This week the North American Car and Truck/Utility of the Year Awards announced their finalist for the 2016 Truck of the Year in this press release:
Finalists for the 2016 North American Truck/Utility of the Year are the Honda Pilot, the Nissan Titan XD, and the Volvo XC90.
The winners will be announced at the upcoming 2016 Detroit Auto Show. According to North American Car and Truck/Utility of the Year Awards (NACTOY):
The NACTOY awards are unique in that they are not given by a single publication, website, radio or television station. This year they are being decided by an independent jury of 53 automotive journalists from the United States and Canada.
It seems odd to me that Honda Pilot is lumped into the same category as the Nissan Titan. The Honda Pilot is a crossover and the Nissan Titan is a truck. That would be like combining the Oscar for Best Picture and Best Actor. It makes no sense. What criteria does a NACTOY journalist use to judge which vehicle deserves to be the 2016 truck/utility of the year ? Is it the following:
- Towing Capacity
- Hauling Capacity
- Engine Performance and displacement
- Fuel Economy
- How it drives
- How much the vehicle costs
- Perhaps the torque of the gasoline vs diesel engines
This is the definition of Apples to Oranges.
What’s even more mystifying are some of the qualifications of the jurors themselves. I will not name names, but suffice it to say that I was in a new GM Heavy Duty pickup truck a few years ago when one of the NACTOY jurors asked the GM engineer about the front wheel drive version of their newest Duramax HD truck. The engineer just looked at the NACTOY juror with stunned silence… as did I.
Needless to say this did not fill me with confidence about the trucking expertise and selection process of the North American Car and Truck/Utility of the Year.
As you know for many of us who love trucks, we look at them as the most valuable tool in our toolbox. They are not simply just transportation, but what we use most often to get the job done. Do you think that every one of the 53 NACTOY jurors has towed with the new Titan or the other new 2016 trucks? I have my doubts that many of the automotive jurors could even tell you how to properly set the gain on the Titan’s brake controller, let alone tow 10,000 pounds with it.
For these reasons, we’re proud to announce that the second annual TFLtruck Gold Hitch Award for best towing trucks in the land. The awards will include two new categories for 2016.
- TFL Gold Hitch Award for Most Off-Road worthy Truck
- TFL Gold Hitch Award for Truck of the Year
And unlike the 2016 North American Truck/Utility of the Year we will not conflate trucks and crossovers.
Over the next three months we will conduct rigorous real-world testing featuring the extreme Ike Gauntlet towing test and real-world MPG towing tests. You will not only be able to watch TFL editors test the trucks, but you will see for yourself how each truck performs when loaded to the maximum towing up one of the steepest grades in the country and mountain tops. All this testing will once again culminate on the live broadcast of the Gold Hitch Award ceremony in March of 2016.
Most importantly (just like this year’s awards) you can watch the award sausage being made as we discuss and vote on camera for each award category. We know you take your trucks extremely seriously, and we do the same.
I am sorry to say that we will NOT have a Gold Hitch Award for the best front-wheel-drive half ton or heavy duty truck of the year. We will however actually tow, test and take off-road every truck in contention for this year’s award before a single vote is cast.
Laddies and Gentlemen, start your engines and let the towing begin!
