What separates a truly great car from one that’s simply very good?

Human emotion plays a large role in anyone’s estimation of a vehicle, of course; while you may think a Land Rover Defender is cramped, noisy and uncomfortable, my opinion of that automotive anachronism has been shaped by the sheer joy of regularly driving one on a farm long before it was legal for me to do so. I unequivocally love a Defender, warts and all, and you may feel similarly about a different example.

When it comes to voting for CAR’S annual Top 12 Best Buys awards, however, we take a far more scientific approach to separate the good cars from the great ones. We consider only those vehicles in which we’ve spent lots of time; doing otherwise would be misleading. Because context is crucial, we compare them with their direct rivals to measure their relative levels of excellence. And then we pore over our road test data, spec sheets, driving impressions and road tests before we vote.

That’s why, when you turn to page 44 to find out which cars were victorious, you can do so content in the knowledge these recommendations have been meticulously considered to give you sound advice before you embark on buying a new car this year.

We repeat this process for Top 12 Used Best Buys, only this time running costs outside the term of a cushioning service or maintenance plan, resale values and reliability factor in more strongly.

In total, that’s 22 pages neatly summarising what makes this 62-year-old title so great: honest, unfiltered consumer advice. I’d appreciate your opinion on our winners: do you agree or disagree with our picks? Send us an email or tweet me.