Tough job, but someone's gotta do it. Haney Louka in the new Porsche Panamera.
The AJAC TestFest candy store (above, below).
NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE, ONT. -- it was the end of October, so for this car nut it could mean only one thing -- TestFest!
Yes, there's Halloween too, but I was back home with nearly 24 hours to spare before standing on the end of neighbours' driveways waiting for my kids to pilfer sweets from their homes.
TestFest is an annual vehicle competition put on by the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada with the end goal of bestowing the awards for Canadian Car and Utility Vehicle of the Year. Here's a primer on how it's done, so when you see an ad referencing an AJAC award, you'll know what kind of rigorous testing these vehicles underwent to earn these prestigious titles.
You may see or hear other reports about TestFest with interviews with journalists who assert this event is extremely hard work for the voting members of AJAC. I'll concede it's certainly a busy week, and that the voters need to take their role in this process seriously. It's also a tremendous undertaking for the organizers and volunteers involved.
But I'd be doing my readers a disservice if I described it as all work and no play. The very act of driving a couple dozen cars and scrutinizing them for their strengths and weaknesses relative to other entries is the very definition of fun in my books, and it's why I look forward to travelling to Niagara-on-the-Lake each fall for this four-day event.
It all starts early in the summer, when manufacturers submit their entries to the Canadian Car of the Year (COTY) committee -- a group of AJAC members who operate at arm's length from the main organization -- for consideration. To be eligible, vehicles must satisfy a number of conditions. The simplest qualifications are that it's an entirely new vehicle, or if an existing vehicle has been introduced with a new powertrain type (like a new diesel engine or hybrid system). But those that are significantly updated can also be considered for acceptance.
For example, if a vehicle has undergone extensive updates to its body, interior or engine/powertrain, then it would also be considered for acceptance provided at least two of those three items have been updated. And lastly, manufacturers can plead their case if a proposed entry doesn't meet these criteria but they still feel it deserves to compete in the COTY competition.
Manufacturers also decide in which categories their entries will compete. While the categories are fairly well-established and consistent from year to year (barring adjustments in price ranges), there are variations. For example, because each category must contain at least three vehicles, there was no truck or van category this year.
Once the COTY committee determines which vehicles meet the eligibility criteria, a preliminary list is distributed to the AJAC voting members for their review and feedback. From that, the final list is compiled and TestFest takes shape.
This year, there were a total of 51 vehicles in 12 categories entered (see sidebar for the categories, eligible vehicles and category winners, which were announced last Friday). Each voting journalist is assigned two or three categories and drives all of the vehicles in an assigned category back-to-back and on the same day to ensure a valid comparison.
The test site is located at the Niagara District Airport, where a robust tent serves as the nerve centre of all activity. In it, three key stations are operated by student volunteers with wireless handheld scanners. Journalists sign out vehicles and work feverishly to get in 30-minute drives that involve a road test as well as two or three laps on a closed test track set up on the airport's runways.
At the end of the second day of testing, voters cast ballots electronically for all of their assigned categories (and more if they found the time to test others). Accounting firm KPMG then spends Day 3 calculating scores for each vehicle, using a combination of the subjective ballot scoring as well as a number of objective items based on performance-testing results and vehicle specifications.
For the journalists, Day 3 also means "free testing," where they can drive vehicles they didn't have time to take out during the official testing days. It's also an opportunity for people to take longer sessions with the cars for photographic purposes. This year, Volkswagen took over the track on Day 3 to run full- and half-day advanced driving courses for journalists interested in improving their driving techniques.
Yet another event occurred on the third day of TestFest, of which I was a part: presentations by the manufacturers vying for "best new technology" and "best new green technology" awards. Completely separate from the vehicle-rating exercises, the technology presentations are attended and voted on by a small group of voting journalists.
Entries this year in the technology category ranged from drive-enhancing technology (Audi's Drive Select) to collision-avoidance features (Volvo's City Safety). Green technology focused on hybrid systems from Toyota, Ford and Mercedes-Benz, as well as other specific features available on Toyota's hybrid models.
Day 4 of TestFest starts off with a well-attended press conference -- journalists, manufacturers' top executives, and mainstream media from Toronto were all present -- announcing the results of KPMG's vote counts. From that point and until the end of the day, journalists were required to drive all category winners they had not already driven earlier in the week.
This is perhaps the most hectic part of the week, when 50-odd journalists are clambering for 24 sets of keys. Those who played their cards right tried to anticipate category winners ahead of time and drive them on Day 3 when the demand for each vehicle wasn't so high. As for me, I needed to drive seven out of the 12 category winners, so my work wasn't finished until mid-afternoon.
Journalists then complete the second round of online voting, in which each of the 12 category winners are scored on such criteria as merit, value and emotional appeal. These are purely subjective evaluations, to be sure, an unavoidable result of trying to compare vehicles in different classes to come up with a winner.
As with the technology awards, the overall Car and Utility Vehicle of the Year will not be announced until the Canadian International Auto Show in Toronto next February.
TestFest is, as far as I'm aware, the only event of its kind in the world where journalists from across the country gather to evaluate such a wide range of vehicles in a manner that allows fair and objective comparison, and it's win-win for all involved. Journalists value the opportunity to experience so many vehicles over a short period of time. Manufacturers are happy their newest products have a chance in the spotlight. But, most importantly, this event exists to inform Canadian consumers about the latest and greatest new vehicles on the market.
Stay tuned for the announcement of overall Canadian Car and Utility Vehicle of the Year next February.
