42 cars, trucks put to the test

The road to the 2016 Canadian Car of the Year awards started Monday at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in Bowmanville, Ont.

Members of the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC) gathered at Mosport to put 42 eligible cars, crossovers and trucks through their paces in the annual five-day event known as TestFest.

Category winners will be announced in December, with the overall 2016 Canadian Car and Utility Vehicle of the Year awards being announced at Toronto’s Canadian International Auto Show in February 2016.

Here’s the rundown of some of this year’s entries, grouped into categories.

Small car: The bestselling Honda Civic sedan goes up against the Scion iM (automatic transmission), the Toyota Yaris Sedan, Mercedes-Benz’s Smart for two coupe and Volkswagen’s Jetta (1.4 TSI).

Family car: Hyundai’s Sonata Hybrid goes up against the Chevrolet Volt and Volkswagen Golf Sportwagon (1.8 TSI) for the crown. Sports/Performance under $50K: Chevrolet’s beefy Camaro SS goes up against Mazda MX-5 Miata, Hyundai Veloster Rally Edition, Mini John Cooper Works 3-Door and Volkswagen’s hot hatch, the Golf R. Sports/Performance over $50K: Ford’s 526-horsepower Shelby GT350 Mustang will go up against Mercedes-AMG’s C 63 S super sedan, Chevrolet Corvette Z06, Cadillac ATS-V and the Lexus RC 350 AWD. Prestige/Performance over $75K: The Cadillac CTS-V competes with the Mercedes-AMG GT S Coupe, Porsche Cayman GT4 and Lexus RC F.

SUV/CUV under $35K: The Jeep Renegade, Fiat 500X, Honda HR-V, Mazda CX-3 and the Mitsubishi Outlander with 2.4-L engine, battle.

SUV/CUV over $60K: The Lincoln MKX, MercedesBenz GLE 350d 4Matic Coupe, Porsche Cayenne S E-Hybrid and the Volvo XC90 compete.

Pickup: The GMC Canyon Diesel faces the Chevrolet Silverado and the Toyota Tacoma (4X4 Double Cab).