The 2016 Honda Civic was named the Canadian Car of the Year at the Canadian International Auto Show (CIAS) in Toronto February 11, and the Mazda CX-3 the Canadian Utility Vehicle of the Year, as judged by the members of the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC).
The tenth-generation Civic, built in Alliston, Ontario, beat out the Volkswagen Golf R and Golf Sportwagon for the title, likely due in part to the fact AJAC’s scoring sheet includes a field for “market significance,” and the Civic has been Canada’s best-selling car for the last 18 consecutive years.
Related: 2016 Honda Civic first drive: The best one yet
The Mazda CX-3 faced competition from the Kia Sorento and Volvo XC90 but ended up seizing the best Canadian utility crown; the vehicle was also the winner of the Best New SUV-Crossover Under $35,000.
Related: Mazda CX-3 review: Familiar fun in an all-new package
The AJAC vehicle-of-the-year awards are selected based on testing by roughly 70 automotive journalists from across the country; these members of the association meet at an annual “TestFest” event where every eligible car is tested back-to-back. The subjective scores awarded by each journalist are combined with objective measures like fuel economy and price factor; those results are tabulated and broken down into category winners. The Canadian car and utility vehicles of the year are then selected from those winners.
