Automobile Magazine Releases 2013 All-Stars

The 2013 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 is an Automobile Magazine All-Star. Photo Courtesy Chevrolet

Automobile Magazine released its 2013 All-Stars list today. The magazine calls the 11 cars on the list "the Best Cars in America."
According to Automobile, to be eligible for the All-Star honor, a car, SUV or truck must be on sale in America when the magazine does its fall testing. The current Automobile Car of the Year, the Tesla Model S, is ineligible for the All-Star list. Automobile also says it usually excludes exotic cars from the awards, which for 2013 were voted on by 16 Automobile Magazine editors and contributors. Forty-four models from 25 brands were tested for the All-Star list. The magazine didn't elaborate on what the criteria for judging is, beyond writing, "We bring no score sheets, just open minds and a desire to recognize the best and most significant vehicles."
Of the 11 All-Stars, four are sports cars. The Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, Porsche Boxster, Subaru BRZ and Scion FR-S all made the list, with Automobile writing, "This is the golden age of sports cars." The winners, it adds, "are part of a wave of high-performance sportsters that are coming from automakers in every country, as high performance has become an accepted approach to marketing and selling significant numbers of street cars."
For the more practical-minded, the Honda Accord, Ford Focus, Mazda CX-5 and Ram 1500 also made the All-Star list. The Audi A7 and BMW 3-Series make up the luxury names on the list, and the Volkswagen GTI balances utility with better performance than the typical small car.
Any time automotive awards are released, debate follows. However, many of the cars on this year's All-Star list are unlikely to generate much controversy. The Ford Focus, BMW 3-Series, Porsche Boxster, Volkswagen GTI, Honda Accord, Scion FR-S and Subaru BRZ are not only on Automobile Magazine's All-Star list, but were also named to Car and Driver's 2013 10Best list.
Our rankings take the awards a car wins into account. In addition to the Automobile All-Star list, the awards that impact our scoring include the North American Car and Truck of the Year, Automobile's Car of the Year, Car and Driver's 10Best, Motor Trend Car of the Year, Edmund's Editors Most Wanted, Consumer Guide Best Buy and Consumer Reports Recommendation. When a car wins one of these awards or is recommended by a publication, it gets a bump in its Critic's Rating score. Read more about how U.S. News ranks cars.