[twitchyzero]

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Best Driver's Car isn't about numbers, but we collect them because they tell their own stories and give us a basis for comparison. Every contender is subjected to our standard test regimen to measure acceleration, braking, and road holding in a controlled environment first. Then, it's off to southern Monterey County and California Route 198, an undulating ribbon of asphalt that cuts across ranches and minor mountain ranges. To keep our impressions directly comparable from car to car, we close a 4.5-mile stretch of hill climb east of Route 25 to create a 9-mile up-and-back real-world test track. Not just twisty, it's bumpy, worn, and, in early July, hot as hell. Not just your average handling course, it's a torture test that separates the trailer queens from the all-around performers.

We do this not (just) because it's fun, but because cars spend most of their lives in the real world on real roads, not on tracks. Making a car go around a perfectly maintained track quickly is hard, but making that car go fast up a canyon road and still feel fun and rewarding is harder. A Best Driver's Car has to be at home on your favorite road and your favorite track.

A driver's car is the one kind most likely to see a track day, so from 198 it's up to Monterey proper and WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca where pro racer Randy Pobst will find out what each car is really made of. As with the test track, the numbers tell us how any car stacks up against others of the same class, price, or power. Like our test team, though, Randy isn't just a number generator. His insights, along with the test team's impressions, all factor into our final decision.

CTR was so close to podium...it's always more impressive seeing a 35k priced vehicle take on the exotics in the 1/4M range