the awards look professional.

[henk4]

Originally Posted by fisetdavid26

Made by a manufacturer whose origin is European.

In that case I propose that only European based members can enter the competition for European cars, and likewise American voters for american cars etc. In Europe we have very little exposure to American made cars, and the same is valid for European made cars in the USA. Nobody can say anything about Australian cars but Australians...(and some obscure export markets).

[fisetdavid26]

Originally Posted by henk4

In that case I propose that only European based members can enter the competition for European cars, and likewise American voters for american cars etc. In Europe we have very little exposure to American made cars, and the same is valid for European made cars in the USA. Nobody can say anything about Australian cars but Australians...(and some obscure export markets).

Well you see, I thought about that as well. To be entirely honest I have been working on the COTY awards for a month now.

I do not think votes should be region-limited. If European members know best about European cars - as they should - they will nominate them and vote for them in the voting thread. Also, I would have to delete the Asian threads as there are not enough Asian members on the forums (no Japanese as far as I know - which is the biggest market by far).

The other point is, I don't know the Australian market too well, for example - and the obscure market your mentioned - and I am hoping to learn more about said markets, and hopefully other members will learn about them as well.

[henk4]

Originally Posted by fisetdavid26

I do not think votes should be region-limited. If European members know best about European cars - as they should - they will nominate them and vote for them in the voting thread. Also, I would have to delete the Asian threads as there are not enough Asian members on the forums (no Japanese as far as I know - which is the biggest market by far).

Sure but if american members can nominate/vote there as well, I know what the result will be, as they are only exposed to German cars. And these cars will win, given the large amount of US members. Not that I am against German cars winning per se, but the vote will be rather biased.

[fisetdavid26]

Originally Posted by henk4

Sure but if american members can nominate/vote there as well, I know what the result will be, as they are only exposed to German cars. And these cars will win, given the large amount of US members. Not that I am against German cars winning per se, but the vote will be rather biased.

Okay, good point, I will decide what's the ideal solution before posting up the voting threads, judging by the nominations.

EDIT: 5,000th post

[IBrake4Rainbows]

You know my feelings about these awards - far, far too complicated & going to be a huge drain on your resources.

But I'll contribute with my 0.02c. Mostly because It's important that I do.

[coolieman1220]

i should haev read these beforehand....

[fisetdavid26]

Originally Posted by coolieman1220

i should haev read these beforehand....

Probably.

Haven't seen anything wrong with your submissions yet though.

[Rockefella]

Originally Posted by IBrake4Rainbows

You know my feelings about these awards - far, far too complicated & going to be a huge drain on your resources.

But I'll contribute with my 0.02c. Mostly because It's important that I do.

It's not that much work. The worst part of the awards last year was setting up the main thread and hyperlinks to the 30 some-odd other threads that had nominations/final vote tallies. This format will work much better. Otherwise the GT-R would win COTY in a landslide.

[Quiggs]

Originally Posted by Rockefella

It's not that much work. The worst part of the awards last year was setting up the main thread and hyperlinks to the 30 some-odd other threads that had nominations/final vote tallies. This format will work much better. Otherwise the GT-R would win COTY in a landslide.

I think the ZR1 would beat it.

[Kitdy]

Originally Posted by Quiggs

I think the ZR1 would beat it.

I think it's between the two.