Industry Report: AJAC Announces 2005 Canadian Car of the Year Category Winners

But what if AJAC brought back last year's winner for each category and pitted them against the best of this year's crop? Would

The "Best New Economy Car" for 2005 is the Kia Spectra Sedan LX. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press)

such a contest be a better way of figuring out who makes the "best" new vehicle in each segment?

One reason why this won't happen, according to AJAC officials, is that last year there were only 10 categories and 9 the year before, therefore it would be impossible to line up every 2004 winner side by side with each 2005 winner. But some do match up identically, and for those the 2004 winner will be mentioned so that a more balanced representation can be had.

The "Best New Economy Car" for 2005 is the Kia Spectra Sedan LX, an extremely solid choice. It combines excellent road manners with above par build quality, all for a very attractive price. Last year's winner was the

The new Mazda6 Sport, a 5-door liftback version of the entertaining Mazda6 sedan, took the honors of "Best New Family Car". (Photo: Shawn Pisio, Canadian Auto Press)

Mazda3, which arguably is still the segment leader albeit more expensive than the Spectra. Other new entries in this category are the Chevrolet Cobalt/Pontiac Pursuit, Hyundai Accent 5-Door (which is actually a subcompact), and smart fortwo coupe and cabriolet (which are smaller than the subcompact class).

The "Best New Family Car" category should be undisputable, being that the new Mazda6 Sport, a 5-door liftback version of the entertaining Mazda6 sedan, took the honors. Why undisputable? Only because last year's segment winner was the Mazda6 sedan, a fact that makes 2004 and 2005 a very impressive one-two knockout for the alternative Japanese automaker. Runners up in the family car segment are the Buick Allure, Ford Five Hundred, Pontiac G6 and Subaru Legacy, all superb new cars.