AND CANADA’S CAR OF THE YEAR IS...

The Automobile Journalists Association of Canada ( AJAC) has named the 2017 Volkswagen Golf Alltrack as this year’s Canadian Car of the Year at the 2017 Canadian International Auto Show in Toronto.

The Golf Alltrack — also AJAC’s Best New Large Car — beat out the BMW M2 and the Hyundai Elantra, the two other finalists in the running for AJAC’s Car of the Year Award. Not walking away empty- handed, the M2 — arguably one of the purest M cars in recent years — took AJAC’s Best New Premium Sports/ Performance Car award.

The Elantra, freshly redesigned for 2017 and Canada’s second best-selling car, is AJAC’s Best New Small Car.

Its performance- oriented sibling, the Elantra Sport, is AJAC’s Best New Performance Car for 2017.

The Golf Alltrack’s win, meanwhile, marks t he second consecutive year of AJAC accolades for the Golf — last year, the Golf Sportwagon and Golf R were named AJAC’s Best Family Car and Best Sports/ Performance Car under $50,000, respectively.

Along with the Car of the Year, AJAC named the refreshed 2017 Subaru Forester as this year’s Utility Vehicle of the Year.

The standard all- wheeldrive CUV beat out the allnew Mercedes- Benz GLC 300 and the thoroughly reworked Chrysler Pacifica, which won AJAC’s Best New Premium Utility and Best New Large Utility Vehicle of the Year awards, respectively. Best New Small Car Hyundai Elantra Best New Large Car and Canadian Car of the Year Volkswagen Golf Alltrack Best New Large Premium Car Buick LaCrosse Best New Sports/ Performance Car Hyundai Elantra Sport Best New Premium Sports/ Performance Car BMW M2 Best New Small Utility Vehicle and Utility Vehicle of t he Year Subaru Forester Best New Large Utility Vehicle Chrysler Pacifica Best New Premium Utility Vehicle Mercedes-Benz GLC 300 4Matic