Howdy! It’s your friendly neighborhood Deputy Editor here, closing down a fantastic year of reviews and first drives with The Drive‘s inaugural year-end Awards. It was a big year for our friends, the cars, so we thought we’d select some of our favorites to receive this great honor. Here’s what you, dear reader, can expect.
Reviews are something we take very seriously here at The Drive. We aim to provide both escapist entertainment and valuable consumer advice. We seek to put all of you in the driver’s seat, and every single review is written with what value a reader will walk away with in mind. We listen and pay attention to everything you say in order to best tailor our stories to benefit you. In short, it’s not about us. It’s about you. The cars we’ve chosen as winners in their respective categories all demonstrate traits we believe to be the best and most public-serving.
Starting today, we’ll be announcing the finalists and winners of the Golden Slash across six categories. We’ll kick the series off with Best Truck later today, then Best EV and Best Car Under $40,000 on Wednesday, Best SUV and Best Performance Car on Thursday, and finish things off with the overall Best Car of 2022 on Friday. Requirements? The candidates all must be new cars that we’ve driven in 2022. So even though I personally think the 2012 Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG Black Series ought to win every single award under the sun, it’s disqualified because you can’t actually buy it new.
Contestants were selected based on the score the writer gave in the spec box of their review. We rounded up the top five highest-scoring cars in their categories, put them to a staff-wide vote, and let democracy take its course. There’s one winner per category (obviously), but the remaining four will serve as runner-ups.
Finally, the winners of Best Truck, EV, Car Under $40,000, SUV, and Performance Car will duke it out as the nominees for Best Overall Car.
Keep an eye on this space as we roll out the winners. In the meantime, feel free to leave a comment on what you think will win and why.
Got a tip? Email kristen@thedrive.com