Toronto, ON – AJAC announced this morning the Subaru Legacy won double honours as AJAC’s Canadian Car of the Year and Best New Family Car under $30,000. The Legacy earned its highly coveted award by beating out the Hyundai Genesis, Mercedes-Benz C 300 4MATIC, and Volkswagen Golf as close runner-ups.
Ford with their F-150, clinched the AJAC Canadian Utility of the Year, beating out the Porsche Macan S, Toyota Highlander and Subaru Outback for AJAC’s 2015 Truck of the Year.
Every year, automotive journalists from all over Canada gather in Niagara Falls for a five-day “TestFest” – essentially a five-day test drive of all the newest cars and trucks. All the category winners were chosen after rigorous back-to-back “real-world” testing on public roads.
CCOTY Co-Chair, Justin Pritchard says, ““Our program is absolutely testing-based. “We’ve got dozens of experienced vehicle testers driving dozens of vehicles, back-to-back, over the course of several days. This testing process generated 1,640 test drives producing approximately 106,405 data points and 500 category ballots. It’s important to note that every aspect of this testing data is shared online via our web site so that shoppers can see how a given vehicle won its category, or how it stacked up to the category winner.”
A new award from AJAC, Green Car of the Year will be announced at the Vancouver Auto Show from four finalists:
Below is the full list of Category winners and runners up:
| AJAC 2015 Best New Vehicles | |
| Best New City Car | Kia Soul EV Runner-up: smart fortwo electric drive |
| Best New Small Car (under $21,000) | Honda Fit Runner-up: Nissan Micra SV |
| Best New Small Car (over $21,000) | Volkswagen Golf Runners-up: Kia Forte5, MINI Cooper |
| Best New Family Car (under $30,000) | Subaru Legacy Runners-up: Chrysler 200, Toyota Camry |
| Best New Family Car (over $30,000) | Hyundai Sonata Runners-up: Subaru WRX, Toyota Camry Hybrid |
| Best New Luxury Car (under $50,000) | Mercedes-Benz C-Class Runners-up: Acura TLX, Volvo V60 |
| Best New Luxury Car (over $50,000) | Hyundai Genesis Runners-up: Acura RLX Sport Hybrid, Cadillac ATS Coupe |
| Best New Sports/Performance (under $50,000) | BMW M235i Runners-up: Ford Mustang EcoBoost, Subaru WRX STI |
| Best New Sports/Performance (over $50,000) | Volvo V60 Polestar Runners-up: Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat, Ford Mustang GT |
| Best New Prestige Car (over $75,000) | Mercedes-Benz S-Class Coupé Runners-up: Cadillac ELR, Cadillac Escalade |
| Best New Prestige/Performance Car (over $75,000) | Porsche 911 Turbo S Runners-up: BMW M4 Coupé, Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Convertible |
| Best New SUV/CUV (under $35,000) | Subaru Outback Runners-up: Honda CR-V, Nissan Rogue |
| Best New SUV/CUV (between $35,000 and $60,000) | Toyota Highlander Runners-up: Lincoln MKC, Mercedes-Benz GLA 250 |
| Best New SUV/CUV (over $60,000) | Porsche Macan S Runners-up: GMC Yukon XL Denali, Mercedes-Benz GLA 45 AMG |
| Best New Pickup | Ford F-150 Runners-up: Chevrolet Colorado, GMC Canyon |
2015 Subaru Legacy – Photo: Ronnie Fung
