The special surface
sections at the proving
grounds allow our
judges to assess each
contender’s ability to
handle the worst roads
America has to offer.MOTORTREND
OF THE YEAR
12 MOTORTREND.COM JANUARY 2020H
ow we test our Car, Truck, and
SUV of the Year contenders has
changed as much as we have over
the past seven decades. Although
dynamic testing can give a sense
of the limits of these cars, we also test
in real-world situations a typical driver
would encounter. Our Of The Year
testing methods are well established,
but we’re never above trying new things
to improve our process in the blazing
summer heat of these desert proving
grounds. Here’s how we tested and eval-
uated our 2020 field:Our 33 cars were delivered to the
Hyundai Motor Group California
Proving Ground in California City,
where our test team conducted the usual
0–60, 60–0, quarter-mile, figure-eight,
and accident-avoidance maneuvers over
the course of a week. Then our judges
spent two days driving every eligible
vehicle on multiple proving ground test
areas (winding road, high-speed oval,
and numerous intentionally distressed
road surfaces) before culling the list to
our finalists. The following two days, we
took the finalists to our 27.6-mile road
loop surrounding nearby Tehachapi for
real-world testing.The SUV process functions similarly,
except it’s hosted at Honda Proving Center
of California in Cantil and incorporates
an off-road course that simulates driving
in inclement climes. This year’s off-road
portion added offset moguls that 38 of our
41 vehicles (the front-drive Escape and
the two Lexus UXs were exempted) would
climb and descend to test their electronics
and AWD systems. After a week of testing
and two days of judging at the proving
ground, we took our finalists to Tehachapi
to test them on our road loop—which
incorporates the stop-start slog of city
driving, a steep grade, a twisting back road,
battered secondary roads, several railroad
crossings, and an open highway run.Truck saw some extensive changes
designed to better mimic how pickups are
used. Testing officially started at our local
test track in Fontana, where we payload-
tested our midsize and half-ton pickup
contenders using stacks of 100-pound
horse mats. Our midsizers were tested
with 1,000 pounds in their beds, and
our half-tons got 1,500 pounds.
Heavy-duty trucks, with their
higher payload capacities,
were excluded this year.