The WeeklyDriver.com had its most successful year in 2011. We posted plenty of car news and automotive trends articles, and we incorporated a good supply of independent videos to complement the approximately 100 vehicles we reviewed.
As editor and publisher of the site, I reviewed 29 cars and trucks in 2011. I drove more than a dozen other vehicles at press launches for several automakers, and I want to thank the nearly dozen manufacturers I worked with in 2011 for their continued support. Thanks also to Michael Dobrin Public Relations, Page One Automotive and Special Transport, Inc., for their continued logistics and manufacturer liaison assistance.
As editor and publisher of the site, I reviewed 29 cars and trucks in 2011. I drove more than a dozen other vehicles at press launches for several automakers, and I want to thank the nearly dozen manufacturers I worked with in 2011 for their continued support. Thanks also to Michael Dobrin Public Relations, Page One Automotive and Special Transport, Inc., for their continued logistics and manufacturer liaison assistance.
In July, I traveled to the Tour de France for the 13th time. There's no better place to test a new car than driving at high speeds on French freeways or while negotiating undulating country roads or while precariously ascending and descending narrow roads in the Alps and Pyrenees.
I reserved a Volkswagen TDI diesel for the estimated 5,000-mile journey. But the fine folks at Hertz made a mistake and I drove a Renault Clio around France for three weeks. There are many reasons why Renault isn't sold in the United States, and let's hope it stays that way.
Our contributing editors contributed dozens of reviews and videos to TheWeeklyDriver.com in 2011. The site, which debuted in 2003, has also gained appreciable advertising support. It's now an official Google News source. We're on Facebook and Twitter, and we have a YouTube channel (TheWeeklyDriver). We also recently debuted our site re-design.
Add it altogether and for the fifth straight year we're presenting our Best-of-the-Year list for 2011.
Many automotive sites pick Cars of the Year before the calendar year begins. They have their reasons. TheWeeklyDriver.com makes selections at the end of the year. We feel it allows for a year of reflection on what the automotive industry had to offer.
This year, for the first time, we're adding the favorite cars of 2011 from the site's contributing editors:
Derek Mau, contributing editor, photographer. Mau, the former editor of CarReview.com, recently joined TheWeeklyDriver.com. He's a skilled writer and photographer and has a keen sense of website dynamics. We met Mau at regional Toyota launch in Sonoma, California, we'll be colloborating more in 2012.
Mau selected the Hyundai Elantra:
"A 40 mpg car that has does not remind you it is a economy car. The 2011 Hyundai Elantra looks better than a Civic, performs beyond most cars in its class, and has a long list of standard features that would make Santa blush. Hyundai has brought together a winning combination of value, style, and performance in the redesigned Elantra, which makes the competition shrink in comparison.
"Unlike the Ford Fiesta, Ford Focus, and Chevy Cruze, shoppers do not have to upgrade to higher trims to get the advantage of high fuel efficiency rating of Elantra's 29/40 mpg city/highway. In the highly contested compact class, the Hyundai Elantra is a car that excels at most everything."
."
And, finally, the top-10 Cars of the Year from TheWeeklyDriver.com.
My list isn't based on a points system or any objective rankings. Rather, it's 10 vehicles among the cars I drove during 2011 that I found innovative or efficient or are just fun to drive. I didn't single out one car of the year simply because it's unfair to do so.
Each car's MSRP is listed, followed by the price as tested and a comment. The alphabetical list varies from the performance and economic wonder Mazda 2 to the plush, solid Volvo S60. I've also listed the top-10 vehicles selected by TheWeeklyDriver.com from the previous four years.
No comments:
Post a Comment