2015 Vincentric ‘Best Value in Canada’ Winners Announced

The winners of the 2015 Vincentric ‘Best Value in Canada’ winners were announced today and this year, Toyota, Lexus, and Ram won top brand honours.

Once per year, Vincentric performs a cost of ownership analysis at the model level to determine which brand takes home the ‘Vincentric Best Value in Canada’ award for the consumer market. Winners are determined based on measurements taken by Vincentric on cost-of-ownership in Canada using eight different cost factors: depreciation, fees and taxes, financing, fuel, insurance, maintenance, opportunity cost, and repairs.

The winners are then identified when Vincentric compiles the data and determines which vehicles had lower than expected ownership costs given their market segment and price. All vehicles were evaluated in all 10 provinces, plus the Northwest Territories using a range of annual kilometre intervals and insurance profiles.

There are two award categories – one for the overall Brand Awards and then there are the Vehicle awards for each market category. Last year, our erstwhile News Editor, Mark Stevenson, questioned the validity of the awards due to a couple of issues.

For the fourth annual Vincentric awards in 2015, I’m not surprised to see Toyota crowned as the winner of the best Passenger Vehicle Brand. Lexus was crowned the best Luxury Brand, and Ram (surprising to me) was crowned best Truck Brand.

I’m not a finance expert or a market analyst – I’m an auto journalist and I have a great sense of how well a vehicle drives and I can express that into words to readers – and I understand these awards are not necessarily about what the best vehicle is, but more about which vehicle holds the best financial value.

One of issues I have with the vehicle results is that the winners of the categories are judged solely by the dollars and cents involved – not by the merits of the vehicle’s actual driving dynamics, features or the overall quality of the vehicle. For example, the Dodge Challenger was crowned as winner of the Passenger Car Sportscar – over the Camaro, Mustang, Toyobaru, or WRX STI.

The other issue (similar to Mark Stevenson’s last year) I have is the vehicles in the category itself. For example, the Subcompact Passenger Car (not utility) category was won by the Jeep Renegade. The Renegade was crowned as the Subcompact winner over the Nissan Micra or the Hyundai Accent. This tells me that Vincentric does not differentiate between a Subcompact SUV and a Subcompact car – the driver in me takes issue with that. Those should be two separate categories for obvious reasons.

The full list of vehicle winners is below:

PASSENGER CARS

Scion iQ – Micro
Jeep Renegade – Subcompact
Kia Forte Koup -Compact Coupe
Mazda Mazda3 – Compact Hatchback
Kia Forte – Compact Sedan
Toyota Prius – Compact Hybrid
Audi A3 – Premium Compact Sedan
Lexus CT 200h – Premium Compact Hybrid
Kia Soul EV – Electric/Plug-In Hybrid
Honda Accord – Mid-Size Coupe
Lexus RC 350 – Premium Mid-Size Coupe
Toyota Camry – Mid-Size Sedan
Honda Accord Hybrid – Mid-Size Sedan, Hybrid
Volvo S80 – Premium Mid-Size Sedan
Lexus ES 300h – Premium Mid-Size Sedan, Hybrid
Toyota Avalon – Large Sedan
Audi A7 – Premium Large Sedan
Porsche Panamera S E-Hybrid – Prestige
Volkswagen Eos – Convertible
Audi A3 – Premium Convertible
Dodge Challenger – Sports Car
Porsche Cayman – Premium Sports Car
Volkswagen Golf Sportswagon – Wagon
Mercedes-Benz E-Class – Premium Wagon

UTILITY VEHICLES, CROSSOVERS, and VANS

Chevrolet Trax – Entry-Level Compact Crossover
Honda CR-V – Mid-Level Compact Crossover
Lexus NX 200t – Premium Compact Crossover
Toyota Highlander – Mid-Size Crossover
Lincoln MKX – Premium Mid-Size Crossover
Ford Explorer – Large Crossover
Buick Enclave – Premium Large Crossover
Toyota Highlander Hybrid – Crossover Hybrid
Infiniti QX60 Hybrid – Premium Crossover Hybrid
Jeep Wrangler – Compact/Mid-Size SUV
Land Rover Range Rover Sport – Premium Mid-Size SUV
Toyota Sequoia – Large SUV
Lincoln Navigator – Premium Large SUV
Honda Odyssey – Minivan

PICKUP TRUCKS

Toyota Tacoma – Mid-Size Pickup
Ford F-150 – Full-Size 1/2-Ton Pickup
Ram 2500 – Full-Size 3/4-Ton Heavy Duty Pickup
Ram 3500 – Full-Size 1-Ton Heavy Duty Pickup

So there you have it – the results of the 2015 Vincentric ‘Best Value in Canada’ awards. For more information on how Vincentric calculates value, visit their page, here.